ã€ŠThe Tales of an Infinite Regressorã€‹ Chapter 1 â€“ Companion I Chapter 1 ¨C Companion I [Trantor ¨C Peptobismol] Chapter 1 ¨C Companion ¢ñ 1 Infinite Regression. There¡¯s a genre with such a name. When the protagonist experiences death, returns to a state prior to death, and continues to challenge obstacles, it¡¯s called ¡°infinite regression¡±. Naturally, no matter how difficult the obstacles the protagonist faces, they somehow ovee them. Because if they just keep challenging, they¡¯ll eventually ovee. Originally destined for a bad ending, turning into a happy ending, or the protagonist miraculously saving a sub-heroine who should¡¯ve died from an incurable disease¡ª. Infinite regression is nothing more than a cheat code that resolves all tragedies. But speaking as someone who has experienced it firsthand, the infinite regression depicted in various novels is nothing but insidious propaganda. It¡¯s like an academy that only puts up banners with the names of students who passed the prestigious university entrance exams. ¡°Fuck. This won¡¯t work, will it?¡± I put down my staff sword. The 1183rd regression. The world has once again copsed. It¡¯s supposed to. It won¡¯t work. I was one of those who couldn¡¯t make it. No matter how much I resist, I have to admit that I can¡¯t prevent the destruction of the world. This is not a story of sess, but the postscript of failure. Having the ability of infinite regression yet ultimately unable to prevent the destruction, I am nothing more than a footnote in someone else¡¯s tale who ultimately let himself go. 2 The first thing to be mindful of is the human mind, that is, the psyche always has an expiration date. No matter how seemingly intact a person may be on the outside, with repeated regression, something invisible inevitably breaks down. Grandpa Schopenhauer, who I will be talking about from now on, is the prime example. ¡°My direct ancestor was a very famous philosopher.¡± ¡°Old Scho¡± often boasted about his family tree. I, too, had heard of the Schopenhauer name before. But honestly, unlike his ancestor, Old Scho was a great man, but he was the farthest man from a philosopher. ¡°What are those muscles? Do some exercise, exercise.¡± Even though he was a 60-year-old man, his whole body was muscr. Rather than philosophy, Schopenhauer was more intimate with iron itself. He always emphasized the importance of exercise. ¡°But, if I regress, all my muscles will disappear anyway¡¡± ¡°Weight training is a habit. Habits don¡¯t disappear.¡± Schopenhauer said solemnly. At that time, I possessed the ability to preserve my muscles and martial arts skills even when regressing to the past, with the [Continue] skill. But back then, I was just a beginner who had only experienced regression about ten times. So, it was quite difficult for me to empathize with Schopenhauer¡¯s philosophy. Nationality, generation, taste, beliefs, political inclinations¡ªSchopenhauer and I were opposites in every aspect. We had absolutely nomon ground. Yet, despite everything, there was one reason why we stuck together. ¡°Tsk. This run is doomed too.¡± ¡°I guess so.¡± Infinite regression. That¡¯s right. Old Scho and I were both regressors with the same ability. Inexplicably, in the world I lived in, there were not one but two regressors. Considering that in most works of fiction, infinite regression is granted only to one person, it was quite peculiar. ¡°Agh, damn it. Damn it. We can¡¯t kill that monster.¡± ¡°What should we do then?¡± ¡°I¡¯ll go first, and you followter. While I distract that thing, you run away and keep resisting until the end. Then, won¡¯t we see progress in the next run?¡± ¡°Damn it. Old man, you always leave the tough part to me¡¡± ¡°Hey! That¡¯s nder, you bastard!¡± Funnily enough, Old Scho, who urately pronounced ¡°nder¡± in Korean, was German. I first met Old Scho during the 6th regression. At that time, he only knew a few words in Korean, like ¡®hello¡¯. But as soon as he found out that there was another infinite regressor just like himself, Old Scho immersed himself in learning Korean. With each regression from the 7th to the 8th, his Koreannguage skills improved by leaps and bounds. By the time it was the 10th regression, he spoke Korean better than me. To the extent that he could read ¡°The Analects¡± better in Korean, rather than German. ¡°Mister, your passion is really admirable.¡± ¡°You bastard! It¡¯s not passion, it¡¯s a habit! I learned it because you didn¡¯t bother to learn German! Oh, it¡¯s so frustrating. Even though you have the ability to memorize everything, why are you sozy to study? It¡¯s a waste of talent. How could someone so much younger than me be sozy to learn? Argh! Tsk¡¡± ¡°¡¡± It seemed like he learned a bit too well. Anyway, thanks to Old Scho equipping his brain with Korean and K-Drama-style remarks, ourmunication became much smoother. Nevermind one, but with two infinite regressors, wasn¡¯t it a straight cheat code? Sometimes I sacrificed myself, sometimes Old Scho sacrificed himself, we graduallypiled a strategy guide for this world. ¡°Ha, I did it! We did it!¡± When we defeated the monster ¡®Ten Legs¡¯ that no one had been able to defeat for the past ten runs, we both cheered. After blowing off its head with loathsome mop-like tentacles, Schopenhauer threw down his sword and lunged at me. ¡°My god! Kid! Thank you! It¡¯s all thanks to you! I couldn¡¯t havee this far alone!¡± Schopenhauer smiled like a child. In fact, although we had formed a cooperative rtionship from the 6th to the 10th regressions, somewhere deep inside, we were still guarded against each other. It was difficult to trust another person in a world where destruction was imminent. Both I and Schopenhauer. We had witnessed too much to easily trust anyone. But in the moment when this white-haired German grump embraced me with a bright smile, I felt thest trace of caution between us melting away. I looked into Schopenhauer¡¯s gray eyes. He also felt the same emotions as me. Yes. We were pilots who crashnded at the end of the century, and although we couldn¡¯t im to have been born on the samend, we wererades who leaped out with a fragile parachute towards the samending point. Since that day, many things between us became unimportant. No longer did nationality, generation, taste, beliefs, or political inclinations hold their inherent gravity. In an atmosphere where gravity had faded, we felt much lighter. ¡°In fact, getting used to this regression thing is really tough.¡± Old Scho showed me his human aspect, or what¡¯s called ¡®weakness,¡¯ without any hesitation. In the morning, we filled our thermos with coffee or maybe some soju, and headed to an empty cafe (there were a lot of them abandoned since the world went to ruins) to have some casual talks. ¡°Why¡¯s that?¡± ¡°When we regress, don¡¯t we wake up on June 17th? But just a minute into the regression, my wife dies.¡± ¡°Really?¡± Old Scho¡¯s words went like this: June 17th, 13:59. That¡¯s the point we regress to. But around 14:00 on June 17th, gates open up in Seoul, South Korea, and everything south of the Han River disappears. Unlike the two of us who were in Busan that day and escaped the disaster, Old Scho¡¯s wife was attending an academic conference in Seoul. ¡°Just a minute. Just one minute.¡± Old Scho took a sip of his soju. ¡°My wife was in the auditorium at that time. It was a gathering of renowned scientists.¡± ¡°Even if you warned her about the gates opening¡ there¡¯s no way to avoid it.¡± ¡°Yeah.¡± The catastrophe that befell the entire Seoul region was inevitable. Even if Old Scho called her immediately after regressing and told her to evacuate immediately, it was physically impossible to escape the tragedy. ¡°Even if I called, she wouldn¡¯t pick up right away. She always sets her phone to silent mode when there¡¯s an important event¡ I had to call her three times in a row just to get her to pick up.¡± ¡°¡¡± ¡°Then there¡¯s no time. As soon as I can barely manage to say ¡®I love you¡¯, there¡¯s a loud thud from the sky, and the call ends. Only 10 seconds. I could only hear my wife¡¯s voice for just 10 seconds¡¡± ¡°What about your other family members?¡± ¡°There aren¡¯t any. I only have my wife.¡± Old Scho murmured. Real name, Emit Schopenhauer. Alias, Swordmaster. I felt like I knew why he was so obsessed with gaining immense power. As the regressions continued, Old Scho¡¯s alcohol tolerance increased. In the 9th run, he would just sip his soju and say, ¡°This isn¡¯t alcohol.¡± But by the 19th run, he drank three bottles of soju right there. ¡°Even if I drink myself to death, my liver resets when we regress, so isn¡¯t it worth it? Hehe¡¡± Although he said that, Old Scho¡¯s expression wasn¡¯t bright. At this point, he had been enduring approximately 120 years of time from all the regressionsbined. Meanwhile, the time Old Scho spent talking to his wife amounted to only about 120 seconds. The journey of an old man crossing the desert just to take a sip of water was bing increasingly harsh. ¡°Surely, there must be a teleporter.¡± At some point, Old Scho¡¯s goals began to change. ¡°What do you mean?¡± ¡°I mean a person with the ability to teleport. If we find them, I can rush to my wife as soon as we regress.¡± ¡°But¡ Even if there is a teleporter somewhere in the world, how could you meet them within a minute? Even when you and I regress, it takes at least 30 minutes to reunite.¡± ¡°¡.¡± Old Scho fell silent. I could sense that this silence wasn¡¯t one of affirmation. Over the course of 100 years, mypanion, who had been trying to prevent destruction alongside me, began to entertain increasingly strange thoughts. He muttered incessantly. ¡°What if we find a resurrection spell? Couldn¡¯t we bring back the dead?¡± ¡°If I could copy other people¡¯s abilities, and obtain teleportation and telepathy, then surely I could solve all my problems within a minute.¡± ¡°I can do it. I definitely can.¡± It felt like watching a crumbling sandcastle. As we approached the 23rd run, Old Scho¡¯s pinnacle of copse arrived. As soon as I started the regression, I followed the same route as usual. After dealing with Busan Station, which had turned into a dungeon within 30 minutes, I moved to our predetermined meeting ce. It was an old hideout we had discovered in a previous run. ¡°Huh? Mister? Mister, are you not here?¡± There was no one in the underground training center. There was no trace of anyone entering or leaving. ¡°¡.¡± Sensing some ominous feeling, I immediately moved. My starting point was Busan Station. Old Scho¡¯s was the old Baekje Hospital building. Passing by the elementary school that had been half-destroyed due to the monster¡¯s rampage, I entered the old hospital building. Everyone had evacuated, leaving no one behind. Old Scho was dead on the rooftop. ¡°¡.¡± It wasn¡¯t murder. There were no threats that could kill Old Scho at the starting point. Not a monster. Not a human. Not even me. The only one who could kill him was himself. Old Scho¡¯s body was missing its head. But the body was intact. He was clutching a smartphone in his left hand. ¡°Insane.¡± [Trantor ¨C Peptobismol] Chapter 2 â€“ Companion II Chapter 2 ¨C Companion II [Proofreader ¨C Pr?ks] Chapter 2 ¨C Companion II The same phenomenon repeated itself in the 24th and 25th run. I had to experience the world where Old Scho died three times. The only difference from the other times was the presence or absence of a singlepanion, and yet the difficulty level increased five or six times. It was a moment that hinted at how much I relied on Old Scho in many aspects. Finally, in the 26th run. ¡°Sorry.¡± As soon as Old Scho saw my face, he handed me a coffee. There was a cafe in the old Baekje Hospital building. He must have predicted that I woulde running, as we seemed to have the cafe all to ourselves, with no other customers. The cafe auit that Old Scho brewed was really delicious. It was the 11th run, I think. It must have been thanks to the skills passed down by the barista back then. ¡°Enjoy. Old Man.¡± I said in German. Well, by the 26th run, I thought I know how to speak foreignnguages. ¡°Is this forgiveness?¡± ¡°7, 7, 7.¡± ¡°¡?¡± ¡°What do these numbers mean?¡± ¡°¡Casino slot machine jackpot?¡± ¡°No. It¡¯s the time of the runs I¡¯ve endured without Old Man. Altogether, it¡¯s been 21 years. Shit, I haven¡¯t seen you for over 20 years, I even forget Old Man¡¯s face now. Let¡¯s talk face to face.¡± ¡°¡.¡± Old Scho seemed uncertain in his response. I sat across from him and sipped my coffee. At this point, I could just walk into any cafe and plunder the coffee beans, but I hadn¡¯t been able to drink it since the fifth year. To me, it was a warm luxury for those who had lived seven years in the previous run and died. It wasn¡¯t a fake cafe auit assembled by alchemists after a long time, so there was no better hospitality. Thus, there weren¡¯t only downsides to regression. Coffee. Draft beer. Cigarettes. Friends who hadn¡¯t died yet,panions¡ It was very important for me to be able to experience them vividly again. ¡°21 years¡ It¡¯s amazing. From my perspective, it hasn¡¯t even been an hour since Ist saw you.¡± It didn¡¯t seem like it to Old Scho. More precisely, the most precious thing was missing from his list of ¡®things he could experience vividly again.¡¯ ¡°But I understand. I haven¡¯t seen my wife¡¯s face for over a hundred years either. I know how it feels.¡± ¡°¡.¡± ¡°I can see her face in a photo. I can even watch some videos with her voice saved. But still, there¡¯s an empty well inside me that can¡¯t be filled.¡± The ominous premonition didn¡¯t dissipate. If this were like any other regression story, Old Scho would have held onto his mental fortitude, I would have found some miraculous solution within the time limit, and perhaps the elderly couple would have reunited after surpassing over a hundred years. ¡°I want to see my wife in person.¡± But as I said, my story was not a tale of sess but merely a postscript to various failures. Old Scho¡¯s spirit crumbled. He took his own life three times in less than 30 seconds just to have a brief conversation with his wife. There was no way for me to save him. ¡°Don¡¯t you understand me? Surely, at least you do. So, use your abilities to help me¡¡± ¡°No.¡± I firmly refused. Just as Old Scho had innate talent in swordsmanship, I also possessed various abilities beyond regression. I guess this would be my opportunity to mention my abilities gradually. The ability Old Scho mentioned this time was ¡®Time Seal¡¯ among them. And I had no intention of using this ability on mypanion right in front of me. ¡°You know, Old Man. Once I use Time Seal, it¡¯s over. Finished. No matter how many regressions you go through, the seal won¡¯t be broken.¡± ¡°Yeah. But even in dreams, I can still talk to my wife.¡± ¡°You¡¯ll just keep repeating the same day forever.¡± ¡°What¡¯s the difference between that and our current situation?¡± This time, my response seemed uncertain. ¡°¡Still, it¡¯s not possible. I can¡¯t afford to lose my strongest ally.¡± ¡°Then do this.¡± Had he predicted that I would react like this? As soon as n A was rejected, Old Scho immediately proposed n B. ¡°You can try as many times as you want until you find a solution. Until you can save the people in Seoul within a minute of regressing. Or until you admit it¡¯s all impossible and give up like I did.¡± ¡°What are you going to do, Old Man?¡± ¡°I¡¯m tired. Really¡ exhausted. So, I¡¯ll take a break until youe to a conclusion.¡± That night, Old Scho took his own life. That was his ¡®rest.¡¯ ¡°¡Unbelievable.¡± As a transcendent being on the verge of Sword Star Enlightenment, Old Scho could easily shatter heads with just exploding Aura. It would have been a painless death. By the time it reached runs 27, 28, and 29, nothing had changed. Old Scho was found dead on the rooftop of the cafe building where the hospital used to be in the past. Whenever I went to the cafe after clearing the dungeon at Busan Station, there would always be a warm cafe auit sitting on the table where we used to converse. There was a note on the coffee cup. ¨C How about giving up little by little, my friend? I chuckled bitterly. ¡°¡Looks like I¡¯ve acquired a regr cafe that I can visit every ten years.¡± Once, I imagined the life of myrade. Now, Old Scho¡¯s life would consist of brief phone calls with his wife,sting about 10 to 20 seconds. And then, making cafe auit for the old friend who woulde looking for him,sting about 10 minutes. The repetition continued, from the 29th run to the current 1183rd run. A body on the rooftop. A cup of cafe auit on the table. I couldn¡¯t tell whether the regressed individual who repeated life over a thousand times without taking their own life even once was insane, or if the one who relentlessly ended their life over a thousand times without rest was crazier. But as the regressions continued, there was a change. It was the content of the phone calls between Old Scho and his wife. [God! I finally got through!] [Emmet? What¡¯s going on? I¡¯m at the conference right now¡] [I love you, Adele. I love you forever.] Was it to listen to the repeated phone calls before ending his short life? Old Scho always recorded the conversations with his wife. Thanks to that, I could eavesdrop on the conversations the elderly couple had each time. [I love you, Adele¡ I love you.] During the first ten or so regressions, there wasn¡¯t much change. Old Scho desperately devoted himself to conveying his love to his wife. However, from the moment it crossed the 30th regression, the content of the calls began to change little by little. [Adele, actually, I¡¯m repeating life. The world is going to end. But I still love you.] [Oh my goodness. Have you been drinking? Why are you acting like a child? Huh? Wait, Emmet. I hear something strange from the sky¡] Regression. [Do you remember by any chance? Twenty years ago in Turin. I went under the bridge and picked a yellow flower for you. What was the name of that flower?] [What? You called me just to ask that?] [Please, Adele, answer me. If you don¡¯t answer, I¡¯ll die.] Regression. [Sorry. What was your younger brother¡¯s name again?] [Maximilian, but why¡] [Oh! That¡¯s right! Maximilian! Haha, I forgot about that! Thank you!] [Sigh¡ Can¡¯t stop you. Huh? What¡¯s that sound from the sky¡] It was strange. As the regressions continued, the phone calls between Old Scho and his wife gradually became more like real conversations, rather than one-sided deliveries. Of course, each call onlysted about 20 seconds, but when put together, it felt like a genuine conversation. [I never liked that Maximilian guy from the start.] [Huh? Why all of a sudden?] [He never cared about family at all! He¡¯s a selfish jerk. He just pretends to listen to you in front of you.] [Emmet? Hold on a second. Something strange, I hear something from the sky¡] [Honey, do you rememberst Christmas? Your brother brought someone as his girlfriend then. Be honest with me. Is that Maximilian guy actually gay?] [Huh? Why now? Why would you ask me that over the phone¡ Wait, Emmet. This is strange. I hear something from the sky.] [I knew it! My intuition never fails. Adele. Your brother was indeed gay!] [My God! Emmet, why are you suddenly saying such things?] [No, I don¡¯t have any prejudice. I¡¯m just disappointed that you and your brother have been keeping it a secret from me until now, as if I wouldn¡¯t ept it.] [This is crazy. What¡ Wait, wait. Let¡¯s talk about this when we meet in personter! I hear something strange from the sky.] [Adele. We need to be more open-minded to each other! I¡¯m not some old man stuck in his ways like your father!] Ignoring the fact that the lives of the elderly couple were ¡®paused¡¯ intermittently, the conversations between them were clearly two-way dialogues, no matter how you looked at it. ¡°There was logic in Old Man¡¯s words.¡± In the end, I had to admit it. As Old Scho said, this was indeed a ¡®rest.¡¯ As the regressions continued, as the calls grew longer, Old Scho¡¯s voice became livelier, and memories from his forgotten past also resurfaced. Now, even the fact that this world was ending didn¡¯t seem to matter much to him. But still, Old Scho didn¡¯t stop taking his own life. Or, to put it in his perspective¨Dhe didn¡¯t stop the continuous conversations with his wife. Eventually, around the 500th regression, I decided to stop eavesdropping on Old Scho¡¯s phone calls. The content of the calls had be ufortably intimate, almost to the point where outsiders shouldn¡¯t listen in. Honestly, I had no desire to know the Old Man¡¯s sexual preferences. Perhaps the Old Man couldn¡¯t even imagine that I was eavesdropping on his phone conversations. However, without fail, each time a regression started, he would always stop by the cafe to have a cup of cafe auit. Emmet Schopenhauer. A colleague from the distant past that had be dim. The cafe auit he brewed became like a ritual for me, a sort of mental preparation for the uing regression. And this remained the same even as we reached the 1183rd regression. There was still a note under the coffee cup. ¨C Still haven¡¯t given up, huh, friend? Well, to be honest, I had given up. But I didn¡¯t want to admit it to this kid (I¡¯m now overwhelmingly older than him) so easily. Well, someday I would confess, but at least for now, I wanted to y hard to get. After spending thousands of years alone, what harm would a little stubbornness do? ¡®¡Come to think of it, I wonder what kind of conversation he¡¯s having with his wife now?¡¯ I suddenly became curious. It had been a long time since I collected Old Scho¡¯s smartphone and decided to listen to the recorded calls. As I pressed the y button, Old Scho¡¯s lively voice burst forth. [Honey! I¡¯ve told you countless times to drink zero soda! Sugar isn¡¯t good for your health!] [What?] I took a sip of cafe auit as their bickering served as background noise in the shop. It was a delicious cup of coffee. [Proofreader ¨C Pr?ks] Chapter 3 â€“ Observer I Chapter 3 ¨C Observer I [Proofreader ¨C Pr?ks] Chapter 3 ¨C Observer I 1 The cafe where I often meet Old Scho¡ No, let me correct that. The cafe where I often meet Old Scho¡¯s ¡®corpse¡¯ is adorned with small fish tanks scattered around. It¡¯s probably the barista¡¯s taste. Although there aren¡¯t any particrly rare species, the fish tails exude a calming charm just by looking at them. Perhaps time slows down a bit when it gets caught in those fins. Or maybe it¡¯s just because fish have that dumb, thoughtless look like idiots do. As I sip on Old Scho¡¯s cafe auit and watch the blue tropical fish dancing ballet in the water, there¡¯s one person that alwayses to mind. The Saintess. Today, let¡¯s talk about that person. 2 When the Gate incident erupted worldwide, Korea surprisingly held its ground. It wasn¡¯t thanks to the government. Initially, half of Seoul was razed to the ground, including the National Assembly Building in Yeouido. The number of evaporated buildings exceeded a hundred. Whether this was unfortunate or fortunate varies from person to person, but at least the initial political leadership in Korea suffered temporary paralysis. Yet, the awakening individuals in Korea managed to navigate through the crisis somehow, all because translucent ¡®messages¡¯ floated before their eyes like holograms. [The Saintess of Salvation is interested in your heroic deeds.] For example, in my case, if I were to take the lead in subduing the Busan Station Gate, such a message would appear. I wasn¡¯t the only one experiencing this phenomenon. ¡°Huh? What¡¯s this?¡± ¡°¡The Lord of the Scarlet Cloak? It¡¯s showing interest in me?¡± Awakening individuals showcasing their presence across the nation. Without fail, ¡®messages¡¯ came to them. The entity behind these messages varied for each awakened individual. However, the fact that someone was paying attention to their actions remained constant. ¡°It¡¯s the Constetion!¡± And someone named this phenomenon the ¡®Constetion.¡¯ It seemed quite familiar to Awakeneds who enjoyed web novels. On the other hand, people who were far from web novels, like myself, as an awakened individual, could only be puzzled. Eventually, I approached people who exuded an air of ¡°I know what this is! I¡¯ve seen it!¡± and asked them directly. ¡°Excuse me, sir. I¡¯m sorry for the intrusion, but what is the ¡®Constetion¡¯?¡± ¡°Oh, you don¡¯t know what the Constetion is!¡± The awakened individual who received my question excitedly exined. ¡°It¡¯s when transcendent beings watch us Awakeneds, show interest, and even sponsor us! You know inte broadcasts, right? It¡¯s simr to that! We¡¯re the broadcasters, and the Constetions are the viewers who donate!¡± ¡°Huh.¡± ¡°The Constetions are incredibly powerful. There are terrifying beings like Cthulhu, and there are also divine beings who are friendly to us humans¡ Anyway, it¡¯s a good thing! Always try to impress the Constetions. Oh, which Constetion should I choose? Is the option ¡®Nobody chosen¡¯ the trend?¡± After that, the awakened individual continued to ramble on about something for a while. I, too, initially just nodded along, thinking, ¡®I see.¡¯ It was a situation where monsters roamed through Gates. Even if there were transcendental beings watching the human world and munching on popcorn, it wasn¡¯t particrly surprising. [The Conqueror of the Alps admires your exploits!] [The Lord of the Scarlet Cloakmends your strategy!] As the rounds went on, I became ustomed to the existence of the Constetions. They seemed to follow my actions consistently, praising me or boosting my courage whenever I disyed unique behavior. [The Saintess of Salvation praises your aplishments.] I was especially proud of the fact that the one who was supporting me was the ¡®Saintess of Salvation.¡¯ This Constetion was famous for cherishing Awakeneds with a good disposition, so it was clear that it favored me the most. Perhaps without the Constetions, my life as an awakened individual would have felt somewhat dull? While the true identity of the Constetions remained a mystery, I, and most Awakeneds, harbored favorable feelings towards them. ¡°¡This is strange.¡± Old Scho had a different perspective. ¡°What? What¡¯s strange?¡± ¡°I recently contacted some friends abroad. Most of them perished, but some survived. And their words¡ In their countries, they say they haven¡¯t seen anything like that.¡± ¡°Like what?¡± ¡°Hmm. The messages from the Constetions, the messages! My German friends have never seen or heard of such things.¡± Old Scho wrinkled his brow, as if he sensed something odd. ¡°Just to be sure, I asked a few friends from other countries, and they said they¡¯ve never experienced these messages either.¡± ¡°¡¡± ¡°So, if this phenomenon is unique to Korea in the world¡ Isn¡¯t it too strange? Why would the Constetions only operate in Korea? They¡¯re supposed to be transcendent beings. What reason could they have for favoring Korea?¡± ¡°Um¡ Maybe they like K-pop?¡± ¡°That¡¯s nonsense. Doctor.¡± At that moment, [The Saintess of Salvation is listening to your conversation and is disappointed.] [The Conqueror of the Alps asks you to stop doubting.] [The Lord of the Scarlet Cloak mocks your shallow insight.] As if they had been waiting, the messages appeared. At this point, both Old Scho and I had be figures of interest to the Constetions. It was natural. Old Scho was undoubtedly the strongest swordsman, and I¡ Well, I was an irreceable resource, to say the least. I nced sideways. Old Scho seemed to be narrowing his eyes as if he saw something in front of him. ¡°You too, Old?¡± ¡°Yeah. Seems like they¡¯re keeping a close eye on everyone.¡± Old Scho muttered, swatting at the air as if shooing away a pesky fly. ¡°Anyway, it¡¯s not just a coincidence. Before I learned Korean, they never sent me any messages. But once I started using Korean a bit, they started sending messages like ghosts.¡± ¡°¡¡± ¡°You¡¯re right. Without indulging too much in K-pop, there¡¯s no exnation. Doctor. Don¡¯t trust those so-called Constetions too much.¡± Unfortunately, Old Scho couldn¡¯t uncover the secret of the Constetions. Since the 26th Run, the Inspiration had gone on a long vacation with thedy, leaving no time to investigate the secret. But I was different. As an Infinite Regressionist, time was my only asset, but that wasn¡¯t an exaggeration. ¡®Why do the Constetions only appear in Korea?¡¯ I stroked my chin. In the countless regressions, this riddle was intriguing enough to invest at least one round. First, Old Scho was right. Not only for Awakeneds operating abroad but also for those operating domestically who hadn¡¯t learned Korean, they never received any ¡®messages.¡¯ ¡°Thanks to that, you could say that Korea¡¯s quality of Awakeneds, or consciousness, is quite intact.¡± In other countries, Awakeneds caused terrorism, massacred civilians, and various crimes urred almost daily. However, in Korea, the crime rate among Awakeneds was low. Why did this phenomenon ur? In my opinion, there were two possible answers. First, the Constetions might truly be addicted to K-pop and pay attention only to Korean Awakeneds. And second¡ ¡®What if the Constetions only know how to speak Korean¡?¡¯ If this were true, it would have enormous repercussions. Think about it. Even the stubborn Old Scho mastered a foreignnguage in just a few runs. But could beings called Constetions really only know Korean? What kind of transcendental beings were they? ¡®So, the Constetions aren¡¯t transcendental beings.¡¯ I hypothesized. ¡°But if they¡¯re not transcendental beings, it would be difficult for them to monitor all Awakeneds in Korea and send messages individually. Clearly, there must be some hidden secret.¡± From the 35th run onwards, I delved into the investigation of the Constetions. I finally decided to understand what kind of beings the friends who admired and were astonished by my actions were. ¡®The first step is to attract the attention of the Constetions.¡¯ Attracting their attention was simple. The Constetions showed interest in exceptional Awakeneds. Starting from the 35th run, I exerted all my abilities, even pushing myself a bit. I cleared the gate at Busan Station in less than 20 minutes. In the first round, I died without closing the gate. It took me a week to conquer it in the third round. I finished off that gate in less than 20 minutes. Moreover, except for one person among the 399 humans summoned at Busan Station¡¯s main hall, no one lost their life. I also farmed only silver droplets from the souvenir shop in the main hall, so there was no time wasted. Literally, it was a speedrun. It was a record that would astonish the Constetions. [The Saintess of Salvation is astonished by your achievements!] [The Lord of the Scarlet Cloak feels pride in your power.] [The Conqueror of the Alps is paying attention to your actions.] [The Steward of the Red Mantle is wary of your skills.] Suddenly, as if they had been waiting, the Constetions took the bait. Constetions numbering 4, 7, even 11, constantly disyed messages. I ignored the messages for the time being. It wasn¡¯t until I reached an empty parking lot outside Busan Station that I spoke up. ¡°Constetions, I am aware that you are Koreans.¡± Thud. Just before that, messages had been flying at me incessantly, like Hogwarts eptance letters, but now they had all stopped at once. As the messages that had covered my vision disappeared, the sky turned blue. I looked up into the air. ¡°I also know that you¡¯re not transcendental beings. I could publicize this fact to the Awakeneds¡ but I¡¯m more curious about your identity. Please tell me what kind of beings you are.¡± -¡¡ There was no response. To be honest, I was quite tense at that moment. Although it was a very slim possibility, perhaps, just maybe, the Constetions were indeed transcendental beings who ate kimchi wrapped in seaweed with every meal, listened to K-pop during tea time, and watched K-pop TV in the evenings? If so, and if they were sending this mysterious nationalist affection only to Awakeneds who spoke Korean? ¡®They might get angry and attack all at once after hearing my audacious proposal¡¯ I prepared for battle. While my awakened ability wasn¡¯tbat-oriented, spending time with Old Scho, who was the greatest swordsman of all time, had enhanced mybat skills. I was preparing for the possibility of dying here and now, only to move on to the next episode. When suddenly¡ [The Saintess of Salvation invites you.] Thankfully, there was no scenario where the Constetions appeared to punish impudent mortals. Instead, dozens of Constetions remained silent, and only one Constetion conveyed their intention to me. Coincidentally, it was the ¡®Saintess of Salvation,¡¯ who had shown interest in me for the first time. I cautiously asked, ¡°An invitation? What kind of invitation is this?¡± After a moment, the message returned. [The Saintess of Salvation invites you to Han River¡¯s Jamsu Bridge.] Seoul. A hell of an invitation, where Old Scho lost his wife and countless golden badges were buried. ¡®Ah.¡¯ ¡It dawned on me, then and there, that the Constetion had never once used a dialect. In the heart of Gangnam, a Gate had erupted, leaving the surrounding area in shambles, a story that had been mentioned several times already. However, surprisingly, the areas untouched by the Gate¡¯s reach remained rtively unscathed. Jamsu Bridge still preserved its pre-catastrophe appearance. The ce where the ¡®Saintess of Salvation¡¯ had promised to meet me was right near Jamsu Bridge, at a sky-blue convenience store. It was an oddly humble location for a Constetion¡¯s invitation. There was a woman sitting under the convenience store parasol, her hair tied back. Her appearance was ordinary. The only peculiar thing was the color of her hair, which was a watery hue, but it wasn¡¯t umon for Awakeneds¡¯ hair colors to change as they became aware of their abilities. She didn¡¯t seem to radiate a presence beyond humans. ¡°Hello. Are you the Saintess of Salvation?¡± ¡°¡.¡± She looked at me, her gaze sweeping over my entire body in an instant. Her pupils resembled those of a fish, more as if lost in thought than focused on anything. ¡°The Gate at Busan Station?¡± ¡°Yes, that¡¯s right.¡± ¡°¡Surely you didn¡¯t arrive here from Busan in less than a day.¡± With about half of Seoul cut off, most of the transportationworks into the capital were rendered useless. Roads, railways, everything was destroyed. On the flip side, it meant that there were still some means of transportation avable, albeit limited. Old Scho had wanted to get to Seoul before his wife disappeared, so there had been countless studies on ¡®how to get from Busan to Seoul as quickly as possible.¡¯ ¡Even though it was impossible to arrive in less than a minute, the useless research ended up being somewhat beneficial. Well, thanks to that, I could meet the ¡®Saintess of Salvation¡¯ quickly. ¡°I go by the code name Undertaker. Nice to meet you.¡± ¡°Oh, I see¡ But Undertaker?¡± ¡°It¡¯s a nickname with reasons. You can just call me Doctor if you¡¯d like.¡± After exchanging handshakes with her, I sat across from her. Far away, Seoul¡¯s skyscrapers, also known as the Towers of Sauron, loomed like shadows. ¡°Rather, I¡¯d like to ask about this first.¡± ¡°¡.¡± ¡°Are you the Saintess of Salvation, or are you her representative? What is a Constetion? Are you truly transcendental beings?¡± The other person fell silent. For a moment, various thoughts seemed to pass through her gaze. After a while, she licked her lips and clenched her fist. Then, she let out a soft sigh. ¡°¡Yes. I am the Saintess of Salvation.¡± As expected. Just as I was about to nod in understanding, she looked straight at me. ¡°And, aren¡¯t you a regressor?¡± [Proofreader ¨C Gun] Chapter 4 â€“ Observer II Chapter 4 ¨C Observer II [Proofreader ¨C Pr?ks] Chapter 4 ¨C Observer II ¡°¡¡± ¡°Right?¡± I didn¡¯t respond immediately. Honestly, I was a bit surprised. At the same time, I became intrigued. There have been asions where I openly admitted being a regressor. However, there was only one person besides Old Scho who had realized it beforehand. ¡°Why do you think so?¡± ¡°I thought if you were a regressor, you would eventuallye find me. You¡¯ve also been defeating monsters at an unbelievable speed. But¡ seeing you ask like this, it seems like this is the first time we¡¯ve met in ¡®this run¡¯?¡± I leaned forward slightly. Creak. The green stic chair in the convenience store scraped against the floor. At first, I was simply curious about the existence of the Constetions. But now, my interest had shifted more towards the human in front of me. ¡°Yes, that¡¯s correct. Although I¡¯ve been curious about the identity of the Constetions, this run marks the first time I¡¯ve delved into it seriously.¡± ¡°If you¡ Doctor Jang, is truly a regressor, then I believe we must establish a cooperative rtionship in the future.¡± ¡°A cooperative rtionship?¡± ¡°Yes. However, at the moment, I can¡¯t be certain whether you are a regressor or not. From my perspective, that is.¡± The woman spoke cautiously. Though she seemed very tense, there was no wavering in her tone. ¡®She¡¯s got some backbone.¡¯ I squinted. ¡°Interesting. Why can¡¯t you be sure that I¡¯m a regressor?¡± ¡°Because you might possess not regression, but the ability of prophecy, or even possess mind-reading abilities that create situations identical to the present. So¡¡± She bowed her head. ¡°I¡¯m sorry for bringing you all the way up to Seoul. It¡¯s difficult for me to open up about everything regarding the identity of the Constetions, what I know, or what my abilities are.¡± ¡°Hmm.¡± Proper etiquette and appropriate caution. Perhaps she¡¯s like a lottery ticket worth scratching. ¡°All right. If it¡¯s confirmed that I¡¯m a regressor, will you be able to answer all my questions?¡± ¡°¡Yes.¡± ¡°Well, there¡¯s a simple solution.¡± The woman lifted her head. I turned on my smartphone. ¡°We¡¯ll establish passwords for each other.¡± ¡°Passwords?¡± ¡°Please specify words or phrases that I would never know unless I¡¯m a regressor. It doesn¡¯t have to be keywords; it could be specific actions.¡± A method Old Scho and I had used before. It was a method that had been validated by the 7th run. ¡°Anyway, if you provide those, I¡¯ll execute them thoroughly in the ¡®next run.''¡± ¡°Ah.¡± She immediately understood my words. ¡°That¡¯s a really good idea. Um. Then, in the next run, pleasee here and spread out a red t-shirt on the table for me. Just stay quiet for about 10 minutes, no, 15 minutes. Write ¡®Code of Ethics¡¯ prominently on the t-shirt.¡± ¡°Hmm.¡± ¡°If you do that, I¡¯ll contact you first from my side.¡± It was a neat method. ¡°Understood. Miss.¡± ¡°Uh¡ I¡¯m sorry, but that nickname is a bit¡¡± ¡°Anyway, all the nicknames of the Constetion are equally childish. I thought I¡¯de up with a cool nameter, but I ended up with the nickname ¡®Doctor.¡¯ ¡®Miss¡¯ is at least a noble title.¡± ¡°How did ¡®Doctor¡¯e about¡?¡± Oops. I quickly got up from the table. Again, I really dislike my nickname. There may be an opportunity to exin how I ended up with such a nicknameter, but I hope that opportunityes muchter, or better yet, neveres at all. ¡°I¡¯ll go first. Miss. See you next time.¡± ¡°Oh, yes. See you next time. It was nice meeting you, regressor.¡± Between what I meant by ¡®next¡¯ and what she thought of as ¡®next,¡¯ there was a gap of about a whole world. We parted ways like two streams that met and parted easily. Since that day, I haven¡¯t received any messages from the ¡®Constetion.¡¯ Honestly, I was a bit disappointed. It felt like someone who had been reacting to my actions had disappeared. The absence feltrger than I had expected. Of course, my goal wasn¡¯t to impress the Constetion, but to prevent the world from ending. After quickly regaining myposure, I plunged into the 35th run of the world. And, I failed miserably. If I had seeded from the start, there wouldn¡¯t have been any need to reach the 1183rd run. ¡°Red t-shirt, was it?¡± In the 36th world, my 36th life began. I immediately fulfilled the promise I made in the previous world. First, I swiftly took care of the Busan Station Gate. [The Saintess of Salvation is amazed by your actions!] [The Lord of the Scarlet Cloak feels pride in your strength!¡±] [The Conqueror of the Alps takes notice of your movements!] [The Steward of the Red Mantle is wary of your skills!] As before, the messages from the Constetion flooded in this time too. Although it was nice to receive messages after a long time, I ignored them for now. I ascended to Seoul as quickly as possible through the route developed by Old Scho. Along the way, I didn¡¯t forget to stop by an unclosed clothing store to buy a shirt. [The Saintess of Salvation expresses doubts about your actions.] Even while on the move, the Constetion constantly tried tomunicate. When I arrived at the convenience store near the Jamsu Bridge, I sat under the parasol table, and spread out the shirt, writing ¡°Code of Ethics¡± on it with a marker. [¡¡] [¡¡] Suddenly, the once noisy Constetion fell silent. Leaning back in the chair, I sipped on the convenience store coffee. The products here were intact since the store hadn¡¯t been looted yet. Soon enough, someone approached the convenience store. A woman with a hiking backpack. In terms of runs, she was the ¡®Saintess of Salvation¡¯ whom I had met twenty years ago. I didn¡¯t feel as excited as before. To survive as a regressor, I had to be ustomed to farewells and reunions. Just this time, unlikest time, I was the one waiting to greet her. ¡°Um, excuse me, but by any chance¡¡± The woman cautiously observed myplexion. I nodded. ¡°Yes, I am a regressor. The Saintess of Salvation.¡± ¡°¡¡!¡± The Saintess took a deep breath. Standing still, she clenched her fists tightly. I couldn¡¯t discern what conviction drove her. After a while, the Saintess finally spoke up. ¡°Please, follow me.¡± It was finally time to uncover the truth about the Constetion. The Saintess¡¯s residence was in Yongsan. With Yeouido and Gangnam evaporating simultaneously, Yongsan was practically the frontline adjacent to the Gates. It was currently one of the most dangerous ces in Korea. ¡°You cane in.¡± It was a run-down row house in Dongbu-godong. Looking around, despite the shabby exterior, the house inside was tidy. No, to be more precise, it was beyond tidy; it was meticulous. In the dimly lit living room, the fourputer monitors emitted a bluish light. The monitor lights faintly outlined the cardboard boxes scattered around. Canned food boxes. Bottled water. All bathed in the blue glow of the monitors, they seemed submerged rather than on the surface. Arge metal bookshelf was ced against the wall. However, only a few books were sparsely ced. Instead, the spaces meant for books were upied by 15-cube and 20-cube aquariums. ss containers filled with water were neatly disyed, dozens of them. Aquariums. Aquariums. Aquariums. This space was surrounded by walls made of water instead of bricks, giving it the appearance of an underwater temple. ¡°It seems like you¡¯ve been preparing for this situation for a long time.¡± ¡°Yes.¡± The Saintess seated me on the sofa and brought over aputer chair for herself. ¡°Should I call you the Regressor?¡± ¡°Please feel free to call me whatever you¡¯refortable with. My alias is Undertaker.¡± ¡°Sure, Undertaker. How many times have you met with me?¡± ¡°This is the second time.¡± ¡°The second time.¡± The Saintess murmured softly. ¡°Then, practically speaking, this is almost like our first meeting. Since I didn¡¯t exin anything in the previous encounter, right?¡± ¡°Exactly.¡± ¡°There¡¯s probably a lot I need to exin¡ Where should I start?¡± ¡°First, I¡¯d like to ask about the Constetion. What exactly are they? Are they truly transcendent beings? Are you the representative of the Constetion?¡± ¡°¡¡± The Saintess pursed her lips. Not because she was hesitant to answer, but because she wanted to choose her words carefully. [Proofreader ¨C Pr?ks] Finally, she spoke. ¡°The Constetion¡ don¡¯t exist.¡± ¡°They don¡¯t exist?¡± ¡°No. The Saintess of Salvation, the Conqueror of the Alps, they¡¯re all just characters I created alone.¡± I was somewhat surprised by this. I had considered the hypothesis that the Constetion might be fictional entities myself. However, I never imagined that the person in front of me was orchestrating all these Constetions solely by herself. I had thought there might be at least six people working together. ¡°Why did you do that?¡± ¡°¡¡± The blue light from the monitormps scattered faintly in the living room. Fish murmured in the small aquariums. ¡°I awakened about twenty days ago. Since then, my hair color changed, and I started having nightmares about monsters. It was too vivid to dismiss as mere fantasy¡ It felt like a realistic dream.¡± I nodded. It was an experience shared by countless Awakeneds around the world just before the Gates erupted. Like a kind of premonition. ¡°For some reason, I was convinced that it would actually happen. So I thought about what I could do. Not just stocking up on canned food or collecting bottled water, but something that only I could do.¡± The Saintess looked straight at me. ¡°Regressor. No, Undertaker. Will the Awakeneds uphold societal order even after gaining their powers?¡± ¡°Yes?¡± ¡°The abilities of the Awakened are remarkable. Just consider myself; I gained powers beyondprehension, not just one, but two, or even three. Can human beings bestowed with such power easily unite, do good, and at the very least, refrain frommitting crimes?¡± Fish shadows flowed on the living room floor. Her voice seeped into the shadows. I felt captivated by a sensation simr to when I foolishly dived into a bathhouse during my childhood. The other party was lowering the depth of this ce with that gaze. ¡°I judged that wasn¡¯t the case.¡± ¡°¡¡± ¡°If someone with immense power were to appear and gather the Awakened, that would be fine. But it¡¯s a process riddled with countless trials and errors, taking time. Until then, the Awakened will proliferate under different factions, and civilians will be sacrificed in power struggles without a care. Naturally, as humans be more divided, their ability to deal with the Gates will diminish.¡± It was a correct conjecture. Indeed, the majority of countries had copsed following such procedures. Korea was a peculiar case, having endured for so long. ¡®Wait.¡¯ At that moment, a certain assumption shed through my mind like a bolt of lightning. I stared into the Saintess¡¯s jet-ck pupils. Pupils that seemed like they wouldn¡¯t even blink even if submerged in water. ¡°No way?¡± ¡°¡¡± She nodded faintly. ¡°Undertaker. When does a person hesitate tomit wrongdoing? It¡¯s when they feel like someone is watching them.¡± ¡°¡The Constetion.¡± ¡°Yes.¡± I widened my eyes in shock. The Saintess continued speaking. ¡°If a person believes they can hide or cover up their crimes, they will easily break the rules. But if they feel like there¡¯s a transcendent being watching them anytime, anywhere, then even an Awakened will hesitate tomit wrongdoing.¡± ¡°Unbelievable.¡± ¡°So, I created the Constetion for that reason.¡± It felt like receiving a series of mental punches. The fact that the Constetion, especially the ¡°Saintess of Salvation,¡± who had watched over me for so long until the 36th encounter, were lies, was astonishing enough. But the fact that all of it was born out of one person¡¯s thorough n was utterly astounding. ¡°But how did you create the Constetion?¡± ¡°It¡¯s thanks to my abilities. I can use irvoyance and Telepathy.¡± Her exined abilities could be summarized as follows: 1. irvoyance: She can observe any Awakened within a radius of 1,000km whenever she wants. She can even hear their voices. 2. Telepathy, or message transmission: She can transmit her voice to a target she perceives. It¡¯s also possible to send messages in text form. However, in this case, the message is limited to 140 characters. ¡ Both abilities had endless possibilities for application. I looked at the human before me with renewed eyes. With the right conditions, she had the qualities to lead a guild like [Samcheon] or [Baekhwa], which would thrive in Korea in the future. ¡°Remarkable. With abilities like these, if you had awakened them a little more prominently, you could have tried to gather the Awakened.¡± ¡°I¡¯ve thought about that too¡ I¡¯m just really inexperienced and hesitant when ites to taking a forefront role in front of people.¡± ¡°Ah.¡± ¡°I thought it was the best among the things I could do. I don¡¯t know what the future holds, but¡ I¡¯ll try to keep going as long as I¡¯m alive.¡± Hearing those words, I recalled. The memories of past encounters. Even until just before the world was on the brink of destruction, the Constetion continued to send messages to the Awakened in Korea. Even after four, seven, ten years, the Constetion remained intact. I thought about the obstacles the Awakened must have faced to maintain that intactness. There must have been numerous difficulties. irvoyance and Telepathy were good abilities, but they were hardly helpful directly inbat. Moreover, Yongsan was a battleground with a gigantic Gate right in front of them. It was a crucial point where numerous factions would engage in battles. ¡°¡What do you think? Regressor.¡± The Awakened, who had ovee countless hardships and survived until the very end, was now looking at me with eyes mixed with anxiety and restlessness. ¡°Did I fulfil my role until the end?¡± ¡°¡¡± I inadvertently clenched my fist. Various thoughts raced through my mind. After a moment of silence, I answered. ¡°Yes. You were perfect. Even I, as the Regressor, waspletely deceived.¡± ¡°¡¡± ¡°Thanks to you, the crime rate among the Awakened in this country was remarkably low. It was rtively easy for the Awakened to cooperate with each other to respond to the Gates. Your efforts were not in vain.¡± Ultimately, we couldn¡¯t prevent the world from ending. But at that moment, just like now, I didn¡¯t mention to the Saintess about the hundreds of ways our world could face its end. At least with the Saintess around, there was no dominance of Awakened superiority in thisnd. There were rtively fewer cases of cults like Shinbul or Revivalism causing chaos. ¡°¡Indeed, it¡¯s fortunate.¡± Upon hearing my response, the Saintess slumped back in her chair, emitting a small sigh of relief. Somehow, that sigh sounded to my ears like the sound of a goldfish swimming for a long time underwater and finally exhaling a bubble of foam. From then on, we closely discussed how we would cooperate with each other. I believe our rtionship was already established at this point. From the 36th to the 1183rd encounter, the Saintess had almost always been a reliable ally, guarding my back. ¡°What should I call you? Regressor¡ If I call you that, your identity as a regressor might identally be revealed.¡± The Saintess stroked her chin. ¡°Hero?¡± I immediately waved my hand. ¡°No, hero is a bit¡ Just call me Priest.¡± Aside from the embarrassment associated with the title of hero, there was also a mental illness rted to it that made me sick. We¡¯ll talk about this peculiar mental illnesster. ¡°Okay, got it. Then I¡¯ll call you Mr. Priest from now on.¡± ¡°That¡¯s morefortable and good. By the way.¡± As we were about to part ways, I asked. ¡°By the way, isn¡¯t it impossible to impersonate a Constetion with just irvoyance and Telepathy? You have to observe multiple people simultaneously and send messages. Do you have another ability?¡± ¡°Oh, that¡¯s¡¡± The Saintess hesitated, then chuckled softly. ¡°That¡¯s a secret. I¡¯ll tell youter.¡± Unfortunately, the ter¡± the Saintess mentioned didn¡¯t mean in the timeline of the 36th encounter. To reveal her final secret, I would need many more encounters. 5 This story has an afterword. Starting from the 36th run, forming an alliance with the Saintess as soon as I began my regression became the basic tech tree, almost like setting up a fortress in a game of Go. Apart from the early stages of regression, there were practically no more instances of the Constetion sending me ¡°countless requests for handshakes¡± as they did before. It was one of those days when I spent time feeling slightly nostalgic about that fact. Around the time of the 134th Run, a message window appeared before me after a long time. [The Operator of Infinite Revels announces the urrence of a new event.] I blinked my eyes. The name of the Constetion was very unfamiliar. Infinite Revels? Does it mean ¡®the one who manages the joy of all things¡¯ when interpreted? ¡°Seems like the Saintess yed a prank out of boredom.¡± I casually dismissed the message, not considering it too important since messages like this only came once. A few dayster, during a strategy meeting with the Saintess, I asked. Not because I was particrly curious, but just as a light icebreaker during the meeting. ¡°Oh, by the way, why did you suddenly impersonate a strange Constetion a few days ago?¡± ¡°Huh?¡± ¡°A week ago. You sent a message under the name of the Operator of Infinite Revels. I was a bit surprised, thinking even the Saintess can make mistakes. Did you send me a message that was meant for another Constetion?¡± ¡°Hmm?¡± The Saintess tilted her head. ¡°I¡¯ve never sent such a message.¡± ¡°Really?¡± ¡°I¡¯ve never even created a Constetion called the Operator of Infinite Revels.¡± A shiver ran down my spine. The Saintess¡¯s face remained calm, as if she didn¡¯t know about my condition. At least, she didn¡¯t seem to be lying. Somehow, it felt like the temperature around me dropped suddenly. ¡°Could it be that you misread it, Priest?¡± ¡°¡¡± Suddenly, I felt as if I were standing on the edge of a deep abyss, with a giant shadow passing swiftly beneath me. ¡There were still many mysteries in this world that I didn¡¯t know about. [Proofreader ¨C Pr?ks] Chapter 5 â€“ Hero Chapter 5 ¨C Hero [Proofreader ¨C Pr?ks] Chapter 5 ¨C Hero 1 In this world, there are many mysteries unknown to me, but among them, there are quite a few cases deliberately left as unsolved mysteries by me. Today, I want to lightly touch upon such an episode¡. Although it may seem a bit out of the blue, I want to start by asking this question first. Do you happen to enjoy fantasy genres? I do. And while opinions may vary among people, I personally believe that if a Saintess appears in a fantasy work, the profession of ¡®Hero¡¯ tends toe along with it. These two professions are like chocte and mint. They must always be observed simultaneously and from the same position to make a dishplete. ¡But what if thebination of the two ingredients goes awry? If the ratio of chocte to mint copses from 1:1 to 1:3? Or if the copse elerates to 1:81, 1:729? It¡¯s no longer mint chocte. Just in mint. For the record, I quite like mint chocte, but I detest mint alone. In that sense, the world I¡¯m living in could be considered a kind of failed dish. In other words¡ª There are too many heroes in this world. 2 ¡°Excuse me? Excuse me? Can you hear me?¡± ¡°Ugh¡.¡± If you were walking down the street and happened to witness people copsing here and there, and still had enough kindness left to gently shake someone¡¯s shoulder and tell them to snap out of it, rather than taking advantage of the situation by stealing people¡¯s wallets and even going as far as cutting their throats, and if, on top of that, the ce was in the middle of a city on the Korean Penins that had already experienced a Gate incident over 13 years ago. Then you would roughly have a 6% chance of encountering such a reaction. ¡°Where is this¡?¡± ¡°Oh, are youing to your senses? Phew. Sir, you shouldn¡¯t copse on the street like this, especially in this cold weather.¡± ¡°Where¡ is this? It can¡¯t be. Is it¡ Earth?¡± Because I witnessed it. The miracle of a passerby who had just copsed moments ago suddenly getting up and looking around at the subway station¡ no, the za. ¡°Yes?¡± ¡°Um, sir. Do you happen to know what year it is right now?¡± But when I asked, he answered. ¡°It doesn¡¯t make sense. It¡¯s clearly been 20 years, but in reality, it¡¯s barely been a year¡?¡± He said with a bewildered expression, his eyes trembling with unfocused focus. If you were a normal person, you would naturally feel something eerie and run away. Even if you¡¯ve never encountered a crazy person in your life, crazy people are like cow dung¡ªyou recognize them instantly as soon as you see them. Unfortunately, living as a regressor for far too long had slightly damaged my senses. Instead of my brain screaming ¡®run away right now,¡¯ it mistakenly typed ¡®feel curious¡¯ as I observed. ¡°No. What¡¯s going on?¡± ¡°¡I, just a moment ago, was in a ce called the Sintara Continent. It was a ce where mana and aura existed.¡± Those were services introduced to the Earth server after the Gate incident, but they didn¡¯t really catch on. ¡°Have you experienced dimensional travel?¡± ¡°Yes, exactly. I was summoned there and given the title of a Hero. I embarked on a quest with my precious¡ truly preciousrades to defeat the Demon Lord.¡± To dismiss it as a mere lie would be too dismissive; a profound sadness lingered in his earnest, bitter reminiscence. Above all, there was one particr aspect that caught my attention. ¡°A Demon Lord? You defeated the Demon Lord?¡± ¡°Oh, yes. In the end¡ there were sacrifices from me and myrades, but we managed to subdue it somehow.¡± ¡°Hmm.¡± If the person had truly fallen into another dimension and spent nearly 20 years fighting on the battlefield, and even reconciled with their party members to defeat formidable enemies¡ this would mean they were a perfect ¡®veteran.¡¯ And to me, as a physician, such veteran Awakeneds were desperately needed. Very desperately. ¡°But after I was critically injured and my teammates, the priest and mage, saw me dying, they said, ¡®You can¡¯t die here, Hero. We¡¯ll send you back to your original world before your breath ceases¡¡¯ They promised to send me back before I died, but now, how can I live alone in a world without them¡?¡± Warm tears welled up in the man¡¯s eyes. ¡°I wanted to die with myrades. Now, how can I survive alone in a world without you guys¡?¡± Even his affection for hisrades passed. With faint hope, my heart pounded. Could it be that, by chance, I had unknowingly picked up a candidate for an epic warrior? ¡°Ah, I see. That¡¯s regrettable. If it wouldn¡¯t be too much trouble, could you demonstrate your mana or aura here?¡± ¡°Huh? Oh, yes, of course. I¡¯m an examiner¡ Huh?!¡± The man suddenly clutched his forehead. The smartphone he had been tightly holding in his left hand fell to the ground. ¡°Ugh¡¡± ¡°Just a moment. Why are you doing that? What¡¯s wrong?¡± ¡°My mind¡ My, my memories. They¡¯re fading! The memories of the 20 years I spent on the Sintara Continent, the journey with myrades, my¡ love¡ they¡¯re disappearing, bing fainter¡ No, noooo!¡± Just so you know, when I tell a story to someone, I don¡¯t mix in any exaggerations. So, when the bearded man suddenly grabbed his head with both hands and let out a gut-wrenching scream, it was all part of the moving true documentary. At this point, it btedly urred to me that perhaps the other person might simply be a crazy person. ¡°Uh, sir?¡± ¡°¡.¡± ¡°Hello?¡± I waved my hand in front of him, but the man stood there in a daze for quite some time. Leaving him like this didn¡¯t seem right, so I picked up the smartphone that had fallen to the ground. ¡°Hmm?¡± The smartphone was still on, and it was connected to a websitemunity for Awakeneds. We¡¯ll talk about thismunityter. What¡¯s important now is the content of the post disyed on the man¡¯s smartphone screen. ©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤ Anonymous: [SYSTEM] Clicking on this post will take you to the¡¶Otherworld¡·. Hero. The fact that you are reading this post means that you have safely returned to your homnd. You sacrificed yourself to protect our world, even though you knew it would be a painful memory for you someday. We saw you suffering after losing yourrades in the final battle against the Demon Lord. We have decided to erase your memories and send you back to your original world. You may use us of being selfish. But we¡ Didn¡¯t want to see you suffer. Well then, farewell. ¨C P.S. We apologize, Hero. Due to the imperfection of our magic, you may feel like you¡¯ve lost something. ©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤ ¡°¡.¡± I went to the fridgete at night to heat up the frozen pizza I had saved, only to realize, like a college student living alone who noticed they had left the fridge door open by mistake during the day. Then, I heard murmuring beside me. ¡°Huh?¡± The man¡ ¡°Why are you crying?¡± He was shedding tears¡ Even though he seemed to be trying to suppress them, as if he didn¡¯t want to cry, his lips twisted oddly, as if trying to force a smile¡ He sobbed. ¡°Why on earth am I crying¡? I hate it. It feels like¡ I¡¯ve lost something precious¡¡± ¡°¡.¡± Sigh. I handed the man his smartphone and quietly left. Without a word. Without a sound. Without looking back. It was the practiced technique of a seasoned regressionist. And so, I safely distanced myself from the lunatic. But unfortunately, the lunatic didn¡¯t want to distance himself from me. More precisely, the lunatics didn¡¯t want to distance themselves from me. ¡°Huh? Where am I¡?¡± ¡°I¡¯m not Kim Junyoung from Anyang! I¡¯m Namgoong Muncheong, a disciple of the Namgoong n!¡± ¡°Please, send me back to that world¡ Why are there tears?¡± Oh, for¡! The first time I witnessed such a phenomenon was in the 118th Run. Since then, in any given episode, I asionally encountered the so-called ¡®returnees¡¯ with a 6% chance, and they always showed the same reaction. The reasons for ending up in this world were varied. Some experienced regression, some possessed, and some reincarnated. It was a total mess, what I¡¯d call a ¡®rebirth-crisis-party¡¯. I, Undertaker, have experienced all sorts of things in my long life, but this was a particrly unique spectacle. ¡°Good grief.¡± It wasn¡¯t until dozens of episodester, after enough data had been collected, that I finally realized this wasn¡¯t just some surreptitious camera prank pulled by one or two lunatics, but something serious¡ªa societal phenomenon. The so-called ¡®Hero Syndrome.¡¯ They were monsters of the mental interference type. 3 ¡°Monsters?¡± And so, in the 161st Run, I immediately began devising a n. After hearing the exnation about the ¡®Hero Syndrome,¡¯ the Saintess who had always served as my consultant asked a question. ¡°Is it possible for monsters to not have a material form, Doctor?¡± ¡°Yes, it¡¯s possible.¡± I nodded. ¡°In fact, those that are immaterial or don¡¯t adhere to thews of physics are even more dangerous. So, calling them anomalies rather than monsters is more fitting.¡± ¡°Indeed. The Hero Syndrome¡ Monsters that exist in the form of mental illnesses, or rather, anomalies.¡± The Saintess¡¯s emotionless voice subtly betrayed a hint of difort, like a nostalgic scent. By the way, this person had a strong tendency to be a shut-in and was always holed up at home. In the living room of the Saintess¡¯s house, the sound of bubbles popping in an aquarium echoed like part of the interior for a while. ¡°¡Then how should we deal with these anomalies? If they don¡¯t have a material body, we can¡¯t kill them.¡± ¡°Well, in cases like these, it¡¯s not about principles but about heresy, in other words, we may have to resort to unorthodox methods.¡± In truth, there might not even be a need to subdue them. The Saintess stared nkly. ¡°If it¡¯s unorthodox methods?¡± I turned on my smartphone. ¡°Do you see this message?¡± ¡°Yes? Uh, yes. It says if you click on this message¡¡± ¡°All the confirmed cases of Hero Syndrome patients were found copsed after clicking on this message. It¡¯s likely that the anomaly is spreading through this inte post.¡± ¡°¡Are you saying it¡¯s a case of online contagion? My goodness. In the era of COVID, jokes have be reality.¡± The Saintess, lost in thought again, briefly raised her head. ¡°So, does that mean I¡¯ve also been infected just now?¡± ¡°No, you haven¡¯t. This message is just a nonsense post I anonymously uploaded to themunity¡ So, it¡¯s nothing more than a mimicry of a real post. Rest assured.¡± ¡°Ah.¡± I chuckled softly as I watched the serene Saintess. ¡°But within this seemingly mundane post lies a clever method to fend off strange spirits of the mind.¡± ¡°¡?¡± From that day on, Themunity board for Awakeneds was flooded with relentless posts. ¨C Anonymous: [SYSTEM] Click on this post to be transported to the¡¶Otherworld¡·. (Views: 56) ¨C Anonymous: [SYSTEM] Click on this post to be transported to the¡¶Otherworld¡·. (Views: 17) ¨C Anonymous: [SYSTEM] Click on this post to be transported to the¡¶Otherworld¡·. (Views: 34) ¨C Anonymous: [SYSTEM] Click on this post to be transported to the¡¶Otherworld¡·. (Views: 11) Like it was deliberate, posts kept popping up incessantly, without pause, with the same title. It was the power of macros. Naturally, the members of the forum were bewildered. ¨C Anonymous: What¡¯s going on? ¨C [Samcheon] Officer: What¡¯s happening? ¨C Anonymous: What¡¯s this concept again? At first, members clicked on the posts just to see what the fuss was about, leading to some posts even surpassing 50 views. But the steady stream of posts that poured out without any change in content quickly turned into objects of aversion. ¨C LiteraryGirl: Seriously, who keeps writing these boring posts? There¡¯s no fun or excitement. No emotion either. ¨C [Baekhwa] 6th Grader: Huhu (?_?) ¨C dolLHoUse: Childish. ¨C Anonymous: What are the moderators doing? They¡¯re not cutting off those posts. ©¸ [Samcheon] WitchJudge: Maybe from the moderators¡¯ perspective, they don¡¯t see these posts as worth cutting off? It happens often. ©¸ Anonymous: Ugh¡ ¨C ZERO_SUGAR: How about you all set up some keywords to block them¡? I blocked them and it¡¯s so nice not seeing anything^^ ¨C Anonymous: Blocked. Views 10, views 6, views 3. Finally, the views on the steady posts dropped to 0. asionally, there would be a view count of 1. But after over 13 years of relentless macro posting, eventually, all members active on the board had blocked ¡°Otherworld¡± as a keyword. ¨C Anonymous: [SYSTEM] Click on this post to be transported to the¡¶Otherworld¡·. (Views: 0) ¨C Anonymous: [SYSTEM] Click on this post to be transported to the¡¶Otherworld¡·. (Views: 0) A beautiful matrix of zeros. The Saintess who was observing themunity alongside me expressed a slight admiration. ¡°Indeed. Without necessarily exterminating the strange entities themselves, simply eliminating the exposed individuals can achieve the same effect as ¡®subjugation.''¡± ¡°Yes. While physical entities can freely approach us, entities without bodies lose their strength simply by ¡®disappearing¡¯ from the perception of people.¡± ¡°Indeed. It¡¯s an effective method. It could be called truly pragmatic¡ A simple yet adept approach.¡± ¡°Thank you.¡± Originally, only Awakeneds could post on thismunity. However, interference from entities using various cunning tactics to meddle in themunity had to be taken into consideration. And now, regardless of the methods these entities used to post, they would have no effect on the members. Well, perhaps a member who, just for the sake of curiosity, temporarily lifted the block could identally click on a post¡ But for every one post the entity made, the macro would generate a hundred identical ones. What would be the probability of a member identally lifting the block, then coincidentally clicking on one out of hundreds of steady posts, and then further coincidentally encountering one that was a genuine post infected with the ¡®Hero Syndrome¡¯ after breaking through a 1/100 chance? Even if there were a victim, it would be akin to boarding a ne and experiencing a crash. In other words, an unfortunate ident. No matter how much of a regressor I am, I cannot control all probabilities. Besides, even if someone were infected, it wouldn¡¯t cause much harm in the grand scheme of things. Thus, once again, I had sessfully sealed another entity smoothly. ¡°However¡ Doctor.¡± ¡°Yes?¡± ¡°What if it¡¯s not a mental illness but actually real? What if those who truly witnessed the posts were transported to another dimension, faced some kind of life-threatening situation, and returned to the real world thanks to theirrades?¡± ¡°The probability of that happening would likely be low.¡± Or rather, close to 0%. ¡°Why do you think so?¡± ¡°It¡¯s just from my own experience. All those people spend about 20 years on a journey, and then they im to have defeated the demon king and saved the world. From what I¡¯ve experienced, I know very well that it¡¯s impossible to save the world in just 20 years.¡± ¡°Ah¡¡± ¡°Most of all, even if there were a one in a million chance of another dimension, it¡¯s not something I need to worry about. Shouldn¡¯t we focus on saving our own world with all our might?¡± The Saintess seemed to understand my words as she calmly nodded. ¡°Indeed. You¡¯re right.¡± Sipping my caf¨¦ auit, I nced back at the forum screen once again. ¨C Anonymous: [SYSTEM] Click on this post to be transported to the¡¶Otherworld¡·. (Views: 0) Even without running the macro, the post that had just been automatically generated showed a view count of 0. Probably forevermore. [Proofreader ¨C Pr?ks] Chapter 6 â€“ Operator I Chapter 6 ¨C Operator I [Proofreader ¨C Gun] Chapter 6 ¨C Operator I 1 How long I survive during a specific run varies greatly. There are days when I enjoy a day-to-day life, dying in just one day after reruning, or enduring for over 20 years only to freeze to death. There are times when I get stabbed with a squid bread by an alien and die in my 9th year, or experience the feelings of a dinosaur by dying from being hit by a meteorite falling to Earth in my 7th year. Even I, who received the benefits of a regressor, have experienced this. How much worse could it be for others? Most Awakeneds couldn¡¯t evenst 2, 5 or 10 years, let alone 20 years, before dying. If they had strength, they died because of it, and if theycked it, they died because of it too. In a copsing world, the reasons for death were diverse, and everyday life was synonymous with cause of death. But there was one person who died faster than any other Awakened. Commonly known as SG Guy. Of course, ¡®SG Guy¡¯ was not his real name. It was just a short way of saying ¡®Fucking Bullshit Guy¡¯, nothing more than a nickname I came up with in my mind. I found out SG Guy¡¯s real name in the 50th run. 2 The fastest-dying human in the world. That¡¯s the image I have of SG Guy. If I were to introduce his story, first and foremost, I would need to describe the scenery I see right after regressing. ¡°What, where am I? What¡¯s this ce?¡± ¡°Oh? Busan Station? I was in the park just a moment ago¡¡± ¡°Master? Master, where are you?¡± Every time I start regressing, I wake up in the main hall of Busan Station. Other than me, 398 ordinary people were forcibly summoned here. By the way, there were no rules to the summons. There were even Japanese people dragged all the way from Fukuoka. As hundreds of people panicked at the sudden run of events, something suddenly appeared in the air with a pop! ¡°Ah, hello there! Everyone!¡± It was the fairy of the tutorial. A character that looked like it had just jumped out of a 2D world into reality, transformed into a 3D character. ¡°Oh my, the numbers are a bit lower¡ Anyway, I¡¯m sure you¡¯re all surprised to be suddenly summoned here, right? But don¡¯t worry! I¡¯ll kindly guide you through everything from the beginning!¡± Despite the fairy¡¯s apologies, it was hard not to worry. First of all, the way it spoke seemed like that of an idiot. Unknown people¡¯s manner of speaking was like the ink printed by a printer called personality, so if the ink was a mess, it was reasonable to assume there was a serious problem with the printer. But a slightly more serious problem was the fairy floating in the air. Human civilization hadn¡¯t matured enough to amodate extraterrestrial beings floating in the air without any devices. As a result, screams of ¡°Ah!¡± erupted from all corners of the main hall. ¡°Oh! It¡¯s okay, it¡¯s okay! Now then. I¡¯ll exin this and that to you all! Have you all received basic education? I¡¯m the homeroom teacher of ss B in Busan Station¡¯s main hall! As much as you all diligently listen to me, I¡¯ll also treat you kindly. Now then¡¡± ¡°You fucking bastard!¡± Everyone paused. A majestic roar reverberated. ¡°What bullshit is that!¡± He seemed to be in his early twenties. A man with tattoos on his arms, disying his biceps, was berating the fairy. Yes. He was none other than SG Guy, the Fucking Bullshit Guy. ¡°Hey¡ yes?¡± ¡°That fucking bastard! If you suddenly bring people here, you should at least apologize first instead of spouting nonsense!¡± SG Guy¡¯s voice was very intimidating. The citizens around him even took a step back unconsciously. Even the fairy stumbled at the overly enthusiastic scolding. ¡°No, hey. That wasn¡¯t something I did, I¡¯m just a regr staff member¡¡± ¡°That fucking bastard!¡± The fairy flinched. By now, you might have figured out that there was a reason why I called him SG Guy. He was the type of guy who couldn¡¯t utter a word without decorating it with the word ¡®fucking¡¯. A guy with a rustic diction that only those who have worked in tough conditions can truly understand. ¡°Anyway, you said you¡¯re a staff member! Huh? No apology?¡± ¡°Well¡ these kinds of people are rare nowadays, I heard from the seniors. Even humans have be wicked and won¡¯t be provoked¡¡± The fairy looked distressed. Suddenly, a notebook appeared in his hand. He flipped through the pages, muttering. ¡°How should I respond in this situation?¡± ¡°Ah, here it is.¡± ¡°That fucking bastard! Making fun of people?¡± ¡°Hey.¡± The fairy lightly waved his wand (which had somehow been summoned). SG Guy¡¯s head exploded with a bang. ¡°Are we done now? Alright! Everyone, follow my lead!¡± The fairy grinned widely, like a child expecting their prank to be well-received. What the fairy failed to consider was the average sensibility of the people gathered here. In other words, it was also called morality or ethics. ¡°Hieeeek!¡± The protagonist of this amusing scream was Shim Aryeon (I know the names of all the survivors in Busan Station¡¯s main hall). Unfortunately, he happened to be near SG Guy and was the one covered in a lot of fresh blood. ¡°S-Someone died¡! Someone! Arghh, he¡¯s dead! Sob! Someone, he¡¯s dead!¡± As soon as he was covered in blood, he ran away faster than anyone else. Stter, st! Blood and intestines sprayed everywhere as he fled. The grotesque sight made people realize the reality. ¡°Aaah!¡± ¡°It¡¯s murder! Murder!¡± ¡°Run away!¡± Close to four hundred people followed Shim Aryeon and started fleeing helter-skelter. The fairy gestured with ¡°Oops,¡± ¡°Over there,¡± ¡°Go there,¡± ¡°Wait,¡± but instead of calming people, it only instilled more fear. In the end, within seconds, only about ten people, including myself, were left in the main hall. ¡°¡¡± ¡°Uh¡¡± The fairy looked distressed. ¡°The guideline was wed! It said that if we eliminate just one example, everyone else would calm down!¡± SG Guy¡¯s body, with his head deleted,y alone on the main hall floor. Then I went into the souvenir shop alone to farm my exclusive item, the silver droplet. Now, everyone will understand why I didn¡¯t know SG Guy¡¯s real name. He was the ¡®extra¡¯ who stood up to the tutorial fairy and was executed, amon trope in novels. That was SG Guy¡¯s identity. 3 Honestly, I never felt any emotion towards SG Guy. Regardless of which run it was, SG Guy always went on a rampage against the fairy. Despite my life taking various routes through regressions, the initial event of ¡®SG Guy dying by the fairy¡¯s hand¡¯ always urred. ¡®¡What if I save that guy?¡¯ So, it wouldn¡¯t be strange for me to suddenly feel curious. ¡®Yeah. Let¡¯s try saving him.¡¯ Just in case, you never know, right? I tried saving him and awakening him, what if he runs out to be the teleporter Old Scho had longed for? By the way, I was very inclined to follow my curiosity. I wasn¡¯t always like this, but after going through regressions, my personality seemed to change on its own. At the 50th run, I decided to satisfy my curiosity. ¡°Ah, hello there! Everyone! Oh? The numbers seem a bit low¡ Anyway, I¡¯m sure you¡¯re all surprised to be suddenly summoned here, right? But¨D¡± But the one who was truly surprised was the fairy. [Proofreader ¨C Gun] The reason was simple. I leaped up to the fairy¡¯s nose in an instant. ¡°Huh?¡± My shadow fell over the fairy¡¯s surprised face. I didn¡¯t particrly feel sorry. Before the fairy could even close its eyelids, my rough palm grabbed its head. I rotated my hand once, filled with strong energy. There was a bang, like a joke. The fairy¡¯s small head exploded. It was quite a paradoxical end for the fairy, who had always exploded other humans¡¯ heads. ¡°Huh?¡± ¡°What just happened¡?¡± People murmured as they looked at mending on the floor. It was truly a fleeting conflict. As it was still early in my regression, there probably weren¡¯t any witnesses who had followed the fight between the fairy and me closely. Oh, by the way, I reced not only the head but also the rest of the body. People probably only perceived it as ¡®a small creature appearing in the air suddenly disappearing.¡¯ ¡°Huh?¡± SG Guy, who had just opened his mouth to explode, was also making a surprised noise with his gaping mouth. I approached him and greeted him politely. ¡°Hello.¡± ¡°Huh? Oh, yes¡ Hello?¡± For the first time, I heard something other than ¡®Hey, you fucking bastard¡¯ from SG Guy. It was a somewhat historic moment. 4 Indeed, SG Guy was quite the tough guy. ¡°Who are you?¡± He addressed me as ¡®you.¡¯ I could feel his readiness to hold onto his pride and guts while still maintaining politeness. But when he witnessed me swiftly dispatching the monster that appeared at Busan Station, ¡®you¡¯ runed into ¡®you,¡¯ and as the number of monster heads I severed exceeded fifty, it runned into ¡®¡¡¯ [PR/N: Korean has ¡°formal/polite¡± tone which you use to strangers/elders, and ¡°infromal/casual¡± tone which you use with friends.] Finally, when I cleared the gate, the form of address changed slightly more dramatically. ¡°Um¡ Sir?¡± ¡°Yes?¡± SG Guy scrutinized myplexion. ¡°You seemed pretty impressive dealing with those monsters. Why would someone like you bother bringing someone like me along?¡± ¡°There are two answers. One is the truth, but may not be believable, and the other is a lie, but may be eptable. Which one would you like to hear?¡± ¡°Huh? Um¡ the truth?¡± ¡°I¡¯m a regressor and am currently repeating the world for the 50th time, and every time, you die in the waiting room. I¡¯m curious about who you are and decided to save you this time to find out.¡± ¡°Oh¡?¡± SG Guy¡¯s face, which had been looking at me with a mixture of admiration and fear, instantly twisted. If the sentence ¡®What the fuck, you nerd¡¯ could be expressed with facial muscles, it would probably look like that. I felt somewhat embarrassed. The 35th run, when I met the Saintess, was a kind of runing point, and since then, I had asionally mentioned that I was a regressor. Yet, apart from the Saintess, no one had believed me so far. Why was that? ¡°In fact, I am a member of Special Forces Team 5, which has been preparing for such situations at the National Intelligence Service for a long time. I request your cooperation.¡± ¡°Ah, I see.¡± ¡°It¡¯s a bitte for introductions. I am codenamed Field Medic. May I know your name?¡± ¡°I¡¯m Seo Gyu. Sir. Please feel free to call me.¡± ¡°Is that so?¡± Seo Gyu. That was SG Guy¡¯s real name. I realized how important panionship¡¯ was on the journey to prevent the destruction of the world. So, I actively recruited and gathered promising candidates to grow into A-ss Awakeneds. The 50th run was no different. I traveled with Seo Gyu and recruited more party members along the way. I had already grasped through countless runs how to maximize the efficiency of their abilities, so my party members grew day by day. ¡°¡I seem tock talent, sir.¡± Seo Gyu did not enjoy the benefits of being a regressor. It was natural. Surviving the tutorial and forming a party with me were all first-time experiences for Seo Gyu. I didn¡¯t even know what abilities he would awaken. It wasn¡¯t feasible to provide one-on-one tutoring. ¡°Ah, damn. Why do the others grow so well, but not me¡?¡± On the other hand, from Seo Gyu¡¯s perspective, he would have felt like a tremendously talentless underachiever. All his peers were A-ss prodigies, genius-like beings, so naturally, he would feel inferior byparison. But I knew very well how to deal with such situations. ¡°Saintess.¡± ¡°Yes?¡± ¡°Could you send a message to Seo Gyu for me?¡± The Saintess of the Salvation. It was time for my legendary pokemon, which I had been hiding away, to make its appearance. At my request, the Saintess asionally sent messages to the party members, sometimes nudging them, sometimes cheering them on. [The Lord of the Crimson Horse believes in your true talents!] [The Conqueror of the Alps dispels your doubts.] Naturally, I had been gathering information about my party members: family rtions, education, past traumas, skills, and so on. All this information was passed on to the Saintess. Based on this first-ss personal data, the Saintess provided psychological counseling to the trainees. Legally, it would be considered a breach of privacy, but after the copse of civilization, privacyws had lost some of their effectiveness. In fact, even before the copse, they weren¡¯t very well enforced. Furthermore, the Saintess was an S-ss Awakened with the ability of ¡®irvoyance.¡¯ With my information,bined with hers, the party members had no doubt that there really were Constetions of power who observed their every move. But when these Constetions of power vouched for their abilities? ¡°I will train hard and awaken my abilities without fail!¡± Seo Gyu had no choice but to ignite his determination. Our two-pronged strategy, the coboration between me and the Saintess, was perfect. As for questions about brainwashing and gaslighting, I¡¯ll plead the fifth. Before long, one night, Seo Gyu came to me secretly, away from the other party members. His face was very serious. ¡°Um, sir.¡± ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡± ¡°I think I awakened my abilityst night.¡± Finally! I felt a surge of anticipation. The sacrifice of the tutorial. The man who exited the stage before anyone else in all 50 regressions. What would his ability be? Offensive? Defensive? Either way, I was confident that my curiosity would be satisfied. I shook hands with Seo Gyu. ¡°Congrattions. I always believed you¡¯d make it someday.¡± ¡°Th-thank you. It¡¯s all thanks to you, sir.¡± ¡°So, what¡¯s the ability?¡± ¡°Um, well¡ How should I exin this, sir?¡± Seo Gyu¡¯s grip on my hand was weak. His expression was subtle. Despite achieving the awakening he had longed for, he didn¡¯t seem particrly pleased. ¡®Guess it was a letdown after all.¡¯ Seeing his face, I too folded ayer of expectation in my heart. Superior abilities weren¡¯t something that just showed up easily. ¡°So, what¡¯s the deal? Just spit it out clearly.¡± ¡°Well, it¡¯s just that¡ It¡¯s a bit ambiguous to exin in words¡ Sir, do you carry a cellphone with you? Could you take a look for a moment?¡± ¡°A cellphone?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± I expressed my doubts but obediently took out my smartphone. The cellphone was dead. It had been six months since the Gate incident, and mostmunication devices had be useless. Phones, inte, radios, radars ¨C you name it, they were all contaminated by the anomalies. ¡°Would you mind runing on the inte and essing the address I¡¯m about to give you?¡± ¡°Hmm¡?¡± And then I witnessed something astounding. Inte ess, which should have been impossible, was now avable. I felt a sense of wonder for the first time in a while as I manipted the smartphone. The inte was still shown as dead, and other apps didn¡¯t work either. But somehow, the site essed ording to Seo Gyu¡¯s instructions was working perfectly fine. ¡°What¡¯s this¡?¡± It was a bulletin board-style website. The design was as crude as during the early days of PCmunication. Seo Gyu spoke with embarrassment, as if showing a childhood drawing to someone. ¡°S-so, this is the ability I awakened. Website operation.¡± [Proofreader ¨C Gun] Chapter 7 â€“ Operator II Chapter 7 ¨C Operator II [Proofreader ¨C Gun] Chapter 7 ¨C Operator II ¡°Website operation?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± ¡It was an ability I had never heard of before. Considering that Seo Gyu¡¯s survival itself was unprecedented, it was natural in a way, but even a simr ability was unheard of. ¡°Specifically, what kind of ability is it?¡± ¡°Well. It means I can create a website with just one domain name, and anyone can ess it.¡± My eyes widened. ¡°What? Anyone? From anywhere?¡± ¡°Oh, yes.¡± In contrast to me, Seo Gyu¡¯s voice grew quieter. A gloomy emotion seeped out. It was clear he had no idea what value his awakened ability held. ¡°As an experiment, I tried creating a website yesterday. But it seems the ability needs to be mastered to upgrade the design to something decent. At this stage, I can only create old-fashioned websites like the ones elders used¡ It¡¯s not something to brag about to myrades. It¡¯s a power that doesn¡¯t help at all inbat¡¡± What did he just say? ¡°By the way, do people need your permission to sign up for this site?¡± ¡°Yes? Oh, yes. It¡¯s just that the appearance of the website follows the form of a website, but it¡¯s all like a building made with my abilities. Um, you could say my will is reflected in real-time? Will itself? Anyway, my ability hasn¡¯t fully developed yet, so if I were to create a membership system¡ Um, maybe nobody could enter without my permission¡?¡± I sighed. I casually ced my hand on his shoulder. Seo Gyu lifted his head up from its lowered position. Our eyes met. ¡°Seo Gyu. Remember when I first met you, I said I was a National Intelligence Service agent?¡± ¡°Yes¡¡± ¡°That was a lie.¡± ¡°Yes¡?¡± ¡°I lied to make it easier for you to ept. Of course, I also gave you the chance to choose the truth. But to say it again, the truth is, I¡¯m a regressor.¡± ¡°Yes?¡± ¡°Seo Gyu, why do you keepining that all our party members are geniuses while you¡¯re the onlyte bloomer? It¡¯s simple. It¡¯s because I¡¯ve recruited countless Awakeneds who have proven themselves as geniuses through my 50 regressions. But you¡¯re the first. You were an unknown lottery ticket. No, how did you not survive in the Busan Station assembly hall for all 50 iterations?¡± ¡°Yes?¡± ¡°From now on, your ability is called [Ubiquitous].¡± Ubiquitous. Derived from Latin, meaning to exist everywhere regardless of location. It¡¯s often used to express the idea of a deity existing simultaneously everywhere, but what mattered now was the fact that the origin of this expression was Latin. Latin has the magical power to make anything sound cool. ¡°In the end, most abilities are mostly about branding. Website operation? Community management? Mobilework? They¡¯re all unnecessary. You¡¯re just ubiquitous.¡± ¡°Ubiquitous¡¡± Sure enough, Seo Gyu¡¯s expression began to change. I grinned. ¡°Seo Gyu. Let¡¯s work together.¡± 4 I immediately took Seo Gyu to Yongsan. The Saintess weed us in her aquarium-like living room; it¡¯s still unsure whether this was a house for humans or a house for fish, her personal underwater shrine. She silently listened to my story all the way through, then spoke up. ¡°Amazing.¡± ¡°Isn¡¯t it?¡± As expected of the Saintess. She immediately recognized the value of Seo Gyu¡¯s ability. ¡°Wait, what¡¯s so great about my ability¡?¡± ¡°Seo Gyu, imagine if Awakeneds sign up for your site. If you make them fill out their personal information, their data will alle into your hands. You¡¯ll know everything, even what they write on the site.¡± ¡°Oh¡ but, Hyung-nim, why would those talented people want to join my site and even share their personal information¡?¡± I shook my head. ¡°They must join.¡± It hadn¡¯t even been a year since the Gate incident erupted. So Seo Gyu, along with other Awakeneds and ordinary people, were either optimistic or indifferent. They thought that not being good with the inte wouldn¡¯t ruin their lives. ¡°This world is going to be more chaotic.¡± But by the time it passed the two-year mark, everything had dramatically deteriorated. Initially, Korea was rtively calm thanks to the ¡°Saintess¡¯s y,¡± but in other countries, signs of militarization were already apparent. ¡°Seo Gyu, humans find it difficult to maintain their sanity whenmunication with the outside world is cut off. But your site isn¡¯t supported by technology; it¡¯s supported by your awakening ability, Ubiquitous. As long as you¡¯re alive, it¡¯s a ce essible to anyone at any time.¡± ¡°¡¡± ¡°Soon, evenrge guilds will recognize the value of this site. After entering the Gate, it bes a means ofmunication with the outside world.¡± ¡°I see¡¡± Seo Gyu nodded hesitantly. To me, it was a response that could only evoke a bitter smile. In my view, the caliber of an Awakened¡¯ ability was determined by how much they could ovee temporal and spatial constraints. In that sense, Seo Gyu had awakened an S-rank ability. It was perplexing to see someone bewildered even when holding a precious sword. Not only me, but even the Saintess looked incredulous without expression. ¡°Ubiquitous¡¡± ¡°Huh?¡± Correction. The Saintess was not looking at Seo Gyu, but at me. ¡°Why?¡± ¡°¡Oh, it¡¯s just that it feels strangely old-fashioned to me. I thought that¡¯s your naming preference.¡± ¡°Really? Isn¡¯t it a great name?¡± ¡°¡Sure.¡± A strange reaction indeed. Anyway, what mattered now was Seo Gyu¡¯s ability. I got to the point. ¡°They say seeing is believing. Now, let¡¯s discuss with the Saintess here and decide how to organize this site.¡± ¡°Ah, um, I¡¯ll leave it to you then¡?¡± ¡°Yes, you can leave it to me.¡± Seo Gyu awkwardly shook hands with the Saintess. Fortunately, the awkward atmosphere didn¡¯tst long. This was because not only the fact that I was a regressionist had been revealed, but also the truth that the Saintess was actually the embodiment of the Saintess. Screams echoed in the aquarium lounge. ¡°¨D¨DWhat! Th-the Saintess were all fake?¡± Seo Gyu seemed shocked. It must be dizzying to realize that all the pen pals who secretly cheered him up during tough times were virtual beings. ¡°No¡ My goodness. What are you and the doctor nning together? Are you seriously aiming for world domination¡?¡± ¡°Oh,e on. Why are you talking like it¡¯s someone else¡¯s business?¡± From now on, you¡¯re also our party member. ¡°First, Saintess, please disguise this site as a manifestation of the Saintess¡¯s ability.¡± ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°Seo Gyu, act as if you received the operation of the site from the Saintess.¡± ¡°Oh, yes, Hyung-nim.¡± The n proceeded smoothly. We worked diligently, even sucking down precious coffee. The three of us sitting in front of theputer, mumbling, turned the mystical underwater shrine into something akin to a PC bang. ¡°PC Bang¡ Fish bang. Indeed.¡± ¡°¡?¡± The Saintess turned to me at my muttering. Since her gaze seemed odd, I quickly changed the subject. ¡°Saintess, what do you think is the best way to name the site?¡± ¡°A name?¡± The diversion was sessful. ¡°¡How about [Gallery of Apocalypse]?¡± ¡°Hmm. That¡¯s excellent, but the word ¡®gallery¡¯ might evoke too specific of a site. Since we¡¯re not exactly a gallery but more like an old-fashioned members-only site or caf¨¦. What about you, Seo Gyu?¡± ¡°Uh¡ How about [Viva! The World¡¯s End!]?¡± ¡°It¡¯s a great name, but considering that this site is set up by the Saintess herself, it feels too exciting. From the perspective of modern people who are forced to fight monsters, wouldn¡¯t it be a bit annoying?¡± ¡°It¡¯s difficult¡¡± ¡°Yeah.¡± Then, a good idea popped into my head. [Proofreader ¨C Gun] Finally, two weekster. We opened the site on arge scale. ¨C The yground of Saintess! ¨C The Only Safe Inte Community! ¨C Wee to SGNet! The site name was decided as SGNet. There were several hidden meanings behind it. Firstly, SG was the nickname I used to call Seo Gyu before I knew his real name. And coincidentally, the name ¡°Seo Gyu¡± itself could be abbreviated as SG. Lastly, since the site was managed by the Saintess, it was called ¡°Saintess¡¯ yground.¡± And if you shortened ¡°Saintess¡¯ yground,¡± it was SG again. A stroke of genius in naming, aiming not just for the first hit but the second! Not only that, but perhaps I had a talent for naming hidden within me. How could one person be so versatile? Sometimes even I found it terrifying to think about. ¡°¡¡± For some reason, the Saintess had a lot to say but chose not to, giving me a look that said so, but I ignored it. Beside her, Seo Gyu wore a mncholic expression. ¡°No one else has essed the site yet, Hyung-nim¡¡± He stared endlessly at the monitor. After a fortnight, Seo Gyu had be quite ustomed to his abilities, and the site had be a bit more attractive. Of course, it was still at the level of a High-Tel-style PCmunication design, despite any improvements. Even if the design improved, it would be meaningless without anyone to look at it. But we had a nearly cost-free marketing tool. ¡°Saintess, could you advertise for us?¡± The so-called advertising agencies of the Saintess¡¯ name! ¡°Sure.¡± The Saintess sped her hands together. At that moment, the same messages flew out to all Awakeneds active in Korea. [The Nameless Constetion manifests its powers.] [The Nameless Constetion invites you!] In addition, the site address was also sent via message. Seo Gyu silently watched the monitor with a tense expression. Before long, the number of visitors disyed at the top of the site increased exponentially. ¡°Ten¡ Ny¡ Two hundred. Five hundred? Wow. No, how many Awakeneds are there in Korea¡?¡± Seo Gyu muttered. But Seo Gyu¡¯s amazement would have been nothingpared to the other Awakeneds who essed SGNet. It was clear how shocked they were even beyond the monitor screen. Posts were being written one after another on the previously emptymunity. -Anonymous: Why can I ess this site normally? Is it a weird site? (2) -Anonymous: I came after receiving the call of the constetion. (0) -Anonymous: Does anyone know who the Nameless Constetion is? (15) -Anonymous: Wow, I wasn¡¯t the only one who received the message. (1) The tone of the users¡¯ments was generally mild, perhaps because the site was known to have been created by a constetion. While the Awakeneds were confused, they posted andmented among themselves, observing the situation. The numbers (2), (15) behind the posts indicated the number ofments. However, there were still non-members, known as ¡°Anonymous,¡± who hadn¡¯t registered yet, and were active on the site. ¡°Seo Gyu, it¡¯s time.¡± ¡°Oh, okay. Hyung-nim, I¡¯ll do it!¡± Seo Gyu posted an announcement under the member nickname ¡°Operator.¡± The content of the announcement was simple: ©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤ 1. You can ess this site anytime, anywhere. 2. The Nameless Constetion created SGNet for amusement. I am their representative. 3. As members¡¯ activities be more active, SGNet will develop. Think of members as followers, andmunity activities as acts of faith. The stronger your ¡°faith,¡± the stronger the power of the constetion who has descended to earth. 4. Non-members can only use SGNet for one hour a day, while members can use it without restrictions. Please understand the distinction between non-believers and believers. 5. ¡°The Nameless Constetion¡± asks nothing from you exceptmunity activity. 6. Your personal information is strictly protected. ©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤ Except for number 1, the announcement was entirely false from start to finish. As soon as the announcement went up, non-members stirred. Within moments, dozens or even hundreds ofments appeared under the announcement post. -Anonymous: Is it true that you¡¯re the representative of the Constetion? -ChefKing: Operator, how can I be a disciple of the Constetion? -Anonymous: Smart. -GoryeoJang: Why do these people talk like idiots here? -Anonymous: How can we believe this is real? Couldn¡¯t this also be a prank by a weirdo? Some Awakeneds had alreadypleted their registration. First, ¡°ChefKing¡± and ¡°GoryeoJang¡± were registered as members faster than anyone else, and upon seeing this, other non-members sneakily joined as well. ¡°Is this really happening¡?¡± Seo Gyu eximed with wide-eyed amazement. While doing so, he continuously moved his fingers to record the personal information of the members in a text file. asionally, there were movements among the non-members who doubted the truthfulness of the announcement, but for such Awakeneds, a message from the constetion was waiting. [¡°Master of the Red Cloak¡± confirms that despite their difort, the words of that constetion are indeed true.] [¡®Saintess of Salvation¡¯ advises many Awakeneds that prolonged inte ess has negative effects on real life.] This is using the names of other Constetions to guarantee the authenticity of SGNet. With this, even the most skeptical Awakeneds couldn¡¯t help but be swayed. The overwhelming number of non-members initially soon began to convert into members. As a flood of information poured in from numerous Awakeneds, Seo Gyu couldn¡¯t contain his excitement. ¡°Wow. This is it, Hyung-nim.¡± ¡°You did well.¡± I patted Seo Gyu on the shoulder. ¡°But it¡¯s not over, it¡¯s just the beginning.¡± ¡°¡?¡± Seo Gyu seemed not to understand the meaning of my words. Well, how could he anticipate how I would utilize SGNet from now on? ¡°Keep up the good work, Seo Gyu.¡± ¡°Yes? Oh, Hyung-nim. I¡¯ll definitely do my best!¡± Though a bit flustered, my innocent younger brother smiled brightly as he obediently followed my words. Unfortunately, the 50th cycle of the world couldn¡¯t escape destruction. However, the usefulness of SGNet was proven. It held significant meaning for the 50th cycle alone. Myself, the Saintess, and Seo Gyu. The three of us, as founders and administrators of the site, experienced truly diverse events. There are so many stories intertwined here that I¡¯ll probably mention them whenever I¡¯m bored. The significance of the 50th cycle that can be mentioned lightly is this. From this moment on, the point at which I start my regression, my actions upon opening a new cycle have changed somewhat. ¡°Hello there, everyone! Huh? There are fewer of you than expected¡ Anyway, you must be quite surprised to be summoned here all of a sudden, right? But don¡¯t worry! I¡¯m here to guide you kindly from the beginning!¡± In the past, when I woke up in Busan Station¡¯s waiting room, I used to think about how to quickly get to the caf¨¦ of the Old Scho. But not anymore. There¡¯s someone I need to save. ¡°Well then, from now on¡¡± ¡°You fucking bastard! What the hell are you talking about!¡± The thunderous roar of a lion echoed. I smiled at the familiar voice. It was like my personalized rm reminding me that life had started again. As I moved forward, determined to do my best in this cycle as well, I let out a sigh of relief that I had missed. ¡°You fucking bastard!¡± [Proofreader ¨C Gun] Chapter 8 â€“ Determinist I Chapter 8 ¨C Determinist I [Proofreader ¨C Gun] Chapter 8 ¨C Determinist I 1 When you think about the three most popr protagonists of webnovels, namely, regressors, possessors, and reincarnators, what do you think their biggest adversary is? Powerful monsters? The protagonist always defeats them anyway. Stress? Trauma? Obsessions? That¡¯s not entirely wrong. However, it¡¯s hard to see them solely as adversaries unique to regressors. After all, stress is amon weakness of homo sapiens, ranging from a 35-year-old unemployed person to a 60-year-old US President. Baldness? How could you say something so harsh? Surprisingly or not surprisingly, the correct answer is¡ the ¡®Butterfly Effect¡¯. ¨C Can a butterfly pping its wings in Beijing cause a tornado on the other side of the Earth? The Butterfly Effect. The theory that if the initial conditions change, the magnitude of change grows exponentially over time to the point where it bes unmanageable. I can confidently say that this Butterfly Effect, which we are very familiar with, is undoubtedly the viin among viins for regressors, an archenemy that cannot be avoided and the nemesis of the unpredictable. Indeed! How many regressors have been destroyed by this Butterfly Effect (in works of fiction). ¨C I am a reader who is well-versed in all kinds of webnovels, and I am an authority in the industry that no one else can match when ites to the world I have entered. ording to my interpretation, in order to prevent the tragedy by rescuing the maid who is absurdly killed in the early stages and stopping the tragic events¡ Huh? Why does rescuing the maid lead to the Demon King invading? ¨C Under the pce wall, I kindly treated a starving child, and 10 yearster, the Crown Prince proposed to me? I just wanted to live a peaceful life, what should I do now? ¨C Why is the protagonist so weak now (after solving all the quests that the original protagonist should have solved, recruiting thepanions who should have joined the protagonist¡¯s party, and consuming the items and plots that the protagonist should have consumed)? Yare yare, do I have to step up? [PR/N: ??TCF? TNE? And a lot more tbh.] Of course, in thetter case, it¡¯s more about conscience and intellect than the Butterfly Effect. Regardless of whether it¡¯s fantasy, modern fantasy, romance fantasy, or alternative history, there¡¯s no situation as terrible as the Butterfly Effect for the trio of regressors, possessors, and reincarnators. Therefore, today, let me, a highly skilled regressor, tell you a story of how I murdered the Butterfly Effect. 2 The time when I first felt that something was strange. In other words, the first time I felt the power of the Butterfly Effect was around the 30th run. ¡°Hmm?¡± At first, it was just a slight sense of unease. ¡°Was this cafe¡ actually open?¡± Afterpleting the tutorial, I went to the old Baekje Hospital building about six monthster. The building with the Old Scho¡¯s corpse on the rooftop was the right one. Sometimes, I find myself thinking about this ce and spending time here. But normally, there should be a closed sign hanging in front of the cafe. So, it was quite strange to see a man running the ce. Encountering such a situation for the first time across all my experiences, I couldn¡¯t help but feel puzzled. ¡°Um, excuse me¡¡± ¡°Yes, sir. Wee.¡± The man smiled. He belonged to the type who invests about 80% of his fashion and styling in his beard. ¡°Sorry to bother you, but is it okay for you to be open like this? The world is currently in chaos.¡± ¡°Oh¡ yeah. I was nning to evacuate to Japan myself, but just the other day, a huge typhoon and tornado hit the South Sea, sinking all the evacuation ships.¡± The man sighed. For someone like me who had juste down from Seoul to Busan, it was a shocking story. ¡°A typhoon hit?¡± ¡°Yeah. Even if you didn¡¯t know, thousands must have died. The Busan port is in chaos right now. I even thought about boarding a ship, even though I spent a lot of money on the ticket¡ but the shipowner threatened me, saying he¡¯d sail in a week, and if I didn¡¯t like it, tough luck. Well, what can I do? Since I have nothing else to do, I thought I might as well open for business for a week. Money doesn¡¯t mean much now, anyway. Haha.¡± The ownerughed. I couldn¡¯t bring myself tough. ¡®A typhoon at this time? That¡¯s unusual.¡¯ I had [Total Memory Ability]. Literally, it¡¯s an ability to store all memories from the past. Thanks to this skill acquired in the 5th run, I could now share my experiences with you. I can recall every event and thought from the 30th run. So, I could say with 100% certainty¡ ¡°¡This is an abnormal situation.¡± Again, in the 30th run, I arrived at the cafe after finishing the tutorial and six months had passed. This could be considered as the very early stages, if not the earliest stage. My behavior in the very early stages was always simr. Even if youpared it with the 29th or 28th run, there were hardly any differences. My actions remained unchanged. Yet, despite that, a ¡®typhoon¡¯ hit the South Sea in the world of this run. ¡°What¡¯s going on? What could possibly be the cause?¡± There¡¯s a cause for everything. For someone like me, who strictly rejectsplex theories like the Copenhagen interpretation of quantum mechanics and only adheres to deterministic causality, this situation was extremely confusing. [PR/N: Copenhagen theory is about the multiverse, every possibility of action splits the world into more worlds where the action was taken. Determinism is the idea that every experiment will yield the same results for a given experimental setup.] ¡°Excuse me, sir.¡± ¡°Yes?¡± ¡°I¡¯m terribly sorry, but if you¡¯re not going to order¡¡± ¡°Oh, I¡¯m sorry. I got lost in thought for a moment. Um, could I have a cafe auit, please?¡± ¡°Sure thing. That will be 59,500 won.¡± ¡°¡¡± The cafe auit, hit hard by the apocalypse of intion, tasted disgustingly bad. But what drove me even crazier happened in the next run, that is, in the 31st run. ¡°Closed for personal reasons.¡± When I went to the cafe again around the same time, there was another closure sign hanging awkwardly just like before. ¡°Ugh.¡± What the heck? I was still caught off guard. Besides the cafe¡¯s business status, numerous variables urred separately in various runs. ¡°Oh? Miss Saintess, did you move?¡± ¡°Yes?¡± ¡°You used to live in Yongsan until thest few runs.¡± ¡°Oh¡ It was a bit difficult to gather fish feed. There¡¯s someone in the nearby guild who shares my hobby of aquariums. So, I moved closer.¡± ¡°¡¡± Subsequently, Saintess¡¯s address changed in the 47th run. ¡°Everyone! The new capital of South Korea is now Busan Metropolitan City!¡± ¡°Wow!¡± ¡°Long live the nation! Long live the nation!¡± In the 71st run, the Mayor of Busan seized control of the Korean Penins. I could only be astonished. The mayor, who originally was supposed to flee to Fukuoka, Japan, and establish a second provisional government. (By the way, he was a model husband, taking care of his second family and all.) In addition, there were instances like the mid-boss monster that was supposed to defect to North Korea suddenly embracing democracy and defecting to South Korea, or shooting stars that were supposed to fall in Gyeongsangnam-donding in Jeonam-do instead. All sorts of absurdities unfolded. [Proofreader ¨C Gun] ¡°No.¡± I felt somewhat perplexed. ¡°This will disrupt the future, won¡¯t it?¡± Of course, in most runs, causality progressed ¡®normally¡¯ without any significant anomalies. However, asionally, chaos erupted out of nowhere. Well, you could brush off these asional anomalies as experiences akin to trying pineapple pizza as a delicacy. However, as a devout believer in ssical determinism, it was imperative for me to uncover the causes of these phenomena to put my mind at ease. [Doctor Jang.] And so, in the 82nd run. Finally, a clue was presented to me. ¡°There¡¯s currently a typhoon observed in the waters off Incheon. It seems to be a massive tornado.¡± ¡°Huh? A tornado in the Yellow Sea? It might be difficult since the water is shallow there.¡± ¡°But it¡¯s actually happening. I¡¯m currently sharing the perspective of an Awakened at Incheon Port. Please be cautious as we don¡¯t know where the tornado will head.¡± ¡°Ugh, and there are already many refugees in Incheon¡¡± ¡°Don¡¯t worry. I¡¯ve already sent a message to other Awakeneds in the name of the Constetion. Evacuation is underway.¡± I hurriedly logged into SGNet. Sure enough, the forum was already in chaos. ¨C Anonymous: Breaking news: Tornado spotted in the West Sea LOLOLOL ¨C [Samcheon] WitchTrialMaster: I¡¯d like to help, but it¡¯s too far for me to assist. ¨C GoryeoMarket: Let¡¯s go, old folks! Let¡¯s go, old folks! ¨C DolLHoUse: Danger. ¨C Anonymous: It¡¯s not a joke, it looks serious in the pictures. If it¡¯s that big on the horizon, even if the diameter is small, it¡¯s over 3km. I don¡¯t know how powerful it is, but never get close. You might get struck by lightning and die if you¡¯re unlucky. Amidst the chaos, someone uploaded a staggering-sized tornado photo and video. This kind of situation had never happened before. ¡°¡!¡± Then, enlightenment struck me like lightning. ¡°Of course! It¡¯s a typhoon!¡± ¡°Yes?¡± ¡°A typhoon! No, a tornado!¡± Thinking back, didn¡¯t the cafe owner mention something about it in the 30th run? ¡°Just the other day, a huge typhoon and tornado hit the South Sea, causing all the evacuation ships to sink.¡± I said with conviction. ¡°With each urrence of the tornado, the progression of events strangely deviated. Clearly, the typhoon¡ no, the one who caused the typhoon is the culprit.¡± ¡°I¡¯m sorry, Doctor Jang. I¡¯m having trouble understanding what you mean¡¡± ¡°I¡¯ll exinter. Saintess, could you track the path of the typhoon in the waters off Incheon and try to trace its origin as much as possible?¡± ¡°It might be a bit difficult, but I¡¯ll give it a try. If we look into the areas affected by the typhoon, we might find some clues.¡± ¡°Just a moment,¡± the Saintess whispered. She probably brought a map. A momentter, the Saintess swept through the cities adjacent to the Yellow Sea and reported back. ¡°Hmm¡ The range is too wide to be certain, Doctor Jang. Please keep in mind that this is just a conjecture.¡± ¡°That¡¯s okay. Where is it?¡± ¡°China. It¡¯s Beijing.¡± Beijing, China. The tornado. ¡°Ah.¡± At that moment, somehow, I felt like I would know the identity of this tornado. 3 -Can a butterfly pping its wings in Beijing cause a tornado on the other side of the Earth? A brief expression of the butterfly effect. Originally, in the prologue, it was marked as ¡®Brazil¡¯ instead of ¡®Beijing¡¯. An interesting fact is that this prologue itself is nothing more than a slogan inventedter. When a meteorologist first presented the butterfly effect at a conference, it was not a ¡®butterfly¡¯ but a ¡®seagull¡¯ that was quoted. Naturally, there was no Brazil or tornado. Just looking at this point alone, it¡¯s clear how casually the anomalies appearing in this world disregard human history. Anomalies all have a literary sensibility that doesn¡¯t care about factual uracy. Of course, cultured individuals like me, with a strict scientific and deterministic perspective, might ask in response: ¨C Why did the butterfly effect ur in Beijing instead of Brazil? ¨C The Butterfly Effect theory is about how small initial conditions lead to entirely different results after a long period of time, so why does it shoot out gusts in all directions from the very beginning? I don¡¯t know. No, seriously. I don¡¯t. Anomalies fundamentally have as much interest in our curiosity and objections as a flea. From my experience living as a regressionist for a long time, let me share my insight¡ These creatures are essentially no different from ¡®AI drawings.¡¯ From the perspective of anomalies, the long history,mon sense, and schrship of humanity are nothing more than ¡®prompt input values.¡¯ Just as AI drawings judge a human with two or three legs as a normal Homo sapiens, egalitarian anomalies do not discriminate between Chinese and Brazilians based on inferior racial differences. The concept of the butterfly effect, which belonged to the past schrship of humanity, was actively reinterpreted towards the end of the century. ¡®Entities that cause storms recklessly without being confined to the flow of causality!¡¯ To put it bluntly, it¡¯s like a tornadouncher. Thanks to it, the ¡®butterfly effect¡¯ gained an identity simr to North Korea¡¯s missiles. It was certain as a proposition that it wouldunch missiles whenever it got bored, but where the missiles would go varied depending on the mood at the time. In the 30th run, it swept the evacuation ships curving towards Japan in the South Sea, sinking them. In the 82th run, it madendfall in the waters off Incheon, baptizing the refugees. And that¡¯s not all. From run 83 to 85, it drifted towards Mongolia, India, and Siberia respectively. If a Major League scout saw it, they¡¯d be smitten, with a variety of changes enough to shove contracts down their throats. Ultimately, striking the Korean Penins maind with a tornado was surprisingly rare. That¡¯s why it¡¯s understandable that even with the origin marked as 100% Korean, it¡¯s hard for me to notice. ¡°¡It¡¯s truly a dangerous existence.¡± Oops. The Saintess crushed potato chips. Surprisingly, the Saintess took out the potato chips not from a bag, but from a Lock & Lock stic lunch box. It meant that even snacks were divided and stored in the refrigerator, indicating that the Saintess wasn¡¯t entirely sane. Moreover, she ate the potato chips not with her fingers but with chopsticks. Does that mean she doesn¡¯t have human emotions? The *hikikomori Saintess spoke. [*¡±Hikikomori¡± is a form of severe social withdrawal, frequently described in Japan and is characterized by adolescents and young adults who be recluses in their parents¡¯ homes, unable to work or go to school for months or years.] ¡°It¡¯s called the butterfly effect, but in reality, it¡¯s an uncontroble variable and random number. If such anomalies exist, wouldn¡¯t it diminish the biggest advantage of a regressionist?¡± ¡°Exactly. The bigger problem is that it¡¯s difficult to pinpoint the location of this anomaly.¡± ¡°Yes?¡± ¡°Think about it, Saintess. The fact that the direction of the tornado changes every run means that the location where the tornado isunched might also change. Anyway, Beijing is certain, but isn¡¯t Beijing a bit vast?¡± ¡°Ah¡¡± Finally, the Saintess nodded in understanding. ¡°It¡¯s a difficult task.¡± ¡°Yes. If the anomaly were asrge as Cthulhu, it might be different, but judging by the fact that it hasn¡¯t appeared in my informationwork so far, it¡¯s probably small in size. We just have to find the anomaly within Beijing, which is like finding scales on a sandy beach.¡± ¡°That¡¯s true. You¡¯re right.¡± ¡°Exactly. Solving it alone is almost impossible. Unless there¡¯s a genius who can share the sight of all Awakeneds.¡± ¡°¡¡± ¡°¡¡± ¡°¡¡± ¡°¡¡± ¡°I¡¯ll go with you. To Beijing.¡± ¡°Oh my. You really don¡¯t need to. Ah, but if the Saintess helps, it truly feels like hitting the jackpot.¡± ¡°¡¡± The hikikomori Saintess¡¯s exciting overseas business trip, confirmed! [Proofreader ¨C Gun] Chapter 9 â€“ Determinist II Chapter 9 ¨C Determinist II [Proofreader ¨C Gun] Chapter 9 ¨C Determinist II In the past runs, I¡¯ve visited China several times. It was close by, and I even went on a trip to Mount Hua because of my love for martial arts novels. The destination of this trip, Beijing, is a bit beyond my usual territory, so to speak. But who am I to be limited by impossibilities as a regressor? Over the course of four runs from 82 to 85, after meticulous on-site inspections, I finallypleted the ¡°Guidebook for Hitchhikers Traveling to Beijing.¡± ¡°First, we¡¯ll get a boat from Incheon to Tianjin Port.¡± ¡°Um, Doctor, I, um, it¡¯s my first time riding a boat, so I feel a bit, um, nervous, uh-¡± First, I yed the soothing sounds of the waves in the refreshing waters of Incheon as ASMR (there was some noise in between) and then crossed the Yellow Sea. ¡°Next, we shouldn¡¯t move on the surface like this. There are too many anomalies. We could force our way through, but that would attract too much attention, so it¡¯s better to move underground.¡± ¡°Just a moment. Underground¡?¡± ¡°Yes. Chinese Awakeneds have set up a base in the Beijing subway. What are you waiting for? Come over here.¡± ¡°Um, well, I actually have a bit of ustrophobia, Doctor, um, uh, uh-¡± The Awakeneds who hadn¡¯t escaped Beijing, which had been devastated by anomalies, formed what¡¯s known as the ¡°Beijing Liberation Assault Force.¡± Among the historical sites they controlled, I took notice of Tsuzhi Station. The stationmaster and 17th leader of the assault force at Tsuzhi Station was a remarkably articte individual. The stationmaster had a considerable fondness for a foreigner who spoke Beijing dialect so fluently. At this point, my designation had already been upgraded from ¡°this guy¡± to ¡°you.¡± When the anomaly that had been bothering him for a while was split into several pieces by my sword, his designation further upgraded to ¡°teacher.¡± Finally, when I gifted him the premium Bi Luo Chun tea I brought as a present, the stationmaster finally remembered us as brothers who, despite different nationalities, once served the same faith in the distant past. ¡°Brother Zhang!¡± ¡°Ow!¡± The identification card issued to me by the 17th leader of the assault force was practically a free pass. We entered Beijing straight away. ¡°¡Isn¡¯t this just bribery?¡± ¡°Oh,e on.¡± Bribery, you say? Who calls gifts exchanged between brothers bribery? I simply presented a small tea leaf as a token of goodwill, and the other party graciously epted it in the spirit it was offered. Some mayin about China¡¯s guanxi culture as their own league, but that¡¯s because they¡¯ve forgotten the good traditions of East Asia. As someone who has eaten their fair share of humble rice meals, I found virtues beyond just tea ceremonies. First, we couldn¡¯t overlook the traditional East Asian game of Go. The 10th leader of the Liberation Assault Force, who preferred Go over three meals a day, shook hands with me after a game and eximed, ¡°Now I understand that noodles havee from the East!¡± Next was calligraphy. The 1st leader, who believed that a person¡¯s character could be revealed through their handwriting, raised his cup after seeing my calligraphy of ¡°Yu peng zi yuan fangi¡± and praised it. ¡°See this resolute yet elegant handwriting! Truly a reincarnation of An Jinjing!¡± Of course, I was a man who knew manners. After receiving such high praise, how could I possibly be arrogant? During these events, we exchanged warm anecdotes while enjoying bingdou no chai (the first tea of the mountain), making each interaction meaningful. Exactly 48 hours after arriving in Beijing, I was able to freely ess the informationwork held by the Liberation Assault Force. Throughout all of this, the observing Saintess seemed baffled, murmuring as if to herself. ¡°Doctor, you seem to have a knack for making friends within 10 minutes, even with strangers.¡± She looked at me with eyes that seemed to ask, ¡®Is this the life of an insider?¡¯ ¡°Oh, well, it¡¯s not my first time. This was the shortest strategy route I¡¯ve found after exploring for four runs.¡± ¡°Indeed. Then technically, this wouldn¡¯t be your first overseas trip, considering there have been previous runs where I traveled with Doctor.¡± ¡°No? But it¡¯s your first time?¡± ¡°Yes?¡± ¡°You may have crossed over into North Korean territory alone before, but this is your first overseas trip across the sea. Why would I invest in finding the shortest route for four runs? It¡¯s to make your first trip asfortable as possible.¡± ¡°Well, this is asfortable as the world allows, but anyway. So, Saintess, what do you think? Do you see any signs of the anomaly we¡¯re looking for?¡± ¡°¡Just a moment.¡± Phew. The Saintess took a moment to catch her breath. ¡°Just a little, please wait.¡± And she closed her eyes. Her role here was singr. She was the radar. Even though the assault forces had infiltrated Beijing¡¯s underground, there was manpower watching above ground everywhere. The 17th leader had a good rtionship with the 1st to 10th leaders, the 10th leader with the 6th, 8th, and 9th leaders, and the 1st leader with the 2nd, 4th, and 5th leaders. Their ¡®goodwill¡¯ and my ¡®good intentions¡¯ merged, and now, at this moment, the surface observation mission, usually neglected by the assault team members, was executed with utmost importance. And the Saintess¡¯s ability was [Telescopy]. For exactly the next 10 minutes, the Saintess gained aprehensive observation point covering the entire Beijing downtown area. ¡°¡.¡± 1 minute. ¡°¡.¡± 2 minutes. ¡°¡.¡± 3 minutes. ¡°I found it.¡± The Saintess opened her eyes. Even 10 minutes weren¡¯t necessary. The remaining 7 minutes of leeway marked thepetence of our duo in terms of time. ¡°Where is it?¡± ¡°Tian Tan Park.¡± Luck was on our side. It was close. ¡°Understood. Then, Saintess, wait here in the underground and keep sending messages to me. I¡¯ll quickly finish ande back¡¡± ¡°Take me with you.¡± The Saintess grabbed my forearm firmly. ¡°I want to see you fight with my own eyes, not just through Telescopy.¡± ¡°¡Well. It might be dangerous.¡± ¡°You said it¡¯s the mostfortable and safest shortest route. I¡¯ll trust you. And¡¡± The Saintess breathed faintly. That was her way of smiling. ¡°Aftering on my first overseas trip in my entire life, if all I see with my own eyes is the sea and the underground, not only me but also the future versions of me inter runs might feel a bit unfair, don¡¯t you think?¡± It was an undeniable reason. 5 As we stepped up the stairs of Tian Tan Dongmen Station and rushed out, a storm was raging above ground. The noise was deafening. The storm spared no location. Tornadoes were raging across Beijing. ¡°A bit too intense for a weing greeting. Saintess, hold on tight.¡± [Yes.] Perhaps due to the noisy storm from all directions. The Saintessmunicated not through her voice, but through telepathy. I ran towards Tian Tan Park while embracing the Saintess. Her arms around my neck felt heavy. The world was covered in dark clouds. Once a neatly maintained central avenue of the park, now the Songbai trees, boxwood, and ne trees from the surrounding forests had infiltrated. It looked as if rust had corroded an ancient sword. I sprinted straight through the center of the des. ¨C Kr ?r ??????????r ?? ????????Ge ??r ???r ???? ¨C Ga ???r ?r ???r ???? As many as the trees, there were countless entities. Lightning struck. The forest cast shadows. Now they were the custodians of all things on Earth. They tread on tree roots, hung from branches, twisted on vines, and fearlessly leaped into the domain of the surface they were conquering. [Proofreader ¨C Gun] Their gaze didn¡¯t stay fixed for long. ¡°It might shake a bit.¡± [Yes.] In one stroke, I swiftly felled the towering trees. A dark aura symbolizing me swept along the streets like a tidal wave. The entities that parasitized on trees descended to the ground in an instant. Though the entities that upied one of humanity¡¯s major citiesnded without losing bnce, it wasn¡¯t particrly significant. Another strike. I simultaneously severed the necks of the entities, whose heights were now simr. Two strikes were enough until humanity¡¯s roads became clear again. [Incredible.] The Saintess murmured softly. [Indeed, it¡¯spletely different from what I saw through Telescopy. You¡¯re amazing.] ¡°You¡¯re too kind. Despite appearances, I¡¯ve received a lot of criticism for being talentless in martial arts.¡± [That¡¯s impossible. Are you joking, Doctor?] I chuckled softly. ¡°I¡¯m serious.¡± Indeed, I had no martial prowess. But the missing talent was not the only thing. I didn¡¯t know the difference between ck and green tea without the color, I didn¡¯t know the tactical moves in Go, and I didn¡¯t know the brush techniques for grinding food. And there was still muchcking. I never had, and never would have, the talent to borrow the perspectives of others. The reason I always neededpanions. Arade whispered to me. [Oh, to the left there-] [To the right. Yes, further to the right.] [Yes. Just keep going straight, and you¡¯ll reach.] Following the Saintess¡¯s guidance, we arrived at the ce where we cleared the forest path and entities, the Qiniandian Tower, towering north of the Tian Tan. Lightning poured down, and the building had already copsed. But the pirs stood precarious, like hands raised in prayer, towards the sky. In the center of it all, a vortex was erupting. [There it is, Doctor. All the other tornadoes covering the city are originating from that one.] ¡°Yes, it seems so.¡± Cheondan trantes to Temple of Heaven in English. Throughout history, humanity has asserted its power by offering sacrifices and prayers to the heavens. Therefore, the tornado erupting towards the sky from there could be nothing less than a victory banner for the entities. I enhanced my vision with Aura. After observing the presence detected at the center of the storm, I couldn¡¯t help but smile faintly. ¡°As expected.¡± [Why are you smiling?] ¡°Oh, it¡¯s nothing. Just thinking how peculiar these entities truly are.¡± In the midst of the tornado¡ a small sapphire-colored ¡®butterfly¡¯ fluttered. Blue wings. Morpho Butterfly. That was the true form of the Vortex. A peculiar entity masquerading as a celestial being of the modern era. Perhaps on days when storms rage like this, some of the tornadoes spawned by that ¡®butterfly¡¯ would reach beyond Beijing, even to the opposite side of the Earth. ¡°¡Literally the Butterfly Effect.¡± I grasped my staff-sword. It was my preferred weapon, a staff when walking around, but a sword when necessary, with the de pulled out by twisting the handle. I¡¯ll have a chance to exin why I ended up using such an unusual sword someday. For now, I¡¯ll briefly mention the target this sword is striking. Whether it sensed my presence or not, the butterfly smirked and fluttered its wings. ¨C Can you kill the King¡¯s Order in one blow? The wind howled. I swung the sword. Amidst the thunderous roar, the dark de sliced through the air silently, brushing past the world. The de tore through the air, cutting down a solitary butterfly that symbolized a new decree on Earth. ¨C We¡¯ll avenge the betrayed! A scream echoed. In human terms, it might be something like ¡®That¡¯s cheating, you damn regressor.¡¯ But tasting the bitterness of reverse revolution was also part of the order of history. I only wished to wee them to Earth. As the storm and thunder raged, the noise of the world suddenly subsided, as if it were a lie. [Oh.] As the dark clouds cleared, a final downpour poured down. Sunlight filtered through the raindrops like transparent shadows. [Beautiful.] Despite the calm I spread around me, I still sensed countless entities lurking nearby. Perhaps, realizing their leader¡¯s demise, they would flock here in a frenzy. But they weren¡¯t faster than sunlight. During the brief period of rest given to us, the Saintess looked around from my embrace. ¡°You made the right choice to go on this journey.¡± Beneath the Saintess¡¯s feet, the sound of water rippled, resembling the sound of a small fish pping its fins as it emerged from an aquarium into a stream. The Saintess runed back, moved her lips, and then, silently ¡ª in a voice only audible to me ¡ª said: ¡°The Saintess of Salvation praises your achievements.¡± I remained stunned for a moment before bursting intoughter. Surprisingly, it was the first joke I heard from the Saintess, spanning all the way to the 86th iteration. 5 An anecdote follows. As a determinist, the Butterfly Effect was an uneptable anomaly in my philosophical beliefs. However, I¡¯m also human. asionally, amidst the repetitiveness of life, I grew weary. At such times, twisting the course of cause and effect to create random variables, even if it meant resorting to the Butterfly Effect, wasn¡¯t always so bad. After all, why not make use of the anomalies? I aimed to quell the Beijing anomalies as soon as possible in any iteration, preferably within six months before the Butterfly Effect truly began to unfold. Yet, sometimes I deliberately let things be. ¡My indifferent attitude ultimately triggered an irreversible ¡®Butterfly Effect¡¯ in the 173rd run. [Undertaker?] ¡°Yes?¡± [Perhaps I¡¯ve been too biased against the Constetion all this time. Shouldn¡¯t we reform the image of the Constetion into something more familiar and friendly?] ¡°Oh, yes. Please feel free to do as you wish.¡± [I had a great ideast night.] ¡°That sounds like a fantastic idea.¡± Though it was the first time I had heard such a suggestion, I trusted the Saintess implicitly and agreed without hesitation. And the next day. [Hello, hello! Greetings to all the Awakeneds of the Korean Penins! Nice to meet you-mung!] [I am now the Constetion, the vignt observer for all of you-mung!] [Myoong! I look forward to working together-mung!] ¡°¡¡¡± Oh. My. God. I dropped the coffee cup. ¡Indeed, entities like the anomalies and humanity cannot coexist under the same sky. [Proofreader ¨C Gun] Chapter 10 â€“ Seed of Rebellion I Chapter 10 ¨C Seed of Rebellion I [Proofreader ¨C Gun] Chapter 10 ¨C Seed of Rebellion I 1 Once again, Old Scho¡¯s coffee was delicious today. In that sense, as in the previous run, I¡¯d like to share another story from the 50th run. 2 The 50th run was the one where our SG Man, Seo Gyu, established SGNet for the first time. In many ways, SGNet became a turning point in the Awakened society. Before that, Awakeneds operated separately, forming their own guilds. asionally, they would unite when tackling major gates, but for the most part, guilds were exclusive to each other. However, SGNet brought them to a new horizon. -[Satisfaction] CookingKingBee: Want inner peace? Join the Satisfaction Guild! Main base is in Daejeon! -[ThreeThousand] WitchTrialLeader: Busan. Under 40s. Prefer Awakeneds with levitation ability. Prefer Awakeneds with magic ability. Inquiries via whispers. May not check whispers from 11 PM to 9 AM. -[HundredBlossoms] HighSchool6thGrader: ¡ïFriendly club HundredBlossoms is recruiting new friends to join us¡ï (^_^)! SGNet was essentially open only to Awakeneds. Guilds, keen on recruiting as many high-quality Awakeneds as possible, naturally took notice. They actively promoted their guilds. At some point, guild members began marking their affiliation with brackets before their nicknames, and this became a tradition on SGNet. It was convenient for us to obtain information about Awakeneds, and Awakeneds also appreciated having a means to promote their guilds openly. Of course, SGNet didn¡¯t bring only positive influences. -KoreanVige: Fucking idiots stick together. The so-called KoreanVige viin. He was an Awakened who joined as a full member as soon as SGNet was established. He didn¡¯t join any guild. In reality, he might have been affiliated with a guild, but at least he didn¡¯t disy the guild name. Even as time passed, Awakeneds who stuck to solo ying, like KoreanVige, were quitemon besides the viin types. But such individuals generally kept a low profile and remained unnoticed by others. Most lone wolves on SGNet tended to operate as non-members. -KoreanVige: Heard a gate opened in Chungju yesterday? Poption decreases, food distribution bes easier, sweet deal. KoreanVige¡¯s unique history was that he had no intention of hiding himself. He not only became a full member and disyed his nickname but also freely indulged in sarcasm. SGNet naturally had fewer troublemakers. After all, it was a site created by the transcendent Constetion. Even if someone wanted to curse, it was natural to do so anonymously as a non-member. In such a situation, KoreanVige viin, who cursed like ¡°what the hell is this about the Constetion and all,¡± inevitably attracted people¡¯s attention. -KoreanVige: HundredBlossoms? Friendship club? What kind of bullshit friendship is that when the world¡¯s gone to hell? Kids who haven¡¯t grown hair should stop living long and run away to a foreign country. This country is doomed. ©¸[HundredBlossoms] HighSchool6thGrader: Ouch. That¡¯s harsh?_?)¡¡ ©¸[Satisfaction] CookingKingBee: Words reflect thoughts, and thoughts mirror oneself like foggy rain on a cloudy day. How about using clearer and brighternguage? Even beyond his aggressive tone, KoreanVige viin actively picked fights with other members. He didn¡¯t discriminate between strong and weak opponents. Especially, the HundredBlossoms guild was destined to be arge guild representing South Korea (in a negative sense) in the future. Only I, as a Regressionist, knew that for now. The reactions of other members were naturally not favorable. -Anonymous: Crazy bastard. -[Yuldoguk] SwordGuardian: Shouldn¡¯t we just block that kid? -Anonymous: Just shut up and eat shit; you¡¯re getting too much attention for being a troublemaker. -[ThreeThousand] WitchTrialLeader: Frankly, I don¡¯t want to see this. -ZERO_SUGAR: Member, you¡¯ll end up with a big nose if you keep doing that. But the more aggro he attracted, the more excited KoreanVige viin became. -KoreanVige: ? As the world began to fall apart,rgemunities dried up. They were just taking up unnecessary traffic. The inte world fragmented into small, closedmunities like decades ago. Aggro fishersmented in the low water. To them, SGNet was like a newly rebuilt paradise. -KoreanVige: Frankly, if you have a conscience, all the old folks should kill themselves. -Yeah, even the stockpile the government kept has run out, and they¡¯re pushing the kids to the gate frontlines with only one gun per person. -In this situation, what are useless old folks leeching off the young ones for? Sucking the life out of them for a bit of movie enjoyment? Have they lost both brain cells and conscience? Seriously, if they don¡¯t think they¡¯re a burden to their children, they should just die already. He seemed to particrly hate the elderly. KoreanVige viin made sure to post ¡°all old folks must die¡± every day as if determined to justify his nickname. A kind of steady rant. Some Awakeneds chimed in. -Anonymous: Hmm. -Anonymous: This bastard¡¯s a piece of shit, but he¡¯s right about the oldies being gross. Of course, the majority of members found KoreanVige viin¡¯s posts repulsive. ¨C SonLove: He seems young, but his words are too harsh¡ ©¸ KoreanVige: Old fart? Look at the disgusting nickname. Why are you still alive? Enjoy sucking your son¡¯s spine? -[Yuldoguk] SwordGuardian: Those bastards must be out of their minds. -[Satisfaction] CookingKingBee: Brother, if you have a secret you can¡¯t tell anyone, feel free to consult with me anytime. People not only kill each other but also live because of each other. ©¸ KoreanVige: Just shut up already. ©¸ Anonymous: This guy even says bad things to CookingKingBee. Ugh. -Anonymous: Seems like they all grew up without parents. -[HundredBlossoms] HighSchool6thGrader: Ouch. Oppas, please don¡¯t fight (?_?)¡¡ -ZERO_SUGAR: Member, you¡¯ll end up with a big nose if you keep doing that. ©¸ KoreanVige: ? As pointed out by some non-member Anonymous, ignoring is the answer for attention seekers. But many Awakeneds seemed to be experiencing an intemunity for the first time. ¡°Wow, he¡¯s really disgusting¡¡± Among them was Seo Gyu, the site operator. ¡°Hyung. Shouldn¡¯t I block that guy?¡± ¡°No.¡± Seo Gyu chuckled at my quick response. ¡°Why not?¡± ¡°Because you¡¯re not supposed to seem human.¡± ¡°Excuse me?¡± ¡°¡.¡± [Proofreader ¨C Gun] I assembled sentences in my mind. As the years of regression passed, my words became shorter and shorter. So I consciously tried to make them longer. ¡°To the Awakeneds, the operators of this site are representatives of the Constetion. They are apostles of the Constetion, still only known to be one person in Korea. If you show human emotions like anger, sadness, or anger, you may get a response immediately, but ultimately, your authority will be undermined in the future.¡± ¡°Oh¡¡± ¡°Seo Gyu, you should seem to live in apletely different dimension. Only in one case, when the ¡®nameless apostle of the Constetion¡¯ is insulted, should you appear frontally. KoreanVige viin has never insulted the Constetion. So just leave him alone.¡± Seo Gyu made a puzzled expression. He probably didn¡¯t fully understand. But it didn¡¯t matter. Just the fact that he didn¡¯t fire back with a notice like ¡®What the hell are you talking about, you fucking bastard!¡¯ meant Seo Gyu had realized his role. ¡°So what should I do? Just leave it as it is?¡± ¡°No. It means don¡¯t step in.¡± I murmured over my coffee. ¡°You never know until you look into the world.¡± ¡°¡¡?¡± One day. -TodayJoined: Damn it, my father passed away. A few years after SGNet was created, a long post appeared on the bulletin board. Here¡¯s what it said: -I used to operate anonymously, but I joined to post this. -I went monster hunting today and bought some glutinous rice sausages for the first time in a while, but when I returned to the dormitory, my father was gone, leaving only a letter. He wrote not to look for him, but do I look like I wouldn¡¯t? -So for the past four days, I¡¯ve been frantically searching the neighborhood. And I finally found him by the river in the neighboring neighborhood. He couldn¡¯t even move his waist or legs, so I don¡¯t know how this gentleman managed to walk all the way here. (Picture attached) -Since all the Awakeneds here know that people are dying left and right, I¡¯ve blurred the image roughly. -A few graveyards used to be around, but nowadays, there aren¡¯t even those. They justy people in the fields when they die and let the monsters eat them. Damn it??. -I have a priest friend who uses fire magic, so I begged her. She alwaysins at drinking parties that people treat her like a human graveyard because everyone around her thinks she¡¯s carried more corpses than monsters. But I never thought I¡¯d end up making this request too. -My father was also an Awakened. F-rank. His abilities were useless, but thanks to him, he could chat with people on SGNet. His nickname was ¡®SonLove,¡¯ but I don¡¯t know if anyone knew him. -Yesterday, on the way back from meeting my sister, I was reading thements my father wrote, and damn it, this guy ¡®KoreanVige¡¯ caught my eye. He¡¯s been telling my father tomit suicide? (Picture attached) -I know you didn¡¯t kill my father. But the fact that scum like you exists is disgusting in itself. -I¡¯ll give all my possessions to anyone who kills or tells me where KoreanVige is. I¡¯m not lying. Send me a whisper. -Since you¡¯re teasing members who are active as regr members, you seem confident in your skills. Let¡¯s see if you can still babble nonsense with an axe in your head. The post by ¡®TodayJoined¡¯ caused a stir on SGNet. -Anonymous: Oh my¡¡ -[Yuldoguk] SwordGuardian: May the deceased rest in peace. -[Samcheon] WitchTrial: May the deceased rest in peace. -Anonymous: No way, right? -[Satisfaction] CookingKingBee: How much grief must you be feeling? I don¡¯t know what words to use tofort you. Your father must have gone to a happier ce. -[HundredBlossoms] HighSchool6thGrader: Ouch (?_?)¡¡ -Anonymous: Is this for real? -dolLHoUse: Mourning. The post quickly became popr after being uploaded. It surpassed 300 rmendations and received hundreds ofments. Ny-nine percent of thements were mourning the author¡¯s father. In other words, there was one percent of exceptions. -KoreanVige: Idiot. I¡¯m a Canadian immigrant, how do you n to kill me? Come and see for yourself. You old maniacs??. ©¸Anonymous: Wow, he¡¯s disgusting to the end. This outrageous response sparked outrage among numerous members. ¡°Hey, is this guy really a Canadian immigrant?¡± ¡°I doubt it.¡± I shook my head. ¡°Of course it¡¯s a lie. He joined as soon as SGNet was created. So he logged in right after receiving the Saintess¡¯s message, but the Saintess can¡¯t send messages to Canada.¡± ¡°Ah.¡± ¡°There¡¯s a possibility he went to Canada after that¡ But looking at the login time, it doesn¡¯t seem likely.¡± My guess was correct. ¡°He lives in Korea.¡± The Saintess said with closed eyes. It was easy to tell what ability she was using now. If she¡¯s gathering her hands, it¡¯s telepathy. If she¡¯s closing her eyes, it¡¯s irvoyance. Even if it¡¯s an S-rank ability, there must be constraints to using it. ¡°I¡¯ll guide you telepathically.¡± ¡°Thank you. Also, can you locate ¡®TodayJoined¡¯?¡± ¡°Wait a moment¡ Yes, I¡¯ve pinpointed it.¡± ¡°Hmm.¡± I felt the usefulness of the Saintess and Seo Gyu anew. If it weren¡¯t for them, obtaining such trivial information would have been quite difficult. Then the Saintess murmured. ¡°But this KoreanVige¡¡± ¡°Hmm? What about him?¡± ¡°¡His identity seems diverse. He¡¯s a bit peculiar.¡± The Saintess stirred her coffee expressionlessly. I shrugged once and logged into SGNet with my regr member ID and left ament for KoreanVige. As a final piece of advice. -ZERO_SUGAR: Member, watch your words. Ding. An alert came as if waiting. -KoreanVige: ? I nodded. That¡¯s right. Kids these days reallyckiquette. It was appropriate to manage such rudeness promptly. Even if it meant ensuring the sess of the ambitious SGNet project. Certainly, if you calcte all the regression lifespans, I¡¯m not scratching KoreanVige¡¯s behavior because I¡¯m overwhelmingly the oldest person in the world. Absolutely not. [Proofreader ¨C Gun] Chapter 11 â€“ Seed of Rebellion II Chapter 11 ¨C Seed of Rebellion II [Proofreader ¨C Gun] Chapter 11 ¨C Seed of Rebellion II 3 Thanks to the Saintess, I seeded in pinpointing the location of the KoreanVige viin. It would be nice to describe it as if I immediately moved and struck down the KoreanVige viin¡ but in reality, it took a bit more time. You see, the schedule of a regressor is as tight as a superstar who¡¯s just started to be praised by the public. No matter how despicable the KoreanVige viin may be, I had far more urgent matters to attend to. I needed to upload the ¡°Oler Performance Video (Advanced Version)¡± on SGNet with a secondary ount, reorganize the Korean Awakened Federation organization, go on a food tour in Busan, prepare for the meteor shower, and so on and so forth¡ No joke, if you calcte based on my calendar starting from the time travel debut, it was packed all the way up to the 7th year. Finally, it wasn¡¯t until nearly two weeks had passed that I found some time to meet ¡°TodayJoined¡± in person. And even that was a barely squeezed-in arrangement. I asked the Saintess (more urately, through the character she portrays, the ¡°Saintess of Salvation¡±) to set a time and ce for our meeting. And as I arrived at the agreed location, who else but a muscr young man with broad shoulders was waiting? ¡°TodayJoined, right?¡± ¡°Ah¡ ZeroSugar, is it?¡± ¡°Yes. Nice to meet you. Please feel free to call me Doctor Jang.¡± ¡°Nice to meet you too. My name is Lee Jooho.¡± We shook hands. Firm grip. I could feel the calluses of someone who navigates through life¡¯s rough seas with their own will. As a side note, I personally believe that one¡¯s character can be read more from their hands than their face. ¡°Are you perhaps a teacher by any chance?¡± I asked, ncing over his shoulder. ¡°Ah.¡± Lee Jooho chuckled subtly. The ce we met was the elementary school yground. More urately, it should be described as the elementary/middle school, since it was split in half. Peek- Small children were peeking out from among a pile of junk that would have already been scrapped if a used car dealer had seen it. One of them quickly hid their head like a squirrel when our eyes met. How cute. Lee Jooho scratched his head. ¡°Well, um¡ for the time being, I¡¯m teaching elementary school students.¡± ¡°It¡¯s really impressive given the current situation. Can I call you Teacher?¡± ¡°Oh, it¡¯s okay. Just call me whatever you¡¯refortable with. I wasn¡¯t originally a teacher anyway.¡± Lee Jooho let out a wry smile. ¡°I was just a math tutor working at a private academy and earning a monthly sry¡ Somehow, I ended up being the only one left to stand in front of the ss. After finishing guild work in the morning, I teach part-time in the afternoon. And one of our guild members also serves as a teacher for health education, an art teacher, and the director of the library.¡± ¡°Oh¡¡± Let me tell you in advance, my liking for Lee Jooho had already surpassed level 5 at this point. What¡¯s up with this young man? Is he an angel? ¡°Oh, right. ZeroSugar, you must havee from quite far away in this heat. If you¡¯re thirsty, please take this¡¡± As Lee Jooho spoke, he handed me a Zero Coke beverage. Since the Gate Incident, suchmodities had always been treated with great care. He probably deliberately prepared the Zero drink considering my username ¡®ZERO_SUGAR¡¯. He was someone who knew how to turn intangible feelings into tangible materials. ¡°Oh¡¡± Level 6 of liking surpassed. ¡°Well, I can¡¯t refuse such a thing¡ but I¡¯ll dly ept it. Thank you.¡± ¡°Haha. I¡¯m d. I thought you might like it when I saw your ID.¡± ¡°Of course. It¡¯s even more delightful to see you after a long time. And although it¡¯s bted, please ept my condolences.¡± ¡°Yes. Thank you.¡± We sat side by side on the half-ruined bench in the elementary school yground. Let me introduce him once again. The young man¡¯s name is Lee Jooho. He operates in the Pocheon-Cheorwon area. The ce we met was in Pocheon. While the guild Lee Jooho belonged to couldn¡¯t dare topare itself to AAA-grade guilds like Samcheon World or Baekhwa, it had its own integrity. But ording to my memory, it was a small guild that vanished like a ghost at some point. Where could such a guild exist in this day and age? ¡°So, Mr. Jang¡¡± After some preliminary conversation, Lee Jooho turned to me. ¡°You mentioned that you have information about KoreanVige.¡± ¡°Yes. That¡¯s correct.¡± Lee Jooho¡¯s ck pupils darkened. The anger of losing his beloved father must be burning like gunpowder in his heart. Lee Jooho bit his lip. ¡°Will you help me kill that bastard?¡± Hmm. I set down the aluminum can. ¡°Whether to kill him or not is up to Mr. Lee Jooho to decide. My role is simply to escort Mr. Lee Jooho to his destination.¡± ¡°When you say ¡®destination¡¯¡¡± ¡°Of course, it¡¯s where the KoreanVige viin resides.¡± ¡°¡!¡± Lee Jooho¡¯s eyes widened. ¡°Wow! Do you know where that bastard lives?!¡± ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°How on earth¡ Oh. Perhaps¡?¡± The unspoken question Lee Jooho swallowed was whether I was somehow acquainted with the KoreanVige viin. I shook my head. ¡°Don¡¯t worry. I¡¯ve never even seen the guy, let alone being acquainted with him.¡± ¡°Ah.¡± It wouldter be revealed that at this moment, I unintentionally lied. ¡°I¡¯m sorry. I didn¡¯t mean to doubt you, ZeroSugar. But then, how did you manage to find out his location¡?¡± Of course, it was thanks to the Saintess¡¯s ability called ¡°irvoyance.¡± Anyone who listens to my story would gradually realize that the Saintess is truly a genius Awakened. [Proofreader ¨C Gun] ¡°I can¡¯t disclose that. I¡¯ll just give you a hint: it¡¯s thanks to my awakening ability and the Constetion I personally worship.¡± ¡°Ah¡¡± ¡°Will you follow me?¡± As I stood up from the bench, Lee Jooho also rose awkwardly to his feet. Instinctively, he nced in the direction of the abandoned school, where the young students were hiding among the debris. ¡°Uh, I didn¡¯t expect things to turn out like this, and I didn¡¯t tidy up¡ I have guild work and school work. Um, I¡¯m really sorry, but could you wait a little longer?¡± ¡°No. There¡¯s no need for that.¡± ¡°Huh?¡± I grinned. ¡°It¡¯s very close by.¡± The reason I intervened in this case, rearranging my busy time traveler schedule to make room, was because of how close the situation was. ¡°If it¡¯s close, then how¡?¡± ¡°Pocheon. Mr. Lee Jooho, the KoreanVige viin, and I are actually from the same neighborhood.¡± ¡°¡¡± Lee Jooho¡¯s mouth fell open in shock. What could he possibly hide? This incident was a shoddy quest that could be solved with just one punch without any burden. 4 [Please proceed to the alley on the right.] [Then, take the next left alley.] [Continue straight ahead.] The performance of the limited edition navigation product ¡®Saintess¡¯, which only I could use worldwide, was impable. Thanks to it, I could find my way even with my eyes closed. ¡°¡¡± Meanwhile, behind me, Lee Jooho¡¯s bewildered expression didn¡¯t subside. He was following me. ¡°Are you okay?¡± ¡°Oh, yes. I-I mean¡ It¡¯s just, the information was so unexpected¡¡± Understandably, he was taken aback. Connecting to SGNet meant that the KoreanVige viin was also an Awakened. But since Pocheon wasn¡¯t a major city, all Awakeneds here would know each other. ¡°Oh! Team Leader Juho!¡± Sure enough, as we walked, some local militia members approached us, recognizing Lee Jooho. These days, militia groups were a must-have in every vige. ording to thetest trends, militia members regarded unfamiliar outsiders, like me, with suspicion. ¡°Excuse me, but what brings you to this neighborhood?¡± Lee Jooho stepped in for me. ¡°Oh, uh¡ My hometown friend came up for a walk together.¡± ¡°Your hometown friend? Ah, it¡¯s rare to see such friendships in this day and age.¡± The militia member opened the roadblock. ¡°Well, if it¡¯s Team Leader¡¯s acquaintance, it¡¯s fine. You may pass.¡± As we passed through security, the street became a bit tidier. Perhaps this was the affluent area performing the role of Gangnam¡¯s Cheongdam-dong in Pocheon. The original Cheongdam-dong had turned into a wastnd. ¡°Hey, ZeroSugar. Are we really in the right ce?¡± As we entered the neighborhood, Lee Jooho¡¯s already uneasy voice started to tremble. ¡°Why? Are you feeling uneasy?¡± ¡°To be honest¡ Yes. This is where most of our guild Awakeneds live. There¡¯s not a single member from other guilds here.¡± ¡°Is that so? Then you should be prepared.¡± ¡°¡¡± Truth be told, whether Lee Jooho was prepared or not didn¡¯t matter much to me. After all, I hade here mainly to see how impressive the KoreanVige viin¡¯s face was. Unlike Lee Jooho, I didn¡¯t really have any intention of killing KoreanVige. Just give him a good scare, warn him to stop causing trouble on the inte, and that should do it. ¡°Here we are.¡± Before long, we arrived in front of a house. Red bricks. A small front yard. It wasn¡¯t particrly fancy, but in this era, living in a standalone house rather than amunal residence already implied privilege. Lee Jooho¡¯s eyes flickered. It seemed to be the house of someone he knew after all. ¡°Oh my goodness.¡± ¡°This is the ce my Constetion informed me about. You know, the Saintess of Salvation? She¡¯s the most reliable among all the Constetions. Shall we take a look at the face?¡± ¡°Um, Mr. ZeroSugar. Wait a moment¡!¡± Lee Jooho tried to grab my shoulder, but I had already rushed into the mansion. As befitting the hideout of an Awakened, the mansion was equipped with various security devices. However, I breezed in like a summer mosquito. Why? Because I was the one who first conceptualized and implemented the design of these security devices¡ as a Regressor. Passwords? Traps? Special-made spider webs? They all crumbled before me, the copyright holder, in less than a second. ¡°Oh, what the¨D¨D.¡± Behind me, I heard Lee Jooho¡¯s astonished voice. But I ignored it. In infiltration operations like this, swift execution was crucial. Once you entered, it was best not to look back and finish quickly. If this world were a game, my profile would probably show [Primary Job: Regressor], [Secondary Job: Assassin (Thief)]. In the blink of an eye, I reached the heart of KoreanVige viin¡¯s hideout. ¡°Heh¡ Here, blue, huhehe¡¡± The KoreanVige viin was busy drawing on a canvas. So engrossed was he in his painting that he didn¡¯t notice my intrusion at all. Approaching right behind him, he finally perked up as I got close. ¡°Hm? Who¡?¡± Critical hit to the nape of the neck. Bonus: instant knockout. ¡°Eugh.¡± Flopping down, the man in a white doctor¡¯s gown crumpled like a rag doll. Myst act of kindness was adjusting his fall to avoid the paint palette. Target secured, mission aplished. Earning my keep. ¡°Hm?¡± The problem arose from this point onwards. While knocking out the KoreanVige viin was all well and good, upon btedly confirming his face, I was taken aback. What¡¯s this? ¡°No way¡?¡± The KoreanVige viin, lying on the floor with swirling eyes, turned out to be¡ one of the 399 survivors who were summoned to Busan Station, just like Seo Gyu or me. ¡°What a coincidence?¡± Given that the number 399 wasn¡¯t small, such coincidences were statistically possible. But surprisingly, not only was the KoreanVige viin one of them, but also many of you, who are listening to my story, have a face. Just like in the previous episode. Do you remember when our passionate SG Guy, Seo Gyu, was getting his butt kicked by the tutorial fairy? ¨C Hieeeeeek! At that time, there was someone who thoroughly enjoyed Seo Gyu¡¯s misery. ¡°Someone, someone¡¯s down¡! Someone! Hieek! They¡¯re down! Hiiiieeek! Someone¡¯s down!¡± As they ran away, scattering Seo Gyu¡¯s organs and blood, the culprit who caused a spectacle at Busan Station, albeit with a slightly redder sea, was none other than Sim Aryeon. ¡°Why is this person here?¡± The world really isn¡¯t that big after all. [Proofreader ¨C Gun] Chapter 12 â€“ Seed of Rebellion III Chapter 12 ¨C Seed of Rebellion III [Proofreader ¨C Gun] Chapter 12 ¨C Seed of Rebellion III ¡°Saintess, is it really him?¡± [Yes, it is. He is the person using the username ¡®KoreanVige¡¯ on SGNet.] ¡°Hmm.¡± I stroked my chin. ¡®Well, well. I guess these things happen.¡¯ My surprise didn¡¯tst long. Ultimately, the person wasn¡¯t that important to me. Sure, Sim Aryeon wasn¡¯t entirely unrted to me, but we certainly didn¡¯t have a close rtionship. As for how Busan Station¡¯s waiting area looked to me in brief terms: [Extra A] [Seo Gyu ¡û Important!] [Fairy of the Tutorial] [Vending Machine] [Extra B] [Extra C] [Silent Cooking ¡û ¡ùDangerous¡ù] [Gift Shop (Must Farm Silver Bells)] [Extra D] [Gravestone] [Extra E] [Uehara Shino] [Extra F] [Extra G]¡¡ And in that mix, Sim Aryeon precisely fulfilled the role of [Extra B]. Unless specifically pointed out with an arrow, they would never catch any reader¡¯s eye, no matter how observant they were. To exaggerate a bit, Sim Aryeon¡¯s existence was essentially to scream ¡°Hieek!¡± every time Seo Gyu died, adding a unique touch to the scene. ¡®His awakening ability was¡ healing.¡¯ Of course, as a regressor, I was well aware of the abilities of such extras. ¡®A healing ability user, but not particrlypetent¡¡¯ In gaming terms, a second-tier healer. To put it a bit harshly, they were like a healing item given out for free just by logging into the game. Initially useful, but eventually phased out as the difficulty level increased. The type of Awakened who would be kicked out of the party with a ¡®We¡¯re kicking you out of the party. You¡¯re way too underpowered for us¡¯ rmendation. And my story didn¡¯t have tags like #regret #obsession #degradation. What am I talking about? Just getting kicked out and that¡¯s it. In the first few runs, I owed Sim Aryeon a debt. But that was mainly because I was such a newbie back then. After that¡ well? Not much? Except for events like the joint funeral in run 10 or the construction of the impregnable fortress in run 24. Apart from those events, I didn¡¯t have any significant memories. ¡®How did a third-rate Awakened manage to survive in Busan and somehow end up in Pocheon?¡¯ Thinking about it, I¡¯ve practically traveled from the southern tip to the northern edge of Korea. Somehow, I felt a bit bitter. It was less about the annoyance towards KoreanVige Viin¡¯s character and more about curiosity towards Sim Aryeon¡¯s life. ¡®I should hear them out.¡¯ Ultimately, it was a good call to satisfy my curiosity. When I dragged Sim Aryeon into the living room after knocking them out, Jooho, who followed me, rubbed his forehead. ¡°¡Wow. I can¡¯t believe that the same guild member, [Angel of Healing], was an aggressor who wrote things like that.¡± ¡°Indeed, you two knew each other¡ yes?¡± Just now, it sounded strange, or rather, not strange but somewhat eerie and embarrassing. ¡°¡®Angel of Healing¡¯?¡± ¡°He¡¯s quite well-known around here.¡± Jooho¡¯s face was a mix of embarrassment and confusion. ¡°And besides, he¡¯s the person who worked as both a school nurse and an art teacher at the elementary school where you and I first met. And he also works as a librarian.¡± ¡°Really?¡± ¡°That¡¯s what I said earlier, didn¡¯t I? He¡¯s the one who looks after the kids among our guild members¡ That¡¯s him.¡± ??? I turned my head and looked up at the ceiling. [He is correct. Doctor Jang. Please don¡¯t doubt it.] I quickly looked back down at Jooho. ¡°By ¡®work colleague,¡¯ do you mean¡?¡± ¡°Yes, both in the guild and at school¡ The world may have copsed, but the medical infrastructure didn¡¯tpletely crumble. There were more people dying from illnesses than monsters.¡± It was a fact I was also aware of, having witnessed it repeatedly during my regressions. Without antibiotics, modern people died so easily. The rapid unification of funeral practices in the ruined world into cremation, and even the busy schedule of Jooho¡¯s senior, the magician who dealt with fire magic, all contributed to this. Burning was the most effective way to prevent the spread of disease. ¡°But around here, there are no more absurd deaths from such patients.¡± Jooho continued, looking at KoreanVige Viin. ¡°This person¡ Angel of Healing, he¡¯s been famous for treating everything from minor illnesses to serious diseases with his own abilities. Since about a year ago.¡± ¡°Really?¡± Him? A second-tier healer? ¡°He became well-known for taking care of patients and students without asking for anything in return. He even looked after my father whenever he wasn¡¯t feeling well. Without him, my father might not have been able to get out of bed¡¡± Jooho furrowed his brow. ¡°Um, Doctor Jang, are you absolutely sure he¡¯s KoreanVige? There might be some misunderstanding or confusion¡¡± ¡°No, that part is certain. There¡¯s no room for misunderstanding. You can ask this person directly once theye to their senses in a moment.¡± ¡°¡¡± Jooho eventually fell silent. Actually, if we¡¯re talking about confusion, I was the one more affected. ¡®Aryeon disyed healing abilities on the level of curing cancer¡?¡¯ I¡¯ve never experienced someone demonstrating that level of ability throughout all my regressions. At best, they¡¯d be someone who could slightly alleviate knee pain or assist in recovering from amon cold or flu within a week, like taking Pamprin Q. How on earth? ¡°I¡¯ll wake them up.¡± Jooho nodded at my words. I tossed an empty soda can towards KoreanVige Viin. The aluminum can hit KoreanVige Viin¡¯s head precisely. Since I added a bit of aura to it, it probably felt like their entire head was tingling as if electrocuted. ¡°Uh¡ Ugh! Uhh¡¡± KoreanVige Viin, also known as the Angel of Healing, groaned while slowly blinking their eyes. ¡°Are youing to your senses?¡± ¡°Huh¡ Uh, what¡?¡± After he regained consciousness, I exined the situation to him. Naturally, he was horrified. ¡°Heeek¡! H-how did you know I was here and¡?¡± ¡°I receive a bit of love from the Constetion.¡± After casually lying like it was nothing, I stared at him. ¡°Why did you do that?¡± In response to my straightforward question, KoreanVige Viin hesitated to answer. An awkward silence filled the living room. ¡°Um, well¡ Actually, um¡ What happened was¡ Uhh¡¡± But that very awkward silence was revealing all the answers. ¡°Huh.¡± Jooho looked crestfallen. Upon realizing that his acquaintance was an inte provocateur, he seemed to lose all enthusiasm for life. He muttered quietly. ¡°¡Mr. Sim. Could taking care of patients have stressed you out?¡± KoreanVige Viin blinked rapidly. ¡°Uh¡ Y-yes¡?¡± ¡°So, you didn¡¯t really want to take care of patients, right? But because of your abilities, you couldn¡¯t refuse them¡ And the elementary school kids were always causing trouble. So, you created a different persona online to vent your stress, right?¡± ¡°Wow.¡± I eximed from the side. It was a neat guess, typical of a sharp young man. I¡¯ve seen cases where abilities don¡¯t match personalities quite often. Moreover, in a world like this, having healing abilities was a double-edged sword. It was rare to find someone with the mentality to be able to say, ¡®Am I a healer? Then I must be a noble and you all must bemoners,¡¯ and bully others because of it. Quiet, introverted, and unable to refuse others¡¯ requests, they just end up being dragged around. I¡¯ve seen countless cases where they get into idents and cause trouble just because they can¡¯t handle their abilities. But in response to this rational yet highly credible hypothesis, KoreanVige Viin, Aryeon, expressed her opposition by shaking his head vehemently. ¡°N-no! That¡¯s not it! It¡¯s because of my skills¡!¡± ¡°So, it¡¯s about the skill, huh? Mr. Aryeon doesn¡¯t want to use the skill, ¡®Mobile Hospital,¡¯ but is forced to because of the patients¡ª¡± ¡°N-no, it¡¯s another skill! My second ability!¡± Aryeon began to exin his second ability while iling his arms. ¡°Just wait a moment. I had a hard time discovering this ability¡¡± Since abilities don¡¯t neatly appear like skill cards (if they did, it would have been much easier for me to go around as a regressor), following Aryeon¡¯s voluntary disclosure, his second ability was as follows: ¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D [Resentment Jade] It¡¯s said that those who receive curses live long and healthy lives. You are a superior version of that. The more you¡¯re cursed and hated, the more you surpass mere longevity, being able to share that longevity and health with others. * This effect is stronger the more people hate and curse you. * If you have medical or healing skills, those skills will also be enhanced in solidarity. ¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D KoreanVige Viin looked at the notes and Jooho¡¯s mouth dropped open. By the way, mine did too. ¡°Wait, what kind of messed-up skill is that¡?¡± It was shocking enough to have such an ability, but it was even more surprising to have detailed it after discovering it. Again, unless in very abnormal cases, Awakeneds didn¡¯t have screens like status bars or stats. Discovering their own abilities required a lot of trial and error. What kind of trial and error did Aryeon go through to uncover ¡®Resentment Jade¡¯? It seemed like the person engulfed in shock and horror wasn¡¯t just me. [I can¡¯t help but marvel at the mystery of awakening abilities every time.] Said the saintess. It seemed she too had been secretly observing, curious about the situation. [Proofreader ¨C Gun] I stared into the void and moved my lips thoughtfully. ¡°Didn¡¯t you know, Saintess?¡± [No¡ Did you not know? Yes. I can observe Awakeneds when I want to, but I can¡¯t read their minds. I had thought of it only as a matter of stress, like Mr. Jooho, taking care of patients.] Well. As they say, sharing astonishment makes it lighter. As I conversed with the saintess, my emotions gradually calmed down, and suddenly, a new perspective dawned on me. ¡®The KoreanVige Viin situation.¡¯ It was a series of events that could be called as such, unfolding before my eyes. ¡°¡Indeed. There must have been a reason why he came to be known as ¡®Healing Angel¡¯ from this run onwards.¡± The world had copsed. The inte infrastructure had crumbled. People had no choice but to interact face to face, just like in the pre-inte era. In this lonely world, even receiving ¡®hatred¡¯ was not an easy thing. Especially for someone with a delicate personality like Aryeon. So, during the previous runs, Aryeon¡¯s second skill never showed its true colors, and his first skill was limited to being nothing more than a health aid. But now, it was the 50th run. S, which had never existed before, had emerged. In a world where there was an ideal opportunity to draw aggro, Aryeon opened his eyes. He transformed into the KoreanVige Viin, ascending to the peak of loathsome beings. Even S consisted entirely of Awakeneds. Among them, there were quite a few who truly believed they would kill the KoreanVige Viin if they got their hands on him. The overflowing aggro converged perfectly into ¡®Resentment Jade.¡¯ Surely, he would retain the title of ¡®Angel of Healing.¡¯ ¡°Hm? But didn¡¯t you say, Saintess, that you referred to the KoreanVige Viin as a ¡®peculiar person¡¯ when I asked you to pinpoint her location?¡± [Yes? Yes, I did.] ¡°Wasn¡¯t it because you noticed that the KoreanVige Viin, in addition to being a Healing Angel, also had this dual personality aspect?¡± [Oh. Um, no. That¡¯s¡ I¡¯ll tell youter.] At that moment, Aryeon lowered her head towards us. ¡°I¡¯m, I¡¯m sorry. I didn¡¯t know Mr. Jooho¡¯s father would get hurt¡¡± ¡°Sigh.¡± ¡°I, I know that making excuses like this is a bad thing, but¡ even I¡¯m stung by the prickling of my conscience¡ but still, hup, even if I have to bear resentment like this, even if I have to gain strength from it, if it means I can take care of one more patient¡¡± Aryeon, kneeling and squatting down, murmured as he moved to the corner of the room with her hips, and Jooho and I could only silently watch him. Silence. Jooho spoke up. ¡°W-what should we do, Doctor¡¡± ¡°What can I do? Mr. Jooho¡¯s decision is important.¡± ¡°Umm¡¡± Jooho scratched his head, seeming to realize that he was the one who had made the snide remark and thene to his senses. Not long after, Jooho made his decision. ¡°Well then¡ª¡± It wasn¡¯t a particrly difficult decision. Most of the S friends who were curious about the consequences of the family feud among the Awakeneds would have been licking their lips. Since that day, ¡®TodayJoined¡¯ had disappeared, and KoreanVige Viin continued her activities as usual. -KoreanVige: I treated the son of that arrogant bastard who came to cause trouble well lol Even the regr posts became more malicious. KoreanVige Viin was not only skilled at drawing aggro but also had excellent drawing skills, attachingics to his posts. Theic depicted a child and an elderly person. The quality of the drawing was needlessly thrilling. The content went like this: -Old Man: Huh? Who¡¯s that? -Old Man: (Frowning) -Old Man: Isn¡¯t that our son? -Child: Dad, where are you going? -Child: I want to go too! -Child: (Smiling cheerfully) (A drawing in a cheerfulic style of the father and son holding hands and crossing a river) Finally, a photo that looked like a family tomb was attached. A post-it with KoreanVige¡¯s nickname was even attached to the gravestone. Naturally, conscientious S members were outraged by this situation. -Anonymous: Oh my. -[Yuldoguk] Inquisitor: I¡¯ll handle it this time, so reveal the address, you brat. -[Satisfied] CulinaryQueen: The curses you pour out onto others tend toe back to you eventually. How about taking some time to reflect on yourself? Brother, you surely still harbor a bright nature within you. ©¸KoreanVige: Will you please just shut up, you crazy bastard. -Anonymous: Didn¡¯t he say he lived in Canada? The photo lookspletely Korean though? -[Samcheon] WitchJudge: If youe to Busan, contact me. -DolLHoUse: Furious. -Anonymous: No, but why is this person so good at drawing? They¡¯re aplete genius¡ Of course, not all members had a conscience. There were also those who were enthusiastic about aggro. -Anonymous: Haha, this guy¡¯s hrious lol SashGathRyangHam lol -LiteraryGirl: I thought KoreanVige was just good at inte arguments, but damn, he¡¯s even killing it in real fights lolol Didn¡¯t they say true stars drive you mad? As I and Jooho remained silent, knowing the truth, KoreanVige Viin was truly gathering all the aggro on S. At least now, there wouldn¡¯t be anyone dying without receiving healing in the guild Jooho belonged to. One more thing. ¡°Oh, my. How can abilities¡¡± By the way, Seo Gyu fell into great shock after hearing the whole story from me. ¡°It¡¯s kind of¡ weird to know I wasn¡¯t the only one with a strange ability. It¡¯s a strange feeling.¡± I was personally satisfied to have somewhat shed hisplex about his own skill. It was a win-win situation for everyone, but there was one thing. There were unforeseen coteral damages. -Anonymous: Didn¡¯t ZERO_SUGARment that he got a bloody nose from KoreanVige? -Anonymous: He was boasting like crazy, but now he¡¯s silent lololol Why is he so dismissive? lololol -Anonymous: Bloody nose lololol It was actually ZeroSugar who got his nose broken lololol -LiteraryGirl: ZeroSugar¡ your nose is amazing. ©¸[Satisfied] CulinaryQueen: Insulting others actually lowers oneself. Every human is a mirror reflecting oneself, and I am the mirror of all humans. Please respect and consider each other. ¡°¡.?¡± I nced at thosements for a moment. Well, I made a sound, stood up, sat back down, and went to the kitchen to make myself an espresso. The fact that I chose espresso over cafe auit signaled that I needed a high level of concentration for the task ahead. First, I logged into S with a sub-ount without any intention or purpose. Next, I typed in a message to the administrator-exclusive chat room saying, ¡°Seo Gyu. It¡¯s nothing major, but could you find out some personal information about these guys?¡± [Doctor.] ¡°Hmm?¡± [Please don¡¯t do that. Please.] I put my phone down. Let¡¯s end this run with just a little bit of resentment towards KoreanVige Viin. [Proofreader ¨C Gun] Chapter 13 â€“ The Unknown Being I Chapter 13 ¨C The Unknown Being I [Proofreader ¨C Gun] Chapter 13 ¨C The Unknown Being I 1 Even a Regressor is human. A human. I was very far from being an all-powerful god. Just by looking at the vague description, you can tell. Did I ever think that I, who was thought to be a mediocre Awakened in previous runs, would be referred to as an angel in this run for saving patients from the brink of death with an unprecedented level of healing magic? But, how does everyone who treated me like an idiot feel now? How could I have known that a Japanese web novel-style title like ¡°¡¾Manga Serial Start¡¿Mediocre Awakened in Awakening ~ Saved Patients from Crisis of Death, Now Called an Angel~¡¾Release on 11/11¡¿¡± would unfold? In other words, just because someone is a Regressor doesn¡¯t mean they know all the secrets. asionally, events that are like mysteries or ghost stories that even I can¡¯t solvee to me. Events that, looking back while sipping on Shono¡¯s caf¨¦ auit, make me wonder, ¡°What on earth was that?¡± Today, I¡¯ll introduce one such mystery. 2 Do you believe there¡¯s bnce in the world? For example, if there are bad people among humans, there are also angels. If viins appear in onlinemunities, then on the flip side, popr stars who everyone wants to be friends with also emerge. -[Satisfaction] CookingQueen: Seeking peace of mind? Join the Satisfaction Guild! The main base is in Daejeon! CookingQueen was always popr on SGNet. I¡¯ve only heard good things about this person. ¡°Are you talking about CookingQueen? I haven¡¯t observed them for long, but they¡¯re not a bad person. They take good care of their guild members, and even do volunteer work every Sunday. Personally, I think there¡¯s no one as trustworthy among Awakeneds as CookingQueen.¡± Witness 1. Saintess. ¡°Oh, CookingQueen. You know them, right? They are a really good member. I¡¯ve seen all sorts of things while running SGNet, but I¡¯ve never seen CookingQueen causing any trouble. But are they boring? Not at all. They write a lot of funny posts and don¡¯t act all high and mighty. Ugh. If all members were like CookingQueen, I wouldn¡¯t have to go through this¡¡± Witness 2. Seo Gyu. -[Satisfaction] CookingQueen: KoreanVige. I believe in the kindness that is nted like a seed in your heart. Why do you keep repeating actions that hurt yourself? If you have concerns, please consult with me. -KoreanVige: Please¡ stop¡ I was wrong. I¡¯m a bastard. I¡¯m a bad guy, so don¡¯t talk to me like that¡ Witness 3. Sim Aryeon. Each Awakened, with their wildly different personalities, testified unanimously. CookingQueen is a rare possessor of character in this modern era. Even the Saintess, especially renowned for being strict in evaluating people didn¡¯t hesitate to praise. As the testimony came from someone who could directly observe the Awakeneds through ¡°[irvoyance]¡±, the credibility was exceptional. Of course, I, the one and only Infinite Regressor (except for one other person who¡¯s on long vacation), Doctor Jang, also had a favorable impression of CookingQueen. -Literary Girl: This person, ZeroSugar, has an impressive nose. ©¸[Satisfaction] CookingQueen: Criticizing others actually lowers oneself. Every human is a mirror reflecting me, and I am a mirror for every human. Let¡¯s respect and consider each other. Even when those vile individuals hiding in the shadows ndered me, CookingQueen was there to defend me. I knew better than anyone how difficult it was to stick to righteousness when everyone else is doing evil. And so, in the 89th run. During this time, spurred on by the fact that ¡°Untouched Lottery¡± Seo Gyu hit the jackpot, I would recruit a different Awakened as a colleague each run. CookingQueen, who had proven their integrity and righteousness throughout past runs, was also one of my targets. It wasn¡¯t because they privately sided with me. ¡°Hello?¡± ¡°Yes, hello.¡± And recruiting CookingQueen wasn¡¯t difficult. Like Seo Gyu, CookingQueen was very close. Right at the point where my return journey began, Busan Station¡¯s main hall. Among the 399 summoned, CookingQueen¡¯s original body was included. ¡°It seemed safer to move with several people. I¡¯m forming a party. If it¡¯s not too much trouble, would you like to apany me until we leave Busan Station?¡± ¡°Oh. Yes, sure.¡± She was a woman with pink hair. Her hair color was shy, but her demeanor was calm. Despite experiencing numerous life experiences, she hadn¡¯t lost her serenity. There was a sense of imbnce between her color and expression. However, this awkwardness wasn¡¯t odd; rather, it added to her unique charm. ¡°Thank you. You can call me Doctor Jang or just Doctor. What should I call you?¡± ¡°Koyori.¡± In previous runs, the woman who had been active on SGNet under the name CookingQueen smiled brightly, calmly, and politely. ¡°Just call me Cookingfortably, Doctor.¡± 3 To cut to the chase, Koyori had nobat abilities whatsoever. No, she didn¡¯t even have any usable abilities at all. At most, she had awakened [Sensation Block]. If Koyori had talents as a sniper or assassin, then [Sensation Block] would have been a useful ability. But Koyori really had no talent for fighting. ¡°Ugh. Ow! Ugh! Sorry! Sorry!¡± Koyori cried as she took hits from the weakest monsters, slimes. Sim Aryeon (who had been recruited as my party member around run 51) approached and tore the slimes apart ferociously. ¡°Um, Unnie¡ You¡¯re really pathetic¡¡± ¡°Yes. It seems I have no talent.¡± ¡°It¡¯s okay. I¡¯ll protect you!¡± ¡°Thank you, Aryeon¡¡± The camaraderie among therades was truly beautiful to behold. Except for the fact that Sim Aryeon, who spoke like that, was also at the bottom in terms ofbat power. Yet, we didn¡¯t expel Koyori from the party. It wasn¡¯t out of fear that the story¡¯s genre would change to #Regret #Obsession #Filth, but for entirely rational reasons. ¡°Oh. Guild Leader.¡± 5 a.m. Still in the serene blue hour before daily life began. Koyori often came down from upstairs by foot, while I was drinking caf¨¦ auit in the guild dormitory kitchen. Even though it had been a long time since I¡¯d been living as a Regressor, I still found the title of ¡®Guild Leader¡¯ difficult to get used to. It was a somewhat special title for me. But I naturally epted the greeting without showing any outward difort. ¡°Up early?¡± ¡°Yes. I naturally wake up at this time.¡± Koyori chuckled. Plus 10 points. After all, it was a healthy and wholesome habit for humans to go to bed early and wake up early. This principle remained unchanged even at run 100 or run 1000. Koyori wandered into the kitchen. ¡°You always brew your own coffee in the morning, Guild Leader? Our guild name even has ¡®cafe¡¯ in it. Is it a hobby of yours?¡± ¡°Yeah. It wasn¡¯t originally a hobby, but an old friend was deeply interested in this field. Somehow, I ended up getting into it too.¡± ¡°That¡¯s cool!¡± Koyori sped her hands together to make a tilted triangle shape and smiled softly with her head slightly tilted. ¡°I think sticking to a set pattern early in the morning is a sign of sincerity. What should I say? It¡¯s a deration of intent not to let time flow as it pleases. Yet, Guild Leader, you drink warm coffee. It rxes your mind and body. It¡¯s a very good pattern!¡± A smile spread across my lips. I had my own reasons for liking the early morning, but Koyori¡¯s words weren¡¯t wrong either. ¡°You and I understand each other. Are you going to water the nts now?¡± ¡°Yes. The mountain hydrangeas bloomed beautifully! I was worried about whether the soil would be suitable, but the blue color came out really bright, and I was so happy!¡± Plus 30 points. Lazy people spreadziness-virus around, while diligent people emit hard-work-vitamins. Even though nobody asked, just tending to the flowerbed was alreadymendable. Watching how meticulously and beautifully she did it, my heart couldn¡¯t help but feel content. Whenever I said something like this in front of my party members, the response was always lukewarm. ¡°Umm, Hyung-nim.¡± ¡°Why? Seo Gyu.¡± ¡°Hyung-nim, even though there¡¯s not much of an age gap between us, when you speak, you sound just like apany director¡¡± Uh-oh. [Proofreader ¨C Gun] As I furrowed my brows, Seo Gyu quickly averted his gaze. The Saintess who received my coffee (a masterpiece brewed to taste as close to bongdari coffee as possible) nodded her head. ¡°I think Doctor Jang¡¯s opinion is correct. All virtues stem from habits, and habits originate from diligence. Any virtue will degrade into self-serving self-aggrandisement in the absence of diligence.¡± ¡°Isn¡¯t that so? As expected. Seo Gyu, you should learn from Koyori and Saintess-nim too.¡± Seo Gyu made a subtle expression. ¡°¡Strange. Our guild¡¯s average age is almost the lowest in the industry, yet why does the atmosphere feel like this¡?¡± He muttered like that, but the fondness for Koyori wasn¡¯t just mine; it applied to all party members. ¡°Koyori! Let¡¯s grab a beer after training! Our favorite ce has restocked this week!¡± ¡°Um, Koyori noona. Regarding SGNet operations¡¡± ¡°K-Koyori unni. Would you like to have lunch together today¡?¡± Party members, famous for being as difficult as wild horses, became docile in front of Koyori. In fact, it was precisely because of this point that I decided to keep taking Koyori with me. Suffice it to say now, but Awakeneds generally had bad personalities. It wasn¡¯t an absolutew, but it was clear that as their character twisted, their abilities became stronger. Our guild was made up of S-rank and A-rank promising individuals. Consequently, emotional instability was rampant. Even Seo Gyu, who was quiet in front of me, wasn¡¯t he the crazy guy who cursed out the tutorial fairy, saying, ¡°Hey, you fucking bastard!¡±? Saintess¡ I trust her enough to entrust my life to her, but it¡¯s hard to see her as just an ordinary person. She only asionally chats with Seo Gyu about SGNet operations. Saintess sent more messages to people than anyone else, but paradoxically, she dislikedmunicating with people. Getting along with everyone in a guild full of troublemakers was by no means an easy feat. ¡°The party members¡¯ mental states are much more stable than in previous runs.¡± Plus 200 points. Affinity level up to Lv.7. Even if Koyori only had the ability to [Sensation Block] and was just an awakening with barely any abilities, it didn¡¯t matter. It¡¯s often said, but in humans, mental state is just as important. What good is having the strongestbat abilities if your mind crumbles? If your mind falls apart like a showman, you¡¯ll just transition from being a showman to a no-show. ¡°Alright, everyone. Let¡¯s have lunch together then.¡± Koyori acted as a bridge connecting all guild members. If it had been in previous runs, even the awakening members who growled at each other were now being mediated by Koyori in the middle, reducing my burden significantly. Watching from afar, I whispered to the Saintess. ¡°Koyori is like a good stew. Organizational management has be ridiculously easy. You know Hahyool, right? The silent one. Even he follows Koyori. If we continue like this, even if we stretch it a bit, increasing the guild size to 20, 30 members shouldn¡¯t be a problem.¡± ¡°¡.¡± ¡°Hmm?¡± When I turned back after receiving no response, the Saintess¡¯s expression seemed somewhat absent-minded. Her usually clear eyes seemed slightly clouded. ¡°Saintess-nim?¡± ¡°Oh. Yes. I¡¯m sorry. What did you just say?¡± ¡°It wasn¡¯t anything important. Are you feeling hot? Shall I bring you some cold water?¡± ¡°¡No, I¡¯m fine.¡± The Saintess muttered. ¡°I was just surprised at how she¡¯s so close with everyone. You know, I¡¯m quite distant by nature from those kinds of personalities.¡± ¡°Everyone¡¯s character has its strengths and weaknesses, right? Koyori might also have stresses she can¡¯t share with others.¡± ¡°That¡¯s true. You¡¯re right.¡± In many ways, the 89th run felt good. SGNet operations went smoothly. Sim Aryeon, the viin of KoreanVige, also sessfully transitioned to an A-rank healer, without causing any trouble as he used to. With the Saintess¡¯s wless backup and Koyori¡¯s charming personality at its peak, the guild¡¯s internal cohesion was stronger than ever before. They even managed to arrest all the fairies and gain nationwide support from the Awakeneds. A run where power and influence grew exponentially. ¡°Perhaps¡ this time, we might actually be able to prevent the end of the world?¡± Looking back now, it was just idle chatter, but at the time, I genuinely believed it. What could I do about it? After such a satisfying day, I went to bed. The next day, as I woke up and tried to get up. Because it was my principle to get up immediately upon waking up, without dawdling in bed. ¡°¡?¡± But this day, I hesitated in bed for quite a while. It wasn¡¯t because I suddenly realized the ways ofziness. I simply stared nkly at the ceiling. Until I fell asleep, it had been clean, with nothing on it. [Don¡¯t trust the pink-haired one.] A familiar ceiling now bore unfamiliar words. 4 Infinite regression gifted me with numerous lessons. One of those gifts was the name ¡®doubt.¡¯ Old Scho, who was also a regressor like me. Didn¡¯t he say that before? -Don¡¯t trust those who im to be the Constetion. Everyone naturally believed in the existence of the Constetions. But Old Scho pointed out that the Constetions ¡®favor Koreans¡¯ and never stopped doubting. In the end, Old Scho was right. The Constetions were nothing but a masquerade by the Saintess aimed at the entire nation. ¡®German.¡¯ While having breakfast with guild members, I thought about the sentence I saw in the room earlier. ¡®They didn¡¯t use a writing tool, they used the tip of a knife to carve it. So¡¡¯ I took out a dagger from my pocket and looked at it. A self-defense weapon I never parted with even when sleeping. Inspecting the de, I noticed traces of fine dust and dirt. I would need to ask Uehara Shino for a detailedposition, but roughly speaking, the ceiling and the material were the same. In other words. ¡®Someone took the dagger from my possession, carved a sentence in German on the ceiling that only I could recognize, and it wasn¡¯t detected by me during the whole process, and even broke through all the security measures set up in my bedroom.¡¯ Is that possible? ¡®Impossible.¡¯ Moreover, my guild headquarters had tiny ¡®cobwebs¡¯ set up all over the ceiling by a serious security specialist called ¡®Dollmaker.¡¯ Apart from the Tang Seorin¡¯s guild, there was no headquarters with such a high level of security. At least, among our guild members, there was no one capable of prating security and ying tricks. Old Scho might be capable, but¡ still impossible. His body at Yeongam was confirmed as soon as the 89th run began. In the end, there was only one suspect. ¡®Me.¡¯ Myself. I looked at my reflection in the ss. If I were the culprit, I could easilymit the crime despite all those adverse conditions. The problem was¡ No matter how much I racked my brain, I couldn¡¯t recall any memory of myself carving such a sentence on the ceiling. ¡®Brainwashing? Delusions? Multiple personalities? Amnesia? Hypnosis?¡¯ Countless possibilities came to mind. It had to be one of two things. ¡°Either someone¡¯s trying to drive a wedge between me and Koyori, or it¡¯s really a warning about Koyori.¡± Casually, I turned my head and met Koyori¡¯s gaze, who was holding a sandwich in her hands and eating. ¡°¡?¡± Koyori grinned and continued eating her sandwich. ¡My heartbeat settled down calmly. I, too, proceeded with the meal as if nothing had happened. ¡®I never expected such a bizarre event to ur in what I thought was an exceptional run, the 89th.¡¯ In such a dire situation, the only colleague I could consult was ultimately Saintess. Knowing that I was a regressor and that she was more objective in assessing situations than anyone else. ¡°By the way, have you noticed the Constetions haven¡¯t been messagingtely?¡± ¡°Oh? You too? I haven¡¯t been getting any messages since yesterday.¡± ¡°They used to message us all the time, but suddenly going silent makes me feel uneasy, you know?¡± Pause. I nced over at the guild members chatting at the dining table. ¡°The messages from the Constetions aren¡¯ting through?¡± ¡°Yeah, Guild Leader.¡± ¡°I bet there¡¯s talk about it on S too, right now.¡± A foreboding feeling crept over me. [Proofreader ¨C Gun] Chapter 14 â€“ The Unknown Being II Chapter 14 ¨C The Unknown Being II [Proofreader ¨C Gun] Chapter 14 ¨C The Unknown Being II To everyone¡¯s surprise, there was chaos on SGNet. ¨C Anonymous: Did all the Constetions suddenly go silent? Did I get cut off? ¨C [Three Thousand] WitchTribunal: I asked guild members, and we confirmed that there has been nomunication from the Constetions since yesterday. The most recent contact from a guild member was 28 hours ago. We hope other guilds can share their status too. ¨C dolLHoUse: Feeling uneasy. ¨C Anonymous: Guys, I¡¯m scared. What¡¯s happening¡? ¨C KoreanVige: Idiots. They sing praises to the Constetions all day long, and when there¡¯s no contact for two days, they whine like kids who lost their mom. What are you saving your praises for? To make egg soup? These guys don¡¯t even have yolks in their praises, just empty shells, lol. ©¸ Anonymous: Damn, this crazy guy keeps getting better at making people feel miserable as time goes on. Where are you really from? ©¸ [Yuldo Country] Geomho: Seems like my sword is crying out. It was a usual day, albeit with the usual faint chaos, but the agitation of the Awakened was quite noticeable. Knocking on the door yielded no response. ¡°You wait here. If you sense anyone watching or approaching, scream immediately.¡± ¡°Yes, brother.¡± With a forced calm, I entered the apartmentplex. I had known the front door passcode for dozens of rounds already. The dimly lit living room. With four monitors emitting a bluish hue like phosphorescent waves and dozens of aquariums surrounding her like fortress walls, she, the Saintess,y dead. ¡°¡¡± My mind went cold. ¡®Assassination.¡¯ As she managed the tanks, towels were always ready, and there was a towel rack in the living room. She was hanged there. ¡®Suicide.¡¯ There were no signs of resistance. Yet, no matter what had happened, I knew for a fact that the Saintess would nevermit suicide, no matter how dire the circumstances. It wasn¡¯t simply because of emotional reasons like ¡°it¡¯s not her personality.¡± It was the truth I had obtained through repeated observation over dozens of rounds. ¡®A murder disguised as suicide.¡¯ The Saintess was the core of my project. The Constetions vanished in an instant. The external conscience, the ethical line attached to the Awakened, was severed. And it didn¡¯t stop there. Themunicationwork that used the Constetions as messengers to exchange information with other guilds vanished as well. Having to rely on the endorsement of the Constetions to gain trust from others became impossible. ¡°There¡¯s no trace of any security measures being triggered.¡± The Saintess¡¯s safety had been a top priority. Had the painstaking efforts of the security been nullified all at once? ¡®She couldn¡¯t even send me a single message?¡¯ Approaching one of the aquariums, I moved it aside and found a USB hidden under a hollowed-out metal shelf. It was a precautionary measure we had agreed upon in case of emergencies. I plugged the USB into theputer and opened a notepad. ©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤ Hello, Z. If you¡¯re reading this, it means I¡¯m dead. My death came without any warning. Among the data I¡¯ve been observing through [CLA], there are no elements that could have led to my death. There may have been something caught on CCTV, but if the perpetrator who killed me so discreetly is involved, it¡¯s unlikely that any meaningful evidence remains. As you know, the most pressing issue now is as follows: With the disappearance of the Transcendents, the intangible reins that held the Awakened in check have been loosened. Currently, the only Transcendent we can mobilize is the one known as the apostle of N, an anonymous Constetion. Using this name, we need to post a notice on N, disseminating misinformation stating that ¡°an entity disrupting the activities of the Transcendents has emerged.¡± I believe adding a scenario where N is attacked and temporarily goes offline will increase credibility. But it will be impossible to prevent the confusion among the Awakened. I apologize for my inadequate strength. I hope you¡¯ll continue to persevere next time. ¨C S. ©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤ It was the Saintess¡¯s testament. In case someone else found it, she referred to me as ¡°Z¡± instead of ¡°Doctor Jang¡± to prepare for potential exposure. Shebeled irvoyance as ¡°CLA¡± and SGNet as ¡°N.¡± Instead of using the term ¡°Constetions,¡± she used ¡°Transcendents.¡± The phrase ¡°continue to persevere next time¡± undoubtedly referred to the ¡°next turn.¡± It couldn¡¯t be anything other than a testament befitting the Saintess. Checking the date of the notepad file, it was a staggering 1 year and 6 months ago. ¡®As expected, she died from an unexpected blow.¡¯ If it had been a suicide, she would have edited the testament. And if it wasn¡¯t a suicide, there were only two suspects. The first suspect was me. ¡°Oh, brother. Is the Saintess doing well?¡± And then there was Seo Gyu. I stepped out of the apartmentplex and silently watched Seo Gyu. ¡°Seo Gyu.¡± ¡°Yes?¡± ¡°Have you ever told anyone else where the Saintess¡¯s residence is?¡± Seo Gyu was startled. ¡°What? No? There¡¯s no way I would say that. You made it clear not to tell anyone, right?¡± Can he really be trusted? We¡¯ve spent quite a lot of time together with Seo Gyu. But if asked if I trust him enough to risk his life like the Saintess, our rtionship was still light enough to be considered that. ¡°You reported going out two days ago and came back shortly afterward, right?¡± ¡°Yes, yes¡ But why¡?¡± ¡°Koyori spent the whole day at the dormitory that day.¡± ¡°Is that so?¡± ¡°But if you use [Sensation Block], you can go out without the other party members knowing. If you follow someone going out, the risk of being caught is greatly reduced.¡± ¡°Brother, what have you been talking about since earlier¡?¡± ¡°There are countless hidden measures in the Saintess¡¯s residence that even you don¡¯t know about. One of them is a system that scans and stores the footprints of those who enter the residence. This data is updated weekly.¡± It was a lie. But my expression and tone remained unwavering. ¡°Why are your footprints found in the Saintess¡¯s residence?¡± ¡°¡.¡± Silence. ¡°Is something wrong?¡± A strange voice came from Seo Gyu¡¯s mouth. ¡°I didn¡¯t have that information?¡± A gunshot echoed. Seo Gyu¡¯s body copsed like a reed. He pulled out a gun and fired it at the roof of his mouth in an instant. Blood seeped onto the cracked asphalt road like untreated atopic dermatitis. ¡°¡¡± I clenched my fist. I suppressed my heart again and connected to SGNet. [Cannot connect to the site.] The dead Seo Gyu in front of me was indeed the real Seo Gyu. The possibility of me being manipted by a doll handler, a disciple of the Outsider God, or any other entity had greatly diminished. The two axes that could influence Awakened nationwide ¨D the Saintess and Seo Gyu ¨D copsed in an instant. By now, my mindset had already shifted to ¡®collect as much information as possible for the next round.¡¯ It was something I was familiar with. Drawing my sword, I headed to the guild lodge. [Proofreader ¨C Gun] There was no sign of the two people who should always be on surveince duty. ¡°¡¡± It was quiet. There was no one in the training grounds where members should be training. Instead, Sim Aryeony dead. In the dining hall, untouched foody on the table. The wheelchair my cherished guild member usually used was left alone without its owner. There was no sense of presence in the corridors or dormitories. Only sporadic German graffiti adorned the pirs and walls. [Don¡¯t trust pink hair.] I walked out to the open space and sat down on a bench. It was summer. The sirens of cicadas red loudly. Suddenly, I noticed Koyori sitting somewhat quietly next to the bench. ¡°Did you go out, Guild Leader?¡± ¡°¡¡± ¡°Whew. It¡¯s really hot this summer.¡± Koyori pped her coat sleeves in the wind. The cicada cries faded like a whiteout against her backdrop. ¡°Your ability wasn¡¯t [Sensation Block], huh.¡± ¡°Yes.¡± Koyori simply confirmed. I murmured, ¡°Your ability was just superficial. When your ability was activated, it merely made your presence less noticeable. Analyzing the current situation¡ your true ability is [Perception Maniption]. No, it¡¯s part of the [Perception Distortion] category.¡± ¡°Oh, right.¡± Koyori grinned. ¡°Guild Leader, you¡¯re really amazing! You were impressive when we first met, and you still are.¡± ¡°¡I should have thought something was strange earlier.¡± I thought back once again. In the previous round, Koyori, or the CookingQueen, received what kind of evaluation from those around her? ¨C CookingQueen? I haven¡¯t observed her for very long, but she¡¯s not a bad person. She takes good care of her guild members and even volunteers every Sunday. Personally, I think there¡¯s no one as trustworthy among the Awakened as the CookingQueen. Witness 1: The Saintess. Just from leaving a testament on the secret USB, it was clear that the Saintess was more cautious than anyone else. From the start, she thought, ¡®There might be a regressor in this world,¡¯ and she was the one who arranged our meeting. So, someone who imed they had never observed the person themselves evaluated the other person as the ¡®most trustworthy individual¡¯? That was suspicious from the start. ¨C Oh, the CookingQueen. You know her, right? She¡¯s an amazing member. I¡¯ve seen all sorts of things while running SGNet, but I¡¯ve never seen the CookingQueen cause any trouble. Boring? Not at all. She writes plenty of entertaining posts and doesn¡¯t act all high and mighty. Ah, if only all members were like CookingQueen, I wouldn¡¯t have to go through all this trouble¡ Witness 2: Seo Gyu. Seo Gyu testified that Koyori ¡®writes a lot of entertaining posts.¡¯ But isn¡¯t that strange? I had never witnessed the CookingQueen writing an entertaining post even once. ¨C [Satisfaction] CookingQueen: Do you seek peace of mind? Join the Satisfaction Guild! Our main base is in Seoul! ¨C [Satisfaction] CookingQueen: Words reflect thoughts, and thoughts cloud oneself like mist on a foggy day. Why not try using clearer and brighternguage? ¨C [Satisfaction] CookingQueen: Brother, if you have a secret you can¡¯t tell anyone, feel free to consult with me anytime. People can kill each other, but they can also live because of each other. ¨C [Satisfaction] CookingQueen: Curses poured onto others tend toe back to oneself eventually. How about taking some time to reflect on yourself a little more? Brother, you surely have a bright nature within you. Writing devoid of any amusement. Only straightforward, proper, and upright behavior. In other words ¡ª the image of a person I, as a doctor, typically liked. ¡°Koyori.¡± ¡°Yes?¡± ¡°Do you have the ability to show ¡®the most liked aspect of a person¡¯ depending on the individual?¡± ¡°¡.¡± To the Saintess who valued ethics, a moral individual. To Seo Gyu, who liked things moderately entertaining, a humorous individual. Ultimately, in front of me, who believed that a person¡¯s life depended on their mentality and attitude, she appeared as a straightforward and solid individual. Each person is reflected differently depending on the observer. Like a magical mirror. That was Koyori¡¯s true nature. The reason why she could be loved by Awakened with twisted personalities alsoy here, I believed. ¡°¡As expected, Guild Leader. I was really surprised this time!¡± Koyori sped her hands and tilted her head. But did she really strike that pose? Did Koyori smile when she was smiling? Did she use politenguage? Did she have pink hair, tend the garden every morning, and maintain a diligent attitude? I didn¡¯t know whether everything was a lie. Now that my perception has been shaken, I had no choice but to discard all the information I thought I knew about Koyori. ¡°But surely, you don¡¯t just have the ability of ¡®perception maniption.¡¯ You controlled Seo Gyu to make himmit suicide, didn¡¯t you?¡± ¡°Yes. I, well, I¡¯m a multiple ability user, you see.¡± ¡°¡Now I understand why the fairies were wary of you. How on earth did the Busan Station za turn out like that? There seem to be so many rare multiple ability users around.¡± ¡°Ahaha. Yes, indeed. Sometimes strange coincidences happen in this world.¡± ¡°Why did you do such a thing?¡± ¡°Well, I could tell you. But even if I did, would you trust me, Guild Leader?¡± Probably not. At that moment, a deafening noise came from the direction of the guild dormitory. With a crash, the concrete outer wall shattered, and the building copsed in an instant. Upon the rubble of the building, a huge mass of flesh moved. It swelled up to the height of seven floors in the blink of an eye. Red and blue veins constantly pulsated, and muscle fibers whipped through the air like tentacles, tails,shing out into the void. ¨C Guildleeeadeerr, niim. ¨C Hhhhh, niiiiim. ¨C ¡¡., ¡¡ ¨C Uuusaaaa. Every time the tip of the tentacle wriggled, the air tore apart, emitting a bizarre noise. That noise resembled the voices of guild members. The surface of the tentacles was marked with dark stripes. Whenever the voices of guild members rang out, countless ck stripes undted. ¡A phenomenon that never appeared even once in the past 88 turns. I gazed at the being that caused this difference. ¡°I¡¯m sorry, Guild Leader.¡± Koyori got up from the bench with a ¡°whiff¡± and dusted off her skirt. Then, she took a few steps forward, turned around with her back to me. Her pink hair flowed down at an angle. ¡°I think it¡¯s better if everyone is happy. I never wanted to make you sad, Guild Leader. Or anyone else. So, I tried really hard¡ but unlike others, your mind is too strong. So, my ability slipped out for a moment.¡± ¡°Let me ask you one thing.¡± I looked up at Koyori. ¡°Did I kill guild members? Did you manipte me?¡± ¡°¡.¡± Koyori stared at me intently. ¡°No.¡± ¡°It¡¯s a lie.¡± ¡°Yes.¡± The sword drawn from my scabbard hovered at Koyori¡¯s neck. A line was drawn. The first thing to fall was her pink hair, cascading softly downwards. Slightlyter, Koyori¡¯s head followed suit. Before her head could fully fall, her lips moved. ¡°We¡¯ll be one, Guild Leader.¡± Behind Koyori, crimson flesh spread out, covering the sky. That was thest sight I remembered from the 89th turn. After that day, I didn¡¯t make contact with Koyori. At least not directly. We barely crossed paths a handful of times, even over hundreds of turns. Koyori¡¯s ability remained mysterious. I judged that if she became stronger than she was in the 89th turn, I might eventually have to subdue her. I¡¯m not sure if that judgment was correct. One definite fact was that, except for the 89th turn, there was no appearance of ¡®crimson flesh.¡¯ In turns where Koyori didn¡¯t act with me, she was always harmless, causing no trouble, until one day she would suddenly be killed by a monster or disappear somewhere, just a harmless Awakener. -We¡¯ll be one, Guild Leader. What did that phrase really mean? Was the crimson flesh a monster? Or a contamination phenomenon? There was a crucial difference from seeing it as a result of an Awakener¡¯s corruption. So, was the crimson flesh also Koyori¡¯s unique ability? What was Koyori¡¯s true nature, not distorted by the filtering of ¡®perception maniption¡¯? Curiosity sometimes arose. But I didn¡¯t feel the need to hastily delve into that mystery. At least until a means topletely nullify ¡®perception maniption¡¯ was discovered, I had no intention of approaching Koyori. Whenever I saw the nickname ¡®CookingQueen¡¯ on SGNet, I would quietly leave ament. -Always admirable to see your hard work^^. Not long after, a notification popped up indicating that ament had been left. -Thank you! Even in a world like this, if we live without giving up hope for ourselves and others, good things will definitely happen. I hope today will be a happy day for you too, ZeroSugar!¡± ¡°¡.¡± Hmm. I silently nodded in agreement. Indeed, it was an excellent attitude. [Proofreader ¨C Gun] Chapter 15 â€“ Internationalist I Chapter 15 ¨C Internationalist I [Proofreader ¨C Gun] Chapter 15 ¨C Internationalist I 1 There aren¡¯t many things as important to a person as their mental state. As emphasized in Old Scho¡¯s story, even if you know how to split the sky with a single sword stroke, it¡¯s all for naught if your mental state crumbles. I, Doctor Jang, also devoted considerable effort to mental management. My unique method of management was as follows: For about 5 to 7 turns, roughly 100 years, I work diligently. I hustle to prevent the world from ending. And then, during the next turn, I enjoy life. ¡®Why bother about saving the world? Just let it go.¡¯ I ignore the lives I can save. I don¡¯t step into the fate I can change. I prioritize only my life, my peace, my enjoyment. For about 20 years, I devote myself entirely to healing my mental state, spending a pleasant vacation. These are events briefly avoided in the main route, like a kind of side story. Even if criticized as cowardly, there¡¯s no helping it. There are limits to human mental resilience. If I hadn¡¯t used this method, I wouldn¡¯t have endured the long life of regression until the 1183rd turn. Fortunately, the 90th turn fell on what we call a ¡®vacation turn.¡¯ It was truly perfect timing. Rest was absolutely necessary to hold onto my sanity, especially after being flown to Mars by Koryori. ¡°So, I want to ask your opinion. How should I rest to receive praise for resting so well?¡± ¡°W-Why are you asking me about that¡?¡± The fairy trembled in my hand, its head held firmly. It was the tutorial fairy. If it had been a normal turn, I would have swiftly cut its throat before killing Seogyu, but this 90th turn was a so-called rest year. I could act as my heart¡¯spass directed. Well, considering that I had previously imprisoned the fairies in the 89th turn and filmed a harsh survival program in hell, some of the built-up resentment had been washed away¡ Anyway. After capturing the tutorial fairy, I dragged it to one side of the assembly hall. At first, the fairy resisted, but after folding its ears twice and turning it into a half-elf, it became very obedient. ¡°Well, I¡¯m just asking. Come to think of it, we haven¡¯t really had a deep conversation.¡± ¡°S-Sob. Why did this crazy person end up in my territory¡? Fairy #264 is the unhappiest fairy in the universe¡¡± ¡°Oh,e on. What¡¯s so unhappy about someone who¡¯s about to chop off a civilian¡¯s head out of nowhere?¡± ¡°But, if you don¡¯t impress upon people the fact that this isn¡¯t a joke, won¡¯t it lead to much greater harm and tragedyter on? From a utilitarian standpoint, my response wasn¡¯t wrong!¡± ¡°So, you¡¯re a utilitarian.¡± I realized a new fact. This must also be the charm of regression. ¡°Anyway, tell me your opinion about my vacation. Your fairies are all lives bound to the Fairy Lord, right? You must constantly think about whether you have any wishes if you ever go on vacation.¡± ¡°Uh, h-how could¡¡± The fairy blinked in surprise within my grasp. ¡°You bastard! Could you be the Protagonist that my seniors warned me about so strongly?¡± ¡°Protagonist?¡± ¡°Those who experience regression, possession, and reincarnation! Including those with prophetic abilities! They¡¯re our fairies¡¯ most formidable enemies! Because of you lot, in literature, our fairies are treated like early-game mobs!¡± ¡°Oh. Are there actually people like that in the fairy world, those experiencing regression, possession, and reincarnation?¡± ¡°No? They just regrly appear in ssic fairy literature.¡± So, old Scho and I were something special after all. Hoping that there might be morerades, I felt a bit disappointed. ¡°Anyway, don¡¯t worry about antagonizing your Fairy Lord. Just give advice on your 20-year vacation n. If it¡¯s annoying, I will just grind your head into fairy juice.¡± ¡°Eek! Dreadful wording! I¡¯ll sue you to the Fairy Rights Committee!¡± ¡°There¡¯s no such thing on Earth.¡± ¡°What a barbaric civilization¡?¡± In the end, Fairy #264 raised the white g. ¡°Well, well. Anyway, it means you¡¯ve been given 20 years of free time, right? And you feel like going wild during that period?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± The fairy then put on a determined expression. ¡°If #264 were given freedom and gained as much power as you, I¡¯d want to thrust the spear of revolution into the belly of the Fairy Lord!¡± ¡°¡¡± A utilitarian and a revolutionary. I realized a new fact. This must also be the charm of regression¡ or maybe not. It wille upter, but fairies are actually divided into republicans and monarchists. Well, that wasn¡¯t important now. ¡°Thrust the spear? How? You¡¯re all fitted with explosive devices. If you rebel against the Fairy Lord, your heart will explode, melting your entire body.¡± ¡°Uh, how did we get there¡ Umm. Well, if I¡¯d known that, it would¡¯ve made this conversation easier. Anyway! The Fairy Lord is a much more oppressive monarch than the bourgeoisie! Even if #264¡¯s heart explodes, the Fairy Lord must be overthrown for the progress of history, the innovation of civilization!¡± The fairy waved their arms frantically. ¡°Human! Although your physical development may be primitive and fragile, mentally, you¡¯ve achieved remarkable linear progress! We¡¯ve been deeply moved ever since we read in history books about blowing the noses of monarchs hundreds of years ago, and all of us in the [Fairy Revolution Club]!¡± So, there was such a club. ¡°Unfortunately, our fairy society is in a desperate situation where self-rescue is hopeless! But with a strong human like you, perhaps external salvation is possible! Human! Please help us until the day when the red g flutters over the Fairy Lord¡¯s navel!¡± If this were a game, there would be a ¡®ding¡¯ sound with a message saying, ¡®A new route has opened. Would you like to help the fairies achieve revolution?¡¯ ¡°Hmm.¡± My interest was piqued. There had been one instance of battling against the Fairy Lord. This time, I wouldn¡¯t be alone; I would recreate it with the fairies as allies. But I shook my head. ¡°Sorry, but I¡¯ll have to decline that offer.¡± ¡°What¡? Why, human?¡± ¡°I¡¯m feeling a bit tired mentally right now, so I¡¯m more inclined towards support roles. What I need at the moment is a warm cup of coffee as a lonely urban man, not the bloody tears of a revolutionary charging towards barricades, waving a red g.¡± [Proofreader ¨C Gun] ¡°What bourgeois nonsense! Even now, despite their unwillingness, fairies are killing humans under the wicked orders of the Fairy Lord! Yourpatriots! Their blood, sweat, and tears, are they invisible and inaudible to you? Aren¡¯t you afraid of the wrath of Comrade Marx?¡± ¡°Sorry, but the country I live in is fundamentally antimunist¡¡± ¡°You capitalist dog! Traitor of the people! You¡¯ll be cursed!¡± ¡°I pledge eternal loyalty. Master.¡± Of course, around turn 210, I actually did join the [Fairy Revolution Club] as a temporary member and yed a role in the revolution. But that¡¯s a story for another turn. I seeded in hiring the tutorial fairy. ¡°Um, excuse me¡ sir?¡± Ah, right. By the way, Seo Gyu had been eavesdropping on our conversation the whole time. Well, since I saved the fairy from exploding, it was only fair. Seo Gyu looked at me with a look that said, ¡®You¡¯re nuts.¡¯ ¡°What should I do from now on¡?¡± ¡°Your ability is to operate an intemunity, where anyone with awakened abilities can ess even without awork.¡± ¡°Yes?¡± ¡°I think themunity name should be SG Net. Thank you for your hard work.¡± ¡°Yes?¡± I parted ways with Seo Gyu. I farmed silver bells at the souvenir shop, then piggybacked the fairy. I felt the fairy nodding behind me. ¡°But, what does my human master n to do with me? World domination? Revolution? Dictatorship? Ice spear fishing? After seeding in the revolution, am I going to be exported to other countries under the guise of internationalism, like a generous donor?¡± I don¡¯t know what kind of information #264 Fairy read about Earth to have such distorted prejudice. But, as the fairy said, I¡¯m a capitalist dog. I was considering dipping my toes into the forefront of modern consumer culture. ¡°No.¡± ¡°Why not?¡± ¡°We¡¯re going to open a convenience store.¡± 2 24-hour convenience store. Before the Gate Incident, it was amon sight in Korea, although not as nostalgic as a neighborhood mom-and-pop store. But as the world started to copse, convenience stores also confidently made it onto the list of ¡®nostalgic items.¡¯ ¡°Hey, youngest. Go buy me some chewing gum from the convenience store.¡± ¡°Yes?¡± Convenience store jokes were often used by awakened individuals to tease the youngest. From my regression experience, there were surprisingly many awakened individuals who, even as the currency value copsed, refused to throw away their wallets. Ironically, people who used to rely solely on credit cards now carried cash after the copse of civilization. Partly because the cards became useless, but¡ money must have been like a talisman to them, a wish for the world not to end. It was quite strange, but when multinational awakened individuals gathered to carry out operations, there was even a custom of exchanging each other¡¯s country¡¯s currency. Koreans exchanged won, Americans exchanged dors. Like ser yers exchanging uniforms after a game. So, at one point, my wallet collected more than 30 types of currency. Why am I suddenly saying all this? To emphasize that in a world where people are dying, not only do they not throw away money, but they also assign immense value to ¡®nostalgia.¡¯ ¡°We¡¯re going to create the only convenience store operating normally in the world.¡± ¡°Hmm.¡± ¡°A truly ambitious aspiration! After forcibly upying a convenience store in Seoul (the owner fled anyway). It was the convenience store where I first met the saintess, a memory now filled with grandeurparable to world conquest. Even after hearing about my grand n, #264 Fairy, or rather our store¡¯s first employee, blinked in surprise. ¡°What was that sound of crunching on something solid like a solidpapul?¡± ¡°What¡¯s a ¡®solidpapul¡¯?¡± ¡°If I had to choose the most appropriate word in Earth¡¯snguage, it would be ¡®puppy¡¯.¡± So, it was the sound of a dog crunching on grass. But I¡¯ve already lived more than a hundred lifetimes. I¡¯m skilled in convincing others. ¡°264. There¡¯s a major w in your world revolutionary theory.¡± ¡°Hmm?¡± ¡°The world is vast, and there are many people. Asking each of them to join the cause of revolution is something only riffraff would do.¡± I dered solemnly. ¡°A true master doesn¡¯t go out seeking people. They make theme to them.¡± ¡°¡!¡± ¡°We will create a convenience store where workers from all nationse voluntarily. This is the revolutionary base of the Sixth International! You are the first gbearer of that vanguard, our proud store clerk. The sess of our International depends on how sincerely you serve the customers!¡± ¡°Comrade Manager¡!¡± The fairy, still lying on the not-yet-cleaned floor of the store, shed tears like chicken poop. The scent of flowers emanated from the fairy¡¯s tears, instantly freshening up the store. I¡¯ll save on air fresheners. ¡°I¡¯ve been gravely mistaken about you, Comrade Manager! I pledge eternal loyalty!¡± ¡°Yes. As this is a business for revolution, I hope you will serve the customers at the headquarters¡¯ counter unpaid for 365 days.¡± ¡°Yes! Unpaid!¡± Although #264 had transitioned from being a ve of the Fairy Lord to my own ve, it seemed happy. Isn¡¯t happiness all that matters? I stole a political banner from a nearby intersection. Turning the banner upside down, I used my calligraphy skills akin to chicken scratches to write words. Then, I hung it in front of the store. [Our store is open for business as usual.] It was a historic moment when ¡®The Sixth International,¡¯ thest convenience store of humanity on Seoul¡¯s Banpo Bridge, opened its doors. [Proofreader ¨C Gun] Chapter 16 â€“ Internationalist II Chapter 16 ¨C Internationalist II [Proofreader ¨C Gun] Chapter 16 ¨C Internationalist II 3 First, I casually raided the logistics centers of convenience stores nationwide. Of course, it wasn¡¯t a task that could be summarized in a single line. The situation was chaotic, with the parliament almost paralyzed and half in a state of paralysis. Sharp-witted individuals were already nning to raid the logistics centers. ¡°Who¡¯s there?¡± ¡°Stop! Don¡¯t approach!¡± But who am I? At this point, I¡¯m a regressed individual who has lived through life 90 times. Screams echoed at the barricaded entrance of the logistics center. Before long, I found myself negotiating with the center¡¯s personnel. ¡°Do you understand? If the trucks don¡¯t arrive by this Friday, we¡¯ll have a very meaningful time.¡± ¡°Yes, yes! Understood!¡± Soon, convoys of trucks poured out from the logistics centers in the northern and eastern regions of the metropolitan area. The destination was, naturally, our store. The 6th International Convenience Store. There were interruptions from military and police forces along the way, but we easily overcame them. I had previous experience coborating with the National Intelligence Service and the government in previous turns. The first thing we did when I apanied Old Scho was to collect personal weaknesses of top government officials. Eventually, our store became a ck hole that swiftly absorbed convenience store-rted logistics. ¡°Whoa¡ Comrade Manager! The boxes are piled up like mountains! It¡¯s so sad to think that this is all a product of the blood and sweat of the workers!¡± ¡°Now, it¡¯s ours.¡± ¡°Theughter never stops¡!¡± Typically, signs of a revolutionary¡¯s corruption begin to show. A massive warehouse was under construction underground at the convenience store. It was a major project that would be difficult to guaranteepletion even with mobilized manpower, but the power of the fairies made many things possible. Afterpleting the construction of the super-sized underground warehouse, the fairies neatly arranged the products. ¡°Hmm?¡± Yes. Not a fairy, but fairies. Unbeknownst to me, the fairies had multiplied into three and were swiftly flying around, moving the products. I called Fairy No. 264. ¡°Fairy 264.¡± ¡°Yes! Comrade Manager!¡± The fairy stood at attention. ¡°Answer me. Why did the fairies suddenly multiply?¡± ¡°Yes! I requested support from the [Fairy Revolution Club]! Comrades who were inspired by Comrade Manager¡¯s great revolutionary line are joining the front lines to participate in our cause!¡± What? ¡°Could it be that the fairies are increasing here?¡± ¡°Probably? The righteousness of the revolution is like a swelling current that grows as it descends. It excludes only the dirty and despicable reactionary elements of the royal faction!¡± ¡°Hmm¡¡± This was an unexpected situation. I just needed onepetent yet unpaid ve, so I brought along No. 264. But there was no problem. In fact, it was even better. Inadvertently, the more unexpected events that urred during the ¡®vacation turn,¡¯ the more enjoyable it became. ¡°Could my arbitrary decision have led to excessively adventurous results?¡± ¡°No. You did well.¡± I looked around. Anything interesting? Stacked high among the logistics boxes were green Saemaul hats. I tore open the stic and ced a Saemaul hat on Fairy No. 264. With a hat bigger than its head turned upside down, the fairy grinned. ¡°What¡¯s this?¡± ¡°All fairies are equal, but some fairies are more equal than others! The pure and fervent passion of Comrade No. 264 for the revolution has moved me. Therefore, I hereby appoint you as the leader of all fairies who will participate in the 6th International from now on.¡± ¡°¡! Comrade Manager¡!¡± Store staff secured. The fairies knew magic and had the ability to separate specific areas from reality. It was because of this ability that Busan Station¡¯s waiting room was isted from the outside world. ¡°Expand the area in the underground warehouse.¡± ¡°Yes, sir!¡± Using this ability and applying freezing magic, the expiration dates of the products stored underground were indefinitely extended. After obtaining generators andpleting wiring and equipment instation, a convenience store with lights shing around the clock waspleted. Now there was nothing left but to wee customers. On the 6th day since the grand opening, the first customer finally arrived. ¡°Wee!¡± ¡°¡¡± With a jingle, the ss door opened. A woman in thick clothes with a ponytail. There was nothing to hide. The memorable first customer was none other than the Saintess. Since she lived nearby and likely investigated my exploits with [irvoyance], it was natural for her to visit. The Saintess nced at me standing at the checkout counter. ¡°¡Are you open for business?¡± ¡°Yes. Our store operates 24 hours a day.¡± ¡°What¡¯s that?¡± The Saintess pointed behind me. There was a posterbeled [Store Usage Rules]. ©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤ 1. Please be kind to the staff of the main store. Regardless of their appearance, all employees are valuable human resources and assets of the main store. 2. In addition to the Korean won, the main store also epts foreign currencies such as yen, dors, etc. 3. Smoking inside the store and parasol smoking are strictly prohibited. 4. There is a limit on the quantity of purchases at the main store. The number of items a person can purchase is limited to what one person can ¡®reasonably¡¯ consume in a day. The standard of reasonableness is at the discretion of the store manager. (Example: You cannot buy 100 sandwiches at once.) 5. All physical disputes within 300m of the main store are prohibited. 6. Unlimited sanctions may be imposed for viting these rules. Thank you for your understanding. 7. Have a happy shopping! ©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤ [Proofreader ¨C Gun] I put on a business smile. ¡°As written, those are the rules, ma¡¯am. If you adhere to the rules properly, the main store always wees you sincerely.¡± ¡°¡¡± The Saintess¡¯s expression was, um, difficult to describe. She wandered around the store like a wary cat. When she finally reached a corner after scrutinizing me to the end, the Saintess hesitated. It was the pet products corner. ¡°Ah, fish tanks¡¡± ¡°At the main store, we maintain a special pet-only corner for customers who refuse to give up their pets even as the world ising to an end.¡± ¡°¡With filters, substrates, soil, adhesives, aquatic nts, algae removers, and even filters in the tanks¡¡± The Saintess murmured absentmindedly. ¡°Professional¡ If it¡¯s this, managing the tanks is much¡¡± ¡°Do you like it, ma¡¯am?¡± ¡°¡Just wait a moment.¡± The Saintess left the convenience store. A short whileter, she returned with a bundle of 50,000 won bills tightly clenched in her hand. Then, almost possessed, she began picking up aquarium maintenance supplies and putting them in her basket. I faced the Saintess at the counter. There was a look of divine revtion in her eyes. ¡°I¡¯ll take all of this¡¡± ¡°Thank you! Ma¡¯am! This coffee isplimentary. We¡¯ve only recently opened our store, so please help us spread the word.¡± ¡°¡Yes. I¡¯lle back often.¡± Acquiring a regr customer. Capturing the Saintess as a regr customer in a situation where proper marketing methods hadpletely disappeared had tremendous advantages. The Saintess would take care of the advertising agent work herself. And indeed, not long after, the number of customers visiting the convenience store began to increase significantly. ¡°Can¡¯t you just sell me one carton of cigarettes? Please?¡± ¡°I came all the way from Chungju to visit this store.¡± ¡°Boss, I¡¯ll give you as much money as you want. Just cooperate with our unit¡¡± It was truly a sess. Of course, as the number of customers increased, so did the troublemakers. The bnce of the world always leaned towards adjustment. ¡°Damn it, where¡¯s the boss here?!¡± ¡°Yes. I¡¯m here, you bastard.¡± ¡°Huh?¡± Without exception, the troublemakers were all beaten by me like dogs. The ones who were greedy to buy an excessive amount of goods, the ones who stubbornly sat under the parasol and smoked, the ones who opened a bottle of soju and started a fight, and so on. They all received punishment. ¡°Spies nted by imperialists to copse the International! There¡¯s no mercy for you! All of you will be sent to the gg!¡± ¡°Damn it¡ Why are fairies¡¡± ¡°It¡¯s noisy! Reactionaries!¡± Under the supervision of No. 264, the troublemakers were used to clean up the Han Riverbank. Thanks to them, the area around our convenience store was as clean as if the world was copsing on its own. At this point, there was a reaction on the inte. ¨C User 1: Why is the International store owner so strong? ¨C User 2: I saw it yesterday. Even when six Awakeneds rushed in at once, they all fell within a few seconds. Even our guild leader was taken down in one shot. Is this guy the strongest? ¨C User 3: That person was really strong. ¨C User 4: Are there still people causing chaos at the International? They must be crazy. ¨C User 5: That¡¯s where the fairy den is¡ ¨C User 6: But why do the fairies wear Che Guevara t-shirts there? ¨C User 7: I don¡¯t know. ¨C User 8: I askedst time, and they said that¡¯s their staff uniform. ¨C User 9: Wait, why do fairies work there wearing Che Guevara t-shirts as uniforms? ¨C User 10: I really don¡¯t know. Oh, right. This site wasn¡¯t SG Net. In fact, the name SG Net itself was my idea. When Seo Gyu was active alone without me, a website called ¡°Hunter Community,¡± abbreviated as ¡°Hunker,¡± was created. It was a space where anyone could freely ess and write anonymously without a membership system. Perhaps my reputation had spread, as asionally there were Awakeneds who didn¡¯t buy anything but came to see me at the convenience store. ¡°I am Seonghu, the swordsman of the Mount Hua Sect. I have heard rumors about the formidable martial arts of the International Store Owner. May I request a teaching?¡± Because he read too many martial arts novels, he ended up calling monsters ¡°demons¡±, Awakened ones ¡°martial artists¡±, and store clerks ¡°shopkeepers¡± or something like that, turning into a crazy character in his concept, a senior citizen in his 60s. I¡¯ll have another chance to talk about this old manter. He was someone I wandered around with during a different vacation session, not the 90th. Anyway, the Sixth International was a sess. Gateways opened, and the wastnd of the Han River became a gathering ce for small guilds, and some Awakeneds who stubbornly yed the lone wolf game without joining a guild also started to gather around. It was what they called forming a power bnce. While it might have been unknown before the world was about to end, currently, there was only one ce in Korea where a power bnce existed. Perhaps it was the only one on Earth. That¡¯s how about 12 years passed. One day. ¡°The store manager is also quite remarkable.¡± A customer said at the counter. She was the guild leader who brought all his guild members to have a gathering in front of the convenience store. As one of the two major mountain ranges in Korea, the Three Thousand guild was treated with respect. There was quite a connection between them and me. With the characteristic upside-down hat of the Three Thousand guild, the guild leader on that side chuckled. ¡°What do you mean?¡± ¡°When Ie here, it feels like the world has be like this, which feels like a lie. No one treats bills anywhere else. Do you know that? I wanted to buy potato chips today, and when I saw the price was over 3,500 won, I was shocked for a moment. I wondered if that price was correct.¡± She seemed very pleased. Through the slightly open ss door, you could hear Awakenedsughing and chatting from afar. ¡°It¡¯s not bad that I can still have such concerns. You¡¯re a good person. I don¡¯t know exactly what you are, though.¡± ¡°Thank you, customer.¡± ¡°Oh, and thanks to your store, this area is rtively safe. Do you know what we call your store among ourselves?¡± ¡°A convenience store?¡± ¡°No, it¡¯s a police station. No matter what dispute arises, if theye to this store, it¡¯s usually resolved. Even if their blood is boiling, when they see fairies wearing Che Guevara t-shirts and New Vige hats, they can¡¯t help but calm down.¡± ¡°Hmm.¡± Seo Gyu doesn¡¯t seem like that kind of person, though. He¡¯s the type who always starts with cursing at the Busan Station concourse. ¡°Anyway¡ our guild is nning to seal the gate that opened yesterday. The departure date is the day after tomorrow at 11:00. If the store manager has any thoughts, let me know. I¡¯ll even give you the position of sub-guild leader. Our guild may be somewhat closed-off to outsiders, but talented individuals are always wee.¡± ¡°Thank you for the offer, but I have no intention of directly intervening in fights.¡± ¡°Is that so? Well, that¡¯s how it goes.¡± ¡°Customer, please don¡¯t get into fights unnecessarily.¡± ¡°What are you saying?¡± The leader of the Three Thousand guild chuckled as she ced his money bag on the counter. It must be for the gathering expenses. After handing the money bag to Fairy 264, the leader of the Three Thousand guild leader took out another thousand-won note and handed it to me. To my surprise, it was not a blue thousand-won note but a red one, which you can¡¯t find nowadays. ¡°Customer, what is this¡?¡± ¡°A tip.¡± The leader of the Three Thousand guild chuckled. ¡°I¡¯ve written my signature on the back.¡± I flipped the note over. [This ce is a great coffee spot. Three Thousand World, Tang Seorin] The handwriting was very neat, as if written with a brush pen. It seemed like she had learned calligraphy formally. I was somewhat surprised because she rarely wrote something with a brush pen unless she was feeling really good. ¡°It¡¯s a valuable item.¡± ¡°Well, when you go to famous eateries, celebrities often leave their signatures, right? If you ever feel like it, you can disy my note. I feel like I¡¯m acting like a celebrity myself, but¡ Anyway, there aren¡¯t many Awakeneds left in Korea. This should make you somewhat famous, right?¡± The leader of the Three Thousand guild walked away. Waving her hand lightly behind her. ¡°Goodbye ¨C I¡¯ll close the gate ande back again, so please ask for an affogato service then, Store Manager.¡± A few dayster, the coffee beans and vani ice cream that were prepared for the asion were not used. The Three Thousand guild failed to conquer the gate, and all 301 guild members died. [Proofreader ¨C Gun] Chapter 17 â€“ Internationalist III Chapter 17 ¨C Internationalist III [Proofreader ¨C Gun] Chapter 17 ¨C Internationalist III Usually, the mind is metaphoricallypared to the heart, and the heart ispared to fire. Like when the heart burns. Or when the fire of the heart grows. But in my case, ¡®water¡¯ was often a more fitting expression. After the incident where my heart was cut off after being ignited by Koryori¡¯s red flesh, my heart¡¯s well dried up for a while. A symptommonly referred to as burnout. As a regressor, it was a slump I encountered at any given moment. ¡°Total annihtion¡¡± ¡°If Three Thousand disappears, won¡¯t there only be Mount Hua left as top-tier guilds in Korea?¡± ¡°Well, what about the corpse-parks¡ Those guys are a bit¡ They¡¯re suspicious if they¡¯re even in a guild or not.¡± ¡°Anyway, the empty extermination failed. I looked up at the night skyst night and it gave me chills.¡± After tidying up Tang Seorin¡¯s remains and burying them on the beach, when I returned, I saw Awakeneds whispering under the parasol outside the convenience store. For some reason, that whispering sounded to me like the soothing sound of water. The sound of water was attached to a single object. [This ce is a great coffee spot. Three Thousand World, Tang Seorin.] A wine-colored thousand-won note. I transferred the note with the signature of the Three Thousand guild leader to an acrylic case. Then, I decorated the back of the convenience store counter, where cigarettes are usually disyed, with the note case. Given that recently, even the underground warehouse started to reveal its contents, and among them, the most scarce resources were alcohol and cigarettes, there was plenty of space to disy the note. Naturally, customers could also admire the exhibition whenever they passed by the checkout counter. One day, the old man, raised his hand and pointed. ¡°Store owner, what in the world is that valuable item? I can feel an unusual aura emanating from it.¡± ¡°Oh, that? It¡¯s a signature left by the leader of the Three Thousand guild leader before she went to catch a shooting star.¡± ¡°Hmm¡¡± The old man nodded thoughtfully and left the convenience store. The next day, as usual, the old man bought a bottle of green makgeolli and casually ced a ten thousand won bill on the counter. ¡°Store owner, this is a rare coral that I personally collected.¡± ¡°A coral? What coral is this?¡± ¡°Take a closer look at the picture.¡± I looked. Behind the sturdy shoulders of King Sejong, there was indeed a drawing of coral. ¡°¡?¡± Honestly, his drawing skills were pathetic. If Heungseon Daewongun had seen it, he would¡¯ve been furious, calling it a pineapple leaf instead of a drawing. Still, I guess he put some effort into it, because in one corner of the cabbage leaf, the signature ¡°Gyeomho, the Hunter of Yuldo Country¡± was intricately written like a hidden gem. Gyeomho seemed quite proud of his work as he sniffed. Among the old man¡¯s appearance, the only somewhat eptable feature was his bushy mustache. ¡°Please hang it up like a folding screen in your store.¡± ¡°¡.¡± Well, it wouldn¡¯t hurt, I guess. I disyed Gyeomho¡¯s bill without much thought. But it seemed to have be a turning point somehow. Customers who visited my convenience store started to hand me bills with their own signatures, without hesitation. ¡°Hey, boss. I¡¯m going on an expedition team this time. Would it be too much trouble if I¡?¡± ¡°I¡¯lle back next time! Give me a discount of 2+1 then!¡± ¡°Can you please just sell me one pack of cigarettes? Please?¡± While I had been cautious when only Three Thousand guild memorabilia was disyed, now that Gyeomho¡¯s bill was also on disy, suddenly it seemed less intimidating. The currency left behind by the Awakeneds varied in type. Old five-thousand-won notes, two-dor bills, East German Marks (that one was the most interesting), yen, euros, pounds, Mongolian Tugriks, Hong Kong dors, Vietnamese Dong, Philippine pesos, North Korean won, Indian Rupees, and Nepalese Rupees¡ Before I knew it, the back of my checkout counter was filled with currencies. asionally, when I had some time to spare, I would quietly gaze at the exhibition. As each bill filled the cigarette disy rack like bricks, I couldn¡¯t help but feel my heart¡¯s well filling up a bit. If life is ultimately a journey to leave behind a single picture, then perhaps this would be my 90th portrait. ¡°Boss¡¡± ¡°Hmm?¡± Fairy number 264 ced down a box of zero drinks. Her expression under the new vige hat lookedpletely defeated. ¡°This is thest box of zero drinks. Heuk¡¡± ¡°Is that so? What about alcoholic beverages?¡± ¡°We only have about 50 bottles left, including beer, soju, whiskey, wine, makgeolli, sake¡ We¡¯ve gathered them all regardless of type, but now the funds for the revolution have dried up¡ It¡¯s embarrassing¡¡± It wasn¡¯t just alcoholic beverages. The stockpile of almost every item had run out. There¡¯s no such thing as an eternal oasis. But what can you do? Have you ever seen a tree refusing to cast a shadow for fear it might rot someday? ¡°Here.¡± I took out some saved-up all-around sausage. Snap! Fairy 264 perked up at the sight of the sausage. This information I found out in this turn, for some reason, whenever they see this sausage, the fairies get excited. ¡°Oh! I thought we ran out of sausages!¡± ¡°Eat it secretly when the others aren¡¯t looking.¡± ¡°The only person who cares about me is you, Boss!¡± I patted Fairy 264 on the head. ¡°Let¡¯s call everyone and clear out all the remaining alcohol.¡± ¡°Yes, Boss!¡± I called the customers together. I could have easily invited Awakeneds by posting on the intemunity, but unfortunately, that wasn¡¯t possible. [Unable to connect to the site.] Not long ago, Seo Gyu¡¯s ¡®Hunter Community¡¯ had been closed down. Somewhere unbeknownst to me, Seo Gyu had met his end. And Koryori must have died as well. She couldn¡¯t have survived without posing among people. After the fairies made an effort to gather people, there were about a hundred participants, although not entirely satisfying, it was enough to enjoy with fifty bottles of alcohol. ¡®Did the Saintess note?¡¯ The Awakenedsughed, chattered, sang, and enjoyed themselves. They all had their own stockpiles of goods until the end, so the party never felt meager. Surprisingly, there was an Awakened who brought eleven bottles of Chateau de Cam 1990 wine, and she became a hero in human history overnight. The atmosphere was electric. ¡°Then let¡¯s make a guild with the people gathered here!¡± ¡°Wow!¡± ¡°The Last Guild! After this celebratory party, let¡¯s go out for the Meteor Shower Gate!¡± ¡°But isn¡¯t this more like a farewell party than a guild initiation¡?¡± The Awakeneds who had survived until now were outsiders who hadn¡¯t joined a guild or had been expelled from one due to some problem. Generally, they were people whose interpersonal rtionships hadn¡¯t been smooth. But as the final moment approached, they also gathered and organized a party. Well, the influence of eleven bottles of Chateau de Cam must have yed a significant role in their unity. ¡°Boss! Aren¡¯t youing with us?¡± I shook my head. ¡°I still have one customer I haven¡¯t said goodbye to. I¡¯ll join you all shortly after.¡± ¡°Oh, I think I couldst another 30 seconds if the manager was there. Too bad.¡± ¡°Wouldn¡¯t 3 minutes be possible?¡± ¡°Come on, join us!¡± People chuckled. The night sky was particrly noisy because the ceiling was high. Through years of regression experience, I now had a strong intuition that the end of the world was imminent. [Proofreader ¨C Gun] The day after the Last Supper, I gathered all the fairy shop assistants together. Forty fairies, dressed in Che Guevara t-shirts, gathered around. I stood before them and dered. ¡°Today is a holiday.¡± ¡°Heok!¡± The fairies blinked in surprise. ¡°A holiday means a day without work, right?¡± ¡°Work reflects human worth, but a holiday is an act of abandoning one¡¯s own worth. It¡¯s a highly dialectical concept.¡± ¡°Although it may seem presumptuous, isn¡¯t that distinction based on whether it¡¯s paid or unpaid leave?¡± I chuckled and handed each fairy a ten-thousand-won bill. ¡°Don¡¯t worry. It¡¯s paid leave.¡± My signature was written on each bill. [Secretary-General, Chairman, and Shop Owner of the 6th International.] The fairies¡¯ eyes sparkled. ¡°Wow! Comrade manager¡¯s genuine signature!¡± ¡°I¡¯m deeply moved!¡± ¡°We should legite to hang these in every public office!¡± ¡°Sure, do as you please. Anyway, since I¡¯ll be running the shop alone today, take a good rest ande back refreshed.¡± ¡°Yes!¡± The fairies waved their red gs and marched off somewhere. That¡¯s how I found myself alone. It was while I was quietly sweeping the floor with arge broom that the ss door clinked open. ¡°Wee. Guest.¡± It was the Saintess. She was also the guest I had been waiting for until the end. She quietly nced around the shop. Several shelves were empty, almost like teeth missing from ab. Signs reading [Temporarily Sold Out ¨C Please Await Restocking] were hung on those shelves. The Saintess murmured. ¡°Restocking seems to be dyed a lot.¡± ¡°Yes. I keep urging the headquarters, but it seems futile.¡± ¡°¡I see.¡± The Saintess didn¡¯t offer any rebuttal to my words; she simply epted them quietly. The impending end was looming close. Despite the circumstances, the Saintess had not perished. It wasn¡¯t just this turn; she had ¡®almost certainly¡¯ survived until thest day every time. It was a slightly different kind of attachment to life. She was imposing obligations on herself when it came to life. ¡°Would you like a cup of coffee?¡± ¡°Sure.¡± I brought thest remaining coffee beans, milk, and sugar, and made coffee as close to a pot-brewed one as possible. This was how the shop owner treated regr customers at our 6th International. Naturally, such service could be offered to our first regr customer. ¡°¡¡¡± ¡°¡¡¡± While drinking her coffee, the Saintess remained silent. She simply gazed quietly around the counter, the shelves behind it, and outside the ss window. Her gaze lingered particrly long on the bill cases. ¡°I¡¯ve enjoyed your coffee. Here, the money.¡± The Saintess handed me a ten-thousand-won bill. ¡°You don¡¯t have to give me change. I¡¯lle back next time.¡± The back of the bill read. [Your first customer]. That day, there were no more visits from Awakeneds to the convenience store. In the middle of the night, I closed the shop and went out to the Han River. The Milky Way stretched across the night sky. Red, green, violet. The Milky Way looked like a long torn lip, and within it, countless stars twinkled as if they would fall any moment. And indeed, they fell. The gate that the guilds, including Samcheon, had tried desperately to seal, even defying death, was now fully open, pouring a disaster made of starlight onto the earth. In the 7th year of regression, an event that inevitably urred in Gyeongsangnam-do, and in the 12th year, in Seoul. It was called the Meteor Strike. ¡°This turn is a Meteor Ending.¡± I sat on the riverside hill and looked up at the sky. You could survive by avoiding it, but even if I managed to survive alone, there was nothing to do in this turn. There was plenty to do in the next turn. ¡®It wasn¡¯t a bad vacation.¡¯ I opened my smartphone. While waiting for the stars to fall, I flicked through the photos stored on my phone. I never used to take photos. More urately, I had lost the habit as I lived as a regressor. Photos were meant to preserve memories, but they couldn¡¯t fulfill that role for me. Yet, knowing they would eventually disappear, I couldn¡¯t help but take these photos. [This ce is a great coffee spot. Samcheonsa World, Tang Seorin.] [The Huntress of the Land of the Dead.] [Thanks for the good times. Lee Jooho.] [I sincerely appreciate it. But no matter how much I think about it, the name of the shop and the shop assistant¡¯s t-shirt seem odd. Are you, by any chance, a member of the Red Army Faction? Regards, Uehara Shino.] [Math Trip! Baekhwa High School ? Our Love, May it Last Forever ¨C by Tianliao Hua] [The journey here was so ufortable. I felt like I was going to die carrying wine bottles. ¨C NDH] [6th International, Fighting! ¨C Sim A-ryeon] [You would¡¯ve been the GOAT if you sold just one carton of cigarettes each¡¡ Y] . . . [Your First Customer.] Without realizing it, the corners of my mouth lifted. The reasons why I epted the life of a regressor, who I wanted to help, and why I wanted to help became vividly clear in my heart, unlike before. Twelve years seemed to be enough time to supply the essentials for a regressor¡¯s life. Of course, in another hundred years, I¡¯d probably need another vacation. ¡®But wait. Doesn¡¯t the Meteor Ending feel a bit old-fashioned?¡¯ The whole world was filled with starlight. A moment of regression. On that day, I retired as a convenience store owner of 12 years and once again returned to being a regressor. [Proofreader ¨C Gun] Chapter 18 â€“ Companion I Chapter 18 ¨C Companion I [Proofreader ¨C Gun] Chapter 18 ¨C Companion I 1 Let¡¯s talk about the guild leader of Three Thousand Worlds. ¡°There¡¯s a fierceness in your eyes.¡± ¡°¡¡± ¡°Talking about you? The almost sole survivor from Busan Station. You¡¯re known for asking people strange questions all the time.¡± My first encounter with Tang Seorin was during the fourth turn. Unfortunately, at that time, I hadn¡¯t yet mastered [Complete Memory Ability]. I didn¡¯t acquire that ability until the fifth turn. So, there might be some discrepancies in my recollection of my first meeting with Tang Seorin. Well, I¡¯d rather not admit it, but there¡¯s bound to be some error. It¡¯s been over a thousand years since that past, hasn¡¯t it? ¡°What¡¯s your name?¡± ¡°¡Doctor Jang. That¡¯s my alias.¡± ¡°You¡¯re a curious one, going around asking people questions. Not bad. The depth of a person depends on how many corpses they¡¯ve buried in their own heart.¡± Perhaps Tang Seorin said, ¡°There¡¯s a fierceness in your eyes,¡± or maybe ¡°There¡¯s a gun in your eyes.¡± She might have addressed me as ¡°you¡± instead of ¡°you.¡± It could have been raining that day or it might not have been. I thought I heard the sound of water, but it might have just been the sound of my own heartbeat. Nevertheless, I can vividly recall the atmosphere of that moment, as clear as the outline of the air. Because for humans to live, they not only need to breathe the oxygen swirling around them right now, but also the air of the past that has already flowed away. ¡°How about it? Won¡¯t you join our guild?¡± ¡°What¡¯s the guild¡¯s name?¡± ¡°Three Thousand Worlds. We¡¯ll shorten it to Three Thousand. My personal ambition is to recruit three thousand Awakeneds someday. Doctor Jang, help me. I need your strength to subdue the Ten ns.¡± The human who was somewhat involved in my breathing process raised the corner of her mouth and extended her hand. At that time, I had neither the reason nor the luxury to refuse to shake that hand. ¡°Oh, by the way, whoever joins our guild has to wear a pointed hat regardless of location.¡± ¡°¡A pointed hat?¡± ¡°Yeah. You know the hat that witches wear in fairy tales? That¡¯s our guild symbol. And you have to carry a broomstick with you. Haven¡¯t had lunch yet? I know a great ce, I¡¯ll take you there to celebrate your membership.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll withdraw my application for membership.¡± I couldn¡¯t withdraw. Later, it was best to switch the broomstick for a staff-sword. Tang Seorin was cunning, stubborn, and had a taste for local delicacies. People called her the witch of the train station, the founder of the Juga Yeongchang, and the solitary gourmet. ¡Come to think of it, thest nickname seemed like one I had given her alone. Of course, there were other titles I used more frequently. What could I possibly hide? At one point, she was my guild leader. 2 Looking back now, it might seem like a joke from the past, but in the very early stages of my reincarnated life ¨C that is, before the 10th turn ¨C there was a boss monster that blocked Korean Awakeneds like a wall ofment. ¡°Wait. What¡¯s that?¡± ¡°Oh, oh¡ It¡¯sing this way!¡± The Ten ns. ording to the strange ssification system established by a wiki group called the Library Society, it was a city-level danger. Its identifying name was ¡®Crawling Baby Cthulhu.¡¯ ¡°Crazy! Why is it so fast?¡± ¡°Cthulhu! It¡¯s Cthulhu!¡± ¡°What the fuck is that¡¡Alert! Sound the alert first, you bastards!¡± There were various opinions on how the Ten ns came to be called that. The most usible theory was that they were called the Ten ns because they resembled dozens or hundreds of tentacles, wriggling like arms where legs should be. But personally, I support the story that ¡®f**king di*ks¡¯ somehow got mispronounced and stuck as ¡®shrimp d*cks.¡¯ That¡¯s how much the first boss monster, the Ten ns, brought us despair. ¡°We need to defeat it to reim the area south of the Han River and push the front lines that have been split into two into a ceasefire line.¡± Tang Seorin didn¡¯t despair. More urately, she rallied the despairing Awakeneds and was then appointed as the leader of the guild union. It could be called the Anti-Ten ns Union. The difference from the Anti-Dong Zhuo Union that appears in the Records of the Three Kingdoms is that unlike the original element, Tang Seorin was an extremely capable leader. ¡°Doctor Jang. You will lead the elite members of other guilds on the front lines and block the movements of the Ten ns for as long as possible.¡± ¡°Understood.¡± After learning of Old Scho¡¯s existence, he led the fighters, but before that, I had the unfortunate duty of holding the front lines. It was a moment that hinted at how pathetic the level of the Awakeneds was at the time. Oh, by the way, during my time as a member of Three Thousand Worlds, I naturally used honorifics when addressing Tang Seorin. ¡°Yesterday, my deputy died, so I¡¯m a bit behind¡ Let me hold on for a few minutes, alright?¡± ¡°Please hold on for at least 30 minutes. I¡¯ll build up a grand spell to back up the squad.¡± ¡°Got it.¡± I nodded. ¡°Sounds easy.¡± It wasn¡¯t easy. -There! There! The Ten ns roared. Exactly 2 minutes into the battle, another hole was punched in my head by the Ten ns¡¯ tentacles. What could I do? If a highway wasid in the middle of my brain, there was no way to avoid a graceful death. Isted for a dragon¡¯s age of 2 minutes. Other Awakeneds had their heads harvested in the blink of an eye. If autumn farmers had witnessed it, they would have admired the skill of reaping crops. I managed to hold on until the end with Tang Seorin. End of the 4th turn. Start of the 5th turn. ¡°Doctor Jang. You will lead the elite members of other guilds on the front lines and block the movements of the Ten ns for as long as possible.¡± ¡°This is damn hard.¡± I decided to be more honest instead of showing off in front of the guild leader. Tang Seorin widened her eyes. ¡°Hard?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°I thought with you added to our alliance¡¯s strength, we could easily engage in dying tactics. Is there something wrong with the data?¡± ¡°The data is not wrong. Those Ten ns bastards are hiding their true power.¡± It was bewildering how the world worked. I, as a reincarnated individual with hidden powers, was supposed to deal with this, but the damn boss monster had to go and mess things up. ¡°The legs it usually brings out are not all there is. Another leg can sprout from inside the body like a tentacle at any time. Honestly, it¡¯s difficult to hold out for even 5 minutes, let alone 30.¡± ¡°¡Vice Guild Leader. If that¡¯s true, we might have to consider giving up on the strategy altogether, don¡¯t you think?¡± ¡°Yes. Let¡¯s give up.¡± ¡°Yeah. Let¡¯s do that. Should we flee to Busan?¡± ¡°Sounds good. It¡¯s a refuge of tradition and trust, isn¡¯t it?¡± ¡°There must be a lot of good restaurants there, right?¡± We retreated to Busan. It was a sufficient area to satisfy Tang Seorin¡¯s taste buds, no matter which neighborhood we went to. After all, it was originally our guild¡¯s headquarters. The problem was that the Ten ns weren¡¯t stuck to a gate but freely roamed the fields as owners of a truly free soul. Not unlike Tang Seorin, this bastard also toured each region in search of good restaurants. Though the menu was fixed with just human flesh. After turning Seoul into ashes and wiping across the entirend in zigzags, the Ten ns showed off their potential to be featured in the Lonely Gourmet series just as much as Tang Seorin. Originally, this guy only frequented ¡®densely popted areas.¡¯ Perhaps he was equipped with the sixth sense of feeling human lives. Thanks to that, the cities on the Korean Peninsy in ruins, and the Ten ns achieved what no politician had seeded in before, regional autonomy. All within a mere five years. ¨C Groooowl! The Ten ns roared. ¡°Damn it.¡± We unfolded the final defense line at the Nakdong River before bing friendly kebabs for the Awakeneds. Even if we gave up on subjugation, we could all learn the lesson that as long as the Ten ns remained intact, we were all just living on borrowed time. [Proofreader ¨C Gun] End of the fifth turn. Start of the sixth turn. ¡°Is¡ is there no solution to this?¡± The fifth turn ended in annihtion by the Ten ns, but in the grand scheme of my regressed life, it held immense significance. It was when I acquired the [Complete Memory Ability]. From then on, I remembered precisely what I pondered over, whom I met, and what conversations I had. ¡°Vice Guild Leader, are you avable right now?¡± ¡°Hmm? Why do you ask?¡± As I pondered deeply, feeling as though the world was mocking humanity, it was the world¡¯s irony that opened up a breakthrough that seemed utterly invisible. ¡°Vice Guild Leader, there¡¯s an outsider here to see you.¡± A guild member with silver hair, named Yoo Jiwon, opened the corridor door of the KTX train and spoke to me. Yoo Jiwon, recruited as my deputy since the fifth turn, was a talent I made good use of. He¡¯s a real psycho, but I¡¯ll mention thatter. ¡°An outsider? Where are they?¡± ¡°They¡¯vee all the way to our train station tform.¡± ¡°But what about the security team?¡± ¡°They tried to stop him, but they couldn¡¯t because this visitor is exceptionally strong. So, they thought it best to just let him wait on the tform.¡± ¡°Hmm.¡± We¡¯re having this conversation on the KTX train because¡ uh¡ the headquarters of the Three Thousand Worlds Guild was always on a train. It wasn¡¯t because the 3,000 guild members, including me, were railroad otakus who felt metaphysical beauty in a lump of scrap metal that could no longer be moved. This was solely the preference of our boss, Tang Seorin. To her, every time the guild moved to a new area, she would make the finest train in the neighborhood, seen as the most luxurious mode of transportation, her base of operations. In her words, ¡°Isn¡¯t it romantic for a witch to spend time on a train?¡± You could tell from the fact that she wore a top hat that she wasn¡¯t entirely mentally sound either. Anyway, back to the point. ¡°So, what¡¯s the name of this guest?¡± ¡°Yes, his name is¡ Eminem¡ Shofehauer? Oh, Schopenhauer.¡± There was a murmur. My deputy tilted his head as he heard the noiseing from the radio. ¡°He seems German?¡± 3 Emmett Schopenhauer. Swordmaster. Sword Star. An Awakened who had earned numerous aliases and, even more, carved the heads of monsters. But to me, he was just an old man called Scho. ¡°Um¡ Hello? What brings you here?¡± ¡°¡.¡± Scho quietly looked at me. Honestly, my first impression was, ¡®Wow, he looks like a dirty personality.¡¯ It was still early in the sixth turn. The old man from Germany, who came to Korea with his wife only to be caught up in the Gate incident, hadn¡¯t learned Korean. So, he attempted tomunicate sporadically using English, bodynguage, and a smartphone trantor. If only I were good at English,munication wouldn¡¯t have been a problem, but unfortunately, Icked any talent fornguages. ¡°Fucking monster.¡± ¡°Fucking monster¡ Could it be the Ten ns? Are you talking about the Ten ns? Lurkers? Tentacles? All wriggly-wriggly?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°Oh. Sorry, I can¡¯t speak English.¡± Scho grimaced. It was a very frustrated expression. ¡°Different. Operation.¡± ¡°?¡± ¡°You died a long time ago. Here.¡± In the KTX dining car, which was also used as the guild reception area, a map of South Korea was spread out on the table. Tap. Scho pointed with his finger at one particr spot. The line from Seoul to Gwacheon. It was a ce where we tried to mess with the Ten ns in the fourth turn but got messed up instead. ¡°But I didn¡¯t die there.¡± Swoosh. Scho¡¯s finger pointed downwards. His index finger stopped precisely at the Nakdong River. ¡°Five years. A huge difference.¡± Scho¡¯s gray gaze was fixed on me. Maybe. No way? My heart raced. We stared at each other for a while across the table. And we realized that our heartbeats were flowing at the same pace. The old man¡¯s mouth slowly opened. ¡°Return?¡± Even if I was aplete novice, I couldn¡¯t misunderstand the intent behind that question. I silently drew a number on the table with my finger. 6. The old man¡¯s expression finally rxed as he chuckled. It was a number that had repeated throughout his life. Perhaps to amodate my inability to understand English, Scho¡¯s sentences were not long. The old German swordsman knew how to convey strong emotions in short phrases. ¡°My friend.¡± With Scho joining, the situation on the battlefield changed drastically. If you were to randomly pick the most powerful among all Awakeneds in history, it wasn¡¯t always Scho. But now, with over a thousand turns passed, it was clear that Scho¡¯s potential was off the charts. ¡°Are you sure we should put this person on the front lines?¡± ¡°Yes, Guild Master. I¡¯m sure.¡± ¡°Hmm. Just looking at appearances, it¡¯s hard to trust so much. If the Vice Guild Master is sure, well¡ Still, we should probably test their skills, right?¡± ¡°Of course.¡± 50 minutester. ¡°Right away, we¡¯ll make this person a key asset for this operation.¡± Again, Tang Seorin was a capable leader. Even amid the chaos of the Three Thousand Worlds Guild, with Awakeneds being sent out, she didn¡¯t seem to care at all. She even got an interpreter and stationed them next to Scho. ¡°Interpreter, could you ask how he feels about the cone hat?¡± After conversing with Scho for a while, the interpreter¡¯s expression darkened. ¡°I¡¯m really sorry, but this person isn¡¯t interested in joining the guild. They prefer to be alone.¡± ¡°Really? That¡¯s a shame. But didn¡¯t he just mention something about a cone earlier? Did I mishear?¡± ¡°Oh, he might have been joking about something, but I couldn¡¯t understand. Sorry. Haha.¡± ¡°That could be it. Vice Guild Master, isn¡¯t there a famous sundae soup ce nearby? Maybe Germans like soup too?¡± ¡°As long as there¡¯s no turnips, they probably eat everything well, don¡¯t you think?¡± I observed as the interpreter faintlyughed beside me. He was a wise human. Back then, I didn¡¯t know German, so I just let it go, but Scho¡¯s actual statement was, ¡®What the hell kind of bullshit is that? I mean, that Harry Potter knockoff hat you guys wear? If you keep it up, you¡¯ll end up raising an owl. ¡®Alohomora¡¯, you moron! Even my dog at home does not use that shit.¡±¡¯ For the record, I agree with that opinion as well. The fact that I didn¡¯t join the Three Thousand Worlds Guild from the 7th turn and started wandering separately with Scho wasrgely due to that damn cone of hers. That fashion¡ no, not even fashion. There was no one besides Tang Seorin who could pull off Witch cosy. Of course, it was natural. Tang Seorin wasn¡¯t just doing Witch cosy, she was a true sorceress who imed to be a Witch and a multi-talented Awakened. ¡°Doctor, Swordsman. Hold on for 25 minutes¡ no, make it 30 minutes, no matter what.¡± South of the Han River. The cursednd where countless civilians vanished without a trace. There, Scho, myself, Three Thousand Worlds Guild Master Tang Seorin, and a total of fifteen hundred Awakeneds gathered, including military units and civilian supporters. If you counted the military units and civilian supporters, there were even more. We stood on the frontline, where almost all avable forces in Korea had gathered for battle. -Here we go! The now familiar roar echoed out. From a distance, the massive form of the Ten ns emerged. The horizon shook. Ruined buildings couldn¡¯t withstand its thrashing and copsed like dominoes. ¡°Can we hold on for 25 minutes?¡± ¡°It¡¯s difficult.¡± As the representative of the strike force, I spoke. The difference from previous turns was that now I could add a word to this statement. ¡°But it¡¯s doable.¡± Tang Seorin nodded. ¡°After it¡¯s over, let¡¯s go find our favorite restaurant. Oh, by the way, what¡¯s the signature dish of Seoul? Something more local.¡± ¡°Well, there¡¯s nothing particrly famous.¡± ¡°Is that so?¡± Hm, Tang Seorin murmured as she looked at the horizon. Human-like tentacles wriggled endlessly. ¡°Looks like it¡¯s going to be squid sashimi from now on.¡± ¡°Oh, squid soup isn¡¯t bad.¡± ¡°Yeah. Arrange the troops. Today, we¡¯re reiming Seoul.¡± Battlemences. [Proofreader ¨C Gun] Chapter 19 â€“ Companion II Chapter 19 ¨C Companion II [Trantor ¨C Jjsecus] [Proofreader ¨C Gun] Chapter 19 ¨C Companion II 4 -Groogoo! The Ten ns approached us fiercely. With countless tentaclesprising its feet, every step it took made the ground tremble with a deep thud. The shoulders of Old Scho and myself kept jerking up and down incessantly. Strictly speaking, the Ten ns weren¡¯t actually stepping. If you enhanced your vision and looked closely, you¡¯d see that it was hanging onto the ground with numerous hands. Something resembling human hands and arms. With thousands, even tens of thousands of arms, each step it took left a squelching sound and stters of red flesh and blood. Joints cracked, bones ground against each other. But it seemed to matter little to it. Arms were constantly regenerating in the ce of those torn off. Beyond the path the Ten ns were taking towards us, a long trail of crimson stainsy like a bloody carpet. The blood flowed in thousands of palm-shaped marks. That giant red carpet was indeed the symbol of the Ten ns. That¡¯s why overseas, the Ten ns were sometimes referred to as the Red Carpet. I muttered, ¡°Looks like we¡¯ve got a celebrity guest.¡± ¡°Ready?¡± Old Scho asked in a faint Korean ent. The vanguard, including myself, had already drawn our weapons. I nced at my deputy, Yoo Jiwon. With the map spread out on the table, he nodded, signaling that all preparations wereplete. I nodded in return. ¡°Yes. Let¡¯s finish this quickly and go grab a bite to eat.¡± I was the first to step forward. 600 members of the squad followed behind me. Though not as heavy as the Ten ns, the weight of six hundred footsteps carrying the burden of life and death created quite a formidable vibration. At the same time. ¡°¨D¨DAh¨D¨D.¡± A song echoed from behind us. Three Thousand Worlds Guild Leader Tang Seorin, the head of the Korean Guild Union, also known as the Witch of the Train Station due to her peculiar taste for train stations. But beyond being someone¡¯s leader, Tang Seorin had her own unique aspect as an Awakened who stepped onto the battlefield. ¡°¨D¨DAh¨D¨DAh¨D¨D.¡± A witch who manifested grand magic through song and poetry. Juga Yeongchang (Spell Song Invocation), the pioneer and sole user of the technique that activated ¡®magic¡¯ through ¡®song¡¯. She became a legend among those who awakened magical abilities, and that was the true face of Tang Seorin on the battlefield. She humbly ims to be merely an imitator rather than the founder, but her power is anything but modest. ¡°Ah¨D¨D¨DAh¨D¨D¨DAh.¡± Starting with a single strand, Tang Seorin¡¯s voice divided into two, three, four melodies, embroidering the deste sky of Seoul. An acapeposed solely of her voice. The principle behind Tang Seorin¡¯s Juga Yeongchang magic was simple. First, she implemented ¡®repetitive magic¡¯ through song. Repetitive magic was akin to a recorder. It simply repeated and yed back the sound uttered by the mage, nothing particrly special about it on its own. Tang Seorin found potential in this seemingly insignificant magic. Firstly, she let the repetitive magic continue to resonate in the air. Then, sheyered entirely new magic on top of it. The repetitive magic would then rey, incorporating the newly added part. The first melody, repetition. The second, amplification. The third, reflex enhancement. By the sixth minute into the battle, the third melody began to envelop hundreds ofbatants. The squads, who had been about to lose limbs and vital organs to the monster¡¯s tentacles, managed to withstand the attacks of the Ten ns, once, twice, ten times. ¡°¨DAh¨D¨DAh¨D¨D.¡± ¡°Ah¨D¨D¨DAh¨D¨D¨DAh.¡± ¡°¨D¨DAh¨D¨D.¡± Tang Seorin¡¯s melodies didn¡¯t stop there. As the fourth melody was about to be added, the Ten ns sensed a change in the atmosphere and turned around. We had deliberately lured it here, knowing that once it realized, it would attempt to flee without hesitation. As its colossal body twisted in an instantrger than the building, awakened individuals nearby were sent flying in all directions. ¡°Emmett!¡± ¡°Onya!¡± Old Scho, who had learned the word ¡®Onya¡¯ before any other Korean word, drew his sword and charged forward. I couldn¡¯t help but feel a sense of relief, albeit brief, at his truly dependable back. The escape was a fake. The damn clever monster had already nted six of its tentacles underground. As Old Scho rushed in, spikes sprouted from the ground, piercing through his body, leaving neat holes. Grayish clouds of blood poured out. Instant death. ¡°Fuck!¡± Tang Seorin¡¯s magic invocation ended before it even reached the fifth melody. The squads were overrun, the defensive line copsed, and Tang Seorin, the core of our operation, knelt with numerous holes piercing her body. Thest thing I saw was the Ten ns opening a skewer-grilled omakase restaurant on the in. The red carpet was merely a decoration ushering visitors into its establishment. End of turn 6. Start of turn 7. Again. ¡°Emmett!¡± ¡°Onya!¡± ¡®Onya¡¯ was truly a mysterious Korean word. It could mean ¡®yes,¡¯ ¡®I know too, you bastard,¡¯ and ¡®stop nagging,¡¯ all at once. With all these meanings oveid, the swordmaster swept the ground with his de. -Krroohphkah! The lurking spikes underground were all cut at once. The false escape was exposed. Fueled by rage, the Ten ns collected human lives with its tentacles, resembling human arms and hands. But it couldn¡¯t collect the song in the air. ¡°Ah¨D¨DAh¨D¨DAh¨D¨D¨DAh.¡± The melody continued, added, resonated. Each time her acape embraced another tone, we had to sacrifice another life. End of turn 7. Start of turn 8. End of turn 8. Start of turn 9. In the eternal repetition within the Dark Forest, Old Scho and I charged out. We surged. The Ten ns fought back against our sword strikes. The Ten ns¡¯s body swelled up like a balloon in an instant. The tentacles it had shown so far were just a taste, as thousands of spikes shot out from within the monster¡¯s body. End of turn 9. ¡°¨D¨DAh¨D¨D.¡± Start of turn 10. In the eternal repetition within the Dark Forest, Old Scho and I charged out. We surged. The Ten ns fought back against our sword strikes. And before it could swell up, we plunged into the Ten ns¡¯s embrace. -Gruohhhpfahk! Old Scho from the left. Me from the right. In the repeating spiral dance, I learned the sword from Old Scho. I lived not as the vice-guild leader of the Three Thousand Worlds Guild, but as Old Scho¡¯s direct disciple. It may have been the same repetition for that monster, but it wasn¡¯t for me. With each passing moment, Tang Seorin¡¯s song continued another chapter of our saga. The first melody, repetition. The second, amplification. The third, reflex enhancement. The fourth, weapon strength enhancement. The fifth, health recovery. The sixth, mental awakening. A requiem aria was sung in the gray sky. The first battalion swapped ces with the second, and the wounded were constantly pulled to the rear. Yet, despite all this, Old Scho and I didn¡¯t take a step back from the front lines. Neither did Tang Seorin. We were all sacrificing our lives. [Trantor ¨C Jjsecus] [Proofreader ¨C Gun] As the sixth melody began to repeat, her song changed. The melody that had enveloped us suddenly rushed towards the Ten ns with outstretched ws. Like crimson thorns. Seventh melody, frailty curse. Eighth melody, darkness curse. Ninth melody, sensory impairment curse. The massive body of the Ten ns dulled. As the monster swung its arms, buildings copsed. Perhaps it was twitching. ¡°Inspiration tank!¡± ¡°I know! Inoom!¡± We persisted relentlessly. My address to Old Scho changed, and his Korean scent in response was different. Now, without even speaking, Old Scho and I perfectly timed our strikes against the Ten ns¡¯s tentacles. The Ten ns fought back against our sword strikes. But it was futile. Our des cut through the Ten ns¡¯s arms faster than new tentacles could emerge. Though the beast took thousands of steps with its arms, each one was just a step, while we, with our given legs, always took two steps forward. And thus. ¡°Ah¨D¨D¨DAh¨D¨D¨DAh.¡± ¡°Ah¨D¨DAh¨D¨DAh¨D¨D¨DAh.¡± ¡°¨DAh¨D¨DAh¨D¨D.¡± ¡°¨D¨DAh¨D¨D.¡± Tenth melody, petrification curse. For the Ten ns, whose tentacles regenerated incessantly, it was almost a meaningless curse. But now, with even fewer thorns remaining, it was a fatal blow. Dozens of thorns attacking Old Scho and me all turned to stone at once. Of course, it was only a momentary pause. If even 5 seconds, no, just 3 seconds passed, the tentacles would emerge again to pierce us. To give us those 3 seconds, Tang Seorin had sung. We swung our swords. Where all the tentacles had disappeared, the Ten ns¡¯s two eyeballs were hidden. They were both eyeballs and hearts. Even if one heart was destroyed, the remaining hearts would regenerate, making it practically immortal for the Ten ns. ¡°Aaargh!¡± Old Scho and I screamed. Our screams were not as eerie as the Ten ns¡¯s roar. They weren¡¯t as beautiful as Tang Seorin¡¯s invocation. The duet of two regressors was a mess. In terms of singing, it was atrocious. But for some reason, perhaps it was just a feeling, perhaps it was because of our mood, for a brief moment, our fierce screams felt like they matched Tang Seorin¡¯s aria. It was merely a chance convergence of dissonant harmonies. And the only remaining discord in this world. That noise, the monster¡¯s heartbeat, toward the origin of the vibration, the two of us simultaneously extended our swords without hesitation. Blood sttered. Old Scho¡¯s de pierced the left eye-heart, and my de sliced the right eye-heart. -¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D!! A scream erupted. Despite spewing blood, countless tentacles burst out of the Ten ns¡¯s body. Tentacle tips surged dangerously close. But I didn¡¯t fear the piercing, I simply pushed the de into the eye-heart even harder. A pause¡ª The tentacles, inches from us, stopped. Tentacles resembling human arms had five fingers each. As if seized by convulsions, the five fingers spread to their limit. One second passed, then two. As the music waned, extending the final moments like an endless encore, we silently stared at the monster, our des wedged into its heart. And then suddenly, I felt an irresistible desire, one that couldn¡¯t be suppressed without speaking. ¡°Is it done?¡± Old Scho was appalled. ¡°Hey, you bastard! If you say that¡¡± The Ten ns¡¯s five fingers exploded. Flesh tore apart. Bursting, it spewed crimson blood. Fingers, arms, countless tentacles, one after another, burst and flowed down. There was no twist. The monstrous body, which had long wandered the world leaving a trail of blood, drowned in its own crimson puddle. Old Scho, drenched in blood, looked down nkly. Then he looked at me. Finally, he looked behind. The moment we turned our backs, a roarrger than the earthquake created by the Ten ns reverberated through the sky. Hundreds died, but thousands still lived, fists clenched toward us, embracing each other, running madly. They ran to me, grabbed my head, tore my shirt. Laughter mixed with tears. ¡°We did it! We did it!¡± Even Old Scho hugged me tightly, screaming. ¡°Oh! Doctor! Thank you! It¡¯s all because of you! I couldn¡¯t havee this far alone!¡± Those were words the usual Old Scho would never utter. I also choked up and mumbled simr words, but I won¡¯t go into detail about what exactly I said. Recounting embarrassing moments wasn¡¯t a hobby of mine. [The Saintess of Salvation blesses your victory.] [The Lord of Crimson Words takes interest in your conquest.] [The Conqueror of Alps marvels at your achievements.] Messages from the Constetions arrived as if they had been waiting. At that time, the identity of the Saintess had not yet been revealed. Like other Awakened, I could only ept the Constetions¡¯ congrattions without knowing the Saintess¡¯s true identity. One round of excitement passed. Then, the mastermind of this operation, Tang Seorin, approached me slowly. ¡°To think I pulled out the Tenth Melody.¡± Perhaps because of the fervent singing, Tang Seorin¡¯s voice sounded hoarse. She looked pleased but somehow embarrassed as she smiled. ¡°Remarkable. I really didn¡¯t expect us to win.¡± ¡°How long did west?¡± ¡°41 minutes.¡± Tang Seorin¡¯s forehead was sweaty. Her hair was disheveled, sticking to her face. Yetpared to my ragged appearance, she seemed quiteposed. Especiallypared to what she faced from the fourth to the ninth turn. ¡°In the end, we reimed it, Seoul.¡± ¡°Technically, it¡¯s south of the Han River.¡± ¡°That area always had the highest property prices, right? Lucky us. We¡¯rendowners now.¡± Even though it was immediately after achieving a monumental feat, Tang Seorin¡¯s tone was as casual as someone who had just taken a walk. I chuckled at her audacity. ¡°Now we have the most valuablend in Korea.¡± ¡°Yeah. Hungry? Any injuries? Let¡¯s go grab something to eat.¡± Then, Old Scho interjected. ¡°What¡¯s on the menu? Octopus sashimi? I can¡¯t eat that.¡± The old man, who had just shamelessly blurted out embarrassing lines, had disappeared, and now there was a typical German old man there, casuallyining about everything. ¡°Ugh. Why would you boil that hideous-looking Cthulhu Kraken and eat it in the first ce?¡± ¡°It¡¯s okay. Since we¡¯re talking about it now, I don¡¯t really like octopus sashimi either.¡± I was surprised. ¡°Really? Are you serious?¡± ¡°Yeah.¡± Tang Seorinughed brightly. ¡°Actually, I prefer tacos with wasabi and a highball.¡± Ten ns, Deafness, Red Carpet. The red epicurean. An active monster established south of the Han River. Individual action-oriented. Estimated civilian and military casualties approximately 436,000. Estimated deaths of Awakened approximately 950. Estimated casualties and missing persons unknown. Official name Decapod. Mission aplished. 5 By the way, the dinner menu that day was pork belly and soju. There were no Japanese restaurants nearby. [Trantor ¨C Jjsecus] [Proofreader ¨C Gun] Chapter 20 â€“ Companion III Chapter 20 ¨C Companion III [Trantor ¨C Jjsecus] [Proofreader ¨C Gun] Chapter 20 ¨C Companion III 6 In Tang Seorin¡¯s tales, there lies a lot of epilogues. Well, to be honest, all my stories are kind of epilogues. At least until we hit turn 1183. So strictly speaking, it would be more urate to say that Tang Seorin¡¯s stories are filled with plenty of epilogues, and I¡¯ll just mention a few of them. ¡°Huh. Doctor Jang, awake already?¡± The day after the celebration following the suppression of the Ten ns. Everyone was passed out. Those who could handle their liquor were as drunk as they could be, and those who couldn¡¯t handle it were just as drunk as they could manage. The remnants of the Ten ns provided plenty of booze, after all. As the dawn struggled to forget the remnants of the night in its blueness, Tang Seorin stood beneath a white pine tree. Alone. Her shadow seemed to be bidding farewell to the night that had already passed, rather than awaiting the sun. ¡°Yes. I¡¯m awake.¡± ¡°Headache? You were drinking quite heavily with the Sword Master, weren¡¯t you?¡± ¡°I¡¯m the type to get drunk quickly and recover quickly. I¡¯ve never been much of a morning person anyway. And what about you, are you feeling alright?¡± ¡°Yeah, I¡¯m always fine.¡± Yet, Tang Seorin¡¯s voice, as she said that, still sounded somewhat strained. Well, she had been casting spells non-stop for 41 minutes on the battlefield yesterday, and then she sang her heart out at the celebration afterward. Even a singer with vocal cords made of steel would¡¯ve strained their voice under such circumstances. ¡°It seems hearing ¡®leader¡¯ from you might soone to an end. A bit regretful.¡± ¡°Well, the Ten ns may be dead, but we still don¡¯t know what other monsters might emerge. There¡¯s a high chance that guild alliances will be formed again. You might have to be a leader again then.¡± ¡°True.¡± Tang Seorin quietly gazed up at the dawn sky. ¡°Yeah.¡± Since the alcohol hadn¡¯tpletely left my system yet, I joined the spectators, hoping that the blue sky would disinfect the alcohol lingering in my head. I wonder if the sky really has that disinfecting function. Oh well, who knows? When the daytime sky absorbs people¡¯s sweat and the nighttime sky amodates their dreams, and yet unfulfilled aspirations find sce in the dawn. ¡°Hey.¡± The wind spoke beside me. ¡°Wanna hear about my dream?¡± ¡°I already know. It¡¯s to conquer all the world¡¯s finest restaurants.¡± ¡°Oh, that¡¯s right. Yeah. Can¡¯t give up on that.¡± Tang Seorin nodded earnestly. ¡°But what I¡¯m talking about now is a different dream.¡± Another dream? I cocked my head. Was there another dream? I¡¯ve been scrutinizing Tang Seorin as the guild leader from Turn 4 to Turn 6, but I¡¯ve never heard of another dream. ¡°Oh. Are you really talking about aspiring to raise three thousand elite guild members and make a name for yourself in the Three Thousand Worlds?¡± ¡°Oh, that too. What about you, Doctor Jang?¡± Tang Seorin nced at me as if she had just remembered something. ¡°You always seem disinterested in others, but surprisingly knowledgeable about me, huh? Are you a Tang Seorin otaku or something? But besides that, it¡¯s a different dream.¡± ¡°Well then, I really don¡¯t know. What is it?¡± ¡°Railway travel.¡± Tang Seorin raised her hand slightly towards the dawn. Her five fingers grasped the sky firmly. ¡°I want to travel this broken world by train.¡± ¡°¡By train?¡± ¡°Yeah. I don¡¯t need a fancy train. Just an old one. A singlepartment train customized by me.¡± She hummed as if singing. ¡°It¡¯s a thing that won¡¯t even move without me if it breaks down. But I can eat, sleep, travel, and even doundry there. Like a camper or a yacht.¡± ¡°I¡¯m not sure if the railways will still be intact. Even the KTX trains that are currently being used as temporary amodations by the Three Thousand Guilds can¡¯t operate, can they? The first-ss roads are barely managed from Busan Gongbang.¡± ¡°Well, I¡¯ll figure it out somehow with the mysterious power of magic.¡± Tang Seorin mimicked boxing, making swooshing sounds. ¡°I¡¯ll keep fixing the railways that have fallen apart in this world one by one. From one station to another, forever. Wherever I pass, beautiful rails will always beid behind me.¡± ¡°Hmm.¡± ¡°And then, as I keep going and going¡ if I reach a decrepit train station on some beach, where a single pole stands like a lonely station attendant¡¡± ¡°¡¡± Tang Seorin didn¡¯t continue speaking. I felt a strange sensation and looked at Tang Seorin¡¯s face. It was a weird thought, but it felt like she could copse any moment now. ¡°Leader?¡± ¡°Hmm.¡± Tang Seorin blinked. She leaned on her ever-present broom (which she ims is a witch¡¯s essential item). Herplexion was the same as usual. ¡°Doctor Jang, why don¡¯t youe join my guild and be the vice guild leader? You know as well as I do that our guild is thriving. This kind of opportunity won¡¯te again. You might regret itter, you know?¡± ¡°¡Here we go again. I¡¯m not epting the guild hat.¡± ¡°Really? Well, can¡¯t be helped then.¡± Tang Seorin walked away. Waving her hand lightly behind her back. ¡°Bye-bye. I¡¯ll take a little walk ande backter. I¡¯ll enjoy the solitude, so don¡¯t follow me.¡± ¡°When will you be back?¡± ¡°Well, roughly in about an hour?¡± An hour passed, then two, but Tang Seorin didn¡¯t return. A search party was dispatched from the guild alliance. Three hours after her disappearance, Tang Seorin was found copsed on a forest path. She never got up again after that day. ¡°How is the future of the Three Thousand Guild Leader?¡± ¡°It¡¯s¡ peculiar.¡± The doctors looked grim. ¡°Overall, there has been a decline in bodily functions. We suspected it could be a curse, but it¡¯s not. It¡¯s truly peculiar¡ I¡¯m sorry to say this, but whenever she closes her eyes, it¡¯s not unusual.¡± ¡°I see.¡± I mentally prepared myself and entered the hospital room. It was one of the few remaining sterile rooms in operation in Korea. Our eyes met as I approached Tang Seorin by the window. She was reading a novel. Not the kind of trains she loved, but with her body weight resting on the wheels of her wheelchair. ¡°¡¡± ¡°¡¡± There was a moment of silence. After about 30 seconds, Tang Seorin closed the novel with a thud and ced it on herp. ¡°Lifespan.¡± It was the first thing she said to someone she had seen in two weeks. ¡°Lifespan?¡± ¡°Yeah. Anyway, isn¡¯t that what you¡¯re getting at? I don¡¯t like this atmosphere. Let¡¯s just get to the point and talk about something else.¡± Tang Seorin shrugged her shoulders. Her expression and gestures were hardly different from usual. If it weren¡¯t for the wheelchair, one would never believe that something was wrong with her. No. It wasn¡¯t just the wheelchair. The guild hat was hanging on the hospital coat rack, and the broom was not a witch¡¯s essential item, but simply leaned against the wall like an old cleaning tool. ¡°I feel like this hospital room is a mockery of Tang Seorin.¡± ¡°My magic grows stronger as it consumes my remaining lifespan. Besides magic, I have another awakened ability. I¡¯ve coolly named it [Equivalent Exchange]. Well, it¡¯s not a very unfamiliar ability, is it?¡± ¡°So¡¡± ¡°Yeah. Wow, those Ten ns were really tough. How could that monster hold out until I cast the 10th Melody? I thought I¡¯d die right then and there, but I don¡¯t know how I¡¯ve managed to survive until now. Anyway, I¡¯m not the one who¡¯s sick.¡± I couldn¡¯t easily find words to say. It wasn¡¯t because I couldn¡¯t think of words tofort her. I was just feeling a profound shock. ¡®She never mentioned it before.¡¯ That Tang Seorin was a multi-ability awakened individual. In addition to her magical abilities, she had the ability to temporarily gain firepower by burning her own lifespan. Even when I served as her right-hand man in the Three Thousand Guild, Tang Seorin never revealed her secretive weapon. Because¡ ¡°¡Did you n to die in the battle against the Ten ns?¡± ¡°Yeah.¡± Tang Seorin nodded confidently. ¡°It was an enemy we couldn¡¯t guarantee victory over without putting our lives on the line. Right? You, Sword Master, the awakened individuals who participated in the battle, the soldiers and volunteers who assisted us. All of us.¡± I couldn¡¯t deny that statement. After all, didn¡¯t I myself risk my life seven times? Suddenly, I remembered the things Tang Seorin had said in the previous turns. The words she uttered in the face of the Ten ns suppression. -Hold out for just 30 minutes, no matter what. I¡¯ll build up a grand spell and blow off the heads of the Ten ns. -Doctor Jang, Sword Master. Without hesitation, hold out for 25 minutes¡ no, just hold out for 30 minutes. At that time, Tang Seorin must have already been prepared for her own death. So, she was actually making such a request. [Trantor ¨C Jjsecus] [Proofreader ¨C Gun] -Hold out for just 30 minutes until I die. But it took 41 minutes to suppress the Ten ns. It was an expenditure of lifespan that far exceeded its limits. ¡°¡¡± It was difficult for me to calm my turbulent heart. For me, regression was also a tool to test the potential of others. Most people behaved differently and achieved different results with each regression. But there were also things that didn¡¯t change no matter how many regressions urred. The strength of the heart and the steadfastness of belief. ¡®So far, Tang Seorin has never deviated from her principle of suppressing the Ten ns and holding out for 30 minutes.¡¯ ¡°Even if it consumes your lifespan, how does Equivalent Exchange work specifically?¡± ¡°Oh. When I awakened this ability, it showed that my original lifespan was 85 years. So, if I mentally think, ¡®I¡¯ll use up a few years from my remaining lifespan of 60 years,¡¯ my firepower automatically strengthens.¡± ¡°So, did you consume over 60 years during the Ten ns suppression battle?¡± ¡°Uh, well¡¡± Tang Seorin narrowed her eyes. ¡°That¡¯s really strange.¡± ¡°How so?¡± ¡°Did I tell you? Actually, I didn¡¯t expect to hold out for over 30 minutes even while casting the main melody. If my calctions were correct, even reaching the 6th Melody was risky.¡± Tang Seorin pinched her chin. ¡°Originally, this main melody magic, the more melodies ovep, the exponentially more magic power is consumed. It¡¯s truly exponential. Even if I spent 60 years of lifespan, theoretically reaching the 10th Melody would be impossible.¡± ¡°But you sang it so well.¡± ¡°Yeah. Isn¡¯t it amazing? Even though I was singing behind you all, I was questioning why this was working in my mind? Why was this possible? I was really puzzled.¡± ¡°¡Ah, I broke out in a cold sweat.¡± That¡¯s when it happened. Some strange premonition, not anxiety or dread, but a wave of a different color, spread from my spine. ¡°Leader. So, how many years of lifespan did you exactly consume during the Ten ns suppression battle?¡± ¡°Huh? I was so distracted at that time that I didn¡¯t count it one by one. Let me see¡¡± ¡°¡Is it roughly around 250 years?¡± ¡°Oh.¡± Tang Seorin nodded. ¡°Right. It¡¯s not exact, but more than 200 years and definitely less than 300 years. Roughly 250 years. How did you know?¡± A current surged through my body, some enlightenment dawned upon me. For example, let¡¯s hypothetically consider. ¨D¨D If Tang Seorin¡¯s unconsumed lifespan is inherited into the ¡®next turn,¡¯ then? I don¡¯t know what fate Tang Seorin faced from the 1st to the 3rd turns. Maybe she also fought against the Ten ns back then. However, without Old Scho and me, the squad would perish in just five minutes, even if they entered the suppression battle. Tang Seorin would have died without even a chance to sing the main melody. Tang Seorin¡¯s original lifespan is 85 years. Subtracting her current age and the lifespan used here and there, excluding the Ten ns suppression battle, she has about 45 years of lifespan left. So, from the 1st to the 5th turns where the Ten ns suppression was not properly carried out, Tang Seorin left behind a lifespan of 40 to 45 years per turn. From the 6th turn, when Old Scho joined, the suppression battle gained momentum. Tang Seorin leisurely consumed her lifespan. Another 10 years, 15 years, 20 years. Tang Seorin¡¯s lifespans were gradually ¡®umted.¡¯ By the 10th turn, she had unknowingly saved 250 years¡¯ worth of time in an ount called lifespan. ¡®If this inference is true.¡¯ Unfortunately, all the lifespans Tang Seorin had saved during the past turns were spent in this 10th turn. But my regression didn¡¯t end in the 10th turn. It would continue in the future. And depending on the situation, Tang Seorin might continue to save lifespans. ¡®If it exceeds 250 years and reaches 500 years? What if it umtes to 1000 years, 2000 years?¡¯ I couldn¡¯t suppress my trembling. ¡°Guild Leader.¡± ¡°Yeah?¡± Unconsciously, I called Tang Seorin the Guild Leader as before. Tang Seorin tilted her head as if she hadn¡¯t noticed anything unusual. ¡°Why?¡± ¡°I have something important to tell you.¡± That, I am a regressor. Perhaps your lifespan umted with each turn. ¡°That¡¯s incredible!¡± Throughout my deduction, Tang Seorin was intrigued, surprised, her eyes sparkled. ¡°Doctor Jang, were you really my guiding star?¡± ¡°Is that the surprising part¡?¡± ¡°Of course! Then where else would the surprise be? Oh, the me from other turns was amazing too. My eyes never deceive. The high hat suits you on your coat rack. Everywhere, Doctor Jang. Shall we be witch buddies?¡± What on earth is a witch buddy? ¡°Do you not consider the possibility that I¡¯m lying?¡± ¡°Huh? Why would you think of such a possibility? We¡¯rerades. If you¡¯re a regressor, then it must be true.¡± Tang Seorin chuckled softly as she coughed. Coughing, the tremors of her remaining lifespan dissipated thinly into the air. ¡°Anyway, it seems like you and I share simr dreams.¡± ¡°Yes?¡± ¡°In this world, we¡¯re fixing one broken railway after another, moving forward. The rails destroyed by the Ten ns. The abandoned tracks destroyed by other monsters. By fixing them step by step, someday the railway lines will connect from station to station, and others can walk along that path too.¡± ¡°¡.¡± ¡°Not bad.¡± Even if I didn¡¯t have the [Complete Memory Ability], the words I heard on this day would never be forgotten. Tang Seorin smiled softly. ¡°And ironically, although I can¡¯t walk the rails you¡¯re on, at least I¡¯ll follow behind with the same stride as your lifespan. Though we can¡¯t live together, we¡¯ll bepanions in death, you and I.¡± Tang Seorin reached out to me with a firm grip on my arm. ¡°Use my lifespan wisely, Doctor Jang. Don¡¯t waste it recklessly. You needed to reach the 10th melody to defeat the Ten ns. This is too much of a waste. You need to be stronger.¡± And so it was. ¡°I shouldn¡¯t excessively consume my lifespan with the main melody. It¡¯s just my intuition, but somehow I feel like the Ten ns won¡¯t be the end. They might be stronger. We might need not just 250 years, but 500, 1000 years. My lifespan needs to be umted as much as possible to prepare for the monsters that might appear after the Ten ns.¡± And so it was. ¡°And if possible, don¡¯t reveal to the next turn¡¯s me that you¡¯re a regressor. I¡¯m greedy and a zealot. I can¡¯t think of sacrificing this turn for the next. If I find out I have hundreds of years left, I¡¯ll definitely use it for this turn. Until the realst moment. Until the real, realst crisis arrives, guide my lifespan to umte.¡± And so it was. ¡°And always be my vice guild leader in other turns.¡± That didn¡¯t happen. Tang Seorin smiled brightly. ¡°Take care in the future, my time¡¯spanion.¡± That night, Tang Seorin died. Tang Seorin¡¯s remains were scattered on the beach. Keeping herst wishes wasn¡¯t as easy as it seemed. I became stronger, and the Ten ns couldn¡¯t force me into adversity anymore. The task of Tang Seorin singing up to the 10th melody in the Ten ns¡¯ subjugation battle also disappeared. But even as the Ten ns disappeared, formidable enemies continued to emerge, and each time, Tang Seorin stood at the forefront. She was always on the front lines. The edge of the broken tracks was always where she aimed to be. Backing her up, even unwittingly, as she tried to use her own lifespan was more challenging than I thought. Eventually, there was a catastrophe where all the lifespans were reset halfway through. Of course, it was just one mistake. Now, over 1000 turnster, I calcted that Tang Seorin¡¯s lifespan had umted to tens of thousands of years. At least over 30,000 years of lifespan. ¡®I wonder how far she could sing if she sang now?¡¯ Sometimes, while drinking coffee, I drift into imagination. Standing on some battlefield where Tang Seorin is singing. The 1st melody, the 2nd melody, the 3rd melody¡ Even if they continue and ovep, her song never ends, eventually echoing across every shoreline where the tracks of this world connect. Only then would Tang Seorin finally arrive at some coast she had hoped for. Wearing her hat, holding her staff, riding on a single-car train. I hope to hear that song one day, but at the same time, I hope the day neveres when I can never hear it. In recent turns, whenever I coincidentally meet Tang Seorin, she asks me this. Just like when we first met in the 4th turn. ¡°Doctor Jang. Do you have any intention of joining my guild? I can even offer you the position of vice-guild leader.¡± Then, I would smile faintly and reply. ¡°I won¡¯t join.¡± It can¡¯t be helped. Isn¡¯t the hat a bit much, Guild Leader? [Trantor ¨C Jjsecus] [Proofreader ¨C Gun] Chapter 21 â€“ Reader I Chapter 21 ¨C Reader I [Trantor ¨C Jjsecus] [Proofreader ¨C Gun] Chapter 21 ¨C Reader I 1 Now that we¡¯ve dealt with some serious stuff, it¡¯s time to lighten the mood again. In the early stages of my regression journey, before run 20, I was overly serious. It was because I believed that if I just pulled myself together and made an effort, I could definitely save the world. I¡¯m not knocking the effort. But I was a bit arrogant. Who am I to treat the weight of the world and my own weight as equals? Infinite regression? That¡¯s just an awakening ability. People need to learn to let go of themselves. When you let go of your own weight, you gain the capacity to ept others even more. Anyway, my way of ¡®letting go¡¯ is my ¡®hobbies.¡¯ I dare say there are no regressors with as diverse hobbies as mine. Because, in a regressor¡¯s life, the most important thing is mental management, and hobbies are like housekeepers cleaning the mansion named mental health. If you were to measure a regressor¡¯s mental world in square footage, it would exceed thousands of square feet, like a luxurious mansion exclusively for aristocrats of the mind. Naturally, you¡¯d need quite a few maids for ¡®cleaning.¡¯ If I were to list the duties of the maids I hired, or rather the types of hobbies, they were as follows: [ying games, browsing S, being a barista, metalworking, teasing fairies, pestering Seo Gyu, cooking, taking walks, listening to music, ying music, sneakily hiding a stolen fedora under the bed, ying guitar, pestering Seo Gyu, ying the violin, ying the piano, painting, sculpting, pottery, collecting radios, secretly listening to Old Scho¡¯s cellphone recording files, running a ranch, pestering Seo Gyu, trying out any random job and living life as that profession¡] But I won¡¯t mention all those maids individually. There¡¯s nothing as boring as discussing hobbies that others can¡¯t rte to. So, the maid I¡¯ve chosen today is ¡®reading.¡¯ More specifically, would you like to read ¡®web novels¡¯? 2 Originally, I knew nothing about web novels. When I was young, I only read a few martial arts novels, and I only learned about the genre of web novels around run 555. It was around run 555 when I was introduced to web novels by someone I formed a connection with. This person was an Awakened named Oh Dokseo. I¡¯ll talk about him in the next run. What¡¯s important now is that I gained a new hobby and I was happier because of it. What I liked most about web novels is that each work has a lot of content. After all, reading is food for the soul. And I was always someone who valued quantity over quality when it came to eating. At least in the restaurant of this genre called web novels, it seemed like I wouldn¡¯t have to worry about running out of fodder to eat. Of course, it was a dog-like misconception. ¡°No novels to read¡?¡± I was in shock. I only enjoyed feasting and banquets until run 556. So, just after 1 to 2 runs, I had run out of fodder to eat. In fact, web novels were a rtively new culture, and surprisingly, there weren¡¯t many of them. ¡°Um¡ Should I try exploring other genres¡?¡± A thirsty person doesn¡¯t pick the well. At first, I only read fantasy novels, but I devoured anything and everything regardless of genre¡ªacademia, ghost stories, romance, martial arts, isekai, expert novels, parodies, TS (transsexual) stories, Yuri, you name it¡ªas long as it was a text written by Sejong the Great¡¯s invention. I even epted alphabets and Japanese because even that wasn¡¯t enough. A new world had opened up. I was happy. Run 558 ended. The new world copsed. ¡°No novels to read¡?¡± I was shocked again. Now I had really scraped the bottom and there was nothing left to eat. My taste was never picky. I even enjoyed the novels of postmodernists who boldly reced quotation marks with reverse quotation marks (¡±¡°). I devoured masterpieces of minimalism that omitted periods within dialogue and attempts by new generation phonologists to express characters¡¯ distinct voices with tilde (~) or represent character silence gradually with ellipsis (..). I even consumed satire novels that fiercely criticized modern egoism by ridiculing the appearance of a parody original character who ate up all the characteristics that the original protagonist should have, saying, ¡®Why did that guy be so weakpared to the original? (Laughs).¡¯ I devoured a work by an epidemic researcher where theughter in the novel was fixed as ¡®hoho,¡¯ causing all characters to suffer from ¡®hoho¡¯ syndrome. In short. ¡°Hmm~ Weird¡ Was the protagonist originally that¡ weak? Ho! Ho! Ho!¡± Even a passage like this was willingly epted as a staple food. Ahh¡ From now on, you can call me not an Awakened, but a web novel diver. Because it¡¯s the truth. This was my rock bottom, my abyss, my Mariana Trench. If I went deeper than this, instead of mentioning finding food or whatnot, I wouldn¡¯t even be breathing. Even for a seasoned regressor like me, survival in this magical realm was uncertain! So, I could confidently say. ¡°No novels to read.¡± Not only me, but many readers will eventually encounter this exact situation. At times like this, readers usually have two paths to choose from: either they decide to take a break from web novels for a while, or they transition into bing writers themselves by creating their own fodder. Coincidentally, I wasn¡¯t a ¡°usual¡± reader. I was an infinite regressor. For regressors, there was a third path. ¡°I should just kidnap all the writers and turn them into machines that churn out stories.¡± I opened up my heart. An untraveled path. But a path that every reader has dreamed of at least once. I confidently stepped forward toward that path, not as an Awakened, but as a diver into the world of web novels. During one run, I collected personal information and details about web novel writers, and as soon as the next run started, I traveled around the country collecting writers. Of course, writers weren¡¯t creatures that could be caught by throwing a red and white ball, so manually collecting them was necessary. If anyone sensitive to writer¡¯s sensibilities were there, they might have casually raised objections like, ¡°Isn¡¯t that more like kidnapping than collecting?¡± But around run 560, I was a bit tough. Wouldn¡¯t it be happier to be raised under my protection as a regressor than to live in that harsh world? Finally, I seeded in collecting over three hundred writers. I became a master of writermon. The writers didn¡¯t even know who they were brought by, why, or where. ¡°Where is this?¡± ¡°Um¡ Could it be¡¡± ¡°Oh, aren¡¯t you the talentless writer? We met briefly at that weddingst time, right?¡± ¡°Harem fanatic! You¡¯re here too!¡± ¡°Oh, it¡¯s the harem enthusiast!¡± Buzz buzz¡ When I gathered hundreds of writers in the hotel lobby, many of them recognized each other. They couldn¡¯t hide their fear, but they tried to understand the situation somehow. ¡°But why have we been brought here in the first ce?¡± ¡°Has anyone heard an exnation?¡± ¡°Sorry. I suddenly passed out and when I woke up, I was here¡ It¡¯s been two days already.¡± ¡°Two days?¡± ¡°Oh, it¡¯s been three days for me.¡± ¡°Wow, that must have been tough.¡± ¡°Huh? No, it wasn¡¯t. They served well-bnced meals three times a day, the bed wasfortable, and we didn¡¯t have to serialize daily. It was so nice.¡± ¡°¡?¡± ¡°¡?¡± It¡¯s about time to give an exnation. ¡°Um, uh¡ Can you hear me?¡± I held the microphone and stood at the check-in counter. Hundreds of eyes turned in my direction. Actually, I just used amplification magic to raise my voice, so the microphone was just for decoration. But somehow, I felt like I should show some respect when standing in front of the writers. [Trantor ¨C Jjsecus] [Proofreader ¨C Gun] As you can see, the 335 carefully selected writers who were kidnapped to this hotel were all handsome men. Regardless of genre or gender, only the writers who made my heart beat even once were gathered here. ¡°Hello. I¡¯m an Awakened with the nickname Undertaker. I think some of you have already guessed it, but all of you gathered here are writers who have entered the web novel industry.¡± ¡°Only writers?¡± ¡°Where are we?¡± ¡°If there are only writers here, this must be hell.¡± ¡°Hey, who¡¯s holding the mic? What¡¯s your identity?¡± I spoke solemnly. ¡°As I mentioned, I am an Awakened named Undertaker. This ce is a hotel near Incheon. Due to the Seoul crisis, all existing staff fled, but don¡¯t worry. I have already hired new staff, and they are all highly trained professionals.¡± I pointed to the other side of the lobby. Twenty fairies in Che Guevara T-shirts saluted. I also saluted in return. Once, I was hostile towards fairies, but around run 560, I had established a very good rtionship with the Fairy Revolution Club. I knew exactly who they were. ¡°Please rest assured, as things are. And they will, you will be safe.¡± ¡°Crazy! Fairies?!¡± ¡°Aaah! Help!¡± The writers were not reassured. There was a bit of amotion, but we subdued it without any problem. 99% of the writers were too weak to cause physical events in the macro world. I took the microphone again. ¡°Um, mic test. Unfortunately, you cannot escape. The hotel entrance is closed. You can open the windows in your rooms and look outside, but you cannot cross over. Just like our lives.¡± ¡°Let us go!¡± ¡°You cannot escape. Highly trained members of the Fairy Revolution will monitor you 24/7.¡± ¡°Crazy¡¡± ¡°What¡¯s with that guy? He¡¯s scary¡¡± ¡°Let me ask you this. Even if you could escape, do you really want to leave here?¡± It seemed like a question mark hovered over the heads of the writers, as if they were filled with questions. I decided to address their doubts. ¡°As you may have seen in the news, the world is currently on the brink of destruction. Monsters have appeared all over the world, and gates have been opened. Yes, you¡¯re in deep trouble.¡± ¡°Um¡¡± ¡°essing your usual novel tforms has be difficult. Even if you manage to ess them, readers won¡¯t be able to purchase your writings because the banking system has copsed. Soon, the intework will also bepletely cut off. In this situation, your writing skills are utterly useless.¡± The truth was hitting hard. The writers¡¯ faces started to pale significantly. Many people had started their careers as writers with the mindset of ¡°earning money by just writing alone without doing physicalbor.¡± Now, that easy money was all gone. ¡°Even if you continue to write and publish, there¡¯s a problem. From now on, there¡¯s a 0.06% chance that a ¡®Reincarnation Truck¡¯ will appear for readers who read your stories. In this era, novels are practically weapons themselves.¡± ¡°A reincarnation truck¡?¡± ¡°Is he a bit strange in the head?¡± The writers muttered, thinking I was talking nonsense. Hmm. But it¡¯s not. The ¡®Reincarnation Truck¡¯ is a real anomaly that has been spotted increasingly frequently since it was first discovered in run 119. Well, with the protective barrier I¡¯ve set up around this hotel, even if thousands of truckse, they won¡¯t break through, so it doesn¡¯t really matter. ¡°Then¡ why did you bring us here?¡± ¡°Because I am your passionate reader.¡± I pointed my finger at one of the writers in the front row. ¡°You.¡± ¡°Y-Yes?¡± ¡°You¡¯re a fan of ¡®Bad Ending Enthusiast,¡¯ right? You always write yuri stories on Novel Campus.¡± The writer I pointed out was taken aback. ¡°H-How do you¡ know me¡?¡± ¡°Didn¡¯t I say I¡¯m a fan?¡± ¡°Well, um, thank you, but¡ Um. There¡¯s no way you¡¯ve read my novel¡ My most popr work has only 100 views for thetest update in the preferred works of 2000¡¡± ¡°Your first protagonist was a pathetic character who suffered all the injustices in the world. But from the next work onwards, you began to incorporate the Norman¡¯s route, and you¡¯ve reached the point of reconciling the charm of the pathetic character with the strength of the Norman¡¯s route. Of course, towards the end, a supporting character suddenly elerates and bes the protagonist¡¯s partner, leading to a bittersweet ending. But even that roughness is your charm as a Bad Ending Enthusiast, in my opinion.¡± ¡°You really read it¡?¡± The writers were astonished. I proceeded to point out the next individuals in line. ¡°Heavenly Demon is the Real Wuxia, you¡¯ve been quietly writing traditional wuxia in this day and age with a solemn tone. In an era where celestial horses have be vulgar jokes, your discussions on chivalry and justice always resonate with my heart.¡± ¡°YellowblitzTabledinner-nim, in a fantasy market where all the themes are running out, you always try new attempts¡¡± ¡°ILikeMyLittlePony-nim, you¡¯ve erected a monumental contribution to broadening the horizon of the once-called veteran genre, dystopian. I know of your novel where the protagonist is born as a Hungarian noble in the backdrop of World War I and eventually bes a praised cavalrymander for the Habsburg family. It¡¯s incredibly rare and entertaining¡¡± As I listed about thirty writers in this manner, each time I mentioned their works, the writers showed touched expressions. It seemed they were all blushing considerably whenever their pen names were mentioned, but at least now, in the hotel lobby, there was no one who doubted my sincerity. ¡°Wait a moment.¡± However, suspicion veered in an unexpected direction. The writers murmured. It was a mosquito-like sound, but it was all audible to my enhanced hearing. ¡°So, aren¡¯t you the reader who devours everything? You eat both yuri and TS, pure love and harem, traditional wuxia and fusion wuxia, perverted and mild perverted, mainstream and underground, and even other genres that can¡¯t be mentioned due to various circumstances, right¡?¡± ¡°Eek, a monster!¡± ¡°Goodness, are there such voracious readers out there?¡± ¡°It¡¯s not Kim Reader, it¡¯s Kim YellowBlitz¡¡± Oh my. These writers were mocking their precious reader. As a regressor, I avoided snacks to maintain my mental fortitude. My tastes were very wholesome. ¡°I¡¯d like to express my gratitude to everyone here, but due to time constraints, I¡¯ll skip that for today.¡± ¡°For today¡?¡± ¡°Above all, I¡¯m sure there are writers here who don¡¯t want their genres exposed in such a public setting.¡± Some writers flinched. ¡°I¡¯ll arrange a separate gathering for them someday. Anyway, writers, please think carefully. While I am indeed the mastermind who kidnapped and imprisoned you here, the outside world beyond this nket is dangerous. Do you have the confidence to survive in a world that¡¯s deteriorating in real-time?¡± The lobby fell silent. In reality, in runs where I didn¡¯t bring them, more than half didn¡¯tst even six months. The remaining half died within a year. At best, only two managed to survive rtively longer. ¡°You don¡¯t need to worry about survival here. Nourishment and everything else will be provided to you. Even the fairies that you fear so much are merely employees in this hotel. The only thing you need to do is write novels.¡± ¡°¡¡± ¡°You¡¯re wee to continue your ongoing novels or start a new one. Just focus on writing. Everything else will be taken care of.¡± The writers buzzed in response to those words. ¡°That¡¯s a valid point. It really feels like the country¡¯s going downhill.¡± ¡°I was originally nning to flee abroad, but hearing that it¡¯s no different there, I gave up. Communication might also be difficult¡¡± ¡°We get buffet meals every day. It¡¯s not so bad here!¡± ¡°Actually, considering those who couldn¡¯te here, we might be lucky¡¡± ¡°Yeah. I wonder what happened to the other writers.¡± A generally positive atmosphere prevailed. Then, someone muttered to themselves suddenly. ¡°Wait, damn. This is just canned food, isn¡¯t it¡?¡± Hmm. Some people were quick to catch on, but with the situation already set, there was no changing it. From that day on, the 335 individuals began their group retreat, feeling like canned sardines. [Trantor ¨C Jjsecus] [Proofreader ¨C Gun] Chapter 22 â€“ Reader II Chapter 22 ¨C Reader II [Trantor ¨C Jjsecus] [Proofreader ¨C Gun] Chapter 22 ¨C Reader II 4 I was thoroughly satisfied with my self-built ¡°Canned Hotel.¡± A guilty conscience? That didn¡¯t exist. After all, weren¡¯t the authors who would meet their demise in other turns anyway? Even the embodiment of ethics, not to mention a saint, would give me a thumbs up for my actions. [¡Doctor Jang.] ¡°Yes? What is it, Your Holiness?¡± [¡Oh, nothing at all.] Above all, I was truly saving the lives of the authors. Do you remember the mention of the ¡°Reincarnation Truck¡± earlier? The Reincarnation Truck is a mysterious monster that statistically urs to readers of web novels, promising, ¡°I will transport you to a world where the settings of your favorite novels are fully realized!¡± and causing a collision ident to the reader. It¡¯s not a lie, it¡¯s a real monster. Seriously. If you¡¯re a fan of web novels, one day you might be walking down the street. -Beep beep! And if you turn your head, you might see an 11-ton cargo truck speeding towards you. The distinctive feature is that instead of numbers, the license te has the title of a work engraved on it. Maybe someone will rejoice, thinking, ¡°Ah! Finally, I can escape this monster-infested apocalypse!¡± and even actively try to kiss the truck, but don¡¯t do that. I tested it three times, and there was no dimensional travel whatsoever. It¡¯s just another fake monster like the ¡°Hero Syndrome.¡± Anyway, this Reincarnation Truck urs not only to readers but also to authors. Because the author is the first reader of their own novel. So? -Beep beep! -Crash! Beep beep! -Beep beep! Crash! Cargo trucks started lining up one after another in front of the ¡°Canned Hotel¡± I built. ¡°Wow¡ strange trucks have gathered in front of our revolutionary hideout!¡± Even the fairies with fractured cheekbones marveled at the scene. Those trucks shouldn¡¯t be underestimated. Wherever the protagonist of a work of fiction walks, the Reincarnation Truck will use every means to pursue them,mit a hit-and-run, and then disappear without any legal consequences. The Reincarnation Trucks have ughtered countless protagonists in various works, ranging from saviors and heroes to destroyers, viins, gods, and even extra protagonists (the strongest). Truly a weirdo with a resume thatcks no shortage of ¡°God yer¡± titles! Simrly, unless it¡¯s the Fairy of Tutorials who has ughtered numerous protagonists, no one could possibly stand up against such a terrifying weirdo. ¡°Any problem with the barricades?¡± ¡°Nope, Master! Despite their resistance, the revolution¡¯s dialectical development remains unyielding! The historical evolution¡¯s inevitable progress cannot be reversed by the antics of those bourgeois hooligans!¡± Kwaaaaang! As if to prove those words, one of the 11-ton trucks, suddenly appearing from beyond the horizon, mmed into the hotel¡¯s main gate. However, the barricade we set up with the fairies remained intact. The truck just ended up dented like an aluminum can. -Beep beep¡ -Crash! Beep beep¡ The Reincarnation Trucks lined up in the parking lot honked their horns as if mourning the heroic demise of arade. In contrast, the fairies on the balcony waved red gs with prints of Che Guevara¡¯s portrait, disying courage tenfold. Some even shed tears, crying out, ¡°Ah, Comrades! Comrades!¡± ¡°Our dream will never die, you fascist scum!¡± I nodded in satisfaction. ¡°Alright then. Let the Revolutionary Vanguard continue to defend the barricades. The sess of the revolution hinges on this operation. Everyone, keep up the good work.¡± ¡°Yes! Master!¡± ¡°Long live the revolution!¡± ¡°Our dream lives on!¡± The fairies saluted with such dignity that the citizens of Paris in 1871 would have given them a standing ovation. Behold. I hold the safety and well-being of the authors in such high regard. If it weren¡¯t for the Canned Hotel, where would those dozens of trucks have gone? I not only saved the lives of the authors but also their readers. It wouldn¡¯t be an exaggeration to say that the entire web novel industry of the penins owes me their lives. In return for such dedication, I didn¡¯t ask much from the authors. Just write novels. That¡¯s all. If they could fill up their empty food bowls with some new material to eat, sleep, and dress, and block the Reincarnation Trucks, I could guarantee their safety for at least ten years. After patrolling the security guards, I headed to the secretary¡¯s office (the editing department). The fairies who greeted me there seemed a bit more intellectually inclined than the security guards. ¡°Ah, Master. Wee back.¡± ¡°Alright. Everyone¡¯s been working hard. It¡¯s been a month since we started the canned project, so I assume the authors have stocked up enough serialized works.¡± I sent a meaningful nce to the editing director agent. ¡°Agent 264, bring in the umted novels from the past month.¡± ¡°Got it!¡± In this turn, Fairy 264, who had taken over the secretary¡¯s position, brought in the newly printed works from the printer. I eagerly awaited, my anticipation rising, as I epted the new works¡ I couldn¡¯t help but doubt my own eyes. ¡°What¡¯s this?¡± For supposed output from hundreds of authors over a month, these A4 sheets seemed a bit, well, too sparse. They were more like thin joint fanzines than substantial coborative douji*shi. ¡°¡Why is there so little?¡± ¡°But there really isn¡¯t anything else!¡± Unbelievable. Instead of writing novels in exchange for food, shelter, and blocking the Reincarnation Trucks, the authors, it seemed, weren¡¯t writing novels at all! Havingpleted my duties as a regressor for a month (awakening the secretary, cooperating with the saint, closing the gate, fostering promising candidates, coborating with guild leaders, etc.) and returning to the hotel today, I was at a loss. No, I had been waiting for this day all month. ¡°I¡¯ve brought in nearly 335 writers, and we don¡¯t even have a hundred pieces¡?¡± Shiver. The stack of manuscripts in my hand vibrated. The anger and disappointment turned into a magnitude 7 tremor in the Richter scale. Writers who weren¡¯t writing? What¡¯s the difference between them and unemployed people? At least the unemployed might feel anxious about wasting time watching movies or dramas, but these so-called writers would boast about ¡°I¡¯m not just ying around¡± ¡°Experience¡± ¡°Learning¡± ¡°I¡¯m absorbing experiences from movies and dramas.¡± If there¡¯s no difference between the two professions (or non-professions), then why should I, as a regressor, expend valuable resources to take care of these unemployed people? ¡°Who¡¯s responsible for this mess!¡± ¡°Are we just sending them all to the Gg?¡± ¡°This is already the Gg¡ Well, regardless, we can¡¯t just send off our valuable word ves anywhere!¡± I mmed the desk. ¡°Gather all the writers in the lobby immediately!¡± A momentter. The writers were summoned to the lobby. But wait? ¡°Authors¡ Have you gained a bit of weight?¡± Scratch scratch. Even when they were kidnapped to the Canned Hotel, their average health wasn¡¯t exactly great, but over the past month, somehow they managed to gain quite a bit of weight. Just a bit more and they¡¯d be shining 24/7 from their facial skin. ¡°¡Writers, this reader is deeply disappointed.¡± I sighed deeply and addressed the writers. ¡°One person writing one piece a day would make 335 pieces. That¡¯s over 10,000 pieces in a month. Do you understand? Over 10,000 pieces. But right now! Look at the manuscripts that have reached this reader¡¯s hands.¡± ¡°¡.¡± ¡°91 pieces! It¡¯s 91 pieces! Is this even reasonable? And to make matters worse, that¡¯s just the number of pieces written, in reality, there are only 12 authors! Out of 335, only 12 have actually written anything!¡± Swoosh! I scattered the A4 sheets on the desk. By the way, they weren¡¯t real manuscripts, just empty pieces of paper. It was some kind of performance. I couldn¡¯t really scatter the writings of the great ones on the floor. Anyway, my performance was well received. The writers¡¯ faces changed. ¡°Even now, this reader is tirelessly working day and night for your safety andfort! But what¡¯s this! If you have any excuses, tell this reader!¡± ¡°Um¡.¡± ¡°Mm¡.¡± [Trantor ¨C Jjsecus] [Proofreader ¨C Gun] The writers nced away. ¡°W-well, you see¡ Reader, we¡¯re really sorry. The thing is, it¡¯s not like new works just pop out of thin air¡¡± ¡°¡That¡¯s right. We¡¯ve been brainstorming, walking, sleeping, trying everything, but nothing seems toe up.¡± ¡°Reader! It takes longer to n a work than to actually write it! Especially when preparing a new work.¡± ¡°As much as I hate to say this in our situation, objectively speaking, asking for new ideas in just one month was an unreasonable demand.¡± ¡°Exactly!¡± ¡°That¡¯s right. We really didn¡¯t want to not write, but even though we want to write, we just can¡¯t. We want to write, but we can¡¯t. It¡¯s driving us crazy¡!¡± Even after hearing the writers¡¯ exnations, I hesitated. ¡®¡Does that make sense?¡¯ Certainly¡ creating is said to be a continuous agony. There are writers who take 3 or 4 years to write a new work afterpleting one. Maybe it was unreasonable to demand new works in just one month¡. Hm? ¡°¡Wait a moment. Here, only 126 authors need to prepare new works, while the rest would have been serializing existing works, right?¡± The writers flinched. ¡°Why couldn¡¯t they write? They were doing just fine before moving into the hotel, not missing a single serialization?¡± ¡°It¡¯s adaptation to the environment¡!¡± The writers chorused. ¡°The serialization environment is so delicate. Some writers write at home, some at cafes, and some even have separate studios.¡± ¡°But there are no writers writing in hotels¡.¡± ¡°It¡¯s a totally different story.¡± ¡°I had a bad cold yesterday and couldn¡¯t sleep well, so even though I sat in front of the monitor, my head felt fuzzy and I couldn¡¯t write anything. I didn¡¯t even want to touch the keyboard?¡± ¡°Oh, I know exactly how that feels¡!¡± ¡°I had too much time, so I got trapped in an endless loop of proofreading and revising. I feel like I¡¯m going crazy.¡± ¡°When you encounter a new working environment, you have topletely rebuild your writing habits from scratch. Serialization is ultimately a matter of habit, isn¡¯t it?¡± ¡°Looks like writers really understand each other. Sigh. It¡¯s a very detailed aspect that outsiders who haven¡¯t serialized for a long time can¡¯t understand or empathize with.¡± ¡°That¡¯s right. It¡¯s really not easy.¡± Is that so? Certainly¡ creation requires delicate sensitivity. I upied a luxury hotel in Incheon to provide afortablemunal living environment. Allowance was provided every week to prevent any dissatisfaction. In a ruined world, and in a closed environment where going out was impossible, one might wonder what the use of money was, but surprisingly, it was still useful. ¡®There¡¯s a casino in the basement of this hotel.¡¯ Originally meant for foreigners, it transformed into a paradise exclusively for writers. Writers could enjoy the casino using the currency provided monthly, which they converted into gaming money. The luxury shopping mall originally in the hotel was also avable for enjoyment, of course, with money. ording to reports from Fairy No. 264, the writers were highly satisfied with this environment and showed a very high utilization rate at the casino. It was truly almost perfect welfare! ¡®But it¡¯s still an unfamiliar environment.¡¯ I nodded. How could I, just a mere reader, intervene in the deep anguish and delicate sensibilities of creators. Using [Mind Reading] would allow me to read the writers¡¯ minds, but I felt it wasn¡¯t a respectful gesture toward the writers I loved. ¡°Understood. Then I¡¯ll extend the period by another month.¡± ¡°No, a month is a bit¡ at least three months¡¡± ¡°Oh dear. No matter how difficult the task, diligence in self-discipline is required in any profession. I believe in the diligence of the writers.¡± ¡°Yes¡¡± ¡°I will strive to do my best¡¡± One month had passed. In my hands were 75 turns of serialization. ¡°Why has it decreased even more!¡± I couldn¡¯t help but be astonished. Why is this happening? The fairy smiled brightly. ¡°But this is all there is!¡± ¡°No¡ Secretary. Does this make sense? There are 335 of them. 335! Even if each person writes only one turn a week, that¡¯s over a thousand turns of serialization. But it¡¯s not 750 turns, it¡¯s 75?¡± Despite summoning the writers again and again to inquire, the response remained the same. And if the same answer came back twice, it meant excuses. Unfortunately, the writers could no longer be trusted. Come to think of it, it seemed like there had been filters over my eyes from the beginning. An expert. We needed an expert who could objectively analyze why this situation had arisen. And after consulting with the expert, we were able to get an immediate answer. ¡°Are you a fool? The environment is too good, sir.¡± [Trantor ¨C Jjsecus] [Proofreader ¨C Gun] Chapter 23 â€“ Reader III Chapter 23 ¨C Reader III [Trantor ¨C Jjsecus] [Proofreader ¨C Gun] Chapter 23 ¨C Reader III ¡°Too good of an environment?¡± What¡¯s the problem with that? ¡°Hmm. So, mister, do you have some sort of fantasy about being a writer? ¡ Writers are workers. Just workers. They write to earn money and get attention, that¡¯s all.¡± Self-proimed web novel expert, Oh Dokseo, said. As I mentioned before, there will be a chance to delve into who this Oh Dokseo ister. For now, knowing that Oh Dokseo is the leader of the nerd fashion trend, with red short hair, a cap, a dagger pinned to his nose, and a hoodie, was enough. ¡°By the way, you haven¡¯t turned on your egoism app, have you?¡± ¡°I turned it off.¡± ¡°Okay. Anyway, mister, have you ever seen someone who works hard at a construction site just for self-realization? Have you ever met someone who says they love digging so much that they¡¯ll just dig for the rest of their lives?¡± ¡°Well¡ that would be rare.¡± ¡°Exactly.¡± Oh Dokseo chewed gum vigorously and blew a bubble with his mouth. By the way, that bubble gum wasn¡¯t a bubble gum product; it was just regr gum. Naturally, it couldn¡¯t inte properly. With a popping sound, the gum burst and stuck to his lips. Oh Dokseo wiped his mouth as if nothing had happened. It was a moment that fully proved how serious he was about his nerdy fashion sense and his second-year syndrome. ¡°Mister, remember this. Creationes from deprivation.¡± Oh Dokseo¡¯s expression was serious. To be more precise, it was damn serious. I usually try to avoid using such qualifiers, but I had no choice. If I didn¡¯t use the adverb ¡°damn¡± even after seeing Oh Dokseo¡¯s face, it would be ignoring the very reason why this word exists in the world. ¡°Why give pocket money? Instead, take it away. Push them into the pit of despair. Make them witness people being pushed by monsters and ughtered by monsters. You¡¯re strong, mister. You can do it. Why don¡¯t you?¡± ¡°Um¡.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t kill, but¡ oh, your hands and waist should be in good shape, right? Anyway, just don¡¯t be a fool. Writers tend to write better when they¡¯re exploited more.¡± Oh Dokseo dered, not as a schr who believes he serves the truth, but as an authority figure of a society where truth only serves him. ¡°After all, if it weren¡¯t for you, they would all be destined to die, right? So, if you just give them life, isn¡¯t that enough?¡± Is that so? Is that the case? ¡®Sounds usible?¡¯ It was worth testing. turn 560¡¯s canned hotel idea failed miserably, so in the next turn, I followed Oh Dokseo¡¯s advice and trained the writers. This time, I showed them the taste of hellfire instead of heaven. ¡°Aaargh!¡± ¡°Save me! Save me!¡± I took the writers for a walk beyond the amodation. -Boom! -Bang! Bang! Boom! -Boom! Boom! The reincarnation trucks surpassed 1000 in number. The parking lot and the road leading to the amodation were packed with 11-ton cargo trucks, recreating the traffic jams of the Chuseok holiday, crashing into each other and chasing the writers. It was indeed surreal. And that wasn¡¯t all. ¡°Ugh, it¡¯s cold¡¡± ¡°I¡¯m hungry¡ I want some beef soup¡¡± ¡°Mommy¡¡± The environment changed too. This time, instead of a luxury hotel, I created a shabby refugee camp and housed the writers there. There were no fancy chefs or casino dealers. The only preparation for writing was cheapputers. It hurt to see the writers sitting on the ground, staring nkly at the ceiling or crying. But shock therapy was not without reason. I said, ¡°Ah, mic test. Writers, from now on, you¡¯ll be living in this vige. While most dangers will be prevented by me, I can¡¯t guarantee your safety. The more diligently and entertainingly you write, the richer the resources will be.¡± ¡°¡.¡± ¡°Love you, writers. Best of luck.¡± And something amazing happened. This extreme measure actually worked! The writers wrote as if possessed by spirits. Out of 335 people, not a single one didn¡¯t type on their keyboard. The writing speed was iparable to thest turn! I couldn¡¯t help but feel moved. ¡®This is what a proper writer is, and this is the proper amount.¡¯ As I looked at the stacks of manuscripts, a satisfied smile formed on my face. And just as I handed over the manuscript with anticipation¡ ¡°Hmm?¡± Something was off. Something was definitely off. Like when a dog flinches reflexively when given different food from what it usually eats, I, as a doctor, instinctively paused with the manuscript in hand. ¡°This¡ This taste, why is it so bad?¡± It was different. The taste of the writing had changed. The authentic fantasy writer, who used to sing praises of human valor, was now writing about being ughtered by demon lords. The sweet romance writer¡¯s world, filled with affectionate characters, was invaded by monsters tearing couples apart. Even the martial arts genre was ruined by zombies. Regardless of the genre, all characters were plunged into despair, and the world was on the brink of destruction. And then I realized. ¡®This isn¡¯t¡ this isn¡¯t genre fiction!¡¯ Literary fiction! The unmistakable taste of literary fiction! Especially the kind that can be summarized as ¡®everything¡¯s messed up and nothing matters¡¯! The unfamiliar scent in the air, amidst the beloved aroma of web novel writers, left me feeling dazed, like witnessing a lover¡¯s infidelity. ¡®They wrote well¡ They wrote well, but¡¡¯ What I wanted wasn¡¯t this taste! The filthiness was palpable, just reflecting on my regression in life. Why should I be forced to see filth even in my leisure time? Am I a masochist? Moreover, no matter how much the writers fantasized, they couldn¡¯t grasp the extent of how monstrous monsters could be and how much the human world could be destroyed. In terms of detail, they were even inferior to me, the reader. ¡®What¡ what did I do to my writers?¡¯ This couldn¡¯t go on. I immediately went to confront Oh Dokseo. But even considering the change in turns, Oh Dokseo¡¯s response was dismissive to the extreme. ¡°Not fun? So what?¡± Oh Dokseo nonchntly trimmed his nails. ¡°They¡¯re the writers you love. So you should love whatever they write. Why? Has your love changed? Wow. I didn¡¯t see you as someone so petty.¡± ¡°Well¡ maybe it¡¯s my fault for once again expecting something from humans. How could love change? Is it the person who changed? Oh, here ¡®change¡¯ means poop. Got it? I¡¯m a bit crazy like that.¡± This hipster cosyer with second-year syndrome didn¡¯t get it at all! In the end, even turn 561¡¯s canned idea failed miserably. Back to square one, I pondered. It can¡¯t be toofortable. It kills the motivation to write. It can¡¯t be too agonizing either. It overwhelms the motivation with suffering. ¡®I¡¯m stuck. How on earth can I create a tasty web novel? Are novel writers doomed beings from birth?¡¯ I pondered and pondered. Finally, I reached a conclusion. Next turn. A new bulletin board was opened on SGNet, a tform that previously only hadmunity features. The serial novel board, also known as Soyeon Board. The notice posted on the board read as follows: ©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤ [Serial Novel Board Usage Guide] 1. All SGNet regr members will earn novel points every time they log in. 2. With novel points, you can purchase episodes of the novels you want. You can also donate points to your favorite authors. 3. The points used by readers will be transferred to the authors. Authors can use these points to purchase desired items. The list of items will be separately announced to the authors. 4. At midnight (00:00) every day, the rankings of each novel will be disyed at the top of the serial novel board. The ranking is determined solely by how many readers have purchased the episodes. 5. For authors who are visually impaired and cannot ess the site, SGNet provides manager services. The works of visually impaired authors will be uploaded to Soyeon Board by managers. If any visually impaired individual around you wishes to serialize on Soyeon Board, you can upload on their behalf. 6. Let¡¯s create a healthy culture of serial novels! ©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤ In short, I created a tform for serializing novels. At first, the members¡¯ reactions to the announcement were somewhat dull. -Anonymous: Novels? Can anyone upload novels? -[Yuldoguk] Investigator: It seems the time hase for me to reveal my profound theories to the world. -[Three Thousand Worlds] WitchTrialJudge: I was a bit bored because there weren¡¯t many activities in themunity, but this is great news. -Anonymous: What kind of items can be purchased with points? -KoreanVige: Seems like only boring stories will be uploaded. If there are any aspiring writers willing to serialize, be careful. I¡¯ll be leavingments one by one. -dolLHoUse: Excited. -[Baekhwa] 6th Grade High School: Ugh¡ ?? There weren¡¯t many writers among the Awakeneds. Even if they were writers, most of them were in situations where they were trying to save the world from destruction. There was no leisurely serialization. However, leisure was not always for those who had it, but for those who created it. There were few Awakeneds who serialized novels in their spare time, but they existed nheless. -KoreanVige: ? What¡¯s this about the point purchase list? One day, a certification post on SGNet caused a stir. [Trantor ¨C Jjsecus] [Proofreader ¨C Gun] -Meal Voucher for 1 Month (5-star Hotel) -Fairy Bodyguard: Cannot engage in gate extermination, only defense against enemy attacks. Abuse of this bodyguard will result in punishment. ¨C Desired audience-specific real-time conversation fan meeting: Fan meetings may be refused depending on the preferences of the audience. Refunds will be issued if the meeting is refused. ¨C Consultation on one¡¯s awakening ability tech tree: The Constetion will personally guide on maximizing the efficiency of one¡¯s awakening abilities. However, they will only provide guidelines and will not be responsible for training. . . . -KoreanVige: No, seriously, have you seen the items avable for points? By the way, I quickly purchased the awakening ability tech tree. What are the idiots on SGNet doing, still not serializing novels? Thements section exploded. -Anonymous: ?? Is that for real? -Anonymous: Who gave this guy points to buy it? Are people crazy? -LiteratureGirl: Well, surprisingly, KoreanVige writes pretty well¡. Before gates exploded, he was a web novel geek, but there aren¡¯t many who can boast of writing as well as him¡. -Anonymous: What¡¯s the psycho¡¯s novel about? ©¸LiteratureGirl: It¡¯s a story of an incredibly kind protagonist who uses healing abilities to help one suffering person after another and eventually saves a small kingdom. It¡¯s a rare type of protagonist these days in web novels. The scene where he treats inquisitors, saying ¡®doctors don¡¯t discriminate against patients,¡¯ even though he almost gets caught in a witch hunt, brings tears to the eyes¡. ©¸Anonymous: ? ©¸[Samcheon] Officer: ? -Anonymous: Damn, are these items for real? As expected of SGNet. With the site run directly by the Constetions, the ss is different. -dolLHoUse: Fun. -[Yuldoguk] Investigator: Why does no one read the revtions of this one? The messages were not only shocking but also attracted a well-known agitator from SGNet to the messenger. With members¡¯ reactions bing more intense, it was inevitable. With this certification post as a turning point, SGNet ushered in a new era of serializations. Among the Awakeneds, there were now many who dared to challenge novel serialization directly, and a system was established to recruit skilled writers into guilds to handle uploads on their behalf. The profession of writers, rendered useless in a world on the brink of destruction, now functioned as a kind of support member. -The protagonist doesn¡¯t return from the volcano (¡ï9.9) -The circumstances under which she should have be a duchess (¡ï9.9) -Man-to-Man Talk Club [R-rated Full Version] (¡ï9.9) -The apartment hides the rebar (¡ï5.7) As expected. The works serialized on SGNet showcased a quality that was on apletely different level than those of turns 560 and 561. As the world was copsing, the mix of reflections and despair felt by the writers added a unique charm to their works, making them not only enjoyable as web novels but also masterpieces. ¡°What¡¯s the difference, really? What do you think?¡± Oh Dokseo asked me after hearing about the journey I¡¯ve been on since turn 560. I made Oh Dokseo an espresso because he only drank ck coffee or espresso. ¡°The number of readers. Andpetition.¡± ¡°Huh? What do you mean?¡± ¡°Writers are generally attention-seekers. They¡¯re, as you said, beingscking something. But the void in writers isn¡¯t filled through experience. It¡¯s only filled by the gaze, affection, and enthusiasm of people.¡± Because what theyck isn¡¯t themselves, but others. Writers, paradoxically, are beings with too much of themselves in their hearts. ¡°That¡¯s why as many others as possible are needed for writers. Like celebrities. Like diators in the Colosseum.¡± ¡°Uh-huh.¡± ¡°But that¡¯s incidental. In fact, what¡¯s more important is thepetition with other writers.¡± I logged into SGNet¡¯s serial novel section to show the novel rankings. The ranking list, from first ce downwards, was disyed before any other page. If you essed the serial novel section, you¡¯d be greeted with the rankings first thing. ¡°The endlesspetition with other writers. Here, the criterion forpetition is solely the number of purchases. So, it¡¯s an endlessly fairpetition. Writers can¡¯t help but be drawn into that brilliant illusion, like the bright lights of New York¡¯s skyscrapers, where they ¡®prove their own worth purely through their writing skills.''¡± Come to think of it, ancient Greek tragedians were the same. They heldpetitions to rank them. City spectators gathered to follow the writer¡¯s work in real-time and were enthused. At that time, Athens was the world¡¯s leading city with power over the Mediterranean world, so being celebrated in this city was tantamount to being guaranteed ¡®the world¡¯s best writer.¡¯ Competition. Enthusiasm. A guarantee that you¡¯re the best in the world. It was because this system was established that the ssical tragedies soared like a short but brilliant fireworks disy. Nietzsche didn¡¯t analyze the essence of the Greek nation as petition¡¯ for nothing. ¡°This is our¡ humanity¡¯sst Dionysus Theater.¡± However, I was a heavyweight contender. Works that sought the love of the masses also did well, but I also enjoyed works of minor genres that satisfied me with just a few readers while indulging my desires. Even before the world began to copse, and even more so after it started copsing, such works generallycked poprity. I scrolled down the ranking list and clicked on one of the works. ¨C Title: 101 Ways She epts Death (¡ï7.7) ¨C Pen name: Bad Ending Enthusiast A writer who walks the path of minor genres, whether in the past or present. After reading thetest update, I clicked the ¡°Support the Author¡± button. ¨C You have donated 2,000 points. ZERO_SUGAR: Author, your writing is always¡ wonderful^^ I enjoyed this episode as well. Always take care, especially around trucks~ Hmm. I felt like I had forgotten something and tilted my head. ¡°Oh.¡± Right, I forgot to mention this. ZERO_SUGAR: But there seems to be a spelling error. It should be ¡®??? ??¡¯ instead of ¡®??? ??¡¯. You¡¯ve made the same mistake three times in this work alone. Do you have a style of not running a spell checker, author~? Haha. Anyway, I hope you¡¯ll take it constructively. Cheers ^^ [TL/N: ¡°??? ??¡± ¨C This typically means someone has be passionate or obsessed about something. ¡°??? ??¡± ¨C This usually means someone is experiencing trouble or facing a crisis.] I nodded my head. It was still a perfect support message upon revisiting. Although this whole thing might surprisinglye in handy someday. ¨C Bbaaaaang! Let¡¯s talk about that next time there¡¯s an opportunity. For now, I have to deal with the reincarnation truck that¡¯s arrived in front of my amodation. ¨C Reader. The end. [Trantor ¨C Jjsecus] [Proofreader ¨C Gun] Chapter 24 â€“ Prophet I Chapter 24 ¨C Prophet I [Trantor ¨C Jjsecus] [Proofreader ¨C Gun] Chapter 24 ¨C Prophet I 1 Let¡¯s talk about a second-year syndrome misinterpretation of a web novel otaku, a leader in nerd fashion, Oh Dokseo. As mentioned in the previous run, the first time I met this guy was in the 555th run. Well, to be honest, we had crossed paths long before that, but it was truly in the 555th run that we formed a ¡®connection¡¯ in the true sense. At that time, I returned to Busan Station¡¯s waiting room as usual. ¡®Bored.¡¯ And at this time, I hadn¡¯t even picked up the hobby of reading web novels. Even though I considered myself a highly positive person who would probably bid well in the ¡°[Infinite Regression Lottery Contest Most Likely to Be Positive in Life],¡± facing the 555th starting point made me a bit uneasy. Wouldn¡¯t even the most exciting theme park in the world get boring after 555 visits? Moreover, the Busan Station waiting room was hardly an entertainment-rich ce to be called a theme park. At best, you could expect some excitement akin to hearing Seo Gyu¡¯s loud cursing. There was one secret hidden in the waiting room, but I¡¯ll talk about thatter. ¡®¡Should I try some mind reading?¡¯ This time, I decided to add a bit of intrigue. ¡°Mind Reading¡± was an ability I acquired in the 554th run. It allowed me to eavesdrop on the thoughts of beings inferior to me. The criteria for ¡°inferiority¡± were extremely vague, and the ability itself was far from omnipotent, but it was worth using just for fun. [Jaehui Lee: My phone isn¡¯t working, huh?] [Uehara Shino: There are too many people. It¡¯s hard to breathe.] As soon as I activated Mind Reading, the thoughts of the people gathered in Busan Station¡¯s waiting room flooded into my ears. Among them were familiar voices and rtively unfamiliar ones. [Seo Gyu: Damn, what¡¯s going on? This is ridiculous.] [Park Yedam: I need to contact the manager¡¡.] [Lee Baek: What? Where did the others go?] [Koyori: Ugh.] [Jeong Sohee: Master? Master, where did you disappear to?] [Sim Aryeon: Where is this? Who am I?] [Kim Siwoon: Mom.] For a moment, my head spun. Mind Reading wasn¡¯t something I could only use on the target I desired. The moment I activated the ability, the surface consciousness of everyone around me was transformed intonguage and echoed in my ears. But I could handle it. And the impression of using Mind Reading for the first time in Busan Station¡¯s waiting room was¡.. ¡®Not much to it.¡¯ It seemed like just ordinary thoughts. ¡®Right. They¡¯re all familiar faces.¡¯ I already had almost everything about the original members of Busan Station¡¯s waiting room figured out. Their names, impressions, backgrounds, and even what abilities they would awakenter on. So, there was nothing new about whatever antics they were up to or what thoughts they harbored. I had reached a point where I could tell what they were thinking just by looking at their faces, so Mind Reading was practically meaningless. ¡®Guess Koyori, who I wondered about, still doesn¡¯t stand out.¡¯ I definitely shouldn¡¯t get involved with that kid. I walked in the direction farthest away from Koyori and leisurely grabbed a drink from the vending machine in the waiting room. The people around me gave me strange looks, like, ¡®What¡¯s with this rxed attitude in such a urgent situation?¡¯ But I didn¡¯t care. Later on, these drinks would be incredibly precious. From their perspective, they had just been summoned to the waiting room, but for me, it was like returning to a world that hadn¡¯t fallen apart as much in twenty years. ¡°Ah, refreshing.¡± The Shirley Temple I hadn¡¯t had in a long time was delicious. It was so good that I quickly finished one can and bought another. After downing four cans in a row, people looked at me incredulously. [Lee Jaehee:¡Wow, enjoying that drink, huh?] [Jeong Sohee: Shirley Temple. It¡¯s sacrilegious.] [Park Yedam: The youngd knows how to drink.] [Sim Aryeon: Where is this? Who am I?] [Kim Siwoon: Is there really a nerd with such a refined taste here?] Hmm. Lee Baek really hasn¡¯t changed since the first run. Even after listening again, I didn¡¯t find any particrly interesting thoughts. That¡¯s why Mind Reading was a double-edged sword. I couldn¡¯t help it. Demanding original thinking from the original members now was my excessive greed and an unreasonable demand¡ª [Misinterpretation: Wow. Busan Station waiting room. I saw this in a novel! In a moment, the fairy from the tutorial will appear and blow off the head of the man who will call it a fucking bastard.] No, it wasn¡¯t. ¡°St!¡± I sprayed the fifth Shirley Temple I was drinking into the air. The sunset-colored liquid dyed the world like the picture on the soda can, and the people who had suddenly found themselves seven hours ahead in time watching the sunset were startled. [Lee Jaehee: Yuck! Disgusting!] [Jeong Sohee: Disgusting. Revolting.] [Park Yedam: Ugh, what a filthy guy.] [Sim Aryeon: Where is this? Who am I?] [Kim Siwoon: Damn, filthy bastard.] Personality, disposition, background, political affiliation, beliefs, everything about each of them was as different as night and day, yet the original members, who had always shown a miraculouspatibility since the first run, finally reached a consensus for unification. They achieved an almost impossible feat, but what mattered to me now wasn¡¯t such things. I turned my head so quickly it made a swishing sound. [Misinterpretation: Let¡¯s see¡ This novel didn¡¯t have much illustration, so it¡¯s hard to recognize¡ Ah, but I think I got it. Lee Baek! Kum Taeyang! Yeah. The waiting room conquest part was a development abyss because of that guy¡] There she was. Misinterpretation. [PR/N: After being he confused and bothering the tl, misinterpretation is actually a pun/joke, adding this note just so ya¡¯ll don¡¯t get confused like me ??] Throughout the long regression life spanning up to 555, she always had a gloomy expression and seemed strangely detached from everything around her. She had almond-shaped eyes, wore a hoodie, and a cap. Unless I intervened, there was a very high probability that the victim who died in the Busan Station waiting room would, somehow, still have dead eyes like almond eyes, but with a slightly lively gaze as she scanned her surroundings. [Misinterpretation: Well, that settles it. Yesterday I binge-watched the previous episodes¡ The prologue part from the omniscient regressionist¡¯s perspective is correct.] Omniscient regressionist perspective? Prologue? [Misinterpretation: Then what¡¯s my ability? Status bar. Hey, status bar¡ Status? Open? Ability window? Skill window? Wow. No holographic bits thrown in for thetest trend? This status bar is disgusting.] [Trantor ¨C Jjsecus] [Proofreader ¨C Gun] Thetest trend? What¡¯s she talking about? ¡°What the hell are you talking about!¡± ¡°Hoi.¡± Oops. I was so focused on Misinterpretation¡¯s thoughts that I couldn¡¯t stop Seo Gyu¡¯s head from exploding. ¡®Sorry! Seo Gyu!¡¯ The 264th fairy had finally earned its first kill in a long time. Many people, including Sim Aryeon, screamed as blood sttered everywhere. Of course, I only felt a sense of ¡°Wow, it¡¯s been a while,¡± without being particrly surprised. [Misinterpretation: Oh. Thanks for the tutorial head exploding cliche. You¡¯re following all these cliches, so why didn¡¯t you give me a status bar?] Misinterpretation was the same. She didn¡¯t seem phased at all. Calling Seo Gyu ¡°Head Exploding Guy¡± or ¡°Tutorial Head Exploding Cliche¡± seemed a bit harsh, though. [Misinterpretation: Well, anyway. The most important thing in the Busan Station section is how early you secure the potion hidden in Haeundae. That¡¯s it.] How did she know about the potion in Haeundae? [Misinterpretation: And as for the awakening candidates to watch out for in the waiting room stage, is it Uehara Shino? She¡¯s being treated as a low-level character now, but she¡¯ll awaken as an advanced alchemistter on¡] How did she know that? [Misinterpretation: And Shino is the exact opposite case of Sim Aryeon. He may be uselesster on, but until the prologue part, he can be used to the fullest as a healer agent¡ Oh, he¡¯s running away. Right. He was a coward.] How did she¡ No. Sim Aryeon is uselesster on? On the contrary, right now is the lowest point, and if only SGNet were to open, she¡¯d be the talent who¡¯d casually say, ¡°The world of NET is wide, isn¡¯t it?¡± and turn the situation around. But there was no room for nitpicking in trivial matters. Like a Himyan beehive that never runs out of light yellow honey, Misinterpretation continued to spill out fun thoughts one after another. [Misinterpretation: First, let¡¯s start with Uehara Shino¡¯s favorability. Sigh. The destruction of the original work¡¯s duck-duck-moo is not my cup of tea¡ But there¡¯s no status bar either? Isn¡¯t it time to differentiate between hot rice, cold rice, and real rice?] Destruction of the original work? Duck-duck-moo? As I mentioned before, at that time, I didn¡¯t know anything about web novels at all. The one who introduced me to this hobby was none other than Honey Reader, who was there. Naturally, the mutterings of Honey Reader sounded like gibberish to me. [Misinterpretation: But Uehara Shino is just second ce.] [Misinterpretation: If I had to pick out the most important person here, it¡¯s that guy, no matter what anyone else says.] At that moment, Misinterpretation turned towards me. I sensed her gaze moving and quickly turned my head. But Honey Reader stared in this direction as if she hadn¡¯t noticed that I was already looking at her. [Misinterpretation: There he is.] [Misinterpretation: The protagonist of this world. Code name, Doctor.] ? [Misinterpretation: He¡¯s better looking than I thought¡ No, maybe the cover illustration was better? Hm. Is the real thing better? It¡¯s ambiguous. Well, they¡¯re quite simr to the cover, I guess.] ?? [Misinterpretation: But don¡¯t be fooled by the face. So. The Doctor is a protagonist who has experienced regression several times. No blood, no tears.] [Misinterpretation: A regressor who lives only on hatred towards monsters, typically a regressor who can¡¯t die¡ Especially now, with his anger towards the world at MAX because he lost Tang Seorin to the Ten ns in thest run.] [Misinterpretation: He¡¯s just insane,pletely insane. If he even suspects something suspicious, he might just kill me. Let¡¯s handle him with caution.] ??? No blood, no tears¡ Hatred¡ Anger, what? Sorry, but who is this person? To begin with, Tang Seorin didn¡¯t die at the hands of the Ten ns in thest run. The Ten ns felt like a wall ofmentation only in the beginning, and from about run 20th, it was like a water rocket that I got a five-minute cut with. Could it be¡.? ¡®Could it be someone who knows me from the past?¡¯ That¡¯s when it happened. [Misinterpretation: Hey, mister over there.] ¡°Hey, mister over there.¡± Mind Reading and actual voice ovepped. Misinterpretation pointed her index finger at me. Before I knew it, there were only about ten people left in Busan Station¡¯srge hall, and everyone except me had gathered in one ce. ¡°Hey, sir,e over here. That fairy made a blood fountain, and everyone puked, but at least we should gather together. Don¡¯t you think?¡± ¡°Number 264 did nothing wrong! The seniors crossed the wrong guidelines! If anything, 264 is the unfortunate victim¡¡± ¡°Ah, you¡¯ve said enough. The adults want to talk now, so butt out.¡± ¡°Eeek.¡± In the midst of the survivors, Misinterpretation confidently stood as if she had be the leader. Her defiant stance amidst people who were all afraid of fairies left a deep impression on the survivors. In fact, Fairy 264 had simply followed instructions and had no inherent malice towards humans (excluding the bourgeoisie), so the fairy quickly became despondent. ¡°So? Are youing over here, sir? What do you say?¡± ¡°¡.¡± Misinterpretation muttered. So, basically, in her mind. [Misinterpretation: Come on. Damn it, pleasee. We¡¯ll all die without you! You lost your first love, Tang Seorin, who was your only guild leader, and the monsters are sh*t, and the world is sh*t too, but please, save us!] Honestly, I couldn¡¯t understand half of what this kid was saying, and I didn¡¯t know how she came to these misconceptions in the first ce. But one thing was clear. ¡®If I follow her, this run seems to be a guaranteed fun reservation, right?¡¯ Beyond the impulse for fun, there was also another reason, the possibility of utilizing her to tackle some bizarre situation¡ but let¡¯s talk about that muchter. Anyway. I remembered my old, ancient self from a very long time ago. What expression I had, what look I gave, and what tone I used back then. ¡°I won¡¯t follow you guys.¡± It was something like this, right? Seems about right. It was the first time I had acted as myself during my long regression life. It felt quite different. ¡°Just observing you guys.¡± ¡°Oh. Well, whatever.¡± Misinterpretation chuckled as if it was nothing. I farmed some souvenir orbs at the gift shop and then immediately read Misinterpretation¡¯s psyche. [Misinterpretation: Damn, is his voice really that harsh? It¡¯s so irritating¡ Hmm. But escaping Busan Station¡¯srge hall without the protagonist is almost impossible¡ I have to create favorable conditions by any means necessary.] Hmm. She was indeed an interesting fellow. [Trantor ¨C Jjsecus] [Proofreader ¨C Gun] Chapter 25 â€“ Prophet II Chapter 25 ¨C Prophet II [Trantor ¨C Jjsecus] [Proofreader ¨C Gun] Chapter 25 ¨C Prophet II 2 There was a slight issue with following HoneyReader¡¯s journey. Well, in fact, it was far from being minor. It was a rather significant problem that arose. It wasn¡¯t a problem caused by me. [HoneyReader: Great! Tutorial cleared!] And it wasn¡¯t HoneyReader¡¯s problem either. Actually, HoneyReader¡¯s skills were not bad for a beginner. Although I provided some modest assistance (of course, I was being modest, in reality, I wasn¡¯t modest at all), HoneyReader broke through Busan Station¡¯s gates in just 48 hours. For reference, it took me until the 3rd turn to clear Busan Station for the first time. In other words, what is it? I lived and died in Busan during the first and second turns. I could be said to be a man overflowing with more hometown affection than any other Busan native. If my hometown wasn¡¯t Seoul, I would have lived with a true Busan man certification. Even when I cleared it in the 3rd turn, it took a whole week. Cutting it in 48 hours like HoneyReader did was truly remarkable. [HoneyReader: Even though the protagonist helped, you finished this in two days? HoneyReader, what are you? What can¡¯t you do, from fashion to hip-hop to killing monsters. I¡¯m starting to get a little scared of my own existence¡] Let¡¯s overlook her youthful boasting for now. Actually, by this point, I was curious about what kind of ce Busan Station¡¯srge hall was. It was overflowing with talent to the point where it caused a flood. ¡®Koyori with the potential to destroy the world, the unheard-ofmunity operator Seo Gyu, the new Sim Aryeon who thrives on aggro, MacGuffin Uehara Shino, the infinite regressor, me, Doctor Jang. And now, even HoneyReader?¡¯ Truly terrifying. It was like a talent farming report. The story of Cho Hanji catching a wild boar while Yeobang yed as a civil servant rummaging through official documents was enviable inparison. Moreover¡ No, let¡¯s stop this story. Anyway, HoneyReader¡¯s adventure itself went smoothly. But if it wasn¡¯t my problem or HoneyReader¡¯s problem, it meant that a third-party outsider had intervened in this cheerful party. ¡°¡.?¡± That unidentified entity asionally walked over and nced in my direction. Every time, they tilted their head and smiled prettily. I was almost charmed. If I hadn¡¯t learned the fact that this entity smiled just like this even when they were about to destroy the world, I might have even confessed right now. This entity¡¯s name was Koyori. ¡®This will be interesting.¡¯ The owner of the crimson flesh. If we were to ssify the genre by tags, it would be something like #brainwashing #perceptionalteration #maniptionofliking #CthulhuMythos, and so on, for this supremely dangerous figure. That¡¯s right. Somehow, Koyori ended up joining HoneyReader¡¯s party. In fact, since we all belonged to the original members who started at Busan Station¡¯srge hall, this possibility was always there. To think that in just the early stages, a presence that could make my life into a fun adventure and another that could ruin my life coexisted in one party. Isn¡¯t this ridiculous? Truly, Busan Station¡¯srge hall. What a crazy starting point. At that moment, a pink-haired figure swayed in front of me. ¡°Are you Doctor Jang¡?¡± My heart skipped a beat. By the way, Koyori was still activating [perception maniption], [liking maniption], and [impression brainwashing] in the present tense. Various people were already flocking around her, showering her with ttery and praise. But amidst pushing away her sycophants who stuck to her iming their affection, Koyori subtly approached me. It sent shivers down my spine. ¡°¡What¡¯s the matter?¡± One fortunate thing was that at this moment, I was ying the role of the ¡°coolest regressor in the world.¡± Facial expressions. Acting out facial expressions. I relentlessly tried to recall negative emotions such as despair from the scene of the world¡¯s destruction and the betrayal of being left alone by old Scho, the sadness of losing Tang Seorin for the first time¡ Anyway, I tried my best to conjure up negative emotions. Thanks to that, my expression became very realistic. Level 5 of realism. ¡°Oops. No, there¡¯s nothing important. I was just curious about who Doctor Jang is. Why, even when someone died in therge hall or monsters appeared, you remained calm.¡± Was this girl spying on me? If my heart had sweat nds, cold sweat would have been pouring down. Just as there¡¯s a saying in martial arts to beware of old men and children, there was always a warning sign in my life to beware of pink-haired individuals. I decided to show a little more realism. Level 6 of realism. ¡°I¡¯m not interested in you. So you should lose interest in me too.¡± ¡°Do you like Shirley Temple? It¡¯s my favorite drink too.¡± ¡°¡.¡± Cowardly. Was this the power of [perception maniption]? To effortlessly and naturally try to raise the liking level on this side. But I, Doctor Jang, was not such an easy person. Honestly, my heart fluttered slightly, but I interpreted it as a sign of impending heart attack. What I meant was, if left alone, it would go out of rhythm. I couldn¡¯t help it. Level 7 of realism! ¡°Annoying. Buzz off.¡± ¡°Hmm.¡± Hmm? Did this guy just wink at me? ¡°Do you realize you haven¡¯t looked at me once while talking to me?¡± ¡°Noisy. Don¡¯t you understand the meaning of ¡®go away¡¯? Or are you ignoring me? If it¡¯s the former, you¡¯re ignorant; if it¡¯s thetter, you¡¯re foolish.¡± ¡°Doctor, you¡¯re an interesting person.¡± ¡°¡.¡± ¡°Take care. My name is Koyori. Feel free to call me Yori.¡± With that said, Koyori walked away first. She hummed a tune, leaving her shadow behind. It seemed she had be interested in me. It was a resultpletely opposite to my intentions. ¡®¡If I ever get involved with Koyori next time, I shouldn¡¯t act reserved. I should definitely act like a lunatic obsessed with alcohol and gambling.¡¯ Spoiler alert: Changing tactics proved to be futile. ¡°Even if you try to forget your worries with alcohol andy yourself bare with gambling, you seem to know what pleasure is!¡± came the crazy reply. There was only one way to deal with Koyori. Simply never entering her sight in the first ce. Someone might wonder why I, a regressor, was so intimidated by Koyori. But what regressors fear most isn¡¯t death; it¡¯s ignorance. Consider this. The other person is an S-rank perception maniptor, a master of mental viruses. Even if I tried to approach Koyori, could I be confident in the knowledge gained from it? Is there a possibility that the knowledge itself has already been tainted by brainwashing and maniption? If, by any chance, my identity as a regressor were exposed, what might Koyori do? For example: ¨C Then let me ask you too. ¨C Since when did you start mistakenly believing I don¡¯t use brainwashing¡? ¨C Hehe. You¡¯re just hypnotized into thinking you¡¯ve regressed; in reality, you¡¯re in my grasp. ¨C From now on, I will stand in the sky. What if the same thing happened? As far as I know, the strongest Awakened in terms of mental strength was the Saintess. Even she fell victim to Koyori. Until I acquired a ¡®shield¡¯ to fend off perception maniption and obtain the mental firewall, it was wise not topromise with Koyori. But it seemed I wasn¡¯t the only one ignorant about her. [HoneyReader: Hmm. What¡¯s this? Pink hair?] Oh Dokseo nced over at me. She probably thought he sneakily stole a nce, but I caught her in the act. [TL/N: Oh Dokseo is HoneyReader, and a girl.] [HoneyReader: Was there a character like that in the previous turns? The extra¡¯s hair color is a bit too shy. But her impression is really good. She seems like she could be an older sister to me. How can I get closer to her?] ¨D¨D¨DOh Dokseo also didn¡¯t know about Koyori¡¯s existence. This fact hid an important hint. Based on what I observed while following Oh Dokseo, it seemed like she was reading ¡®a certain novel.¡¯ Surprisingly, the protagonist of the novel was me, Doctor Jang. Actually, it was ambiguous whether to call this a novel. It was almost like my documentary or biography. Otherwise, it would be difficult to exin; Oh Dokseo knew a lot. However, ¡®She only knows about ancient events.¡¯ Even if the updates were slow, it was like a considerably slow novel. For example: [HoneyReader: Okay, got the Yeongyak cut in Haeundae! Wow. To get a Yeongyak right after clearing the Busan Station gate. Isn¡¯t this progressing incredibly fast? Maybe I¡¯m talented.] [HoneyReader: With this, I could defeat the formidable final boss¡ It might even be possible to ovee the Ten ns.] The Ten ns were not the final boss. In fact, they couldn¡¯t even be mid-bosses. The time when the Ten ns traveled around the Korean Penins as a lonely gourmet and went on a food toursted up to about the 20th turn, even if generously given. After that, they became a gourmet themselves. [HoneyReader: Now I have to somehow join Tang Seorin. Among the guild leaders who are all bastards, there¡¯s no more reliable ally than Tang Seorin. Once ¡®Set-up,¡¯ thepany¡¯s star actor, is properly activated, Tang Seorin will be the strongest dealer ¡®ording to the settings.¡¯] Tang Seorin was not the strongest dealer. In the very early stages, she might have seemed like a dealer, but Tang Seorin¡¯s true strength was revealed when she took on the role of a ¡®supporter.¡¯ In reality, as old Scho and I appeared and the turns progressed, Tang Seorin willingly stepped back from the front lines and volunteered to back us up. In other words. [HoneyReader: Then the protagonist has to withstand the Ten ns¡¯ attacks a bit¡ It¡¯s hard to do it alone. Sigh. Should I fight together with him after all?] HoneyReader didn¡¯t even know about Old Scho. The conclusion was simple. ¡®The novel that Oh Dokseo read at most only covers [my life up to the 4th turn].¡¯ [Trantor ¨C Jjsecus] [Proofreader ¨C Gun] In other words, an unfinished autobiography. A novel that hasn¡¯t been fully written. A work whose serialized part has not yet been released. A slow serialized work by a slow author. Truly, it was a very unique ability. If we were to put a name to this ability¡ ¡®[Serialized Urging]¡¯ might be appropriate. Anyway, assuming that the work Oh Dokseo encountered was just a summary of ¡®my life up to the 4th turn,¡¯ all the doubts were resolved. It naturally made sense why she treated me like a psychopath. ¡®Well, during the time I hadn¡¯t met Old Scho yet, I probably acted a bit more sensitive.¡¯ Of course, I was absolutely not as much of a psychopath as Oh Dokseo misunderstood. I just made sure troublemakers within the group would split from the head to the torso beforehand, threatened to kill them if they caused trouble, and wouldn¡¯t get mad unless I gained the most profit from any event¡ In short, the personality level of an ordinary web novel Regressor? [HoneyReader: Wow. Just because I said I¡¯d join with Tang Seorin, look at how instantly the expression turned fierce. That crazy bastard, he must think that only those he allows into his heart are considered human, while people like me aren¡¯t even seen as human? It¡¯s really frustrating to live like this.] Hmm. It seemed like a conversation was necessary. I had quietly observed Oh Dokseo for about four months. As a result, I judged that I could trust Oh Dokseo¡¯s personality quite a bit. ¡°Oh Dokseo.¡± ¡°Yeah? What¡¯s up all of a sudden? It¡¯s surprising that you¡¯re the one starting the conversation.¡± ¡°I want to have a talk. If possible, in a quiet ce, just the two of us.¡± When the party members briefly left their seats, I approached Oh Dokseo. With Koyori gone for the second or third time, it was safe now. [HoneyReader: Hieeek! Damn it, so you¡¯re trying to bury me without anyone knowing, huh!] Oh Dokseo didn¡¯t seem to feel particrly safe. ¡°Really? Well, okay then. Responding to party members¡¯ counseling is also a great quality of a party leader.¡± Well, I wasn¡¯t sure about that, but at least Oh Dokseo clearly had a talent for controlling her expression. While she might have been freaking out inside, she calmly chewed gum on the outside. We entered a neighborhood cafe with a sign that said ¡®[We will be closed until August 20th due to unavoidable circumstances].¡¯ Today was October 25th. The inside of the store was neatly organized. I carefully sat down, thinking about the owner who couldn¡¯t tidy up his mind even though he tidied up the store. ¡°Alright¡ What¡¯s up?¡± Oh Dokseo looked at me with an indifferent face, but with determined eyes, and at the same time, with a fearful heart. I turned off my [Poisonous Tongue] for a moment. It wasn¡¯t a suitable skill for serious person-to-person conversations. ¡°First, I advise you not to be too surprised.¡± ¡°Huh? What on earth are you trying to say?¡± ¡°Let¡¯s get straight to the point. Oh Dokseo. I know the fact that you¡¯ve read the novel that you consider to be the original of this world.¡± ¡°¡¡± Tick-tock, tick-tock. The wall clock, still in good working order as its gears turned smoothly, unfortunately didn¡¯t contain a cuckoo. Oh Dokseo¡¯s mouth gaped open. ¡°Huh?¡± ¡°By the way, the way I¡¯m speaking right now is deliberately imitating your style to make it morefortable for you. If you¡¯re okay with it, I¡¯d like to return to my original tone. This, surprisingly, is quite ufortable.¡± ¡°¡Wait, wait, wait! Hold on a second! Just a moment!¡± Oh Dokseo eximed as if screaming. ¡°Novel? What novel? I have no idea what you¡¯re talking about!¡± ¡°Well, of course, it¡¯s the omniscient perspective of a Regressor that you im to have read. You may not know, but I have an ability called [Poisonous Tongue]. It converts the surface consciousness of the other person intonguage andmunicates it to the user.¡± ¡°Huh? No way, such an ability¡ wasn¡¯t in the original story at all¡ Oh.¡± Oh Dokseo blinked. ¡°¡Was that a coerced interrogation just now?¡± ¡°No. It¡¯s real. I also know very well that you half-treated me as a psychopath in your mind.¡± ¡°I-I didn¡¯t do anything like that?¡± Despite her trembling voice, Oh Dokseo staunchly imed her innocence. It was a shameless act that hinted at the qualities of a politician. 10 minutester. We had a conversation to dispel each other¡¯s misunderstandings, or more precisely, Oh Dokseo¡¯s unteral misunderstandings. During the exchange, Oh Dokseo showed a variety of facial expressions. She sighed in disappointment. ¡°No¡ This is a scam.¡± ¡°A scam?¡± ¡°Usually in novels, Regressors don¡¯t uncover the secrets of the protagonist¡ Oh, here, by protagonist, I mean me. Anyway, the protagonist is hiding. But what¡¯s this? Being exposed from the moment I was summoned to Busan Station¡ It¡¯s not novel grammar!¡± ¡°I¡¯m sorry, but the world isn¡¯t a novel.¡± ¡°But until a moment ago, it was a novel to me!¡± Oh Dokseo mmed the table. ¡°And what¡¯s with that tone! Where did Doctor Jang, who would kill anyone if they stepped out of line go?¡± ¡°Well, honestly, from my perspective, it¡¯s been too long ago. Imagine hearing something like ¡®You were such a good kid at 5 years old¡¯ when you¡¯re 50. Can you empathize?¡± ¡°What? That much?¡± ¡°That much.¡± ¡°Exactly which turn is it from your perspective right now?¡± ¡°Turn 555.¡± ¡°Five hundred and fifty-five turns?¡± Oh Dokseo eximed, sounding like a cuckoo from the wall clock. ¡°What¡¯s that! What¡¯s with that number! Not 55 turns, but 555 turns? I mean, even if the Ten ns were strong, couldn¡¯t they be killed by the 555th turn? Who are you? You¡¯re at the level of dereliction of duty!¡± ¡°Oh, the Ten ns aren¡¯t the final boss, you know. In fact, they¡¯re the weakest.¡± Oh Dokseo¡¯s expression turned crestfallen. ¡°¡So you¡¯re saying the Ten ns, who wiped out the Third Thousand Guild Leader Grand Witch Tang Seorin like fried chicken, are the weakest?¡± ¡°These days, I¡¯m grilling them like skewers.¡± ¡°Seriously? ¡ Wait a minute. Doctor Jang. So how old are you exactly now?¡± Hmm. I responded somewhat defensively. ¡°Age is meaningless to a Regressor.¡± ¡°No, no, no. It¡¯s definitely not meaningless. Let¡¯s see. Even if we roughly calcte 10 years per turn¡ 5,550 years?¡± ¡°¡¡¡± I invoked my right to remain silent. It¡¯s not that I had nothing to say; it¡¯s just that if I said it, it would lead to a more disadvantageous oue for me. For example, the fact that you need to take a higher average than 10 years per turn. Oh Dokseo, looking at my expression, was shocked. ¡°What! You¡¯re like a really old man!¡± ¡°¡¡¡± ¡°It¡¯s unbelievable. The protagonist, who I thought was so cool, turns out to be an old man!¡± The moment Oh Dokseo decided to call me ¡®old man¡¯, I felt a little down. Naughty girl. You¡¯ll get old like me someday, too, you know. [Trantor ¨C Jjsecus] [Proofreader ¨C Gun] Chapter 26 â€“ Prophet III Chapter 26 ¨C Prophet III [Trantor ¨C Jjsecus] [Proofreader ¨C Gun] Chapter 26 ¨C Prophet III 4 Since the day the Revealer came out, my rtionship with Oh Dokseo rapidly progressed. I also became morefortable since I stopped pretending to be a cool guy (though it was fun), and I didn¡¯t need to be wary of Oh Dokseo, who was like a ticking time bomb psycho-pass that could turn at any moment, for twenty-four hours a day. ¡°Hey, let¡¯s go.¡± ¡°Huh? Where are we suddenly going?¡± ¡°Gangnam.¡± A whileter, Oh Dokseo and I went out to Seoul for a drink. Originally, south of the Han River was not a great neighborhood to stroll around due to theck of parks. However, since the residents moved from this world to the next, it had be quite pleasant. -Whoa? Tall buildings stood between empty spaces. They were reminders of the caretakers of the apartments, even though the residents had disappeared. -Roar! In the eyes of the Ten ns, we seemed like suspicious individuals, so they rushed towards us swinging their tentacles. Given the strange times, it was understandable for them to react strongly. In fact, the judgment of the Ten ns was not wrong. Unless you were someone who had undergone regression hundreds of times or had read this world like a novel in advance, what else could you be if not suspicious? Oh Dokseo screamed ¡°Eeek!¡± and hid behind me. ¡°Hey, are you crazy, mister? Those are Ten ns! Why are you alone on a mission that should gather all the Awakeneds in Korea¡!¡± ¡°Bigi, cut the octopus.¡± I brandished my sword. The reason why it was difficult to subdue the Ten ns was because they had remarkable regeneration abilities. No matter how well you cut their tentacles, they quickly regenerated. It was also challenging to destroy both of their hearts simultaneously. In other words, from the moment I learned the skill of slicing faster than their regeneration, the Ten ns were nothing more than octopuses on a cutting board. As I shed through them, six buildings surrounding the Ten ns copsed with a thunderous noise. Oh Dokseo¡¯s scream was drowned out by the crashing buildings and barely audible. After all the buildings fell, it became quiet all around. ¡°Uh¡.¡± Oh Dokseo murmured with a sense of disbelief. ¡°Is it over? Is it really over?¡± ¡°Yeah. Now that the guy you called the final boss is dead, the world is at peace. Let¡¯s go and celebrate.¡± ¡°Wow¡ Mister, you¡¯ve really be stronger.¡± Oh Dokseo looked at me with a mix of admiration. ¡°Yet even with such power, you couldn¡¯t prevent the world from being destroyed?¡± ¡°I couldn¡¯t. Those Ten ns, their regeneration abilities are remarkable, but they don¡¯t have physical immunity or magic immunity or any fancy traits like that. They¡¯re really weaklings, you know?¡± ¡°But still¡.¡± Oh Dokseo¡¯s expression hardened. Already someone who believed in my words, after this incident, Oh Dokseopletely trusted me. Oh Dokseo disbanded her party, which she had worked so hard to build. I didn¡¯t think it was necessary, but Oh Dokseo was unexpectedly firm about it. ¡°No matter how much I build up my power, I wouldn¡¯t have been able to fight against the Ten ns. But you, mister, managed to defeat him alone. So, my party seems meaningless, doesn¡¯t it? It¡¯s better to change our strategy to support you as much as possible.¡± Whether Oh Dokseo¡¯s judgment was right or wrong, it provided a reason to part ways with Koyori. Upon hearing the order to disband the party, Koyori had a very disappointed expression (at least that¡¯s how I perceived it). ¡°I wanted to be with you, Party Leader, and Chief Healer¡ Do we really have to part like this?¡± ¡°Ah. If it¡¯s you, Yori Unni, even if we go together¡ Ow!¡± When Oh Dokseo was about to mutter something strange, I pinched her arm. I had exined to her in detail how fearsome Koyori could be when the two of us were together. But now that the moment to say goodbye was approaching, she seemed to be brainwashed again. Finally, Oh Dokseo snapped out of it. ¡°Ah, sorry! Yori Unni! I was talking about bing this mister¡¯s disciple for a while! Since this mister insists on only having one disciple, I don¡¯t think I can move around with you!¡± ¡°Hmm.¡± Oh Dokseo bowed her head, genuinely apologetic. Koyori looked at her silently. Then she turned to me, gazing at my face. If I said the shadow of red flesh had appeared in her crimson eyes, was I overreacting? ¡°It can¡¯t be helped. Rtions between master and student are as important as those between parents and children. An outsider like me can¡¯t interfere with that.¡± Saying so, Koyori spoke to me with a content that endeared her to me while still looking straight at me. Her gaze didn¡¯t even flinch. ¡°Well then, I¡¯ll take my leave.¡± ¡°Really¡?¡± ¡°Yes. Even if we part now, I have a feeling our connection won¡¯t be severed. I¡¯m sure we¡¯ll meet again someday. Both of you, even though the world has be like this, I hope you find happiness.¡± Koyori gracefully bowed her waist like a nobledy taking her leave, taking a few steps back. Without adding a single word, she descended the hillside alone. Soon, Koyori¡¯s figure disappeared down the slope. ¡°Phew¡¡± It seemed like the tension had eased, as Oh Dokseo melted away with a sigh. Even her cap, which represented Oh Dokseo¡¯s true self, was halfway off. ¡°¡So, what you said was really true, mister. What¡¯s up with that? Until you brought it up, I didn¡¯t even think about it, but suddenly I was like, ¡®Why am I acting so coldly toward Yori Unni?''¡± ¡°That¡¯s how it goes. Still, I¡¯m d you understand the importance of master and student rtionships.¡± ¡°Huh? What are you talking about? Even though it¡¯s a master and student rtionship, it can be dangerous for a man and a woman to wander around alone together. So, I told you to be careful.¡± ¡°¡?¡± ¡°¡?¡± We turned to face each other, then quickly looked away, towards the hill where Koyori had descended. Since we had just seen her going down, we should now see hering up the opposite hill. The cicadas chirped. No matter how long we waited, Koyori¡¯s figure didn¡¯t appearing up the hill. 5 We wandered through a crumbling world. I didn¡¯t particrly want to describe the decay in detail. Some astute readers may have already noticed that I intentionally avoided such descriptions. Of course, Korea was rtively safe thanks to the actions of the Saintess. But the Saintess¡¯s influence only reached Awakeneds. The majority of the world¡¯s poption, ordinary people, were beyond the Saintess¡¯s control. Plundering, arson, violence¡ªhumans who had lost their loved ones and were raising pets who had lost their owners to fill the void, the militarization of political factions and the politicization of military units, the fingertips of the poor, the first carriers of historical pandemics¡ªunhappiness was endless. I only dealt with unhappiness that I could handle. The weight of unhappiness that I couldn¡¯t handle was transferred to other people¡¯s hearts. I didn¡¯t be a regressor to be a host for pandemics. ¡°Hmm. The novel I read¡ So, the one where you¡¯re the protagonist, ¡®[All-Purpose Regressor¡¯s Perspective],¡¯ it was just serialized up to episode 30.¡± One day, Oh Dokseo said, wiping away something resembling blood from her face. In fact, it wasn¡¯t blood but crimson flower petals called Wudambara, a parasite of a vicious epidemic. I will mention this in the next run. ¡°Episode 30?¡± ¡°Yeah. No matter how interesting a novel looks, if it¡¯s less than 30 episodes, I never read it. You never know when the author might stop serializing. Wasn¡¯t it about two or three days before the gate opened in Seoul? That¡¯s when I started reading it.¡± Oh Dokseo and I had simr tastes. Instead of discussing unhappiness, we often talked about each other¡¯s hobbies. ¡°Where did youe across that novel?¡± ¡°Just? It¡¯s just that on the web novel tform I frequently use, there¡¯s this thing called ¡®pre-releases¡¯¡ Well, pre-releases are like adding to your favorites. Anyway, when I opened the novel app, it was suddenly marked as a pre-release.¡± ¡°¡Does that mean there¡¯s an author creating ¡®[All-Purpose Regressor¡¯s Perspective]¡¯?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know, really.¡± Oh Dokseo chewed on the gum. ¡°In fact, I don¡¯t remember pre-releasing thest episode. But since my list of favorites easily exceeds 200, I just thought I forgot about it. But looking back now, it might have be a pre-release without even realizing it¡ Ah.¡± As we walked through Onyang City, arge dog that seemed to have lost its owner approached. Oh Dokseo hugged the dog. Our party of two suddenly had one more member. ¡°In my opinion, that¡¯s your ability.¡± ¡°Ability?¡± I said this one day when I sneaked into a department store upied by a guild to collect pet food. Fortunately, the pet section hadx security. ¡°There¡¯s a person named Seo Gyu. His ability is to create and manage intemunities. Abilities of Awakeneds vary greatly, so it wouldn¡¯t be strange if your ability manifested as ¡®reading novels.''¡± ¡°But, my ability has already been identified as ¡®[Barrier Generation],¡¯ right?¡± ¡°You¡¯re a multi-ability user.¡± ¡°Huh? Really? Isn¡¯t that setting extremely rare?¡± ¡°It¡¯s rare, yes. But in life, you find that the 1% probability is moremon than you think.¡± ¡°Wow, indeed¡ Hmm. So, my ability actually has one more aspect, and it manifested as reading novels¡¡± ¡°For convenience, I call your ability ¡®[Serial Publication Urging].''¡± ¡°Serial Publication Urging¡¡± Woof, Darkness (the dog¡¯s name) barked. The sound echoed faintly in the darkened department store. Oh Dokseo hushed him, but it was already toote as the patrolling guards had heard. ¡°Oh, danger¡¡± ¡°Let¡¯s scram.¡± While clearing out the guild upying the department store was no big deal, they wouldter join the front lines to fight for humanity. We quickly fled. Woof! Woof! Darkness happily snuggled into Oh Dokseo¡¯s arms. ¡°So, instead of Serial Publication Urging, maybe my ability is more like [Prophecy]?¡± A few monthster, on our way back from a meeting with the Guild Union, Oh Dokseo said. [Trantor ¨C Jjsecus] [Proofreader ¨C Gun] ¡°Prophecy?¡± ¡°Yeah. Knowing your story is essentially the same as predicting the future, right? In novels, prophets often observe the future like scenes from a movie or something, but in my case, the prophecy manifested in the most familiar form of web novels. How about that? Doesn¡¯t it make sense?¡± ¡°Hmm.¡± It definitely made sense. But if Oh Dokseo¡¯s ability is [Prophecy], a lingering question remained unanswered. ¡°So why didn¡¯t any signs appear until the 555th run?¡± ¡°Huh?¡± ¡°You might not notice it, Oh Dokseo, but from my perspective, this run is quite unusual. To put it in your terms, it¡¯s like a character who was just an extra suddenly awakened to the ability of [Prophecy].¡± ¡°Well, the tone is a bit¡ But yeah, it does seem strange.¡± Oh Dokseo rubbed his chin. ¡°Maybe it¡¯s just because it happened to be the 555th run? It seems like a special number. 555. Besides, my name is Oh Dokseo.¡± ¡°But isn¡¯t it unlikely that awakening would happen just because it¡¯s the 555th run? It¡¯s not like it¡¯s a number game.¡± ¡°Hmm. What is it, really? Why didn¡¯t I approach you until the 555th run¡?¡± Oh Dokseo chuckled. Our questions were answered on a distant yet near day. It was when, as usual, the 555th run ended in failure and turned into the 556th run. [Oh Dokseo: Wow. Busan Station concourse. I saw this in a novel! The fairy of the tutorial is about to appear and smack the head of the guy Schouting ¡®Hey, you fucking b****¡¯¡ Huh? Huh? What¡¯s this? Why is the protagonist suddenlying towards me?] This time, I approached Oh Dokseo first. Of course, it was to block Koyori¡¯s intrusion. Oh Dokseo was greatly surprised by the sudden event. However, as she quickly trusted my words after Schowing her decimating the Ten ns in the previous run, she believed me. And she learned an amazing fact. ¡°But, sir. Is it okay for me to wander around like this?¡± ¡°Hmm? What do you mean?¡± ¡°That, what was his name¡ Schopenhauer? Anyway, don¡¯t you have to join that old man, Schopenhauer or something, who¡¯s supposed to be the ck Star?¡± I widened my eyes. ¡°Do you know Old Scho? You?¡± ¡°Huh? Of course. He¡¯s in the novel.¡± In the previous runs, Oh Dokseo never mentioned the old man Scho. Although I told her about another regressor, it was just a story from a different perspective, as Oh Dokseo had only encountered the content up to ¡®Episode 4¡¯ in the novel. The first time I met Old Scho was in ¡®Episode 6.¡¯ But now, Oh Dokseo mentioned Old Scho before I did. The implication of this fact was clear. ¡®Has the novel Oh Dokseo read¡ been serialized further?¡¯ I looked at the other person seriously. ¡°Oh Dokseo. How many episodes of the novel you read have been serialized?¡± ¡°Huh? Umm, probably¡ around 32 or 33 episodes? Around that.¡± ¡°¡!¡± It was confirmed. As the episodes progressed, Oh Dokseo¡¯s ¡®novel¡¯ had increased in serialization. In the previous episode, the novel had only progressed up to a meager 30 episodes, but this time, at least 2 more episodes had been added. The criteria for this ¡®increasing serialization¡¯ were almost arbitrary, as if at the whim of a spectator. While Oh Dokseo had only added one episode at most during my 60 runs, she had even added two runs when only one episode had aired. It was truly unpredictable. To find out exactly what criteria were used to increase serialization, more investigation was needed. But for now, there was one thing that was certain. ¡®This child is following the rails of my life.¡¯ I shivered. 6 With slightly slower steps. At a pace slightly dyed from my life. But with a clear momentum, Oh Dokseo was following me. Perhaps Oh Dokseo hadn¡¯t read the novel until it reached 30 episodes. She had said she wouldn¡¯t even bother with works that had fewer episodes than 30. So, it wasn¡¯t until the point where 30 episodes had umted that Oh Dokseo ¡®first¡¯ read the novel. That was what happened in thest 555th runs. Oh Dokseo¡¯s prediction was correct. Her ability was [Prophecy]. She had simply wielded her ability for 555 runs without even realizing it. ¡®But it¡¯s not a perfect prophecy ability.¡¯ ording to Greek mythology, there was a god named Prometheus who was also a prophet and had a younger brother. Epimetheus. Unlike his brother, whose name means ¡®forethought,¡¯ Epimetheus means ¡®afterthought.¡¯ The two brothers became the origins of the terms ¡®prologue¡¯ and ¡®epilogue.¡¯ Oh Dokseo realized her prophecy as Epimetheus. Her prophecies were never quick. She was a slower prophet than any other. She followed in the footsteps I had taken a long time ago, following me with a time difference of about 5,000 years. But despite that, Oh Dokseo was faithfully following behind me, step by step. When I passed the 555th run, she was on the 5th run. When I passed the 560th run, she would be on the 11th run. ¡®So someday¡ªreally in the distant future, will the daye when Oh Dokseo herself will step on the 555th run?¡¯ This story was not a fictional novel. It was the story of this world where Oh Dokseo lived. Meeting me, the protagonist, and traveling the world together, dealing with the guilds, and adopting a pet. All these facts would one day be serialized in Oh Dokseo¡¯s novel, and Oh Dokseo would read it. I realized that future and shivered slightly. I even felt a faint illusion, as if a ray of light had dawned on a world where destruction seemed inevitable. ¡°¡Sir, why are you suddenly like this?¡± Oh Dokseo tilted her head at my reaction. Suddenly, my right forearm felt itchy. Over the expression of not understanding the English, the words of Tang Seorin ovepped and flowed. ¨C You have dreams simr to mine. ¨C You are repairing the broken rails of the world that has been destroyed. The rails that were destroyed by the Ten ns. The abandoned tracks destroyed by other monsters. If we repair them one by one, someday the tracks will connect from station to station. ¨C Other people will be able to walk along that path too. Yes, in the end, Tang Seorin was right. What she muttered at that time was nothing but hope, and my eptance of her will was nothing more than harboring the same wish. But now, after more than five thousand years have passed, finally, reality has caught up with our hopes. ¡®In that case.¡¯ I embraced the tremor in my heart. ¡®My job is to wait until this child catches up with me.¡¯ Until when? Until Oh Dokseo arrives at the train station named Episode 555. That episode was like Pandora¡¯s box. When Oh Dokseo realizes that the ¡®novel¡¯ she read is actually the rails unfolded in reality, this world will undoubtedly change decisively. One more enjoyable waiting was added to my life as an infinite regressor. Therefore, I waited. Run 556 ended. Run 557 ended. ¡°Hey! Sir! You shouldn¡¯t just abandon Old Man Scho like that!¡± When we reached Episode 581, Oh Dokseo Shouted. Perhaps she had read a scene in thetest serialization where Old Man Scho took an indefinite ¡®vacation.¡¯ I chuckled. ¡°Who said anything about abandoning anyone.¡± There was nothing more unjust than this. Me abandoning Old Man Scho? It was Old Man Scho who abandoned me. And I never gave up on Old Man Scho even once. It was difficult to confuse the rtionship between cause and effect, suspect and victim. But interpreting andmenting on the novel was always the reader¡¯s prerogative. As thetest serialization was updated and the episodes progressed, Oh Dokseomented to me each time. ¡°Wow. How do I defeat this boss monster, Wudanbara?¡± ¡°No way! Were all the prophecies lies?¡± ¡°Creating amunity ability? What a ridiculous ability¡.¡± ¡°This guy¡¯s just a crazy attention seeker¡ I really don¡¯t get along with people like this.¡± ¡°An online game weirdo? Wow, seriously. Did such a gimmick even exist? It wasn¡¯t mentioned in the original work.¡± ¡°¡? Who¡¯s this Koyori guy? Is she human? Or a monster?¡± Oh Dokseo screamed ormented as if a reader was leavingments to an author. Even though I wasn¡¯t the author. But I graciously epted Oh Dokseo¡¯sments. Though I was still like a child despite being over five thousand years old, I knew well enough to allow others to step into the boundaries of my life. ¡°Come on. Oh Dokseo.¡± Come quickly. You may be slower than me, but your steps are faster than anyone else¡¯s. Come and walk on the failures I¡¯ve experienced, the strategies I¡¯ve created, and my life story. My life was originally for others, but now it¡¯s also for you. Of course, there wasn¡¯t only joy in this waiting. Finally, Oh Dokseo reached Episode 52, which means she read up to the part where I established the International Convenience Store with the fairies. From then on, Oh Dokseo¡¯s gaze towards me changed significantly. ¡°Sir.¡± ¡°What is it?¡± ¡°Do you know something? You seem totally crazy, sir.¡± ¡°¡¡± ¡°And ease up on S. Talk about Three Kingdoms a bit less.¡± ¡°Oh Dokseo, there¡¯s a reason why I bring up the Three Kingdoms plot points. If I don¡¯t talk about the Three Kingdoms, some weirdo¡¡± ¡°Okay, okay. You smell really strong for your age, sir. No, rather, is it actually age-appropriate behavior? How old are you now?¡± ¡°¡¡± I quietly sipped my coffee, exercising my right to remain silent. Since I knew better than anyone else that struggling for an image that was already at its lowest point was futile. Yeah. Saying this might sound a bit arrogant, but sometimes, very asionally, I miss Oh Dokseo, who used to mistake me for a cold but cool regressor in the world. A bad habit. You should try getting older like me, too. ¨C Prophet. The End. [Trantor ¨C Jjsecus] [Proofreader ¨C Gun] Chapter 27 â€“ The First Flame I Chapter 27 ¨C The First me I [Trantor ¨C Jjsecus] [Proofreader ¨C Gun] Chapter 27 ¨C The First me I 1 As I¡¯ve mentioned before, besides the Ten ns, countless boss-level monsters have appeared worldwide. Like the ¡°Meteor Shower¡± that bombarded the night sky when I was running the convenience store. Actually, the term ¡°monster,¡± or ¡°evil,¡± was mainly used in the early stages. As you can see from the meteor shower, many monsters were more phenomena than organisms. Later on, Awakeneds began to use not only the term ¡°monster¡± but also words like ¡°abnormal,¡± ¡°demon,¡± ¡°yokai,¡± and ¡°lost.¡± By the way, in Japan, they used to call only boss-level monsters ¡°angels.¡± It was a truly peculiar usage because in the Western world, they called them demons. Later, I heard from an Awakened who had lived in Japan that it was a term derived from ssic Japanese animation. The situation with Gates was simr. Since there were many Gates that didn¡¯t take the form of a ¡°door,¡± terms like ¡°void,¡± ¡°abyss,¡± and ¡°hell¡± were used more frequentlyter on. (Actually, it was difficult to strictly distinguish between ¡°abnormal¡± and ¡°void.¡±) Today, I¡¯d like to talk about one of the main culprits behind these linguistic changes ¨D the so-called ¡°New Buddha.¡± 2 ¡°Huh? Hey, you¡¡± ¡°Yeah?¡± ¡°What¡¯s that thing on your head?¡± That monster wasn¡¯t a living being. More precisely, there were differing opinions on whether it was living or inanimate. ¡°That thing next to your ear¡ isn¡¯t that a leaf?¡± A virus. It was long unclear where the first outbreak urred. It was probably in North Korea or South Korea. Just like Busan Station was a hotspot for Awakeneds, the Korean Penins was also a paradise for monsters. Who knew the world had such a bnced patch system in ce? ¡°Zo, it¡¯s a zombie virus!¡± People panicked and went crazy. If it doesn¡¯t appear in an apocalypse story, isn¡¯t it disappointing if it¡¯s not a zombie? When infected with this virus, leaves or flowers sprouted from the human body. There were even cases where weeds grew from bald heads. However, in the early stages of the virus spreading, people¡¯s reactions were surprisingly lukewarm. There was a reason for that. ¡°No! I¡¯m not a zombie!¡± ¡°¡What?¡± ¡°Look! I¡¯m perfectly fine, see? My memories are intact, and my head is normal! Damn it, I might feel weird with maple leaves sprouting from my armpits, but I sure as hell don¡¯t want to die like this!¡± It¡¯s because people infected with the virus seemed too¡ healthy(?). Since the human body had turned into a flower pot, it was natural for them to look bizarre. But surprisingly, if you just ignored their appearance, there seemed to be no harm from the virus. No, on the contrary, tremendous benefits were discovered. ¡°You damn monster! That bastard killed our mother!¡± ¡°Oh¡¡± ¡°I¡¯ll kill it, no matter what! Even if it costs me my life, I¡¯ll take that monster down no matter what happens!¡± ¡°Son¡¡± ¡°Mother, watch over me from heaven. The unfilial son will follow soon after.¡± ¡°Son!¡± ¡°Huh?¡± ¡°I¡¯m not dead, you idiot! How many times do I have to say it to get a response!¡± ¡°Huh, Mother? Your stomach¡¯s torn open right now¡¡± ¡°For some reason, I¡¯m perfectly fine. Maybe it¡¯s because I took my herbal medicine yesterday?¡± People infected with the virus didn¡¯t ¡°die¡± as easily. As long as their brains weren¡¯t destroyed, even if limbs were severed and internal organs damaged, they didn¡¯t lose their lives. Even if vital signs ceased in their bodies, as long as they basked in the sunlight during the day and ensured adequate hydration, even the most seriously injured could survive. In the current situation where the medical system had copsed, how did ordinary people react? ¡°God has helped us!¡± ¡°Me too¡! I¡¯m going to get infected too!¡± People eagerly sought to deliberately contract the disease. Healers with healing abilities were rare enough already. And skilled healers were deployed to the front lines to assist other Awakeneds. An extra life point for free in an era where you never knew when or where you¡¯d die? How could anyone endure this? It was like lifeboats appearing on the sinking Titanic. ¡°A zombie virus? No. It¡¯s a blessing of life.¡± ¡°Why don¡¯t you all try bing nts too! You don¡¯t need to bother with finding food anymore. With just sunlight and water, you can live worry-free.¡± ¡°This is the dignity of the New Buddha. If you believe in the New Buddha, you can be liberated from all suffering and pain and gain a physical body to live in the new world.¡± Even all sorts of pseudo-religious doctrines emerged. The zombie virus became a new Buddha, worshiped as a belief called ¡°Shinbul.¡± It had nothing to do with Buddhism, but the slogan ¡°Be freed from the suffering of having to eat meat and grain¡± resonated with people. The followers of Shinbul Buddhism all shaved their heads. However, unlike traditional Buddhists, new hair grew on the heads of Shinbul practitioners. They sprouted weeds and flowers. It was a process of shedding the skin of worldly humans and epting a new deity. ¡°Oh, Lady Yellow Rose. Did you have a peaceful night?¡± ¡°Yes. Thanks to your concern, Lady White Rose, my mind and body are clear.¡± Shinbul practitioners had separate dharma names, simr to baptismal names in Christianity. Interestingly, they called each other by the names of trees or flowers based on what kind of nt grew from their heads. They referred to themselves as a group of a million types of flowers, calling themselves a ¡°flower bed¡± and their ideology ¡°Hwaeom.¡± It showed their unique sense of naming, with flowers adorning their heads. [PR/N: Hwaeom (??), also known as Huayan in Chinese, is a major school of Mahayana Buddhism that originated in India and flourished in China and Korea.] ¡°¡We might all die because of those flower children.¡± At some point, Tang Seorin muttered like that. It was probably around the 5th run. At that time, I was the deputy guild leader of Three Thousand Worlds, and I shrugged. ¡°Well, when the world is bleak, people tend to run to cults. Did the Huanggang Rebellion happen for no reason?¡± ¡°The deputy guild leader often makes analogies rted to the Three Kingdoms. It makes you look old, so please refrain.¡± So what if it¡¯s about the Three Kingdoms? Nowadays, kids all love Liu Bei. Filial sons like Zhao Yun. As for Sun Quan¡ only the mentally ill like him. Seeing my expression, Tang Seorin smirked. ¡°Anyway, I understand people¡¯s feelings. But to us, they¡¯re nothing but poison.¡± Tang Seorin¡¯s words were correct. Shinbul had its drawbacks. It didn¡¯t affect ordinary people negatively. But Awakeneds, after being infected with Shinbul, couldn¡¯t activate their abilities at all once the flowers fully blossomed, about two weekster. It was an extremely fatal poison. ¡°Guild leader, be careful. If you mention that these days, you¡¯ll be used of ntophobia.¡± ¡°But they hate Awakeneds too, don¡¯t they?¡± That was also a valid point. During the early stages of the Gate incident, Awakeneds received much better treatment. However, bacsh against Awakened superiority led to Awakened hatred, and Shinbul evolved these emotions into a systematic doctrine. ¡°Awakeneds are no different from monsters, and it has been proven that their abilities disappear altogether when they receive Shinbul¡¯s grace.¡± ¡°All Awakeneds must join Shinbul Buddhism and escape from the sin of killing as soon as possible! Those who do not do so are going against the will of Hwaeom! They are enemies who destroy equality among all beings and disturb the peace of all things!¡± ¡°Not killing, eternal life! Spiritual life, adorned with flowers! Vast universe!¡± They were truly troublesome pseudo-believers. Of course, Tang Seorin was a capable guild leader. She didn¡¯t establish a multinational alliance guild in Korea for no reason. She casually resolved all issues by generously donating arge sum of goods to the Shinbul Buddhism flowerbed. ¡°Haha. Tang Seorin, though you may not have received the Buddha¡¯s grace, you are doing your best to save this ruined world, so how could we treat you so carelessly, even though you are not one of our flowers?¡± ¡°Thanks for understanding.¡± ¡°Amitabha, Amitabha¡¡± [Trantor ¨C Jjsecus] [Proofreader ¨C Gun] Amitabha my foot. If Sakyamuni had seen it, he would have immediately plucked off the lotus flowers hanging from those pretentious heads. Luckily, Korea was somewhat civilized. Interestingly, there was a phenomenon called the ¡°Constetions¡± on the Korean Penins. Thanks to this, Awakeneds lived rtively peacefully, and Awakened superiority wasn¡¯t as pronounced. Therefore, the hatred towards Awakeneds among ordinary people was also rtively low. But when Shinbul spread to neighboring countries, the story changed. Along with the material virus, an ideological virus called Shinbul Buddhism was exported, shaking the world. ¡°Everyone! What is enlightenment!¡± ¡°Not killing, eternal life! Spiritual life, adorned with flowers! Vast universe!¡± ¡°Yes! Enlightenment is simply the name of a flower!¡± ¡°Wow-!¡± In countries where there was no oversight from the Constetions, Awakened superiority prevailed. Governments were paralyzed,ws crumbled, and even entities monitoring me were absent. It became more of a mess when Awakeneds, who had some power, gathered together. Naturally, while ordinary people who had borne all the nuisance hated Awakeneds, Shinbul specialized in justifying that hatred. It was the birth of K-Cult, which enthralled people worldwide. Another cult was active in the North Korean region, but it seemed to lean more towards the North, so in terms of the level of nuisance, Shinbul was overwhelming. ¡°¡This is troublesome. Really troublesome. The number of mercenaries we were supposed to receive from Japan has drastically decreased.¡± Tang Seorin absentmindedly toyed with the faded brim of her fedora with her finger. It was a habit that unconsciously emerged when she was genuinely perplexed. I might have forgotten, but during the 5th run, instead of directly confronting the Ten ns, we retreated to Busan. It had been agreed that hundreds of Awakeneds would join from Japan, but the number suddenly shrunk to 20. ¡°Twenty is too few.¡± ¡°They say the flower children are spreading like wildfire in Japan. From Kyushu to Kanto, they¡¯ve engulfed almost half the country. It seems difficult to leave our stronghold unguarded. Rumor has it that they¡¯re gaining traction in India, Europe, and America as well.¡± ¡°The future of humanity looks bleak.¡± Whether the cults caused the future to be bleak or the bleak future led to the rise of cults was just a chicken-and-egg question. While the Ten ns were visible and could be dealt with through a bit of swordy, Shinbul didn¡¯t offer any real solutions. How do you eradicate a virus? Virus researchbs? They were too busy researching infectious diseases that posed real threats to human life. Shinbul was pushed far back in the research queue. With each run, the victims of Shinbul changed. Sometimes Tang Seorin got infected, and there were asions when the Saintess got infected too. I didn¡¯t hesitate to end my life as soon as I felt a leaf-like sensation under my ear, fearing the consequences of being infected. If I activate my Awakened ability when infected, what if my regressive ability disappears too? It¡¯s better to die quickly. Well, even if there was a slight possibility of an existence called Old Scho causing trouble¡ Still, it was wise to be cautious. Oh. By the way, here are the types of flowers that sprouted from the heads of the individuals mentioned so far when they were infected with Shinbul: Saintess ¨C A hydrangea with a mix of sky blue and violet drops of paint. Tang Seorin ¨C A jet-ck swallowtail. The night sky held a cluster of stars. Seo Gyu ¨C Unknown. Sim Aryeon ¨C A white snowdrop. It bounced around amusingly when it fell. Lee Jooho ¨C A bright yellow sunflower. Koyori ¨C Unknown. Presumed to be a daisy. Old Scho ¨C Unknown. Presumed to be a clover (not a four-leaf one). Oh Dokseo ¨C A red saxifrage. It¡¯s the flowermonly known as the ¡°flower fern¡± or ¡°mountain peony.¡± She deliberately got infected because she was curious about what flower would bloom on her. She wasn¡¯t normal either. Like Old Scho, I also didn¡¯t know what flower would bloom on me. If I were infected with Shinbul, I would die before the flower bloomed. So, I died twice. I roughly guessed that it might be a pure white lily. It¡¯s a symbol of purity and innocence. I have a feeling it would suit me. Anyway, Shinbul was more of a nuisance than the Ten ns. Still, as long as it didn¡¯t cause any harm to civilians, I left it alone ¡ª that was my strategy until the 17th run. ¡°Doctor! Something terrible has happened!¡± Old Scho burst open the door. I frowned as I had just fallen asleep. ¡°Oh, what is it? Let me sleep. I¡¯m not as young as someone else, so I still need plenty of sleep.¡± ¡°What? You little¡ No, that¡¯s not it! Look outside! Open the window and look outside, damn it!¡± ¡°What¡¯s the matter that you¡¯re being so hysterical in the middle of the night?¡± I opened the window. I looked up at the night sky. I froze, gripping the window frame. ¡°What¡ is that?¡± The World Tree. That¡¯s the only way to describe it¡ªa giant red tree covering the entire night sky. [Trantor ¨C Jjsecus] [Proofreader ¨C Gun] Chapter 28 â€“ The First Flame II Chapter 28 ¨C The First me II [Trantor ¨C Jjsecus] [Proofreader ¨C Gun] Chapter 28 ¨C The First me II 3 On the 17th run, Old Scho and I were running an academy. Old Scho was the headmaster, and I was the vice headmaster. It was one of the schemes to attract and nurture promising Awakeneds from various countries more easily. We sincerely operated this academy for a while, and thanks to that, we were able to umte abundant data on Awakeneds. We¡¯ll talk more about this academyter. ¡°Bring together the graduating ss and the faculty!¡± ¡°I already did, you rascal! You¡¯re thest one!¡± Old Scho was bluffing. We had to roam around the dormitory in our pajamas to wake up all thebat squads. After we finished preparing, we set out. To the predetermined meeting ce with other guilds in case of an emergency. ¡°Guild Leader Three Thousand Worlds!¡± ¡°Oh, Doctor Jang. Is the Sword Master here too?¡± We gradually joined other guilds on the way. Three Thousand Worlds, one of Korea¡¯s top guilds, also quickly brought only their elite. It wasical to see seventy Awakeneds all wearing conical hats and holding staffs, but their power was no joke at all. ¡°What in the world is going on?¡± ¡°We¡¯re still trying to figure out the exact cause. The Constetions are telling me this and that, but I need to see it with my own eyes. That big tree there was observed since 2 a.m. today.¡± ¡°Suddenly sprouted?¡± ¡°Yeah. It grew to that size in less than an hour. It started glowing red like this only after it grew big. So, I guess we were a littlete to the party.¡± ¡°¡It¡¯s ominous.¡± ¡°I agree.¡± At that moment, a Three Thousand Worlds guild member approached and whispered to Tang Seorin. All the guild leaders gathered at the meeting point, including us, turned to look at Tang Seorin. Although it was already the time when the Ten ns were subdued, Tang Seorin was still expected to y the role of the leader. She sighed. ¡°Well, everyone should see it for themselves. Bring it.¡± ¡°Yes.¡± The guild members brought something. It was a human, or more precisely, a human dressed in attire that clearly indicated he was a Shinbul Buddhist. More urately, he was a human who constantly murmured while biting into his own forearm. ¡°Hungry, hungry, hungry, hungry.¡± Even though he was tied up with ropes, his teeth never stopped gnawing. Even as he forcibly bent his neck, even as he twisted his elbows backward, he somehow managed to devour his own flesh. The darkness of the night concealed it, but now it was clear that both legs and the left arm had already been eaten away. The guild leaders¡¯ faces stiffened. ¡°¡What¡¯s that guy doing? Is he a zombie?¡± ¡°Still, he¡¯s quite different from a zombie. He¡¯s not attacking anyone else, just himself.¡± ¡°He might be a particrly humble zombie.¡± ¡°What¡¯s he mumbling about?¡± The sight of a person¡¯s flesh being torn off in real time was gruesomely grotesque, but the courage of the guild leaders who had survived until now was not insignificant. Although their expressions werepletely decayed, they observed the zombie with unwavering eyes. ¡°As far as we¡¯ve observed.¡± The guild leaders fell silent as Tang Seorin spoke. ¡°All Shinbul Buddhists are showing the same symptoms.¡± ¡°All of them!¡± Shock spread around. ¡°Really, all of them?¡± ¡°Yeah. Oh, I misspoke. Even if they¡¯re not Shinbul Buddhists, people infected with Shinbul Buddhism are all the same. No exceptions for ordinary Awakeneds.¡± ¡°I knew this would happen.¡± Old Scho grumbled. ¡°Anyway, there¡¯s nothing good about getting involved with cultists from the old days. What? You get an extra life for free just by getting infected? Is there such a good deal? Ugh! I was suspicious from the beginning.¡± ¡°¡.¡± The guild leaders¡¯ eyes poured disdain on the old German man¡¯s stubbornness, regardless of time and ce. I cleared my throat to seize the floor for a moment. ¡°Guild Leader, are these symptoms of the zombie all there is? Eating oneself like a monster? It¡¯s certainly intriguing, but I¡¯m not sure how it rtes to the World Tree and zombies.¡± ¡°Huh? What¡¯s a zombie? Anyway, let¡¯s keep watching a little longer. Something fascinating is about to happen.¡± The zombie didn¡¯t stop its predatory behavior while we were talking. ¡°Hungry, hungry, hungry, hungry.¡± Before long, thest remaining right arm in the center of its body fell off. Then the zombie stood upright like a matryoshka doll. ¡°¡.¡± The zombie lifted its head and looked up at the night sky. It was the direction where the World Tree stood. As the zombie¡¯s mouth slowly opened, a red flower bloomed instantly from its mouth. The guild leaders each swallowed their breath. ¡°Unbelievable.¡± ¡°Damn, what the¡?¡± Someone muttered. ¡°It¡¯s just like a cordyceps fungus¡.¡± A fungus that parasitizes its host¡¯s body and eventually sprouts mushrooms. But in this case, it wasn¡¯t mushrooms but flowers, and they were remarkably beautiful red flowers. The red flower turned the zombie¡¯s flesh into a flowerpot. And in the blink of an eye, it grew up to the height of a first-floor apartment. It seemed like time had broken down at an astonishing speed. We stared at the crimson flower¡¯s stalk in silence. Pop, and the petals burst like popcorn. The red flower bloomed and withered like a single season in 10 seconds. However, unlike other trees, it didn¡¯t drop its flowers downward. The guild leaders gaped in astonishment. ¡°Oh, uh¡ What¡¯s that¡?¡± ¡°It¡¯s going up?¡± Not a falling flower but a rising flower. The homnd of the red flower seemed to be not the ground but the sky. They fluttered longing for above, not below. Like a slightly lighter breeze, a slightly lighter firefly, or a slightly lighter cherry blossom. It wasn¡¯t just here. In the dark night sky, countless red lights sparkled. They were much thinner than starlight but also much closer. From abandoned buildings, from open fields, from all directions, red petals spread out like a Milky Way into the night sky. ¡°Beautiful¡.¡± That, too, was someone¡¯s murmur. The World Tree, gathering all the red from the ground, became even more tantalizing. The light emitted by the World Tree was so dazzling that it could only suffocate starlight and moonlight. [Trantor ¨C Jjsecus] [Proofreader ¨C Gun] ¡°Hmm.¡± Old Scho sighed. Turning my head, Old Scho was not looking at the night sky but staring intently at the zombie. A lean body. No, it was more like the bark of a tree that had long since decayed. The human corpse, stripped of all its redness, now only left traces. When Old Scho lightly touched it with a sword, the zombie-flowerpot crumbled with a crackle. ¡°Doctor.¡± ¡°¡Yes, Captain.¡± ¡°I guess we¡¯re fucked, huh?¡± I nodded. I didn¡¯t want to agree, but it was the right diagnosis. The boss-level monster that reappeared after the Ten ns were subdued. No, in fact, it appeared before the Ten ns, but it had hidden its power for years, parasitizing its hosts, and finally revealed its true form. The World Tree¨D¨Dits traditional name was ¡®Udumbara.¡¯ Udumbara. A mythical flower revered in Buddhism. It was a phantasmal flower that didn¡¯t exist in reality. But now it did. There was really no n for the legendary being that descended to the earth. It was even more dangerous than the Ten ns. Above all, unlike the Ten ns, Udumbara was extremely malicious. Not only did it parasitize its hosts, but it also made the hosts wee the parasite. Quietly expanding its influence, it suddenly unleashed all its power at once. At the moment Udumbara revealed itself, it was already game over. If many hosts were infected with the virus to the extent that the red World Tree bloomed, then the world¡¯s destruction was certain from that point. ¡°Oh my, what are we supposed to do¡¡± ¡°That¡¯s right.¡± Old Scho and Imented together, scratching our heads. By the way, it was now run 18. What about run 17 suddenly disappearing? Uh¡ Weeds sprouted from Old Scho¡¯s beard, and grass grew from my eyebrows. Thinking it was ourst resort, we tried bringing all the guild unions and chopping the tree, but it was no use. What could we do? Old Scho and I just neatly toasted with poison in our sses. Even after Old Scho went on vacation, I couldn¡¯te up with a fundamental solution to Udumbara. Suppressing Awakeneds¡¯ superiorityplex while being careful not to let the cult spread as much as possible? But that was like trying to pee against the wind. Even if we somehow controlled it domestically, how would we control it internationally? No matter what measures we took, Udumbara would just bloom a littleter. But as time passed, in run 36¡ ¡°The Constetions¡ don¡¯t exist anymore.¡± ¡°The Saintess of Salvation and the Conqueror of Alps, they were all just characters I created.¡± ¨D¨DThe situation changed in an instant since meeting the Saintess. The clues to conquering the World Tree, which seemed hopeless, suddenly appeared. Starting from the runs after forming an alliance with the Saintess, I actively engaged in the extermination of Udumbara. The key to the extermination operation was the request I made to the Saintess. ¡°From now on, please use [Heaven¡¯s Eye] to observe the Awakeneds on Jeju Ind.¡± ¡°Jeju Ind?¡± The Saintess tilted her head. ¡°Is there a reason for that?¡± ¡°Yes. If left alone, a cult called Shinbul Buddhism will start to emerge in earnest from the third year¡.¡± I exined about the outbreak of the zombie virus, the spread of Shinbul Buddhism, the awakening of Awakeneds¡¯ superiorityplex, and, above all, the blooming of the red World Tree as the turning point. The Saintess listened quietly from start to finish. And she murmured softly. ¡°I see. So, Doctor, you intend to find out who the initial outbreaker of the virus is.¡± ¡°That¡¯s correct.¡± The initial outbreaker, who was in a state of oblivion until the previous run. The first domino that caused the virus outbreak. Alone, I could never have figured it out, but with my ability to regress and the Saintess¡¯s [Heaven¡¯s Eye], it was entirely possible. ¡°This time it¡¯s Jeju Ind. Next will be Gyeongsangnam-do. Then Gyeongsangbuk-do, Jeonam-do, Jeobuk-do¡ Each run, we¡¯ll focus on one region of the country, sweeping from south to north. Then¡ª¡± ¡°Someday we might witness the moment the initial outbreaker is born.¡± The Saintess nodded. ¡°Got it. Originally, I mainly used [Heaven¡¯s Eye] to observe prominent Awakeneds like you, Doctor. But if I push it a bit¡ While it¡¯s impossible to observe all the Awakeneds in Korea in real-time, I can manage one region at a time. Somehow.¡± ¡°Shall I assign Yoo Jiwon to assist you?¡± ¡°No, it¡¯s okay.¡± The Saintess closed her eyes as if in prayer. ¡°It¡¯s something I can handle on my own.¡± At that moment, I couldn¡¯t know how exactly she managed to observe so many Awakeneds. It was a ¡®secret¡¯ she didn¡¯t reveal. Perhaps she coborated with figures like Awakeneds working for the remnants of the South Korean government (or rather, its scraps), or with individuals like Nodoha, I spected silently. I entrusted the quest to the Saintess and, on the other hand, dealt with the cult leaders who yed the most crucial role in the establishment of Shinbul Buddhism. Even if these guys disappeared, simr beliefs would still arise, but at least I could buy another year or two. And so, run 36 arrived. ¡°It¡¯s not Jeju Ind.¡± Run 37. ¡°There are no initial outbreakers in Gyeongsangnam-do.¡± Runs 38, 39, and 40. Finally, when run 41 arrived. ¡°¡I found it.¡± The Saintess opened her eyes. ¡°Chungcheongnam-do. Asan. Onyang.¡± More precisely, it was an old inn in Onyang. Once prosperous, it had declined as the center of the city shifted. In the dpidated downtown area, where weeds thrived more than people, the inn was barely standing. The inn felt deserted. The paint, a murky beige, peeled off in ces. There was nothing much to take away from the dpidated inn building, but in room 202 on the second floor, mother and son were dead. The corpse under the hat looked untouched, as if he had just closed his eyes. It was almost miraculous to find this ce. A municipal center employee was an Awakened, and he had been patrolling houses and lodgings intensively in case any residents hadn¡¯t evacuated (perhaps he didn¡¯t even know if the Saintess had impersonated the Constetions to manipte Awakeneds). The moment the municipal center employee discovered the bodies, the Saintess witnessed the same scene. The center employee moved on to the next patrol location without much thought. It was a challenging time just to take care of the surviving residents. However, the Saintess¡¯s gaze remained fixed, and it was why I hade today. There was a reason why my alias happened to be ¡®Doctor.¡¯ ¡°Hmm.¡± The mother leaned against the wall, clutching the baby tightly. The baby was a newborn. And ever so delicately, almost like young ferns in spring, red flowers bloomed over the mother¡¯s shoulder. The baby wore an amulet slightlyrger than its wrist. It wasn¡¯t difficult to imagine whose it was and who had put it on. The mother had thought momentarily about her feelings when she put her amulet on her child. Perhaps it was a wish for her child to not fall into hell alone. I stared nkly at the scene for a while, as if facing a statue. [Doctor.] The Saintess spoke telepathically. Unlike when dealing with other Awakeneds, she didn¡¯t impersonate a Constetion to me. She used her own voice immediately. I nodded. ¡°I understand. Don¡¯t worry.¡± I let out a sigh and swung my sword. A few red flowers scattered in the small room, too small to call it a world. Udumbara was an illusionary flower. After that day, each run starting meant I had one more thing to do. Picking up Seo Gyu and Sim Aryeon at Busan Station. Going to the Baekje Hospital building to have coffee with Old Scho. Contacting the Saintess to establish an alliance. And then heading up to Chungcheong-do to see the red flowers. Later, I found out that no matter how many times I regressed, it was impossible to get the hat. By the time the Gate Incident urred in Seoul, the mother and son were already dead. The cause of death was starvation. Misfortune always struck at the right moment. ¡°Wow¡¡± Sometimes, due to a slight dy in the schedule, it took a few days to arrive at the inn. When that happened, the Udumbara, which was the size of a young fern, had already grown into a small cherry blossom tree. ¡°Wow, it¡¯s so beautiful¡¡± Every time the run changed, I brought along apanion to enjoy the flowers. For example, thepanion for run 96 was Sim Aryeon. ¡°Is this really the mysterious creature the Guild Master mentioned? The one we¡¯re supposed to ssify as continent-level danger and upload to the SG Net?¡± ¡°Yeah.¡± ¡°It, it¡¯s such a fascinating sight. Makes me want to try drawing it.¡± Not just in words, but in reality, Sim Aryeon had brought an easel all the way here and set it up. As he took out her paints, he eximed, ¡°Ah.¡± ¡°So, what kind of flower is that, Guild Master¡?¡± It¡¯s a flower that has brought countless worlds to ruin. Instead of exining that, I tapped the flower stem and said, ¡°It blooms once every run when I die.¡± ¡°Whoa.¡± Sim Aryeon marveled at my sophisticated expression. ¡°Um, Guild Master, having teenage syndrome at your age is a bit¡¡± ¡°¡¡± ¡°Guild Master, having teenage syndrome at your age is a bit¡¡± Hmm. Next time I bring him along, I¡¯ll take him to some scary haunted spots. ¨C The First me. The End. [Trantor ¨C Jjsecus] [Proofreader ¨C Gun] Chapter 29 â€“ Explorer I Chapter 29 ¨C Explorer I [Trantor ¨C Jjsecus] [Proofreader ¨C Gun] Chapter 29 ¨C Explorer I In the heart of Seoul, when the void erupted, the Gangnam area turned into a wastnd. This story has been mentioned several times in my tale, so you might be familiar with it. The so-called ¡®Gangnam Void Incident,¡¯ ¡®Gangnam White Nights,¡¯ or ¡®Seoul¡¯s Summer.¡¯ Even Sho¡¯s mother passed away during the ¡®summer.¡¯ However, amidst the Gangnam area engulfed by the void, there were still several buildings left intact. If the term ¡®intact¡¯ means that the exterior of the buildings looks neat when viewed from the outside. Here¡¯s the problem. Q. If a building remains intact innd engulfed by the void, then that¡¯s surprising. How could that be possible? A. It¡¯s also the void. That¡¯s right. Eye for an eye, void for a void. Just like the principle of fighting fire with fire, if you want to withstand the void, you have to suppress it with an even stronger void. In other words? If you still see ¡®intact¡¯ buildings in Gangnam, it means that those buildings have cast the spell of ¡®It¡¯s okay, repel¡¯ even in the void that wiped out half of Seoul¡¯s poption. Truly the most challenging dungeons. Most of the sturdiest, scariest, and most monstrous voids in the Korean Penins are concentrated in Gangnam, even though the real estate market in the human world has copsed, Gangnam still maintains its reputation as a hotspot among the mysterious beings. Among them, one of the most famous dungeons is the hotel operating in a building known as ¡®Sauron¡¯s Tower.¡¯ Yes. Since we talked about an inn in thest run, I thought we¡¯d talk about a hotel today. ¡®Sauron¡¯s Tower,¡¯ as it is nicknamed, is a skyscraper boasting the highest number of floors in Seoul, as you are all well aware. Originally a somewhat whimsical nickname, after the void erupted in the Gangnam area, the original residents, office workers, hotel staff, etc., who were residing in the building, were all wiped out, so now it¡¯s called ¡®Sauron¡¯s Tower¡¯ for real. In fact, just after the void erupted, people had high expectations for Sauron¡¯s Tower. ¡°That building is intact!¡± ¡°There must be many survivors inside the building, right?¡± Originally, it was the tallest building on the Korean Penins. Naturally, in the current state where Seoul¡¯s average building height has regressed fifty years, it stood out even more. ¡°Oh,e to think of it, I heard somewhere that the tower was designed to withstand even a Richter scale 9 earthquake¡¡± ¡°No way, is the interior still intact?¡± ¡°They say there¡¯s a gateway to another world near the top of that building.¡± ¡°Let¡¯s go in! Let¡¯s check it out!¡± And so, initially, residents from the north of the Han River entered Sauron¡¯s Tower. They disappeared shortly after entering. Of course, in the midst of the apocalypse, no one paid much attention to a few missing people. Adding two zeros after the number of missing persons didn¡¯t change the situation. But after a month passed, and then two, strange rumors began to circte about Sauron¡¯s Tower. ¡°It¡¯s said that once you open the door and step inside, you can nevere out.¡± ¡°Let¡¯s set up an investigation team.¡± At this point, the Republic of Korea Army, which had managed to maintain its reputation, entered the operation. As they were in the midst of a sweeping hunt, considering ten soldiers as a special meal, the surviving members of a unit were considered elite. The soldiers decided to borrow the wisdom of the ancients. Just a bit too ancient. ¡°We will form a human chain and enter the tower. Each soldier will tie a rope around their waist.¡± ¡°What? A rope?¡± ¡°Yes. We¡¯ll use this rope to connect all the soldiers in a line. The operation will be named ¡®Ariadne.''¡± With the same determination as Theseusnding on the ind of Crete facing the greatest maze of humanity in the distant past, the soldiermanded the operation. ¡°If there¡¯s no response from the soldiers in the front line after entering, we¡¯ll backtrack ande out of the hotel. If the front-line soldiers show no reaction, meaning their response disappears, immediately cut the rope with a knife and the remaining personnel will escape. Do you understand?¡± ¡°Yes!¡± ¡°Alright. Get the ropes ready.¡± It was a cautious yet effective method. The problem was that Sauron¡¯s Tower wasn¡¯t just an ordinary dungeon; it was a demon castle that survived ¡®Seoul¡¯s Summer.¡¯ ¡°There¡¯s no response from those who entered after opening the door!¡± ¡°Pull the rope!¡± ¡°I-I can¡¯t pull it. It¡¯s not moving! It¡¯s as heavy as a rock!¡± ¡°We have no choice. Abort the Ariadne operation. Cut the rope!¡± ¡°Yes. What? The rope, why? Oh oh?¡± ¡°What are you doing, kid? Cut the rope!¡± ¡°Oh, it won¡¯t cut! The rope won¡¯t cut!¡± ¡°What nonsense¡ Oh oh oh? I¡¯m being dragged!¡± ¡°Aaaah! Help me! Help me!¡± ¡°No! Hold on! If you¡¯re dragged, you¡¯ll die¡!¡± Surprisingly, the ropes seemed to have been reced with titanium material at some point. Even the military knives couldn¡¯t pierce them. As the ss doors of Sauron¡¯s Tower swung open, they engulfed the soldiers. It was as if the ropes were swallowed up in a single gulp. It was truly a perfect ¡®mukbang¡¯ (eating broadcast). ¡°Ah, aaaah¡!¡± Even the soldier who desperately tried to hold onto the door frame until the end was suddenly dragged into the darkness. There was a moment of screaming, but it quickly faded away. With a grinding sound, the ss doors settled back into ce. Perhaps from the tower¡¯s perspective, it wanted to say, ¡°That was close.¡± The investigation team was wiped out. After this incident became known, the queue of civilians rushing into Sauron¡¯s Tower without fear was abruptly cut off. That¡¯s right. That¡¯s how civilians were. As for me, the Undertaker, I lived far away from ordinary sensibilities. What if I went into the tower and died? Well, then I¡¯d just regress. And so, I searched for a sacrificialmb to apany me to the hotel. It¡¯s boring to go alone. ¡°Aryeon, how about a ¡®ho-cation¡¯ this summer?¡± ¡°Ho-cation?¡± Aryeon¡¯s ears perked up. With an inherent nerdiness and a longing for poprity, he had a childish desire for being an insider. ¡°It¡¯s great, but¡ um, are you suggesting just you and me, Guild Master?¡± He asked. ¡°Um, that¡¯s a bit¡ well¡¡± ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it. It¡¯s not that kind of trip. We¡¯re just nning to stay at the best hotel on the penins for a few days. If you¡¯re interested,e along, and if not, ask someone else.¡± ¡°Um¡¡± Aryeon blinked his eyes. My indifferent yet chic response seemed to puzzle him. He¡¯s been such an easygoing kid from the first run till now. ¡°Well, then¡ Okay, I¡¯ll, I¡¯ll go!¡± Two dayster. Aryeon stood in front of the hotel entrance, screaming with his travel backpack on. ¡°You said it was a hotel! Y-You said it was a hotel! Guild Master! This is Sauron¡¯s Tower¨D¨Dit¡¯s here!¡± ¡°What are you talking about? There¡¯s a hotel here.¡± ¡°It was, it¡¯s not there anymore, right? It¡¯s ruined! Everything, everything is ruined! ¡®Gangnam,¡¯ it¡¯s all gone!¡± ¡°Quit your nonsense ande along. You need toe in and drawndscapes and maps.¡± ¡°Kyaaaah! I should have known from the moment you mentioned ¡®ho-cation¡¯! Help! I hate this! Even if you¡¯re the guild master, I don¡¯t want to be here where thousands of people have died¨D¨D¡± Doctor Jang¡¯s exciting exploration of the void begins. As soon as we opened the ss doors of Sauron¡¯s Tower, a surprising sight greeted us. ¡°Huh? Lights¡?¡± Contrary to the pitch-ck darkness observed from the outside, the building was brightly illuminated inside. But that¡¯s not all. On either side of the building entrance, there were two elevators each, totaling four elevators neatly waiting. The chandelier hanging from the ceiling was spotlessly clean, without a speck of dust. It was as if¨D¨D ¡°It doesn¡¯t seem like time is flowing at all¡ Hm¡¡± I nodded. Just to test it out, I pressed the elevator button. Smoothly, without any issues, the elevator doors opened. ¡°Wow. Is it¡ moving¡?¡± [Trantor ¨C Jjsecus] [Proofreader ¨C Gun] ¡°It¡¯s amazing. It seems like it¡¯s not just time that¡¯s frozen, but the building is actually functioning. And Aryeon, did you notice?¡± ¡°Y-Yes? What?¡± ¡°Look outside the door.¡± Aryeon, whose attention was drawn to the chandelier and elevators, finally turned around. And with his typical ¡°Eek!¡± he clung to my arm like a caterpir. ¡°W-What¡¯s¡ who is that?¡± Outside the door. In other words, just outside the ss door we passed by a moment ago¡ there was a man dressed in a suit standing politely. ¡°He¡¯s probably a hotel staff member. A staff member who opens the door for guests.¡± ¡°B-But there was no one there earlier¡¡± ¡°Aryeon, remember this. In the void, you can¡¯t rely on your senses based on preconceptions. The ss door we saw from outside and the outside we see here are different spaces. It¡¯s easier to think of that as just a picture in a frame.¡± ¡°Oh¡¡± ¡°The problem is that we¡¯ve stepped into that frame. Trying to open the door won¡¯t work now. Go and try it.¡± ¡°¡¡± Aryeon cautiously attempted to open the door. But there was no response. Not even the nearby hotel staff paid any attention to Aryeon. ¡°Seriously¡¡± ¡°That¡¯s why the term ¡®void¡¯ is more fitting than ¡®gate.¡¯ Now, things like doors have no meaning as entrances or exits. To escape from the void, you either have to follow the proper procedure or defeat the boss.¡± ¡°Boss¡¡± ¡°Of course, there are many voids without bosses. In that case, the strategies be a bit moreplicated. Shall we see how far this void has sessfully mimicked the hotel?¡± I took Aryeon and got on the elevator. Being one of Korea¡¯s top hotels, even the elevator felt luxurious, preserving the glory of the past. Although boasting a maximum of 123 floors, we chose the hotel¡¯s main entrance as our route into the void. That¡¯s why there were only four buttons on the elevator. [81F ¨C Western Restaurant, Korean Restaurant, Bar] [79F ¨C Lobby, Guest Lounge] [76F ¨C Grand Ballroom, Small Ballroom] [01F ¨C Entrance] Aryeon kept nervously fidgeting, asking, ¡°What if the elevator suddenly drops while going up?¡± ¡°In that case, it¡¯s fortunate.¡± ¡°Huh? You mean I¡¯ll die?¡± ¡°Yeah, you might. But then the course bes drastically shorter. It¡¯s like this huge void is satisfied with the fun of dropping humans with just one elevator¡ it¡¯ll probably lower its standards.¡± In that case, Sauron Tower would simply be registered as a void or anomaly named ¡®Hotel Elevator,¡¯ and it would be over. It¡¯s not dangerous at all, and the way to avoid it is quite simple. Just don¡¯t take the elevator. That¡¯s it. Unless you¡¯re a pervert who gets sexually excited by the vibration of the elevator, it¡¯s perfectly fine to just ignore it from the next run onwards. ¡°What in the world¡ Guild Master, what are you saying? About dying?¡± ¡°Truly terrifying voids don¡¯t kill people. Instead, they make you feel like you want to keep living here.¡± ¡°What?¡± Click. I pressed [79F]. Because we entered through the hotel entrance, there¡¯s a high chance that the guests staying at this hotel would be here. If they¡¯re guests, they should naturally stop by the ¡®Hotel Lobby¡¯ first and proceed with the ¡®check-in.¡¯ As the elevator started moving, Aryeon¡¯s shoulders tensed up. I gave him a reassuring pat on the back and said, ¡°How long you survive in the void depends on understanding the ¡®nature¡¯ of that void.¡± ¡°¡¡± ¡°Earlier, there was a hotel staff member standing outside the ss door, right? Don¡¯t overlook even the smallest details. In the void, there are no meaningless clues. If there¡¯s a hotel staff member outside the door, it might be because the ¡®void believes itself to be a hotel.¡¯ That¡¯s a possible guess.¡± ¡°Believing itself to be a hotel¡¡± ¡°Yeah. Just like how you have to follow thews of Rome in Rome, unless you¡¯re itching for a fight from the get-go, you should first obey the rules of the void. That¡¯s why those soldiers who tried to enter here back in the day were out of luck.¡± ¡°Why? Why is that?¡± ¡°What guest in the world would enter a luxury hotel wearing military gear and carrying a gun all over their body? They¡¯d probably be identified as terrorists as soon as they entered and get shot on the spot.¡± ¡°¡¡± I secretly hoped the elevator would just plunge down. If I could shield Aryeon with my body, there would be a higher chance of survival regardless. But this world was sincere in messing with humans, especially when it came to teasing me in various ways. Ding- In less than a minute, the elevator arrived at the 79th floor. And the moment the elevator door gracefully opened, I became certain that this void was also a space belonging to our proud world. ¡°Oh my¡ Guild Master! Look! It¡¯s so luxurious here!¡± The impably clean and polished marble lobby weed me. Even in the distance, employees were standing at the check-in counter, smiling at us. ¡°Hmm.¡± This is quite a sticky situation. [Trantor ¨C Jjsecus] [Proofreader ¨C Gun] Chapter 30 â€“ Explorer II Chapter 30 ¨C Explorer II [Trantor ¨C Jjsecus] [Proofreader ¨C Gun] Chapter 30 ¨C Explorer II ¡°Aryeon. Hold the elevator door open for a moment.¡± ¡°Yes?¡± ¡°The Guild Master has something to check.¡± I immediately climbed up the elevator wall. Aryeon looked startled, as if he had seen a giant spider, but I casually ignored it. After imbuing my palm with aura, I sliced through the ceiling like cutting tofu. With a sizzling sound, sparks flew from my hand. Before long, a neat hole was pierced in the elevator ceiling. This was the power of a skilled aura user. ¡°Guild Master, what are you doing now¡?¡± ¡°Shh. Wait quietly and see.¡± I cautiously extended my upper body outside the elevator. It felt like a scene from Mission Impossible. ¡°Hmm.¡± The wind was chilly. The view outside the elevator was dimly lit. It was not only due to theck of lighting but also because it was excessively dark. To be more precise, it was ¡®sloppy.¡¯ Although there was a rope attached to the elevator¡¯s car, that was it. There were no essential items that should be present in an elevator, such as a speed governor rope or a car door operating device. In any case, the elevator currently in operation in the ¡°Tower of Sauron¡± was too shoddy in structure to be considered an elevator. For such a tall building, even the capsule of the elevatorcked streamlined curves? ¡®Sloppy.¡¯ The imagination that became the prototype of this oddity was not born from experts. It was just an oddity born from the preconceptions and images of ordinary Koreans¡ In other words, it was an oddity derived from the average Korean. ¡®Avoided the worst-case scenario.¡¯ I chuckled softly. It makes things easier. ¡°Thud.¡± I descended from the ceiling. Aryeon, who was asked to hold the door, couldn¡¯t ovee his curiosity and was poking his head outside the elevator. ¡°Guild Master. P-people are perfectly fine¡ Their clothes aren¡¯t even wrinkled. Everything is so clean¡ Oh. The carpet ispletely messed up because of our shoe prints¡¡± At that moment, the gazes of the ¡®beings¡¯ gathered in the hotel lobby were sharply focused. It was as if their pitch-ck pupils were all looking at Aryeon. ¡°Yikes.¡± ¡°Quiet.¡± I immediately blocked Aryeon¡¯s mouth, which was about to burst into screams. I quickly covered his ears and whispered to him as he flinched. ¡°Don¡¯t make a fuss. Try not to make eye contact either. Those staff members and other guests are all anomalies.¡± ¡°Huh?¡± ¡°More precisely, they¡¯re part of the anomalies. Or you could say, they¡¯re terminals. There¡¯s a high chance that this entire hotel is one anomaly and void. If you attract their attention, eventually the ¡®entire hotel¡¯ will focus on you.¡± ¡°Ugh¡ Got it?¡± ¡°¡.¡± Aryeon timidly nodded his head up and down, then stopped. I ignored the saliva on my hand, which made it a bit dirty. ¡°From now on, I¡¯ll show you the exploration of the void by a skilled Awakened. Aryeon, you just stay quiet while they¡¯re around. Just look around with vacant eyes, no matter what I say. Can you do that?¡± Nodding. ¡°Good.¡± I released Aryeon¡¯s mouth and walked together towards the check-in counter. Step by step, the anomalies or terminals moved their eyeballs with exactly the same pace, staring at me fixedly as I took each step forward. Perhaps an ordinary person, in other words, a novice with little experience in dealing with anomalies, would feel ominous from here. But who am I? Along with anomalies, I am the reincarnator who has experienced the East Sea and Baekdu Mountain to the point of wearing them out. I approached without blinking an eye. Creak¡ The staff standing behind the counter opened their lips. The ck hole in their mouths was pitch ck. Not even the tongue could be seen beyond their teeth. It was an imitation of a human. -Hello, wee. Have you made a reservation at our hotel? If so¡ ¡°Good morning.¡± The staff froze in unison. Regardless, I continued smoothly. ¡°I have a reservation at this hotel. I¡¯m a travel-focused YouTuber. Could I please check in?¡± -Oh, um. Um? The confusion of the staff was clear. Of course it would be. Because I was speaking in German right now. The high-end hotel counter staff can speak English and can rtively easily handle Japanese or Chinese. However,nguages like German, French, Spanish, or Russian cannot be immediately dealt with unless prepared in advance. Naturally, indigenous anomalies on the Korean Penins also have the same sensibilities as the average Korean when dealing with foreigners. In other words, they be exceedingly vulnerable. ¨C Uh, um, sorry. Sir. Can you speak English? Reservation? Reservation, please? ¡°Well, in this global age, relying solely on English won¡¯t do.¡± ¨C Excuse me? ¡°Ah, I¡¯m sorry. I can¡¯t speak English. Deutsch. Bitte. Okay?¡± ¨C Uh, bitte. ¡What should we do? He seems German. Oh, sorry. Please wait a moment, sir. My wless German pronunciation instantly made the anomalies flustered, as if they were confused hamsters scrambling around. Aryeon was watching me with an amused expression, as if witnessing a giant hamster performing a trick. Though it seemed like a funny tactic, the ¡°I don¡¯t speak Korean, oh no, I don¡¯t speak English either¡± strategy worked quite well in the void. Especially in ces like the Tower of Sauron, mimicking a perfectly fine building, it was even more effective. The anomalies muttered. ¨C Can¡¯t get in touch with the responsible person? ¨C No, they¡¯re not picking up the phone. ¨C Well, of all times¡ We should at least ask if they made a reservation, but since we can¡¯tmunicate¡ ¨C Okay, let¡¯s calm down. First, guide the guest to the lobby sofa. We can¡¯t keep the guests standing. Offer them a wee tea. If this were really a hotel, there would have been prompt responses. But I guarantee these anomalies were weing a German visitor for the first time since their establishment. A foreign affairs department? There¡¯s no way the anomaly would have prepared that. Naturally, no one would pick up the phone even if they tried. ¨C Excuse me, sir? Bitte? Could youe over here for a moment? ¡°Huh? What did you say?¡± ¨C Oh, just a moment, please sit on this sofa and wait. Yes, right now, the phone. We can¡¯t get through. Yes, I¡¯m sorry. The staff tried to convince us with various bodynguages, doing their best to persuade us somehow. Of course, I maintained a slightly irritated expression, but I made it clear that I had no intention of causing trouble by sitting on the sofa. ¡°Wow.¡± As the staff walked away, Aryeon leaned in close and whispered. ¡°Guild Leader¡ What just happened?¡± ¡°It¡¯s a tactic that almost guarantees invincibility when dealing with anomalies mimicking humans on the Korean Penins.¡± Of course, this tactic works exceptionally well only in Korea and should never be used in the Nethends. There are too many people there who speak foreignnguages. ¡°I thought you could speak foreignnguages?¡± ¡°Well, yeah. English, Chinese, Hindi, Spanish, Japanese, French, German, Italian, most foreignnguages are possible. Do you think I have this exceptional memory for nothing?¡± ¡°Wow¡ I always thought you were just into geeky content like Three Kingdoms, but suddenly you seem like a different person¡¡± ¡°¡This guy. He¡¯d probably have knocked on the ss and crossed the void before even getting on the elevator if I wasn¡¯t there to stop him, a newbie in the void¡¡± Anyway, no matter how dangerous the dungeon, as long as you know how to deal with it, there¡¯s no problem. I pulled out my camera from my travel backpack. A Proid camera, basically an instant camera where the photoes out as soon as you take it. ¡°Huh? Why suddenly the camera?¡± ¡°Oh, don¡¯t worry. This thing is valuable even just looking at it. It¡¯s one of the treasures I received in exchange for helping magical girls in Japanst time.¡± ¡°¡?¡± The model was the Proid OneStep, released in 1977. Originally, it should have used SX-70 film, but¡ Since the camera itself is a kind of anomaly, fortunately, film is not needed. Click. I photographed the hotel lobby. sh shed from the distinctiverge head of the model. And soon after, a white film was ejected. ¡°Take it. Without screaming.¡± ¡°Huh? What¡¯s going on¡? Eek!¡± Sure enough, the lobby scenery taken with my camera was quite different from the luxurious scenery we were seeing with our eyes right now. Marble floors covered in dust. Broken lights and ceramics scattered everywhere. Even a body hanging behind the counter with military clothing, eyes wide open and mouth gaping. ¡°Eek¡ Ugh¡¡± Even near the sofa where we were sitting, there was a corpse in military attire, eyes wide open and mouth gaping. Aryeon experienced shortness of breath. ¡°Isn¡¯t it fascinating? This is a really valuable camera. It¡¯s called a ¡®spirit phenomenon camera,¡¯ quite well known in Japan. I¡¯ve been eyeing this for a long time, but I only managed to get it from the magical girls after helping them with the Inunaki Tunnelst time. They have two or more simr cameras with the Nikon F series, so I don¡¯t know why they¡¯re so expensive.¡± ¡°Guild Leader, huh¡ Guild Leader¡¡± ¡°Ugh. Don¡¯t be so scared. It¡¯ll be fun as you get used to it. There¡¯s a thrill in testing how far those bastards can imitate humans, you know?¡± ¡°The only person who finds anomalies¡ fun in this world is¡ Guild Leader¡!¡± As I teased Aryeon like that, the hotel staff even brought us wee tea. A whileter, someone who seemed to be in charge came out and desperately used English and bodynguage. ¡°I¡¯m truly sorry, sir. At the moment, we don¡¯t have a way to amodate you.¡± ¡°Hmm.¡± My chin angle rose by 20 degrees, and in proportion, the employee¡¯s angle dropped by 20 degrees. ¡°If you could just wait a little longer, we¡¯ll figure out a way¡¡± ¡°Hmm.¡± [Trantor ¨C Jjsecus] [Proofreader ¨C Gun] Here, I quietly shifted the consideration of whether to tackle this anomaly or to hold off on it to thetter option. Usually, most anomalies reveal their true colors by now. But judging from the way they¡¯re reacting, it seemed like they were genuinelymitted to hotel operations. In other words, unless we abandon our ¡®guest¡¯ cosy first, they won¡¯t give up their ¡®hotel¡¯ cosy either. ¡°Everything¡¯s fine. Okay, okay. I¡¯ll just wander around here and explore, so I¡¯ll leave it to you then.¡± ¡°Yes?¡± ¡°Here, could you please take care of my backpack? This is my phone number. Okay?¡± I packed only the important items from my backpack and handed it to the employee. The employee seemed to understand my words and grinned, saying, ¡°Ah, okay! Thanks a bunch!¡± The employee kindly guided us to the elevator. Wefortably got in and headed back to the original first floor. Aryeon, who had been trembling since witnessing the spirit photograph, said, ¡°Um¡ Guild Leader, are we allowed to leave like this?¡± ¡°Probably.¡± ¡°B-but the door didn¡¯t open earlier, right?¡± ¡°Unlike earlier, this time the hotel staff allowed us to leave. They might have stopped us if I had tried to leave on my own, but since I hinted that we woulde back, they let us go.¡± ¡°Oh. So that¡¯s why you deliberately handed over the backpack¡?¡± ¡°Yeah. When exploring the void, you need to quickly understand the characteristics of the space and adjust yourself to it. As long as you follow the rules properly, there¡¯s only¡ about a 50% chance of them attacking me first.¡± ¡°Only half?!¡± Well, that means you need to build up the strength to knock them out as soon as they attack, no matter when theye at you. Tsk tsk. When we arrived at the first floor, the elevator opened. As a test, I snapped a picture of the first floor with my camera. ¡°Hmm.¡± ¡°W-what came out¡?¡± ¡°I¡¯ll let you know in a bit.¡± In the photo of the first floor. There were piles of bodies scattered everywhere. Around 20 humanoid figures with half-eaten heads were standing near the ss, and about 100 corpses were stuck to the ss, scraping it with their palms. What might have looked like a beautiful chandelier structure to my eyes was just a feast of bodies hanging from nooses in the photo. ¡°Let¡¯s just get out of here.¡± ¡°Y-yeah¡¡± As expected, this time the ss door opened smoothly when pushed. With a swish, the rough outside air rushed into our noses. Aryeon slumped down in fear. ¡°I-it was s-so scary¡! It was terrifying! Guild Leader, please! Don¡¯t drag me into such things because they¡¯re bad for my heart!¡± ¡°Here, this is a souvenir from the first floor.¡± ¡°A souvenir? What¡ Aaaah!¡± Aryeon fainted on the spot. By the way, I was satisfied. It¡¯s fun to be with him like this. His reactions are good, aren¡¯t they? Of course, my satisfaction waned a bit when I saw the nonsense post on S the next day. -KoreanVige: I stamped my foot on ¡®that tower¡¯ in Gangnam, Seoul, lol. -KoreanVige: Is this the famous dungeon they¡¯re talking about? There¡¯s nothing special here. These Awakeneds always make a fuss, but they¡¯re just dying in this cheap dungeon? (Photo of the 79th floor lobby) (Photo of the 1st floor elevator) -KoreanVige: I brought a proof shot with my ability item. Take a good look and see if your mom and dad¡¯s faces are missing here, lol. As expected, the proof shots uploaded by KoreanVige viin were the instant photos I handed to Aryeon. The reactions poured in like wildfire. -Anonymous: Where is this? ©¸ BookGirl: It¡¯s obviously the Sauron Tower. ©¸ Anonymous: ?? This guy raided the Sauron Tower alone and came back in one piece? -[Three Thousand] Cadet: Seriously, what¡¯s up with this KoreanVige viin? Is this aggro-seeking personality really a hidden master? -[Baekhwa] 6th Grade High Schooler: Eww. :3;; -Anonymous: Haha, SasGot-RyeoJangHam, lol. -[Satisfied] CookingQueen: Very interesting indeed. Hmm. I nced over at Aryeon, who was sitting in the guild lounge, ying with his phone. ¡°Heh, hehe¡¡± Aryeon, lying sprawled on the couch, looked happy. Very much so. Perhaps true anomalies are like that, aren¡¯t they? 4 Epilogue. In the very next run, I grabbed takeout with Seo Gyu at Busan Station and then researched ¡°Sauron¡¯s Tower¡± on the inte. It was still early in the period when civilization had just begun to charge towards extinction. Images of hotel vouchers were easily avable on the inte. And I manipted the hotel voucher with that image file. Well, the barcode was messed up, but anyway, the creatures wouldn¡¯t really be able to check the barcode, right? So, armed with this voucher (top-tier presidential suite, room size 145m2, including meals, regr price for one night 8 million won), I visited ¡°Sauron¡¯s Tower¡± alone once again. The result? ¡°Yes, your reservation has been confirmed, Mr. Jang. We will serve you with the best service.¡± ¡°Oh¡.¡± Surprisingly, the reservation went through! Thanks to that, that night I not only enjoyed dinner at a high-ss restaurant after a long time but also took a bath while enjoying the beautiful Seoul night view outside the window. Wherever I went in the hotel, the staff greeted me with a smile and treated me kindly. ¡°It¡¯s like living the dream.¡± The next morning, I tried taking a photo of the meal ced on the table for breakfast. Click- While waiting for the film to develop, I enjoyed the delicious seaweed soup. And finally, I looked down at the photo that came out. ¡°Hmm¡.¡± I won¡¯t reveal what was in that photo here. But I¡¯ll just say that if anyone ns toe here for fun, they should definitely choose someone with a very strong stomach. Ah. Of course, Aryeon won¡¯t being. ¨C Explorer. The End. [Trantor ¨C Jjsecus] [Proofreader ¨C Gun] Chapter 31 â€“ Creator I Chapter 31 ¨C Creator I [Trantor ¨C Jjsecus] [Proofreader ¨C Gun] Chapter 31 ¨C Creator I 1 Among those who have listened to my story so far, there might be some who wonder about this. So, what is the government doing? In the midst of all this chaos, with cults babbling nonsense, Cthulhu tentacles slithering around, and world tree zombies sprouting in this crazy apocalypse, what exactly are politicians and the government doing? Firstly, there¡¯s something I want to say to those people. ¡°Hey, guys, the Korean government has something to say!¡± That¡¯s right. We should also consider the government¡¯s perspective. You¡¯ve probably already heard that as soon as the gate opened in Seoul, the National Assembly building shot off into space. By the way, at that time, the president was busy giving a budget speech in the National Assembly. It was truly an awe-inspiring moment when South Korea suddenly ascended to be a leading nation in the era of space exploration. The unity between the ruling party and the opposition didn¡¯t happen on the pitiful Earth but rather on a new colony named Space. From the perspective of politicians, isn¡¯t Korea just a pitiful homnd of the past? Like the Portuguese royal family, who moved their headquarters to Brazil to escape Napoleon, the Korean government also went on a summer vacation. Q) What remains on the Korean Penins now? A) A few members of parliament, ministers, governors, mayors, and a whole lot of monsters who didn¡¯t even bother attending the budget speech. Foolishly, politicians wasted three days even when the social infrastructure hadn¡¯tpletely copsed yet. You¡¯d realize if you experienced it firsthand, three days in an apocalypse are enough to drive people insane. There weren¡¯t many brave souls who could keep it together even after hearing news like ¡°Oh, monsters are having a gathering in our apartmentplex¡¯s park and parking lot!¡± And finally, on the third day, the government or rather the remnants of the government delivered a grand speech to the nation, like the grand finale of a festival. ¨C Ladies and gentlemen, South Korea is still safe. For now, please continue with your daily lives without worry. Truly a nd speech. What politicians failed to realize at that moment was the Korean people¡¯s DNA. Their DNA was imprinted with infinite trust in the government. The people of this country remembered the lightning-fast response of their ancestors when the Japanese invaded, and how the South Korean military swiftly recaptured Uijeongbu after the North Korean invasion, then defended Seoul. Being fooled once is the fault of the deceiver, being fooled twice is the foolishness of the deceived, and being fooled thrice, well, you might as well return your Homo sapiens certificate. And Koreans haven¡¯t been eliminated from the evolutionary process yet. ¡°Trusting? Yeah, right!¡± ¡°Ugh! I knew it would be like this!¡± ¡°Head south! Definitely south!¡± The civilians of the Korean Penins evacuated with surprising orderliness. ¡°Ladies and gentlemen! The area north of the Han River is still safe! Please trust the government and the military and return to¡ª¡± ¡°Who¡¯s that guy?¡± ¡°He¡¯s the Deputy Mayor of Administration.¡± ¡°What¡¯s that supposed to mean, damn.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know. Throw him.¡± ¡°Huh? Hey, hey, wait¡ª¡± The Deputy Mayor of Administration of Seoul (acting mayor in absence, third in line, and the sole survivor) attempted to stop the citizens by performing on Banpo Bridge, but Seoulites simply tossed him outside the railings, providing him with a firsthand experience of the Han River¡¯s temperature. It was a neat and somewhat extravagant throw that would have earned a standing ovation from the citizens of old Prague. Perhaps if the politicians had candidly admitted, ¡°Well, we¡¯re screwed right now, but surprisingly, the area north of the Han River is safe when considering the distribution of monsters. To be more precise, every region in the country is equally unsafe,¡± the situation might have improved. But what can you do? All that¡¯s left is to resent the ancestors who burned through the people¡¯s trust stack twice. As the Seoul Republic copsed miserably, the remaining interim governments had no choice. The mayors and governors nationwide had long engraved the phrase ¡°each for their own¡± into their hearts. The fact that the mayor of Busan, who was closest to the throne of chaos, fled to Japan was both the final straw and the decisive blow. Not long after, the ¡°Second Provisional Government of the Republic of Korea¡± was established in the Japanese archipgo, with the mayor of Busan as its head. ¡°Ladies and gentlemen. There are rumors spreading that I, as mayor, have abandoned my duties and fled. This is not true.¡± ¡°I have simply moved to the diplomatic stage to more effectively garner foreign assistance and reim the territory of the Republic of Korea!¡± However, even the staunchest supporters of the government couldn¡¯t help but chuckle at the fact that the capital of the provisional government was Fukuoka in Japan. ¡°Wasn¡¯t the provisional government supposed to be located over there? It seemed a bit more to the west?¡± Even the Japanese must have been somewhat perplexed. After all, wasn¡¯t the Provisional Government of the Republic of Korea a militant group that packed bombs in lunch boxes instead of food? What antics could these lunchbox enthusiasts get up to now, causing concern? After various twists and turns, the ¡°Second Provisional Government¡± was ultimately rejected by both its own citizens and foreigners. In my opinion, the sign was suicide. Here, with the decisive blow, there was even an attempted military coup on the Korean Penins, confusing the era for about 70 years. ¡°Ladies and gentlemen. Today, the brave soldiers of the Republic of Korea, including myself, who defend the territory of our country, have unanimously agreed that we can no longer overlook the political chaos.¡± ¡°We have overthrown the corrupt and ipetent regime, and our soldiers have taken control!¡± However, the military coup failed. The reason for the failure was simple. Surprisingly, the powerful boss-level monster, the Ten ns, turned out to be a fervent advocate of democracy. The military units heading towards the Blue House repeatedly got confused about their destination and ended up at the disguise of the Ten ns. The generals might not have known, but in fact, Ten ns had a tendency to mistake any group with over 300 personnel as a food truck. The military units that attempted to enter the ¡°Tower of Sauron¡± in the previous turn were already remnants of the fallen army. Even those remaining units gradually disappeared for various reasons. This summarizes the answer to the question ¡°So, what did the government do?¡± It was truly chaotic and messy. But when lotus flowers bloom, the mud must first umte. Even within the collective chaos of the South Korean government, a single lotus flower bloomed: Noh Doha. A level 7 civil servant who worked at a public rehabilitation hospital. He was the protagonist of this run. [Trantor ¨C Jjsecus] [Proofreader ¨C Gun] Unlike other civil servants, the reason Noh Doha could seed was ironically because he was just a level 7 civil servant. From the beginning, Noh Doha never dreamed that he could rece the South Korean government. Tax management? Electing members of parliament? Universal welfare? Why should he care about any of that? ¡°I probably shouldn¡¯t say this, but I don¡¯t really see myself as a civil servant¡¡± He often said those kinds of things to me. Not just to me, but to everyone. Even back when he was living off taxpayers¡¯ money, he probably said the same thing. ¡°I probably shouldn¡¯t say this, but I don¡¯t like the citizens¡¡± ¡°Wait, isn¡¯t that something you really shouldn¡¯t say?¡± ¡°Well, how should I put it? I¡¯m just being honest. In the world of employees, are there more who like their boss or more who dislike their boss? Isn¡¯t it thetter? Citizens are the bosses for civil servants. So, it¡¯s only natural that there are more civil servants who dislike the citizens¡¡± With his shoulders slumped, Noh Doha muttered. I first met this extraordinary character in the 11th run. I had heard bits and pieces about him before, but this was the first time I had actually formed a connection with him. ¡°All right, I got it¡¡± ¡°Oh.¡± ¡°Would you like to stand up and walk around¡?¡± Because during run 11, my left leg had been cut off, so I had to use prosthetics. I stood up from my seat. I tried walking lightly, even jogging a bit, and I even did some little hops in ce. Noh Doha meticulously observed every step of the process. ¡°How does it feel? Is there any difort¡?¡± ¡°None at all. Wow, this is performing amazingly. It really feels like my muscles and nerves are just like my own leg.¡± ¡°Well, that¡¯s a relief¡¡± Noh Doha faintly smiled. Depending on the observer, it might have seemed sinister or ominous, but due to my extensive experience as a regressor, I was quite free from such prejudices. So, I could evaluate Noh Doha¡¯s expression without hesitation as a ¡°kind smile.¡± ¡°If by any chance something goes wrong, there may be cases where it feels like a nerve-wracking pain. You can think of it as a 5% chance of a gacha failure¡ If that happens, pleasee back to me. I¡¯ll remake it for you at half price¡¡± Noh Doha was a prosthetic maker. Prosthetics referred to auxiliary devices used by disabled people with mobility difficulties. Like wheelchairs or crutches, you know, those kinds of things. He had been repairing and producing various prosthetics while working at a public hospital long before the Gate incident. He was already well-known among wounded soldiers who had lost limbs due to mines or simr incidents. They said he was a talent eagerly sought after by veterans¡¯ hospitals, but Noh Doha himself didn¡¯t seem to care much. ¡°I probably shouldn¡¯t say this, but I don¡¯t like soldiers¡¡± ¡°Just out of curiosity, does Noh Doha have any humans he likes?¡± ¡°No, I don¡¯t, but¡?¡± ¡°¡¡± He was a miracle person who hadn¡¯t be a shut-in. Even Noh Doha had concerns. Specifically, concerns about patients, or more precisely, concerns about ¡°patients with severe mobility difficulties.¡± ¡°Some of the patients seem to be having a hard time moving¡¡± Patients whose nerves in their backs had been damaged had to ride wheelchairs to get around. Even if there were cars with seats for disabled people, things were somewhat improved, but as the days went by, not only did gasoline run out, but the asphalt roads themselves became bumpy. It was difficult not only for cars but also for wheelchairs to move around. Most people would have given up at this point. Since the Gate incident began in earnest, the idea of ??having to treat disabled people became quite rare. It was an era where being killed by a monster was treated as a natural death. If it weren¡¯t for Noh Doha, I would have coolly given up on run 11 from the moment my left leg was severed. ¡°Even the elderly find it increasingly difficult toe to our workshop because the roads are so ufortable to navigate¡¡± But the owner of exceptional wit was different, indeed. ¡°Then shouldn¡¯t we make the roads a bit morefortable¡?¡± Noh Doha led the negotiations with his sagging body. At this time, despite the desensitization towards the disabled, the number of disabled people had increased dramatically. Losing an arm or a leg in battles against monsters was nothing short of an achievement. And Noh Doha was an Awakened who had gained the ability to produce prosthetics. The prosthetics made by Noh Doha, even if they were made of wood or metal, had the effect of feeling like real muscles from the user¡¯s perspective. Just put them on and you¡¯re good to go. There was no need for rehabilitation training or adaptation period. In short, among Noh Doha¡¯s ¡°regr customers,¡± there were a considerable number of Awakeneds. Most guild leaders were all nodding along with Noh Doha. Even if they themselves were fine, wouldn¡¯t they want to send their guild members to Noh Doha¡¯s workshop for prosthetics if they were injured? Noh Doha was a true civil servant who never refused a bribe. If you didn¡¯t open up to him in advance, you¡¯d hear something like, ¡°Oh, sir, your appointment has been dyed by about six months.¡± Even the guild leaders with high noses had be a bit more flexible when it came to considering the survival chances of Awakeneds missing limbs over six months. ¡°Oh, Mr. Noh. How did you end up here?¡± ¡°Oh, well¡ I was thinking about improving the road from Haeundae to Bansong-dong¡¡± ¡°The road? You, sir? Why?¡± ¡°One of the patients residing in Bansong-dongined that the road to our workshop waspletely destroyed. While finding a house in Haeundae is no big deal, I don¡¯t want to be that considerate. I was thinking of just paving the road¡¡± Normally, paving a road was a much bigger favor than finding a house, but there was no proper bnce patch in the lunatic¡¯s brain. ¡°But isn¡¯t Bansong already under the control of the guild leader? Would you be able to provide some small assistance if I were to pave the road?¡± ¡°Hmm. So it¡¯s just Mr. Noh doing the business alone?¡± ¡°Yes¡¡± ¡°Oh, well, of course we should help then! Just tell us what you need!¡± And so, a onene asphalt road from Haeundae-gu, where Noh Doha¡¯s workshop was located, to Bansong-dong in Busan waspleted. Since it was just a renovation of the existing road, the construction wasn¡¯t too difficult. Noh Doha¡¯s workshop took care of all the work and post-management. Thanks to Noh Doha, Mr. Lee, a 71-year-old patient, could safely visit, even if it took a bit longer. The patient was satisfied, Noh Doha was satisfied, and the property prices in Bansong-dong were also satisfied. That was just the beginning. [Trantor ¨C Jjsecus] [Proofreader ¨C Gun] Chapter 32 â€“ Creator II Chapter 32 ¨C Creator II [Trantor ¨C Jjsecus] [Proofreader ¨C Gun] Chapter 32 ¨C Creator II Noh Doha¡¯s patients never hesitated to praise him whenever they gathered. ¡°Wow, the road to Bansong feels so refreshing and nice.¡± ¡°Exactly. There¡¯s no bumps or cracks in the asphalt. Instead of managing unnecessarily widenes, just having a clean, pretty singlene makes such a difference, doesn¡¯t it?¡± ¡°Indeed, it¡¯s Teacher Noh. Where is Teacher Noh¡¯s hometown?¡± ¡°It¡¯s a vige called Dangil at the end of Haenam.¡± ¡°Ah, no wonder you were born in such a beautiful ce with clean water and air! We need someone like that born in our neighborhood too.¡± At first nce, it sounded like grandfathers babbling while ying baduk, but old folks tend to choose detours over straight roads. Tranting their inner thoughts would sound something like this: ¡°Envious! So envious!¡± ¡°Please pave our roads too!¡± Noh Doha was a character who passively carried human distrust and misanthropy, born into this world, yet he intuitively knew that beneath the words uttered by humans lurked vile and pathetic desires. However, this entric was incredibly generous to his patients. It was as if he had a limited edition level of favorability towards them. Just as a dictator who hated humanity would humble himself in front of a pet like a mere servant, Noh Doha also bnced his own heart in a subtle way. ¡°Elderly people¡ even to your neighborhood, would you pave the roads¡?¡± ¡°Huh? No, no, Teacher! I didn¡¯t mean to say that!¡± ¡°But you did say that¡ you said you¡¯d like it if we paved the roads, didn¡¯t you?¡± ¡°Oh, geez. It would be nice if you did, really nice. I just¡ I feel badining to you, who¡¯s already overwhelmed with work.¡± ¡°Yes. You must feel sorry. You, a patient who has nothing but age in this messed up world, clinging to a promising technician like me. Since you know you¡¯ve vented to the overwhelmed teacher, please continue to apologize to the other patients¡¡± Noh Doha visited the Guild Union. Even now, and back then, the leader of the union was arrogant. Well, to me, it felt like being called in as a mercenary captain once in a while. ¡°Wee, Teacher Noh Doha. Heard you¡¯re doing some businesstely.¡± ¡°Ah, please don¡¯t say such things¡ It¡¯s a bit embarrassing to boast about business in front of Three Thousand Worlds. I¡¯m just gathering a few old men who used to roll around in the mudpits and making a few miles of shabby roads¡¡± Unexpectedly, Noh Doha was blunt and arrogant. There wasn¡¯t necessarily a meeting of minds between them; it was more about findingmon ground in their wallets. Whenever Tang Seorin saw the physical assets Noh Doha brought in every quarter, anyone would feel a sense of deference. ¡°Why suddenly so humble in front of me? So, what¡¯s the matter?¡± ¡°Well, it¡¯s because we¡¯re doing some maintenance work on the existing roads to make it easier for patients to travel¡ There¡¯s also an issue of fairness, and you know how people are, if they feel like they¡¯re the only ones not getting something, they get upset. So, given the circumstances of the construction¡¡± ¡°Are you nning to overhaul the entire roadwork in Busan?¡± ¡°Well, yeah¡ it¡¯s actually tidier that way. But it¡¯s turned into a massive project. Each guild ims this is their territory, so they¡¯re at odds.¡± ¡°Hmm.¡± Tang Seorin adjusted her wide-brimmed hat. ¡°Could you help me organize the territories?¡± ¡°Yes, of course. If it¡¯s inconvenient, you can just call me when there¡¯s a guild meeting or something, and I¡¯ll make sure there¡¯s a seat for you¡¡± ¡°That sounds better. I don¡¯t want some guilds having fits because I seem to be milking Teacher Noh Doha. This is something the teacher should handle from start to finish, so there¡¯s no room for gossip.¡± ¡°That could be the case. Guild leaders are filled with pride and greed¡¡± ¡°Alright.¡± Tang Seorin grinned. ¡°I¡¯ll arrange a seat as soon as possible.¡± ¡°Thank you, mam.¡± Noh Doha chuckled softly. ¡°If by any chance you be a crippleter on, I¡¯ll really give you a good deal. Juste back with your brain and heart intact¡¡± ¡°¡¡± The noteworthy part here isn¡¯t the wording ¡°cripple¡± but rather ¡°a good deal¡±. There was no mention of doing it for free, even if one were to die. Noh Doha nodded goodbye and left the train carriage. Tang Seorin nced at the sofa where I was sitting. Coincidentally, I was also visiting the Three Thousand Worlds Guild as a guest. ¡°What do you think?¡± ¡°Noh Doha is a good person.¡± I sunk into the sofa. The chairs were very cozy, probably because this was one of the few ces in the country where they had converted the lounge car of a luxury train. Tang Seorin looked at me sharply. ¡°Even though he insulted me?¡± ¡°To be more specific, he said ¡®if you be a crippleter¡¯. Don¡¯t take offense. Adding weight to every word he says would only tire you out, sir. Have you ever seen the Three Thousand Worlds Guild Leader witnessing Noh Doha treating patients?¡± ¡°No.¡± ¡°I¡¯ve had the opportunity to observe him closely all day.¡± This story wasn¡¯t about the current run; it was about another one. Ah, just so you know, I always tell stories as if they¡¯re unfolding in real-time, but that doesn¡¯t mean everything happened within one run. Most of the time, events unfold over several runs, and I skillfully weave them together during editing. For example, when describing the downfall of the government in this country. I¡¯m not glued to the radio 24/7, and how would I know what statements the Provisional Government and the coup forces made? Some speeches I heard in the 4th run, others in the 11th. Witnessing refugees throwing a Seoul city official out of a window only happened in the 37th run. My ¡°omniscient observer perspective¡± was gained through numerous runs and experiences. And I¡¯ve invested plenty of time to judge whether someone is trustworthy or not. Among those times were asions when I almost acted as Noh Doha¡¯s sidekick, assisting him almost like a secretary. Unfortunately, in the past runs, I wasn¡¯t present in this scene when Noh Doha visited Tang Seorin. So, his projects always ended after progressing only to downtown Busan at most. But things will be different from now on. As I mentioned, this time, I came to the headquarters of the Three Thousand Worlds Guild ¡°not by chance.¡± ¡°People who are physically ufortable often feel emotionally ufortable too. Is it only the patients themselves? Even if there are caregivers, they feel the same. Despite hearingints and curses from such people, Noh Doha has never once turned away a patient.¡± ¡°Hmm.¡± ¡°On the surface, he seems ominous and has an odd way of speaking, but it¡¯s hard to find anyone as reliable as Noh Doha, no matter where you go.¡± ¡°But he¡¯s always extorting money from Awakeneds.¡± ¡°It¡¯s a scam tailored to each person. Didn¡¯t I say? He¡¯s never turned away a patient. Would only Awakeneds with some flexibility in their wallets visit Noh Doha¡¯s workshop?¡± Tang Seorin stroked his chin. ¡°¡But still, he¡¯s someone who has been caring for patients his whole life. Can he handle big responsibilities?¡± ¡°He¡¯s not someone who adjusts responsibility to fit his size, but adjusts himself to the size of responsibility. It¡¯s okay.¡± ¡°¡¡± Finally, she nodded. ¡°Okay. If it¡¯s your character assessment, I¡¯ll trust it.¡± [Trantor ¨C Jjsecus] [Proofreader ¨C Gun] And Tang Seorin was the type to follow through hell and high water once she gave her trust. Not long after, a national guild meeting was held at sea in front of Busan. As you can guess from the term ¡°at sea,¡± a cruise ship was chartered. In reality, there was no fuel to sail, so it just docked at the pier, but even that was a luxury and extravagance that was hard to imagine in this day and age. At such formal events, figures like those from the Second Provisional Government or members of the Youth Corps were strictly excluded. Some self-proimed ¡°big shots¡± sent representatives to protest, but Tang Seorin dismissed them lightly. The Foreign Minister of the Second Provisional Government? What¡¯s that? Oh, a member of the Fukushima Korean Association. Sorry, but it¡¯s hard to hear here. Why don¡¯t youe closer and speak from across the Korea Strait? It was a meeting hall exclusively for guild masters. The only invited guest here was Noh Doha. Except for the chef, singer, and jazz band brought in for appearances, of course. ¡°Uh¡ Master¡?¡± ¡°What?¡± Noh Doha looked around at the guild masters in attendance, wearing a puzzled expression. It was an unusual sight. ¡°Maybe it¡¯s just me, but it seems like not only Busan guild masters but also guild masters from all over the country are gathered here¡?¡± ¡°Oh.¡± Tang Seorin waved her hand as if it were no big deal. ¡°Don¡¯t worry. We¡¯re getting inquiries from everywhere because we¡¯re holding a meeting. It¡¯s been so long since we¡¯ve seen each other¡¯s faces. Why not take this opportunity to extend the shelf life of our appearances?¡± ¡°Oh, I see¡¡± He was relieved. The event proceeded as follows. First, Tang Seorin, who hosted the meeting, came out and greeted everyone. Just briefly, making it clear that she wasn¡¯t the star of the show. Then it was my turn. The apuse was thunderous. ¡°Doctor! It¡¯s been so long!¡± ¡°Come visit Gangwon Province sometime. Our kids really want to see you.¡± ¡°Is Sim Aryeon doing well? Thanks to thest time you sent Sim Aryeon, we cleared the gate without any trouble.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll make sure to make a ce for you and entertain you sometime!¡± On one side of the meeting room, an elderly man in a government uniform sat with his arms crossed. This was truly a gathering of Korea¡¯s prominent Awakeneds. Sure, I was justpared to a mercenary captain, but did you know? Even Switzend, a neutral country, once made a living as mercenaries. The trust earned through mercenary work could easily be transferred to the financial sector, creating a historical precedent. In other words, among the guild masters gathered here from all over the country, it was extremely rare to find someone who hadn¡¯t owed me a favor at least once. And like diligent debtors, the guild masters were eager to repay both the principal and interest owed to the country¡¯s bank. They knew well that if they didn¡¯t repay now, they¡¯d be in for a snowball effectter. ¡°I sincerely thank all of you who have gathered here from far and wide. While these words might seem ordinary, they encapste the theme of today¡¯s meeting. The long and arduous journey. Isn¡¯t it time to take a closer look?¡± ¡°Right on!¡± ¡°Hurrah!¡± The theme of today¡¯s meeting? That was already written down and sent with the invitations. Even when the guild masters opened their letters, the Saintess shot off a message in the group chat. Something like, ¡°¡®The Saintess of Savlvation highly rmends this quest.¡± Something along those lines. The authority of Tang Seorin. My trust. The endorsement of the Saintess. It was literally a trinity. There was no greater credential in the entire Korean Penins. Probably not even in the whole world. ¡°Some of you may already know. Our eternal supporter of the Awakeneds! Thanks to this person, even if monsters chew our limbs off, it¡¯s not a problem! The owner of the ¡®Noh Doha Forge,¡¯ which has made remarkable contributions to maximizing thebat capabilities of Awakeneds! ¡And also a person with the character and personality to make even the Awakeneds who are a bit stubborn nod their heads. Ladies and gentlemen, let¡¯s give a warm wee with enthusiastic apuse! It¡¯s Mr. ¡®Artifact Maker¡¯ Noh Doha!¡± Thunderous apuse erupted. Not figuratively. Who used thunder magic? I noticed Tang Seorin leading the first p from the front row. A happy smile spread across her face. By the way, Tang Seorin had quite the temper. If someone called her an idiot, she had every intention of proving who the real idiot was. I may have portrayed only the good side of Tang Seorin, but there were times when she grabbed a rival guild master who dared to curse at her, gave them a good beating, and thenughed, saying, ¡°Oh, look who¡¯s here, a TS cutie in a ce like this? Now, who¡¯s the real idiot?¡± Of course, it was mainly because of her particrly bad blood with that guild master. Anyway, it was a good proof that she hadn¡¯t acquired her position at the helm of the Korean Awakeneds Guild Federation through poker chips. Have you ever heard the saying, ¡°Green is just another shade of blue¡±? That they¡¯re all in cahoots? It may have be lessmon now, but there was a time when I, too, was a faithful follower who rose to the position of sub-guild master under such Tang Seorin. ¡°¡.¡± With joy at being so well received by Tang Seorin and me, Noh Doha trembled all over. After receiving my introduction, Noh Doha strode up to the tform. Then he grabbed the microphone. The expression Noh Doha had at that moment was, uh¡ probably the kind he wore quite often when he was a grade 7 government official. To put it in simpler terms, it went something like this: ¡°I¡¯m Noh Doha¡..¡± Well, shit. [Trantor ¨C Jjsecus] [Proofreader ¨C Gun] Chapter 33 â€“ Creator III Chapter 33 ¨C Creator III [Trantor ¨C Jjsecus] [Proofreader ¨C Gun] Chapter 33 ¨C Creator III 3 ¡°You really gave me a hard time¡¡± As the event time wrapped up and transitioned into dinner, I took a brief excuse to step out onto the deck of the cruise ship. It was actually the main event of the day, as it wasn¡¯t often that guild leaders from across the country gathered in one ce. As soon as the drinking started, I made my way out to the deck under the pretense of needing the restroom. Noh Doha followed me like a ghost. I sighed deeply. ¡°A hard time? Me?¡± ¡°You¡¯ve really expanded the business rted to the roads¡¡± ¡°Oh, that wasn¡¯t me, that was the Union Leader¡¯s doing. I don¡¯t know why you me the innocent.¡± ¡°The Guild Master of Three Thousand Worlds¡¡± Noh Doha muttered under his breath. ¡°She¡¯s a remarkable person, but her pride is immense¡ She knows how to separate personal and public emotions, but because of that, even if things proceed publicly, her personal feelings remain unresolved and linger in her heart¡ deliberately poking at the pride of the Guild Master of Three Thousand Worlds by using the term ¡®idiot,¡¯ and then introducing me in front of guild leaders nationwide¡ It¡¯s impossible to evaluate me so highly purely as a public figure without touching her his personal feelings¡¡± Noh Doha narrowed his eyes. ¡°If the Guild Master of Three Thousand Worlds asked someone about me, and that someone made a huge fuss about me¡¡± ¡°Indeed. Who could that be?¡± ¡°When I was talking to the Guild Master of Three Thousand Worlds, there was someone in the guest reception room who might fit the bill¡¡± Noh Doha extended one of the ss cups he held in both hands. Chilled lemon tea. I took it gratefully and drank. Beyond Busan Harbor where the cruise ship was anchored, the city sprawled out into the night. The spectacle of electric lights stealing the starlight from the sky and spreading the Milky Way on the ground, as it used to be, was no longer visible. Just a little fire. A little shadow. And a lot of moonlight. The scent of the sea wafted gently from the deck. Noh Doha and I gazed at the cityscape submerged in the sound of water for a while. ¡°You really gave me a hard time¡¡± ¡°About what you said earlier. That.¡± ¡°Trying to get someone to work for free, isn¡¯t that a bitcking in conscience¡?¡± ¡°Not for free. Whatever resources, funds, manpower, or anything else Noh Doha demands, I¡¯ll try to provide as much as possible.¡± ¡°Hmm.¡± Noh Doha chuckled softly. ¡°I¡¯m the one making demands? Fine. Then how about restoring the world to its original state for me¡¡± ¡°¡.¡± ¡°When you hear the word ¡®infinite,¡¯ whates to mind? Space? Time? For me, in this world, I believe that what¡¯s infinite is human suffering¡¡± Noh Doha¡¯s tone was slightly darker than the night sky of this era. ¡°Saving one person¡¯s life? I can do that. I¡¯ve done it before. But is it over once you¡¯ve eliminated one person¡¯s suffering? Does happinesse when suffering disappears? That¡¯s entirely up to that person. It¡¯s something others can¡¯t take responsibility for. Who knows when it will end¡?¡± Even in a world like this, where no one pays attention to disabled people until the end, someone said. ¡°So, the very idea of helping others is wed. Help should be limited. Instead of helping someone throughout their entire life, you should just think of it as helping one arm that¡¯s been cut off. That way, you can take responsibility. It¡¯s something I can do, and I¡¯m very good at it¡ But.¡± Noh Doha leaned forward, looking at me. Like a snake with a long neck. The scent of freshly brewed lemon tea mixed with the sea breeze. ¡°You want me to take responsibility for the entire national roadwork, not just Busan¡?¡± His eyes, which seemed to have split the full moon in half and ced each half on his face, captured my face wlessly. ¡°Well, I can do it. I think I¡¯ll do well. But then what? Roads are infrastructure. Doctor Jang. Do you happen to know what those in charge of infrastructure are called¡?¡± ¡°The government.¡± ¡°It seems like you¡¯re negative about privatization projects. Correct¡¡± Noh Dohaughed long. Clouds cast shadows on the crescent moon. ¡°I, I have no intention of taking responsibility for everyone¡¡± ¡°¡.¡± ¡°Dealing with someone who has be disabled is one thing, but I have no intention of dealing with a country that has be disabled. Understand? Right now, I should be introducing myself and ttering in front of guild leaders, but as the roads start to beid out one by one, it will be the guild leaders who kneel before me. Oh, a new ruler of the broken world. The king of the Korean Penins. Sounds sweet, doesn¡¯t it? But¡ I don¡¯t like it. Why? Because they¡¯re handing me power, do you think I¡¯d like that? Screw that¡¡± ¡°Noh Doha.¡± ¡°Oh, are you offended by some self-fetio? Then ask the Guild Master of Three Thousand Worlds to suck you off. Ha. If you want to save the world, you should do it nobly among yourselves, not to some distant person¡¡± [PR/N: Honestly don¡¯t know where that came from. I think this noh doha person is a pervert.] ¡°I am a regressor.¡± The hull of the cruise ship was lightly struck by waves. Perhaps because of that vibration, Noh Doha¡¯s head tilted. The lemon slices, divided like a crescent moon in the ss cup, slid down quietly. ¡°Umm¡?¡± ¡°You secretly dug a wine cer in the workshop basement, didn¡¯t you? There, you¡¯ve stored 20 bottles of Chateau de Cam 1990.¡± ¡°Uh¡¡± ¡°Among them, you also secretly took one bottle the day you decided toy a road for the elderly living in Bansong. Why Bansong? Because people there are in the most disadvantaged position. Besides, if you butter up the guild leader there who¡¯s also involved in that area, you might be able to intervene when necessary.¡± ¡°Huh¡?¡± ¡°Back when you were a civil servant, you actually won the first prize in the lottery, but you didn¡¯t tell anyone, did you? You used that money to buy wine and collect the equipment needed for the production of assurance equipment privately.¡± ¡°¡¡± Noh Doha pinched his nose with his index and middle fingers. ¡°Hmm. I see? Hmm¡ Very interesting ims. If that¡¯s true¡¡± Noh Doha looked at me intently. His gaze swept over my legs, hands, chest, and body in session. ¡°So that¡¯s always been the case. Ah, yes, definitely. Indeed, it helps to understand Doctor Jang¡¯ actions in many ways¡¡± Silence. ¡°But, even if it¡¯s true, if Doctor Jang is an ipetent human being, then it¡¯s meaningless. Oh, I don¡¯t mean that Doctor Jang is really ipetent. What I mean is, to undo the world to its original state, one must bepetent enough¡ I understand that you¡¯re sharp and all, but that alone isn¡¯t enough. Do you understand what I mean¡?¡± ¡°I understand.¡± ¡°Prove it.¡± I looked up at the night sky. ¡°Lady Saintess. Are you watching?¡± [Yes.] ¡°Please send a message to Noh Doha.¡± The Saintess did not question my judgment. She knew what kind of being I was. ¡°¡!¡± Noh Doha beside me flinched. Confusion, curiosity, and a hint of surprise shed briefly across his face. ¡°So, the Constetion was a lie¡?¡± ¡°Yes. SGNet is also operated by me.¡± ¡°Huh? Oh, because the Constetion created the site? I see. Indeed, I see¡¡± Silence. ¡°Not bad¡¡± Noh Doha¡¯s pupils rxed. ¡°Monopolizing information doesn¡¯t mean seizing the contents of the information. It means securing the gateway through which information flows. Hmm. This could all be a scam orchestrated through maniption, but conversely, if you have the ability to manipte to that extent, then you¡¯re just aspetent as a regressor¡ ¡± Noh Doha suddenly turned back towards me. ¡°If you¡¯re a regressor, how many times have you regressed? Is this your second time¡?¡± ¡°This is my 54th regression. I first met you in the 11th regression.¡± ¡°Wow, you¡¯ve been through a lot¡¡± Noh Doha seemed slightly startled. ¡°Well, yeah¡ the world needs a bit of shaking up. But there must have been plenty of other candidates besides me, right? Those perverted bastards who drool over power and crawl up and down for it¡?¡± ¡°I¡¯ve tested pretty much everyone.¡± The Second Provisional Government, the military coup factions. Even though I didn¡¯t mention it, even the most influential politicians. Noh Doha furrowed his eyebrows. ¡°I¡¯m the best out of all of them? That¡¯s unlikely. Wouldn¡¯t it be best to leave it to someone who mimics the Constetion¡?¡± ¡°Oh. That person is a genuine recluse, so it won¡¯t work.¡± [¡.] I felt the silent pressure from the Saintess, but I shrugged my shoulders. ¡°If there¡¯s one thing I¡¯ve learned from my 54 regressions, it¡¯s that anything I try to do never ends. It¡¯s simr to what Teacher said about the theory of infinite unhappiness. I have to leave areas where I can¡¯t intervene alone. Then people who can adapt and thrive on their own will emerge.¡± ¡°Is that me¡?¡± ¡°Even without my interference, Teacher rebuilt the roadwork in Busan with a very high probability. Last time, you went to meet the guild leader, even though I wasn¡¯t there.¡± ¡°¡.¡± In fact, that wasn¡¯t the only time. At this point, it was still in the future, but in the 90th regression, when I operated a convenience store by coercing the fairy of the tutorial, Noh Doha also attended thest supper held in front of the convenience store. He was the one who received praise by spreading extraordinary alcohol to the Awakeneds. And before raiding into the meteor shower with other Awakeneds for thest raid party, Noh Doha also left a note at my convenience store. [The journey here was so ufortable. I thought I was going to die carrying the wine bottles. ¨C NDH] I don¡¯t think that note left to me was just aint. It was self-reflection. If he had pushed himself even harder to build roads from city to city before the worldpletely copsed, perhaps he could have dyed the world¡¯s destruction even a little bit¨D¨D. I think it contained such regret. In the end, he was always the kind of person who carried those emotions in one corner of his heart, whether in the past or in the future. Noh Doha. [Trantor ¨C Jjsecus] [Proofreader ¨C Gun] So, could his actions and attitude be a kind of disguise? Everyone knew that Noh Doha was an important figure. However, when they heard his blunt remarks, people couldn¡¯t help but think, ¡°This person has some ws as a Homo sapien,¡± and had to take a step back. Yet, in this world, there was me. When I first saw Noh Doha, I also didn¡¯t consider him as someone particrly useful. What sets me apart from others is the constant opportunity I have to correct my own biases. In the previous regression, I observed Noh Doha¡¯s actions from start to finish in his workshop. How he treated patients, negotiated with other guild leaders, and even when the apocalypse was imminent, he checked on his patients first¡ For over nine years. The result was a pass. As I told Tang Seorin, Noh Doha was indeed a good person. ¡°You don¡¯t need to worry about failing. In fact, try to fail in various ways. The failures Noh Doha¡¯s workshop experiences this time will be handed down as data to the next Noh Doha workshop.¡± ¡°Ha¡¡± ¡°Just do what you want. Follow your gut instincts and run your business as it feels right. Eventually, the optimal route will emerge. When building an organization, try out different types of people. Ultimately, it¡¯s up to you to decide who fits into your organization.¡± ¡°Regression is a scam. You can manipte people with this kind of talk¡¡± Noh Doha scratched his temple. ¡°Hmm. I apologize for swearing at you to do self-fetio. It was also unfortunate for the Guild Master of Three Thousand Worlds¡¡± [PR/N: Not a pervert but still inappropriate bruh.] ¡°I don¡¯t mind.¡± ¡°Can you restore the world to its original state¡?¡± That was what Noh Doha said earlier. I looked straight at Noh Doha. ¡°I can¡¯t do it alone.¡± ¡°¡¡± ¡°Please help me.¡± Noh Doha sighed deeply. As if echoing the sound of the waves at night, the cold waves gently rocked the hull of the cruise ship, now permanently docked in the harbor. ¡°This is a disease.¡± The waves untouched by the light murmured, and the motionless cruise ship murmured. ¡°It¡¯s a severe epidemic. Damn carriers of infectious diseases. For righteousness or justice¡ I¡¯ve fixed countless idiots so far, but the biggest idiot was me. There¡¯s no prescription to fix oneself, no matter how hard you search or when you¡¯ll die¡¡± I didn¡¯t bother to respond. That, too, was just a confession to oneself. Noh Doha extended the cup with slumped shoulders. ¡°Alright, let¡¯s do it. Public work¡¡± *nk.* Our two ss cups clinked lightly. The scent of lemon wafted under our noses. ¡°I¡¯m counting on you.¡± ¡°Is this going to repeat forever¡?¡± ¡°If Noh Doha Workshop is capable, then yes.¡± ¡°Well, damn¡¡± There is a sequel. The next day, an official organization was established. National Highway Management Team. True to its simple name, the purpose of this organization was singr: to rapidly repair and maintain the deteriorating roadwork. It was divided by region, each responsible for rehabilitating the connecting roads between cities and towns. ¡°At this moment, the government isn¡¯t needed. It can¡¯t be sustained¡¡± A weekter, Noh Doha briefed us in front of our group. Here, ¡®us¡¯ didn¡¯t refer to guild leaders nationwide. Me. The Saintess. A ndestine meeting took ce among the group that almost always shared the fact of being regressors. Later on, there might be additions like misinterpretation, but for now, it was merely a trio. ¡°Cities will continue to be operated by influential guild leaders in each region. They act like feudal lords in a sense. Metaphorically speaking, the National Highway Management Team is just a group of bureaucrats under the royal family, defining their own positions¡¡± The Saintess raised her hand. She seemed thoughtful. ¡°Yes, what is it¡?¡± ¡°Wouldn¡¯t it lead to an excessive decrease in power?¡± ¡°Yes. The less we interfere, the better. Power expands naturally with the areas it upies, but it bes stronger when it upies areas that cannot be reced by anyone else. And we don¡¯t need vast power. It only lowers efficiency and invites corruption¡ In the era of self-sufficiency, the era where other cities are out of our concern, that¡¯s when the National Highway Management Team takes full responsibility for the connection and management of roads¡¡± Noh Doha stated with conviction. The National Highway Management Team consisted ofborers, construction workers, andbatants. Once they secured the singlene roads,batants scattered to ¡®patrol¡¯ the roads regrly. ¡°These regr patrols are more important than anything else¡¡± People trying to travel to other cities or merchants naturally followed the days when the National Highway Management Team was ¡®patrolling¡¯. Noh Doha collected designated usage fees from them. ¡°Usage fees, or rather, taxes in reality¡ Still, if we call it taxes, there will be immediate resistance, so we¡¯ll stick with usage fees until the end¡¡± Cities connected by roads also had to pay road usage fees. Of course, they could use the roads without permission, but in that case, they had to protect themselves from monsters or other dangers that might attack the roads. ¡°It¡¯s important to portray it as if there are plenty of other options avable and actually give people a choice. Belief in it not being coercion but rather their own choice is crucial. That¡¯s when the significance of the National Highway Management Team¡¯s existence is firmly imnted in people¡¯s minds¡¡± Guilds could also form alliances to use the roads amongst themselves. However, if they wanted to travel to distant cities, they had to pass through waypoints and pay taxes to the guilds of each city along the way. ¡°It must be quite a hassle, huh¡?¡± It was much more rational to pay a slight tax to the National Highway Management Team and travel with their added protection. With both ordinary people and Awakeneds entrusting their travels to the National Highway Management Team, Noh Doha¡¯s influence naturally increased. The selected members of the National Highway Management Team began to serve a role simr to ¡®diplomats¡¯. Even hostile guilds, which would only fight if they were confronted, found it rtively easier tomunicate when the National Highway Management Team was ced as a buffer. Noh Doha utilized the rtionships, pride, andpetitive psychology of prominent guild leaders in each city to extract maximum efficiency. Of course, there were numerous trial and errors. No, there were many. ¡°These damn bastards¡¡± Sending them out for diplomacy, only to find the National Highway Management Team members sitting idly, becamemon. Some turned out to be spies sent by other guilds. Choosing the fastest route sometimes led them to pass through monster dens more often than not. Nevertheless, the National Highway Management Team gradually established its position. Isn¡¯t it true that one of my skills is truly perceptive? For some reason, Noh Doha looked at me with eyes filled with hatred. ¡°When we go to the next session, make sure to pass on the data of my failures to me.¡± ¡°What should I tell you?¡± ¡°That I¡¯m enjoying sucking on honey, you motherf*cker¡¡± I ryed it. Noh Doha¡¯s reaction to the 55th session was sinct. ¡°Bullsh*t.¡± ¨C Creator. The End. [Trantor ¨C Jjsecus] [Proofreader ¨C Gun] Chapter 34 â€“ Taxpayer I Chapter 34 ¨C Taxpayer I [Trantor ¨C Jjsecus] [Proofreader ¨C Gun] Chapter 34 ¨C Taxpayer I It¡¯s often said that in modern Korean fantasy, the appearance of bureaucrats is so frequent that it¡¯s almost suspicious. ¡°Hello ¨C Oh, are you here to enter the gate? Can I see your Hunter license?¡± ¡°Oh dear. It seems my license has expired, sir. In that case, I can¡¯t let you in. Please hurry to the Hunter Management Office to renew it.¡± ¡°What? Just this once, could you let it slide? Huh, who does this person think we are?¡± For example, ¡°Gate Management Official.¡± Driven by their love for East Asian bureaucrats to the point where even Yama, the ruler of Hell, applies a bureaucratic system, these bureaucrats are enthusiasts. If they were true East Asians, instead of feeling fear at the monster wave, they should, through education, establish a national system of Great Monster ¨C Mid-Level Management Monster ¨C Low-Level Management Monster bymenting, ¡°No, those barbaric monsters are still ignorant and unfortunate, unable to awaken to civilization!¡± How could you make exceptions in the midst of such chaos at the end of the century, with the exercise of strict nationalw? Of course, in our world, there were no Gatekeepers, but there were other types of civil servants. ¡°Doctor.¡± ¡°Yes?¡± ¡°It¡¯s almost June. Have you filed yourprehensive ie tax return with the National Tax Service?¡± ¡°Oh.¡± I snapped to attention at Noh Doha¡¯s words. ¡°Yes, that¡¯s right. It¡¯s already that time. Thank you for reminding me.¡± ¡°Huh. If you procrastinate because it¡¯s bothersome, it¡¯ll give you a headacheter. You¡¯ll just collect it whenever you want. Once you finish your work today, why don¡¯t you rush to the tax office¡?¡± ¡°You¡¯re right. Well, I probably won¡¯t be able to pay my taxes anyway¡ I¡¯ll just handle it quickly ande back.¡± That¡¯s right. In an era where the military¡¯s rage that once burned youth was forgotten, and the parliamentary badge of honor was buried in the sand, and nobody cared about such things anymore, in an era where survival had be a vulgar joke¡ª The National Tax Service still existed. Today, let¡¯s talk about thest legacy of the South Korean government, the traces of the copsed building, a trivial oddity called the ¡®National Tax Service Tax Office.¡¯ 2 *Katalk* [PR/N: I think it¡¯s Kakaotalk, I could be wrong tho.] The first time I received that familiar yet unfamiliar Katalk notification was in the 56th session. It was a spring day on May 4th. ¡°¡Huh?¡± At first, I thought my ears were ying tricks on me. Ever since Earth¡¯s genre spectacrly shifted to apocalypse fiction after the copse of the drift, words like ¡®phone,¡¯ ¡®text,¡¯ munication,¡¯ and the like were deleted from our humannguage dictionary. ¡°Did you just hear a Katalk sound?¡± With a feeling of disbelief, I opened my smartphone. But of course. Almost a yearter, the red letters [1] boldly stood out above the Katalk app. I hurriedly checked the message like a kindergarten student receiving a text for the first time. ¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D [Notification arrived] ¡°South Korea Falling Again¡± ¡°A Nation of Citizens Dying Together¡± An electronic document from the National Tax Service has arrived. Hello. We would like to inform you on behalf of the National Tax Service. May is the month for filing and payingprehensive ie taxes each year. As the National Tax Service has already calcted theprehensive ie tax for you, please check the information below and conveniently file and pay via the ARS phone call (?4444-4444). ¡ö Inquiry about filing: ?444 ¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D ¡°¡¡¡± After checking the message, my expression seemed to easepared to before. In other words, it could be said that the tension had lessened. ¡°Ugh, seriously? What the heck. It¡¯s like a ghost message.¡± Ghost message. Since the end of the century, strange urrences like this had asionally appeared. It was also due to electronic devices, including cell phones, being treated as ss 1 hazardous substances. It was an era of fiercepetition where even ghosts struggled to survive. To stand out even a little bit and appeal with a different personality, one had to aim for a variety of breeds, not just ghost messages, but also ghost calls, ghost websites, ghost radios, ghost televisions, and so on. In reality, the only safemunicationwork in the Korean Penins was S, but considering that even S had been contaminated by ¡®hero syndrome¡¯, the whole world was a safety blind spot. And the method of dealing with these ghost messages was surprisingly simple. ¡°Ignore them.¡± Just brush them off. There¡¯s an English proverb that says curiosity killed the cat. Nowadays, curiosity has leveled up, and not only cats but also humans are often hunted. In the first ce, during this period, you couldn¡¯t even find government organizations, let alone the National Tax Service, on the Korean Penins. Naturally, ignoring messages urging you to file yourprehensive ie tax was the right answer. But the very next day. ¡°Oh, brother. Did you receive a message?¡± ¡°Huh? What message?¡± ¡°That¡¯s a tax payment message from the National Tax Service. S is going crazy right now.¡± ¡°¡You got it too?¡± The situation had changed a bit. ¡°Oh, um, I¡ I got it too. A letter.¡± ¡°What? A letter?¡± ¡°Yes, um¡¡± Hesitantly, Sim Aryeon handed me the letter. The envelope was already open. ncing quickly at the letter, it contained the exact same content as the notification message. ¡°¡This is bing a serious issue.¡± A sense of foreboding slowly crept up. It felt like cold fingers tracing the spine. ¡°That, that¡¯s right? I thought the guild master was joking, but Seo Gyu and you received the same message, so¡¡± ¡°Where did you find the letter?¡± ¡°W-When I woke up, it was lying on the bed. Right next to the pillow¡¡± There was no need to mention it, but the security of my guild¡¯s hideout was at an insane level. While it was true that Koyori hadpletely destroyed the guild in the 89th run, that was Koyori¡¯s weirdness. Even if it were not Lupin himself but Lupin¡¯s grandfather, it would have been impossible for him to leave a letter in Sim Aryeon¡¯s bedroom without evading my surveince. If the opponent was human, that is. ¡°I received the same message too.¡± The testimony from Saintess sealed the deal. ¡°I woke up this morning, opened the front door, and found a letter wedged in the gap.¡± ¡°What about the other Awakeneds?¡± ¡°The same phenomenon is happening all over the country. People with smartphones received notification messages, while others received letters.¡± Saintess¡¯s usually emotionless voice lowered even further, bing more grim. ¡°And, Doctor Jang, the more important fact is that no one witnessed the moment the letters arrived.¡± ¡°Excuse me?¡± ¡°In other words, no one observed the appearance of the postal delivery person who delivered the letters.¡± That¡¯s how Saintess put it. This morning, it was an incident that urred in a guild in Incheon that Saintess was monitoring through ¡°irvoyance.¡± This guild, while not as sturdy as mine, had a fairly solid hideout. The hideout was located underground and consisted of severalyers of steel doors and several guards. In simple terms, it looked like this: ¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D ¡ö ? ¡ö ? ¡ö ? ¡ö ? ¡ö Door Guard Door Guard Door Guard Door ¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D The guards took turns standing watch, maintaining a constant vigil. In other words, this guild always had ¡°personnel who never slept.¡± Yet, this morning, as soon as the guild members opened their eyes, without exception, they all found mail under their pillows. ¡°¡.¡± ¡°The same message was sent not only to the Awakeneds but also to ordinary people. Doctor Jang, in my judgment, this ¡®National Tax Serviceprehensive ie tax letter¡¯ is not your typical anomaly.¡± [Trantor ¨C Jjsecus] [Proofreader ¨C Gun] ¡°It¡¯s not your usual oddity.¡± ¡°Yes. It¡¯s certain that this is an anomaly that affects the entire Korean Penins.¡± I couldn¡¯t help but let out a bitterugh. ¡Even if it meant bing a ghost, there was an unidentified entity trying to squeeze taxes out of people. 3 -Anonymous: Tried calling the National Tax Service as it said in the notification lol. If we were to pick the most important virtue for surviving this turbulent end of the century, it would be caution in crossing the stone bridge and not just crossing it blindly. However, among the Awakeneds, there were asionally daredevils who lived their lives leaving their senses at the gate. Typically, such individuals were the first to book tickets for the Samdocheon ferry, but asionally there were perfectly healthy rare species. The author of the certification post that appeared on S was one of these extremely endangered species. -Just like the notification said, I called 4444-4444. People around me strongly advised against it, but who cares, right? lol -When I dialed the number, the call actually went through? It rang for a while, and then, after a few seconds, the call connected. An operator? A receptionist? Anyway, it was a mechanical voice. -I don¡¯t remember exactly, but it probably said, ¡°This is the National Tax Service ARG application deration center. Please select the service you want.¡± -Then, a weird screen popped up on my smartphone. The background was red, and the text was white. This is a screenshot I took. The post included an image file attached by the author. ¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D National Tax Service National Tax Service ARS Application Deration Center [1. Comprehensive ie tax deration] [2. Additional corpse tax deration] [3. Non-deration of ve operation establishment] Data charges may apply in 3G, LTE environments. ¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D The image file was grainy with noise scattered throughout. Thebination of red background and white text was visually striking. This went beyond a shaky stone bridge and was more like tap-dancing on it, yet surprisingly, the author of the certification post didn¡¯t stop there. -As soon as I saw the words ¡°additional corpse tax¡± and ¡°ve operation establishment,¡± I gotta admit, I was a little scared lol. This is the first level of fear right here. -The most intact prehensive ie tax deration¡¯ was clicked. Anyway, since it was about ie tax, it was also mentioned in the notification. -When I clicked, there was noise, and then an operator¡¯s voice came on, saying to enter my resident registration number. It had been so long since I entered my own resident registration number that I almost forgot it lol. -It really felt like I was actually paying taxes, but at the very end, it asked for payment to be made to an ount. But damn, where are the ounts these days? Even if I had one, the banks aren¡¯t doing business, so how would I send the money? lol -Fortunately or unfortunately, you can also go directly to the tax office to pay. They told me to go to the ¡°Pocheon Tax Office.¡± -This is the second point of fear¡ The thing is, I actually live in Pocheon lol. How do these scammers know where I live? lol -But as far as I know, the tax office in this neighborhood copsed a long time ago, so I don¡¯t know why they¡¯re telling me to go there. I¡¯ll go check it outter and post an authentication post. The post ended there. Naturally, thements exploded with negative reactions. -Anonymous: What kind of idiot calls them?? -KoreanVige: Another one bites the dust. -[National Highway] Officer: Make sure to post the authentication post. -Anonymous: If it¡¯s Pocheon, aren¡¯t all the Awakeneds there part of the same guild? It¡¯s like they have everyone¡¯s information? -LiteratureGirl: There are still people like this alive¡. -dolLHoUse: Fool. -[Satisfaction] CookingQueen: Human life is precious. Desires are fleeting. Aren¡¯t there more important things in life than trying to attract attention from others? ©¸Anonymous: As expected, CookingQueen, your words are too kind??. -[White] 6th Grade High School: Eeeek.);; -Anonymous: This scumbag is 100% doomed. I¡¯d bet my entire fortune on it?? I didn¡¯t me the post author. Instead, I decided to take advantage of this opportunity. ¡°Seo Gyu, I¡¯m going to Pocheon for a bit. Watch the house while I¡¯m gone.¡± ¡°Huh? Pocheon? Why all of a sudden¡ Oh, is it because of the authentication post on S?¡± ¡°Yeah. It¡¯s a newly emerged national emergency, but we need to confirm.¡± ¡°Wow¡ Brother, you¡¯re really diligent.¡± I lightly prepared myself and immediately headed north. It didn¡¯t feel like much of a distance from Seoul to Pocheon by my standards, and Pocheon was also the area where Sim Aryeon used to work as the ¡®Angel of Healing¡¯ back in run 50. It was a familiar neighborhood in many ways. I arrived in Pocheon in just a few hours. And during my visit to the tax office, I unexpectedly encountered someone. ¡°Huh?¡± ¡°Hmm?¡± A sturdy physique. Short, neatly groomed sporty hair. He seemed excessively robust to be living through the post-apocalyptic era. A young man who seemed to embody the concept of ¡®growing up straight and true¡¯ in reality. ¡°Oh, um. I¡¯m sorry. You seem to recognize me¡ I¡¯m not very good at remembering faces in general. Where did we meet?¡± The young man didn¡¯t recognize me. Instead, there was a slight sense of caution, as if he was wary of a stranger he hadn¡¯t seen in his neighborhood. But I possess the [Perfect Memory] ability as a congenital insider. Thanks to it, I could recognize most Awakened. Especially in this case, the other person¡¯s face was quite familiar. ¡®Isn¡¯t this Lee Jooho?¡¯ Lee Jppho. He was the victim of his father¡¯s humiliation by ¡®KoreanVige Viin¡¯ Sim Aryeon in run 50. Yet he was also forgiving enough to forgive Sim Aryeon. Thepassionate young man stood there with a backpack, heading towards the Pocheon Tax Office. He held a smartphone in his right hand. ncing discreetly, I noticed the familiar S homepage on his smartphone screen. ¡®No way.¡¯ Suddenly, a realization struck me. ¡°¡Were you the one who wrote the authentication post?¡± I always feel it, but¡ The world is truly small. [Trantor ¨C Jjsecus] [Proofreader ¨C Gun] Chapter 35 â€“ Taxpayer II Chapter 35 ¨C Taxpayer II [Trantor ¨C Jjsecus] [Proofreader ¨C Gun] Chapter 35 ¨C Taxpayer II 4 ¡°Oh! You¡¯re Doctor Jang! I¡¯ve heard about you here and there. I apologize for not recognizing you earlier.¡± As they exchanged pleasantries, Lee Jooho¡¯s wariness melted away like the warm spring sun. This is why people should do good deeds and build up their reputation. Even when meeting someone for the first time, you get a natural +20% affinity buff. Why not umte some virtue? ¡°Oh, don¡¯t worry. It¡¯s all just formality. Thank you for your kind words.¡± ¡°Haha. Our guild is rtively small, so we were only at the level of the second or even third tier in the Ten ns subjugation. I¡¯ve only seen you from afar. Oh, if it¡¯s not too much trouble, could you please sign here?¡± ¡°Oh dear, I¡¯m not a celebrity, so I feel a bit embarrassed.¡± Despite saying that, I smoothly took out a pen from my pocket and popped off the cap. It wasn¡¯t exactly a ceremonial gesture, but I always carry a pen because I often get asked for signatures. Doctor Jang. I wrote the three characters in a flowing style. It was calligraphy imbued with the essence of a regressor¡¯s life. As soon as he saw my signature, Lee Jooho¡¯s eyes widened. ¡°Wow, your handwriting¡ it¡¯s really impressive.¡± ¡°Thank you. I learned calligraphy just for the fun of seeing reactions like yours.¡± ¡°Huh? Oh, I see. Haha.¡± A seasoned regressor learns specialized ice-breaking techniques tailored to different personality types. In truth, there weren¡¯t many people on the Korean Penins whom I couldn¡¯t get along with if I set my mind to it (except for those rare cases like Noh Doha, who was a dumpster fire of mistrust, hatred, malice, and contempt towards the world). In less than five minutes, Lee Jooho and I formed a rapport. ¡°Oh, so¡ Senior, did you intentionallye here after seeing the post I made on SGNet?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°Wow, I feel so embarrassed¡¡± Sure enough, the anonymous member who wrote the verification post turned out to be Lee Jooho. During the time when Sim Aryeon insulted his father, around the 50th run, Lee Jooho used the nickname ¡®JustJoined¡¯ on SGNet. In his first post back then, Lee Jooho wrote something like this: ¨C I usually operate anonymously, but I joined to make this post. So, it meant that unless Sim Aryeon insulted his father in a run, Lee Jooho would continue to operate anonymously. ¡°What¡¯s there to be embarrassed about? We¡¯re on a mission to uncover the identity of this mysterious figure. If you¡¯re okay with it, I¡¯ll assist you, Mr. Lee Jooho.¡± ¡°No! Of course, it¡¯s fine! If Senior Doctor Jang helps, it¡¯ll be absolutely fantastic!¡± The cheerful atmosphere between us onlysted until we reached the steep uphill leading to the Pochon Tax Office building. ¡°Hmm.¡± ¡°Um¡¡± The hesitant ¡®hmm¡¯ was from me, and the perplexed ¡®um¡¯ came from Lee Jooho. Let me say it again. The Tax Office building stood toweringly ahead. Yeah. Clean-cut, as if the end of the century had never arrived. [Thank you for your diligent tax payment ¨C Pochon Tax Office] [May is the period for finalizing and reportingprehensive ie taxes. Reporting and payment period: May 1st to May 31st] [Diligent tax payment, fair taxation! Creating a future together with taxes] The surrounding buildings were nothing but ruins. In contrast, the Tax Office building had a pristine gray exterior, with banners hanging neatly from top to bottom without a single w. ¡°Mr. Lee Jooho, was that building always intact?¡± ¡°Excuse me? Oh, no, it wasn¡¯t. Um, there was a big fire here not long ago. All the buildings copsed then.¡± Lee Jooho looked up at the building with unease. ¡°Huh. It definitely was like that¡¡± ¡°Then the building itself must be void.¡± Perception alteration with environmental maniption. It was quite a high-level void. Perhaps due tost night¡¯s rain, the surface of the moistened building shimmered like insect shells. And then it happened. ¡°Uwaaah!¡± Someone rolled out of the building. Both Lee Jooho and I reflexively drew our weapons, but the other person didn¡¯t seem to pay attention to our armed state. ¡°My leg! Aaah! Help me!¡± Because he was missing a leg on his right side. As the man tumbled out of the entrance, blood sttered in all directions. Lee Jooho furrowed his eyebrows. ¡°Park Sanghyun?¡± ¡°Do you know him, Jooho?¡± ¡°Um, yes, well¡ He¡¯s not an Awakened, but he¡¯s been wandering around this area like a thug, intimidating the neighborhood adults. Senior Jang, you don¡¯t need to remember him.¡± From Lee Jooho¡¯s tone, you could sense his disdain for such individuals. ¡°It¡¯s surprising that someone like him is still alive.¡± ¡°He¡¯s the son of the former guild leader who passed away. So, it¡¯s awkward for our guild to treat him like aplete stranger¡¡± Because of family ties. ¡°Lee Jooho! Mr. Jooho!¡± The other person seemed to notice us and waved urgently. Hmm. Since Shanks lost an arm, that person must be a lower-body Shanks. ¡°Please help me!¡± ¡°Hmm. What¡¯s going on?¡± ¡°Suddenly, a building appeared, so I went inside¡ It¡¯s insane in there! Ugh, no, please just save me for now! My head is spinning¡¡± nk- A strange noise echoed from the entrance of the building. The man known as Park Sanghyun froze, his whole body tense. ¡°Oh, they¡¯reing! Hey! Quickly! Save me!¡± The noise was akin to metal nging. If expressed with onomatopoeia, it was close to ¡®nk nk¡¯ or ¡®clunk clunk¡¯. From inside the Tax Office building, beyond the entrance hole, came the nking sound. It was getting closer. ¡°What, what are you doing? I said save me! Hey! Lee Jooho! If I die, Mr. Dongwook won¡¯t just let it slide!¡± I nced at Lee Jooho. ¡°Do you not want to help?¡± ¡°¡He was a bit of a troublemaker even within the guild. If he¡¯s eaten by the monster, it wouldn¡¯t tarnish our guild¡¯s reputation.¡± Finally, the nking noise approached right behind Park Sanghyun. He screamed and somehow managed to crawl frantically in a fetal position. But he didn¡¯t get far before his ankle was grabbed, and he was pulled back with a jerk. ¡°Aaaah! No, stop! I don¡¯t want this! Save me! Aaah, no-¡± Park Sanghyun¡¯s body was dragged into the building¡¯s mouth in an instant. It was over in the blink of an eye. For a while, screams echoed down the corridor, but it didn¡¯tst long. About a minute passed. Everything fell silent. ¡°Do you still intend to go in there?¡± ¡°Hmm¡¡± Lee Jooho¡¯s expression deepened. But there was no need to ponder for long. The screams stopped, and shortly after, someone walked out of the Tax Office building. -Hello. Are you here to file your taxes? ¡°¡..¡± ¡°¡..¡± The reason we couldn¡¯t immediately answer the person¡¯s question was several-fold. First, it was obvious that someone emerging from the abnormal void of the building couldn¡¯t be normal. Second, although the figure superficially resembled a human and was dressed neatly like a receptionist, their two legs were somehowpletely viting regtions. Not exaggerating, their hair was as disheveled as andslide, falling down past their hips, covering not just their face but their upper body as well. Through the tangled mess of hair, their voice trickled out. But my inner Confucianism snob cried out ¡®Stop!¡¯ at the thought of just brushing off even that person¡¯s hairstyle as a matter of personal preference. Moreover, with the constant shaking of their head from side to side, wouldn¡¯t that wild mess of hair be swaying like a seesaw? Nowadays, it seemed that civil servants listened to heavy metal music during working hours. Thirdly, and most importantly¡ Even though this ¡®something that looked like a civil servant¡¯ was holding a 30cm-long pair of scissors in their right hand. nk nk nk- The source of the strange noise we had been hearing was indeed those scissors. With each movement of the des, stters of blood flew out. It was truly a shocking sight. Even if the ¡®civil servant¡¯ standing before us normally enjoyed gardening, it didn¡¯t seem likely that bringing scissors to work would be tolerated under civil service regtions. ording to Article 8-2 of the ¡°Republic of Korea Civil Servants Duty Regtions¡± (Dress and Appearance), it explicitly stated, ¡®¢Ù Civil servants must maintain a neat appearance during work hours.¡¯ ¡°Tax.¡± The civil servant tilted their head. With each movement of their hair, an unbearable smell of gasoline wafted through the air. ¡°Are you here to file your taxes?¡± ¡°Uh, um¡¡± ¡°Yes.¡± In ce of the hesitant Lee Jooho, I stepped forward. ¡°I received a text aboutprehensive ie tax and came here. Is this the Pochon Tax Office?¡± ¡°Yes. That¡¯s right.¡± The civil servant¡¯s head twisted towards me. ¡°This month is the reporting period. Could you show me your ID card for identification?¡± [Trantor ¨C Jjsecus] [Proofreader ¨C Gun] What to do. Taking out a sword and chopping off a monster¡¯s head here would be easier than a ten-step bit. But the ¡®Monster Response Manual: Punch First¡¯ was only effective for Awakeneds like me. No matter how powerful a country is, it¡¯s impossible to deal with all the monsters in the world at once. A ¡®strategy¡¯ only had meaning if it could be referenced by everyone, even those much weaker than me. Especially for monsters like this prehensive ie tax monster,¡¯ appearing nationwide. ¡°Mr. Jooho, it seems best to y along for now.¡± ¡°¡Ah. Yes. Here it is.¡± Lee Jooho hesitated before pulling out his ID card from his worn-out Hermes leather wallet. Since he didn¡¯t seem to have a preference for luxury items, it was probably a family heirloom. ¡°Thank you. I¡¯ll quickly verify your ID card.¡± The civil servant took the ID card and disappeared it into their hair. Crackle- A rustling noise came from the other side of the curtain-like hair. Maybe you could hear that sound if they were biting the ID card with their front teeth. ¡°¡No, my ID¡¡± -Confirmed. 26 years old. Mr. Lee Jooho. You¡¯re a resident of Pocheon. Your ie seems quite low. So, the total tax you need to pay today, including body tax and ve tax, amounts to 100 grams. ¡°A hundred grams?¡± Ah. Indeed, this type of monster. -We can also proceed with tax payment on your behalf, Mr. Lee Jooho. Would you like us to do that? ¡°Well, um, I¡¯m not sure what¡¯s going on¡¡± ¡°Wait. Hold on.¡± I grabbed Lee Jooho¡¯s shoulder. ¡°Yes?¡± ¡°When monsters offer deals, you can¡¯t just nod along obediently. Did you see that guy, Park Sanghyun, earlier?¡± ¡°Yes? Ah, yes.¡± ¡°He was probably collecting taxes.¡± ¡°¡?¡± ¡°Mr. Jooho, your tax came out to be 100 grams, right? What if it was 50 kilograms?¡± ¡°¡!¡± Lee Jooho¡¯s eyes widened. ¡°Um, then? What about me?¡± ¡°Yes. Most likely, the tax this prehensive ie tax monster¡¯ is talking about must be paid with a part of the human body. Even though 100 grams may seem small, depending on which part of the body it¡¯s from, it could make a huge difference. What if they take an eyeball?¡± ¡°Wow¡¡± ¡°As you can see, I¡¯m an expert on monsters. Leave this to me.¡± I took out a stic bag and tied a knot with my finger. ¡°And let me ask you this¡ Mr. Jooho, you¡¯re not particrly concerned about your hairstyle, are you?¡± ¡°¡What?¡± A momentter. Lee Jooho¡¯s already short hair evolved into a mini-mountain. Inside the white stic bagy a grim sight. Lee Jooho was dismayed. ¡°Aaaah¡¡± ¡°Hmm. This is quite a bit short of 100 grams. Take this, ande back after urinating for a bit.¡± ¡°¡Senior, you¡¯re quite something.¡± Why? What¡¯s the point of feeling embarrassed and useless when dealing with monsters. Anyway, Lee Jooho managed to fill the stic bag with all his might. The civil servant received the stic bag from Lee Jooho. -Tax payment confirmed. ¡°¡¡± -We earnestly request your continued participation in diligent tax payments. Thank you. The civil servant bowed slightly and returned to the tax office building. Lee Jooho looked at me, his expression asking, ¡®Is this really happening?¡¯ I smiled warmly. ¡°To be honest, if it wasn¡¯t for the urine or saliva, I was considering cutting off a few fingers to make up for it¡¡± Well, since it happened, it¡¯s sort of a happy ending, isn¡¯t it? There¡¯s an epilogue. -Anonymous: Isn¡¯t this the Comprehensive Ie Tax Monster? LOL When I returned to Seoul, I found that Lee Jooho had started posting follow-up stories on S. -Anonymous: When you say you¡¯ll reportprehensive ie tax, a freak with long hair suddenly appears and asks for your ID. If you just give it to him, he¡¯ll calcte the tax for you. I wonder what happens to those who lost their IDs¡ -Anonymous: Mine came out to be 100 grams, so I immediately shaved my head and peed in a stic bag to hand it over. Then, that stupid ghost happily left. LOL -Anonymous: From my perspective, if you get an alert aboutprehensive ie tax, don¡¯t ignore it. Just run to the tax office right away and ask how much your tax is. If it¡¯s around 100 grams, just pay it right then and there. But if it¡¯s something like 50 kilograms, collect urine in a big trash can until May 31st. Then, you might be able to bypass the monster easily¡ -Anonymous: Anyway, everyone, don¡¯t be scared and pay your taxes diligently. LOL ¡°Hmm.¡± As requested, the post also contained effective strategies to defeat the ¡®Comprehensive Ie Tax Monster¡¯. Other members were amazed. -Anonymous: Wait, they actually came back in one piece¡? Since then, there was a flood of certification posts on S where members returned after paying their taxes at their local tax offices. -GoryeoGeneral: I got taxed 300 kilograms. Anyone got higher than me? -LiteratureGirl: 10 kilograms would be the average on S, right? -Anonymous: Damn, they told me to pay 500 kilograms in taxes. What do I do? -[Satisfied] CookingQueenBee: I received a tax refund this time. The civil servant gave me a box as a gift, but I wonder what¡¯s inside? It became somewhat of a tax challenge, with a subtlepetition emerging about who got taxed the heaviest. It could be seen as a rare case where the monster became a kind of toy. In the end, it was impossible to determine the criteria the Comprehensive Ie Tax Monster used to calcte taxes. The current situation, where taxes were paid to monsters instead of the human government, was quite amusing¡ ¡®Well, it¡¯s just the way things are.¡¯ With a much lighter heart, I headed to the tax office myself. Originally, when arge void erupted in Seoul, all the buildings south of the Han River disappeared. However, every May, limited to that time, the tax office building inexplicably appeared, only to vanish again by June. Admiring their determination to somehow devour taxpayers¡¯ money, I visited the Banpo Tax Office, where the same scissor-wielding ghost with messy hair as the Pocheon Tax Office appeared. ¡°Hello. Can you please show me your ID for identification?¡± ¡°Yes, here it is.¡± ¡°Thank you. Let me check your ID for a moment. Twenty¡¡± There was a pause. The ghost, which had been gnawing on my ID, suddenly stopped moving. Then, it began trembling all over. ¡°¡?¡± ¡°Twenty, ten, twenty-six, twenty-seven, eight, nine, sixteen, twenty-four, ten thousand, one hundred, two hundred, shovels, seven-seven-seven-seven, seven-seven-seven, four hundred, five hundred and seventeen.¡± Boom! The ghost¡¯s body rapidly inted and then exploded, spewing ck bodily fluids in all directions. It literally exploded like a balloon. ¡°¡¡± I picked up my ID, which had fallen to the ground, and put it back in my wallet. As I straightened up, I noticed that the Banpo Tax Office building had vanished like an illusion. I was left alone in the empty field. ¡°Hmm.¡± ¡It seemed that the day I, a doctor, would pay taxes was noting anytime soon. ¨C Taxpayer. End. [Trantor ¨C Jjsecus] [Proofreader ¨C Gun] Chapter 37 â€“ Father and Son II Chapter 37 ¨C Father and Son II [Trantor ¨C Jjsecus] [Proofreader ¨C Gun] Chapter 37 ¨C Father and Son II 3 There¡¯s no one who knows the geography of the Korean Penins as well as I do. Even Kim Jeongho, who created the Great Map of the East, would have to concede to me. It¡¯s not a joke; he didn¡¯t even cover the whole country. I mean, I went all the way to a closed-down inn in Onyang just to catch a glimpse of Udumbara! Since the establishment of the National Road Management Authority in the 54th run, my navigation app in my head has be even more sophisticated. No matter how capable Noh Doha was, it was impossible to manage all the roads in the country. There was a shortage of manpower and resources. Roads from city to city had to be limited to just one, and it had to be restored to just a singlene. Tunnels were particrly dangerous. They were either already copsed or at risk of copsing in the future, making them dangerous. And if they were intact without copsing, they were even more dangerous. Because dark and gloomy tunnels¡ were terrain that monsters especially loved and went wild for. With 70% of the country¡¯snd being mountainous, the Korean Penins¡¯s preference for tunnels was fatal. Oh, of course, not as much as Japan. Their ¡°tunnel¡± situation is really serious. I¡¯ll deal with that separatelyter. Anyway. The National Road Management Authority had to find ways to bypass all the tunnels and connect city to city. If it was too difficult, they had to carve out new roads, even if it meant cutting through mountains. The so-called ¡°Road Clearance¡± operation. It was a project almost at the level of a national project. ¡°Doctor Jang, thank you for your hard work¡.¡± Of course, this n was entirely entrusted to me. ¡°Got it.¡± I didn¡¯tin to Noh Doha either. This project was originally assigned to me. For example, if you had to go from Busan to Daegu, which road should you prioritize as a singlene for the most effective route? Here, ¡°effective¡± didn¡¯t simply mean taking the least amount of time. Rather, time was a rtively low priority factor. The most important thing was: how far away from the monsters¡¯irs? Are the territorial boundaries clearly secured? Especially, how many rest points, ¡°middle checkpoints where patrol units can safely camp,¡± can be secured? If you want to be a bit more ambitious, it¡¯s better to be closer to a water source. But since dams could copse at any time, it was better to stay far away from them if you didn¡¯t want to risk being swept away. There¡¯s no need to mention bridges. In other words? ¡°This project has too many aspects to consider.¡± Yes, that¡¯s right. Only I could handle such a task. No matter how smart someone was, sitting at a desk and trying to draw up a convincing roadwork was useless. What could you do when the map spread out on the desk was so old? All the maps we could get our hands on were antiques made before the Gate Incident even happened. In the end, there was no alternative but for me to personally go out and explore. Sure, there were a few satellite photos, but considering the very detailed parts that could not be discerned from those alone, it wasn¡¯t enough. But in a world like this, where everything had gone to ruin, who else could roam around the entire country like it¡¯s a walk in the park? There were two only infinite regressors. ¡°I¡¯ll be counting on you from now on. Saintess.¡± [Yes. I¡¯ll support you.] From the 54th to the 56th run, I traveled all over the country, sweating profusely, filming Road Movies exploring every nook and cranny. Sometimes I moved with patrol units, but most of the time, I wandered around alone. Well, I wasn¡¯t that bored because I could always chat through telepathy with the Saintess. If I were topile the travelogue of these three runs separately as a side story and publish it, the title would be something like ¡°I¡¯m an Infinite Regressor in a World That has Gone to Ruin, but I¡¯ll Travel Leisurely with the Saintess¡¯s Voice Alone.¡± There might not be many big events story-wise because of that, but personally, I quite liked these three runs. It was refreshing to meet more ordinary people rather than Awakened. I made quite a few connections during this time. ¡°Oh, is this the road¡ Isn¡¯t this it?¡± Kim Sieun. My first encounter with the one, who was the son of a former professional ser yer took ce in the 54th run. ¡°Excuse me.¡± ¡°Whoa? You scared me!¡± A young man in travel attire jumped in surprise. Whether to call him a young man or a boy, he was a man of that age range. He seemed particrly small in stature, which gave off that impression. Until I spoke to him from behind, he was standing still in front of the Changwon Tunnel. He was practically burying his face in a map that was muchrger than his face, unfolded and worn out from being folded and unfolded countless times. His oversized bag, which seemed a bit bulky on his small frame, was especially impressive. In short, he looked like a typical backpacker from head to toe. ¡°Who are you?¡± The only thing that was a little different was that instead of a staff, he carried a spear. He pointed the spear towards me. But the spear looked a bit shabby. It was clear that it was a homemade spear made by tightly wrapping a dagger with duct tape around the end of a staff. Actually, that was a trend among backpackers these days. If you didn¡¯t want to hear remarks like, ¡°What, traveling without a spear? Is your final destination inside a monster¡¯s belly?¡± you had no choice but to follow thetest trends. ¡°I¡¯m sorry for surprising you. I¡¯m a guild member of the Three Thousand Worlds Guild and an Awakened who participated in the Ten ns Extermination Battle.¡± ¡°Awakened¡?¡± The young man¡¯s eyes were filled with caution, but there was a hint of curiosity, like he was thinking, ¡®Should I hear this guy out?¡¯ Since the Ten ns Extermination Battle, people¡¯s attitudes toward Awakeneds had be much more amodating. It was simr to how Americans treated veterans returning home after World War II. The residents near Seoul were especially hospitable to Awakeneds. The young man seemed to be from that area or at least tried to be polite in his speech. ¡°Um. I¡¯m sorry. I startled you¡¡± ¡°It¡¯s my fault for suddenly speaking from behind. Don¡¯t worry about it. But it¡¯s better not to cross this tunnel because it¡¯s copsed.¡± The young man¡¯s expression turned grim. ¡°Huh? Why, what¡¯s wrong?¡± ¡°Can¡¯t you see? The entrance has copsed.¡± I pointed at the Changwon Tunnel. With no civilization to maintain it, the area around the tunnel was overgrown with bushes and shrubs. Only the cracked asphalt road and the tunnel entrance barely hinted, ¡°This used to be our territory.¡± The young man¡¯s voice faltered. ¡°But still, one person might be able to squeeze through somehow¡¡± ¡°I wouldn¡¯t rmend it.¡± ¡°Why not?¡± ¡°Because there¡¯s a very high chance that monsters¡ I mean, creatures inhabit it.¡± ¡°Ah.¡± Even for a young man traveling in this harsh world with just a staff and a backpack, the word ¡®monsters¡¯ held a power that made him want to give up everything. ¡°So, um, why are you here, Awakened?¡± ¡°A missing person report came in around this area. I figured someone like you would be fine, but there have been quite a few cases of people getting into trouble like the one you¡¯re in. So, I decided to block it offpletely.¡± ¡°Wow.¡± ¡°It¡¯s dangerous, so you should step back.¡± I copsed the tunnel in front of the young man¡¯s eyes. Ghostly screams echoed from inside the tunnel, but I paid them no mind. It was probably just the noise from the slimes bursting. ¡°You really are an Awakened!¡± Now that the young man witnessed that I wasn¡¯t bluffing about being an Awakened, he finally rxed his guard. Just to rify, it wasn¡¯t because he suddenly believed in the kindness of Awakeneds. It was more like he humbly acknowledged the fact that no matter how cautious he was, it wouldn¡¯t matter against an Awakened powerful enough to demolish a tunnel with a single stroke. In order to live without unnecessary stress in this broken world, it was quite important to have an objective evaluation of oneself. In that sense, the young man was quite well adapted to this world. ¡°Where are youing from?¡± ¡°Oh, I¡¯m originally from Asan.¡± ¡°No way. Did you walk here from Asan? Alone?¡± ¡°Haha. Yes.¡± The young man scratched his head as if feeling awkward. ¡°My mother¡¯s hometown is Dae Sanmyeon in Changwon. Do you know Dae Sanmyeon? It¡¯s in Changwon. Anyway, I stopped by there and were nning to head down to Busan. I thought using this tunnel would be the fastest way, but who knew it was a slime dungeon¡¡± [Trantor ¨C Jjsecus] [Proofreader ¨C Gun] ¡°Is your mother still in her hometown?¡± ¡°Oh. No, she passed away seven years ago.¡± In that moment, within me, the familiar sound effect rang out again, tingling. It was the sound of my liking for the young man increasing. What could I hide? I, Doctor Jang, wasn¡¯t old enough to cry at the word ¡°filial piety,¡± but I was a man who could shed tears at the actions. Even if I inserted familial love instead of filial piety, it would have been the same. The weakness of regressors was always love. ¡°Did you decide to travel because you wanted to see your mother¡¯s hometown at least once?¡± ¡°Yes!¡± ¡°That¡¯s really admirable. It must have been quite a challenging journey.¡± ¡°Oh, it¡¯s nothingpared to what my mother went through raising me.¡± Plus 200 points for likability! At this point, I had already decided to safely take the young man to Busan. After all, I also had to visit Noh Doha¡¯s face in Busan. Adding one more person to the group wasn¡¯t a burden at all. ¡°I was nning to go down to Busan myself after breaking this tunnel. If it¡¯s okay with you, would you like to go together?¡± ¡°Really?¡± The young man¡¯s face lit up at my suggestion. ¡°Yes. My name is Doctor Jang. It¡¯s a pseudonym. It¡¯ll be a short journey, but please take care of me.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll do my best! My name is Kim Sieun! But, please just call me Sieun.¡± ¡°Sure thing. Nice to meet you, Sieun.¡± ¡°Yes! Big brother!¡± We shook hands. There was quite a height difference, so I had to bend slightly at the waist. Honestly, I¡¯ll confess. Until this moment, I had no idea that the Kim Sieun in front of me was ¡®the¡¯ Kim Sieun. There were unavoidable circumstances hidden here. To summarize a very long and verbose exnation in just one line, the truth was that I had forgotten the name Kim Sieun all this time. Of course, in this run, it was depicted as if I continued to remember the legacy of the ser yer Kim Joocheol. But as I¡¯ve emphasized, such consistency was merely the result of my editing the text. Meeting Kim Joocheol was in the 4th run, while meeting Kim Sieun was in the 54th run. Between these two points, there were more than 500 years of time. How could I recall the past from a time when I hadn¡¯t even acquired [Complete Memory]? I started to feel strange, a sense of unease, when Kim Sieun and I were preparing for camping together. It was the day when my odd feeling, a sort of difort, started to kick in. Kim Sieun, upon receiving my question, furrowed his brow. It was as if he was asked about his thoughts on a mythical creature like a unicorn. ¡°Um¡ Well, I¡¯m not sure. I don¡¯t really know.¡± ¡°Why? Did something unpleasant happen when you were young?¡± ¡°No, it¡¯s not that¡ Um. I just can¡¯t remember!¡± I absentmindedly unfolded the sleeping bag and then suddenly opened my eyes wide. The attitude Kim Sieun showed while speaking just now. The slightly elongated tone at the end of his sentences, it was a kind of response that was very familiar to me. ¡°Wait a minute. It¡¯s quite an impolite question, but since you¡¯re an orphan anyway, I¡¯ll just ask it directly. Do you not remember anything about your father at all?¡± ¡°Huh? Um, yes¡.¡± ¡°Has your mother never mentioned anything about your father? Have you never asked your mother about him?¡± ¡°¡No. But why?¡± ¡°You¡¯ve never thought it was strange?¡± Kim Sieun looked at me with round, innocent eyes, devoid of any suspicion. Instead, there was a hint of coldness in his gaze, as if to say that I was the strange one for even caring about such things. Because. It was so natural not to think about something that didn¡¯t exist. ¡°Yes. You¡¯re right.¡± I sighed deeply. And for a long time, I gazed up at the night sky above the camping site. The connections in the world were indeed tough and terrifying. ¡°Sieun.¡± ¡°Yes?¡± ¡°Let¡¯s stop by somewhere together with me when we go to Busan.¡± 4 Meeting Kim Sieun was nothing short of a miracle. Well, I didn¡¯t exaggerate the word ¡®miracle¡¯ in a grand sense. Like all miracles, this encounter was not a sudden event that burst out of nothingness, but rather it happened due to the delicate intertwining of existing conditions. The details of those conditions could be deduced sufficiently from the personal information Kim Sieun himself disclosed. ¡°You worked in Asan before the Gate incident, right?¡± ¡°Yes. My rtive actually ran a really big mart in Asan. I did some part-time work there!¡± The part that caught my attention here was none other than the mention of ¡®Asan¡¯ as a location. If you¡¯re a Korean geography whiz, you might have sensed a hint of unease from the moment Asan was mentioned. To briefly exin, when ites to administrative divisions, Asan in Chungcheongnam-do includes the area called Onyang. Yes, Onyang. It was the area where the closed inn, the ce where the world tree ¡®Udumbara¡¯ first bloomed red, was located. If Udumbara hadn¡¯t been eradicated by me, the residents of Asan would have inevitably been infected by the virus. It was unavoidable, as it was too close to the epicenter. Although I haven¡¯t done the math, it¡¯s likely that when the world tree fully bloomed, 99% of the civilians from Asan would have perished. ¨D¨DKim Sieun would have surely been included in that list of casualties. Even if miraculously avoiding the virus, the situation wouldn¡¯t have improved. Because there were the Ten ns, the unique Michelin Guide judges of the Korean Penins. Even if the Divine Virus guaranteed immortality to humanity, if one were to sumb to the Ten ns and have their mind destroyed, there would be no hope. Until the Guild Union Army eradicated the Ten ns, all humans on the Korean Penins were simply dishes on the omakase menu of the Ten ns. In short, for Kim Sieun to survive and embark on a journey from Asan to Changwon to Busan with a homemade staff in hand, several conditions were necessary. If we were to neatly disy these conditions like an RPG quest window, they would be as follows: ©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤ [Kim Sieun Survival Route Liberation Conditions] 1. ¡°Subdue the Ten ns.¡± If the Ten ns are not eradicated and you head south from Seoul, Kim Sieun will die. 2. ¡°Subdue the World Tree ¡®Udumbara¡¯.¡± Kim Sieun is one of the people infected in the early stages of the virus. If you do not immediately eradicate Udumbara after regression, you cannot prevent Kim Sieun¡¯s death. ©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤ If I, as the regressor, hadn¡¯t existed, the difficulty level for clearing would have been unimaginable. Where else could you find someone like Kim Sieun on the Korean Penins? Countless people were in the same situation. Just looking at how they were constantly pestering me to be their witch girlfriend whenever they had the chance, it was clear that, in reality, they were individuals who would only be guaranteed survival once the Ten ns were eliminated. Subjugating boss-level monsters was akin to unlocking newly sealed areas one by one. Kim Sieun was like an NPC unlocked only in routes where the Ten ns and Udumbara were in. Of course, all this exnation was metaphorical, as the real world wasn¡¯t a game. Actual humans weren¡¯t NPCs. Therefore, there were responsibilities that humans must bear. ¡°¡So, um.¡± After hearing my exnation, Kim Sieun narrowed his eyes. ¡°You¡¯re saying that I had a father named Kim Joocheol? Because of the sealing by my brother, Doctor Jang, I lost all memories of my father.¡± ¡°Yeah. To be more specific, it¡¯s not just you, but everyone¡¯s memories that have been erased.¡± ¡°Wait, are there abilities like that?¡± Kim Sieun looked bewildered, as if he couldn¡¯t believe it. He reacted like this probably because, in reality, [Time Seal] was a fairly logical ability. In this world, there were abilities where the more you provoked on the inte, the stronger your healing ability became. Most ordinary people mistakenly thought that awakening individuals must have RPG-like abilities. But in reality, there were all sorts of bizarre and grotesque abilities. ¡°Anyway, it could be a mistake, but from my perspective, it seems highly likely that you¡¯re Kim Joocheol¡¯s son.¡± ¡°Well, I really don¡¯t feel¡¡± ¡°Have you ever shown any interest in ser during your life?¡± Kim Sieun paused. ¡°¡No, I haven¡¯t.¡± ¡°Kim Joocheol was a former ser yer. If you¡¯ve lost all memories of your father, then you¡¯ve probably lost a significant portion of your memories rted to ser as well.¡± ¡°But there are plenty of people who aren¡¯t interested in ser.¡± ¡°True. But having no memory at all is a different issue. Haven¡¯t you ever watched the World Cup? Not even once? Have you nevere across videos or articles about Korean yers who yed overseas?¡± Kim Sieun fell silent. ¡°Kim Joocheol is sealed in the stadium in Busan. If this is all just my mistake and misunderstanding, then I apologize in advance. But I believe there¡¯s value in youing with me to confirm the truth at least once.¡± His deliberation didn¡¯tst long. [Trantor ¨C Jjsecus] [Proofreader ¨C Gun] Chapter 38 â€“ Father and Son III Chapter 38 ¨C Father and Son III [Trantor ¨C Jjsecus] [Proofreader ¨C Gun] Chapter 38 ¨C Father and Son III 5 ¡°Follow me this way.¡± ¡°Yes, yes¡¡± A ser stadium located in Busan. Ravaged by a monster, the outer walls of the stadium had almost copsed. In this ce, where all sorts of steel framesy scattered like debris, I visited after a long, long time. The first time I visited, I came with someone who was someone¡¯s father. On my second visit, I was with someone¡¯s son. ¡°Wow.¡± Kim Sieun, as if it was his first time in such arge stadium, looked around like a curious bird. ¡°It¡¯s so big. Does the stadium get packed on game days?¡± ¡°It¡¯s rare for it to bepletely packed. But on average, I think around 10,000 people would attend.¡± Though it had been over 500 years since Ist visited this ce, the destination was surprisingly easy to find. On one side of the stands, there was a crystal protruding, resembling something you¡¯d find deep inside a cave. It was a giant crystal, as tall as me. A mark visible only to my eyes. Personally, I called that crystal a ¡®monument¡¯ or a ¡®tombstone¡¯. Since nobody else could perceive it anyway, it didn¡¯t matter what I called it. Even Kim Sieun, right beside me, couldn¡¯t recognize the crystal looming right in front of us. ¡°Alright, take my hand.¡± ¡°Oh, okay.¡± ¡°While I can freely enter the dreams of the person I¡¯ve sealed, you can¡¯t. You can only ess the dream while holding my hand. So, no matter what happens, don¡¯t let go of my hand. Understand?¡± ¡°Got it. Hyung.¡± Kim Sieun cautiously took my hand. I nodded. ¡°Close your eyes. Prepare yourself mentally.¡± ¡°¡¡± ¡°Here we go.¡± I ced my left palm on the surface of the crystal. With a squishy sound, my hand passed through the crystal. The surface of the crystal, which had shimmered transparent like a mirror, epted my body without any resistance, as if it were made of water. With that, I took a step forward. And then another, totaling about six steps. As I walked, darkness rapidly engulfed us. It was like a mischievous child had indiscriminately spread ck paint everywhere, or as if we had entered a very deep abyss. ¡°¡¡± It was a familiar sensation to me, but it must have been unfamiliar to Kim Sieun. The fear he felt was conveyed through his hand. A momentter, ¡°Whoaah!¡± Suddenly, a scream that seemed to shake heaven and earth erupted beside us. ¡°Eek!¡± Kim Sieun jolted in surprise and opened his eyes. He reflexively scanned the surroundings. And when he realized the source of the scream, his eyes widened even more. ¡°W-What¡¯s going on?¡± The scream was from the supporters. The stadium, which had been deste except for us, was now packed with home fans and away fans. In the ce where rubble had been, there were now gs, banners, balloons, and most importantly, people. ¡°Attack! Attack! Quickly, quickly!¡± Someone who looked like a coach shouted from the edge of the field. On the green field, the yers were running like mad. Every time they dribbled, every time they made an incredible pass, every time they prepared for a corner kick, the stands echoed with thunderous cheers. ¡°Oh! Our club! Our eternal home!¡± The fervor of support that could be experienced before the world fell apart. ording to others, it was five years ago, and ording to my perspective, it was over 500 years ago. ¡°My love! My home!¡± ¡°We will win today too!¡± The fans of the ser club waved their smartphones and jumped in ce. Giant gs fluttered tirelessly at the forefront of the stands. Underneath the gs, which waved like evening waves tinged with red, Kim Sieun stood frozen. ¡°¡¡± ¡°Look over there. Sieun.¡± I pointed to the field. Following my finger, Kim Sieun¡¯s gaze moved. Thud, a ser ball bounced on the grass. A yer deftly controlled it with his chest and skillfully dribbled forward. Kim Joocheol. ¡°Wow!¡± The crowd cheered. In my memories, the image of Kim Joocheol, buried in the fog of time, was running on the field, looking a bit younger and sturdier. Most of all, Kim Joocheol¡¯s left foot kicked the ser ball freely, propelling it forward. ¡°Go! Go quickly! Counterattack!¡± ¡°No one¡¯s there!¡± ¡°Kim Joocheol!¡± Even though he was a defender, Kim Joocheol crossed the halfway line without hesitation. Both allies and enemies desperately chased after him. As Kim Joocheol kicked the ball with his left foot, a teammate from the same side managed to head it into the. The ball shook the goal as it went in. ¡°Wow!¡± Kim Joocheol earned an assist. But his performance didn¡¯t stop there. Shortly after, during a corner kick situation, Kim Joocheol leaped up and, this time, directly pushed the ser ball into the with his own head. The scoreboard changed from 1:1 to 2:1. Aeback goal. In an instant, the defender created 1 assist and 1 goal. ¡°Goal! Goal!¡± ¡°Kim Joocheol! Kim Joocheol! Kim Joocheol!¡± And then, at that moment. Kim Joocheol slid towards the stands like a figure skater. The camera focused on him. Kim Joocheol effortlessly leaped over advertising boards and approached a woman spectator, giving her a kiss. The woman was holding a child in her arms. Kim Joocheol also kissed the child¡¯s forehead. The scene was captured entirely on the stadium¡¯s big screen. ¡°What? Who is she?¡± ¡°She¡¯s Kim Joocheol¡¯s wife!¡± ¡°Wow! Kim Joocheol! Kim Joocheol!¡± Despite receiving a warning from the referee for excessive celebration, neither the yers nor the spectators, nor Kim Joocheol himself, paid any attention. Next to me, Kim Sieun muttered softly. ¡°Mom¡?¡± Kim Sieun seemed to recognize the identity of the woman who kissed the ser yer. He couldn¡¯t close his gaping mouth. ¡°This can¡¯t be. Then really¡¡± Kim Sieun¡¯s soft muttering couldn¡¯t continue for long. The cheering of the supporters echoed through the stadium. ¡°Kim Joocheol! Our Iron Wall!¡± ¡°No one can get past Kim Joocheol!¡± ¡°Kim Joocheol! Our Iron Wall!¡± Kim Joocheol, embracing the child, looked incredibly happy. The child in his father¡¯s arms was also beaming with joy. A past that can never be returned to. Glory that can never be regained. ¡°¡¡± ¡°That was your father¡¯s happiest moment.¡± I said quietly. I unfolded the aura and created a barrier between us and the surroundings. The cheers of the crowd faded away like a faint echo. As the sound faded, the scene before my eyes felt dreamlike. ¡°And it¡¯s a moment that repeats forever.¡± ¡°It¡¯s¡ strange, isn¡¯t it? He looks so happy. Why on earth would he erase himself from this world? Why leave his family behind and get trapped in this kind of dream?¡± ¡°¡¡± Because soon enough, Kim Joocheol¡¯s left leg would bepletely shattered. Because he got involved in alcohol and gambling, because he abandoned his family and sank into despair in Macau or Gangwon Province, and because his wife, who had been raising their son alone, died. But instead of answering like that, I asked: ¡°Would you like to go ask your father yourself?¡± ¡°¡¡± Kim Sieun hesitated with his lips. ¡°Yes.¡± This world had already be Kim Joocheol¡¯s domain, but as the caster, I also had some power to interfere to a certain extent. After the game ended, Kim Joocheol finished his MOM interview and headed to the locker room. I held Kim Sieun¡¯s hand and followed behind. No one recognized our presence. ¡°Huh?¡± Only Kim Joocheol noticed me. He, along with his teammates, bounced around and turned to look in our direction, with a bright smile on his face. ¡°Who are you? Are you one of our fans? You shouldn¡¯t being in here!¡± ¡°No, it¡¯s me, Mr. Kim Joocheol.¡± ¡°Yes? Who are you?¡± ¡°I¡¯m the doctor. The one who confined you at this time.¡± I looked him straight in the eye. [Trantor ¨C Jjsecus] [Proofreader ¨C Gun] ¡°Don¡¯t you recognize me?¡± ¡°¡¡± The smile faded from Kim Joocheol¡¯s face. At that moment, all the colors that filled the world turned into shades of gray. The yers in the locker room who were cheering, the coaches and staff who were justing in, even the champagne that one yer had popped¡ªall froze in mid-air. ¡°Ah¡¡± Only Kim Joocheol¡¯s sigh passed quietly. ¡°Yeah. That¡¯s right. It was a dream.¡± ¡°¡¡± ¡°It was a dream. Yeah, it was all just a dream¡¡± Kim Joocheol looked around silently. He nced at each of his teammates with eyes full of various emotions. Then he sighed deeply. ¡°Now I realize. It¡¯s a lucid dream now. It¡¯s actually better this way. Since there¡¯s no reason for me to be in this locker room with these annoying guys.¡± ¡°You don¡¯t really need to do that.¡± ¡°Hmm?¡± ¡°Anyway, once this moment passes, Mr. Kim Joocheol will forget everything. The memories of meeting me and the conversations we had. Just as people in the world won¡¯t remember anything about Mr. Kim Joocheol, he won¡¯t be able to umte any memories about the world either.¡± ¡°Oh my. Really? That¡¯s¡ quite intense¡¡± Kim Joocheol slumped onto the bench, wiping the sweat off his body with a towel as he spoke. ¡°So, why did Doctor Jange to see me? Is this meeting just another repeated annual event that I¡¯m unaware of? Did youe to watch my awesome mad movie?¡± ¡°Even if it doesn¡¯t mean much to Mr. Kim Joocheol, it could mean something to his family.¡± ¡°Huh? What do you mean?¡± ¡°The young man who came with me is your son.¡± ¡°What?¡± Only then did Kim Joocheol finally look at thepanion beside me. Finally recognizing another person¡¯s presence. Kim Joocheol blinked. ¡°Sieun?¡± ¡°¡¡± ¡°Sieun? Is it really Sieun? Wow, you¡¯ve grown so much!¡± Kim Joocheol jumped up and ran to embrace Kim Sieun. Kim Sieun flinched but didn¡¯t reject Kim Joocheol¡¯s hug. ¡°Wow! You¡¯re all grown up now! When Ist saw you, you were just a baby, a newborn! How old are you now? Middle school? High school?¡± ¡°¡I¡¯m 20.¡± ¡°What? 20? No way, why are you so tiny then? What have you been eating all this time? What kind of genes did I pass down to you?¡± The towering defender seemed shocked by his son¡¯s height. ¡°Uh¡ Dad?¡± ¡°Huh? Dad? What kind of dad? Don¡¯t be shy. Just call me Dad like usual¡¡± Kim Joocheol suddenly stopped talking. He looked at Kim Sieun¡¯s face, then nced at my face. Confusion crept onto his face. ¡°¡Wait a minute. Sorry, but when¡ when did my wife¡ when did your mother pass away?¡± ¡°¡She passed away seven years ago.¡± ¡°¡¡± Silence fell around us. After a while, Kim Joocheol murmured, ¡°Ah.¡± ¡°That¡¯s why.¡± His gaze briefly turned to me. ¡°That¡¯s why you warned me. That¡¯s¡ that¡¯s why.¡± I didn¡¯t feel the need to respond. I just nodded slightly. I knew all too well how terrible it was to be forgotten by the most precious person. But while I had the opportunity to start over at any time, Kim Joocheol would never be given that chance. Forever. ¡°Sieun.¡± Father held onto his son¡¯s shoulder, and Kim Joocheol grasped Kim Sieun¡¯s shoulder. There was no hint of force in their touch. Rather, it was as gentle as the swaying leaves of a willow tree. ¡°I¡¯m sorry.¡± ¡°¡¡± ¡°Your father¡ I was, a very weak person. Truly weak. When the world turned out like this, I didn¡¯t expect you to survive, no. Even before the world became like this¡ I drank, gambled. I was a terrible person. I ignored your mother¡¯s calls, got angry at her. Truly¡¡± Kim Sieun seemed unsure of how to react to Kim Joocheol¡¯s apology. It wasn¡¯t his fault. To him, Kim Joocheol was just someone he met for the first time today. Looking at his son¡¯s face, Kim Joocheol couldn¡¯t help but shiver again. ¡°This¡ This was hell.¡± ¡°¡..¡± ¡°I¡¯m sorry. I¡¯m sorry, Sieun. Dad is sorry.¡± The once glorious ser yer trapped in his prime repeated apologies like a broken record. 6 I don¡¯t want to talk at length about the aftermath of this story. I believe now readers understand why I hate the ability called [Time Seal] so much. Honestly, I never wanted to deal with [Time Seal]. It was such a dark history. But on the other hand, it feels refreshing to finally confess my ability to you now. Yeah. I sealed not only Kim Joocheol¡¯s time but also the time of countless others. At that time, I thought it was right. But looking back after the passage of time, those people, and myself, we all gave up on the world too early, too hastily. The reason I named my own story a ¡®failure¡¯ is partly influenced by [Time Seal]. No matter how many regressions I tried, there were too many people who could never face a different oue again. ¡°It feels strange, doesn¡¯t it?¡± But still, those who survived must live on with the remaining connections they have. Kim Sieun,ing out of the stadium, kept looking back. The stadium, with its outer wall destroyed, stood perilously in the distance, revealing its inner workings. ¡°Do you regreting here?¡± ¡°Uh. No! It¡¯s definitely not like that. It¡¯s just¡ crying over someone I don¡¯t even remember, calling them my family, and not being able to recall who that person is at all. Um. It feels strange.¡± Kim Sieun adjusted his backpack with a sigh. ¡°I just feel like I need to live diligently.¡± He leaned on his staff, bowing his head towards me. ¡°Anyway, thank you, sir! Thanks to you, I could visit my mother¡¯s hometown and see my father on this trip. It feels bittersweet, but it meant something.¡± ¡°Where are you heading now?¡± ¡°I¡¯m trying to find a ferry to cross over to Japan! That¡¯s all I wanted to do after traveling around the country.¡± ¡°Japan, huh.¡± In reality, rmending Japan as a light travel destination in today¡¯s era was difficult. If someone asked me to name the two most dangerous areas in the world, excluding the Korean Penins, without hesitation, I¡¯d say the Japanese archipgo and the Indian subcontinent. Because beings treated as ¡®gods¡¯ in that area, out of excessive love for humans, had decided to take care of them directly. By the way, the favorite genres of those gods were #captivity #discipline #gore. Although dangerous everywhere in the world, these two areas were particrly perilous in different ways. To put it in terms of genres, it was like the difference between post-apocalyptic and horror. But that¡¯s a story for a few yearster. Japan was still rtively safe at this time. I didn¡¯t discourage the youthful backpacker¡¯s enthusiasm. Instead, I advised him like this. ¡°If you hear strange noises, see strange objects, or feel any strange sensations along the way, don¡¯t investigate. Just nod politely, say hello, and pretend not to notice, then leave. Especially, never enter a tunnel.¡± ¡°¡?¡± ¡°You¡¯ll probably end up in Fukuoka. Don¡¯t associate with the provisional government people if you can help it¡ Well, just remember it for future use.¡± ¡°Um, okay! Got it!¡± I didn¡¯t know what conclusion Kim Sieun reached after crossing over to Japan. Most likely, there was a high probability that he met a terrible fate. But I didn¡¯t really mind. From my perspective as a regressor, life was more like a journey where you stop at a station for a moment and then continue along the rail. Unlike his father, he still had the chance to travel to another ce. ¡°See you next time! Sir!¡± By the way, I trusted Kim Joocheol¡¯s sincerity. Even in the moment of disappearing from the world, I didn¡¯t want to distort the utterance of someone who muttered ¡®my son¡¯. Setting aside the question of whether he was truly strong enough to maintain that sentiment until the end. If he genuinely apologized for his son, wouldn¡¯t he be pleased to see Kim Sieun moving forward to a new destination without being oppressed by the past? Wouldn¡¯t he bless him? Looking back once again, I saw the copsed outer wall of the stadium. -Goal! -Kim Joocheol! Kim Joocheol! Kim Joocheol! In that ce, an unknown ser yer forgotten by the world was always ying a game. With his intact left leg. Amidst the cheers of the audience. And he would be running towards his family to perform the ceremony forever. -Father and Son. The End. [PR/N: DAMN.] [Trantor ¨C Jjsecus] [Proofreader ¨C Gun] Chapter 39 â€“ The former Watcher I Chapter 39 ¨C The former Watcher I [Trantor ¨C Jjsecus] [Proofreader ¨C Gun] Chapter 39 ¨C The Former Watcher ¢ñ 1 After reading about Kim Sieun¡¯s backpacking trip to Japan in thest run, some readers might have had doubts. They might wonder if I¡¯ve been avoiding mentioning overseas matters. Of course, there are valid reasons for that. Firstly, it¡¯s quite obvious, but my main area of activity is the Korean Penins. asionally, I do venture out, but I generally prefer not to go on overseas expeditions. Why? Because there is no saintess there. I¡¯m not joking. It¡¯s quite disorienting when the presence of a saintess, who always supports me, suddenly disappears. It¡¯s like a third-person top-view strategy simtion game suddenly turning into a first-person soul-like action game? I didn¡¯t bring the saintess with me when I went to China to deal with the Butterfly Effect. The role of the saintess in my regressor life is muchrger than I thought. I don¡¯t n to sing hymns like a Russian Lolitaplex writer, saying ¡°My light of life, the fire of my body, my sin, my soul, saintess,¡± she would probably hate it too. But if I were to organize a hero party, I would definitely recruit the saintess first and then think about the strategy. Remember that. The Supporter-Saintess is a fixed pick. ¡°Doctor Jang.¡± ¡°Yes?¡± ¡°Why shouldn¡¯t we ever observe Koyori of the Satisfaction Guild from irvoyance, no matter what happens?¡± ¡°Well¡.¡± Since she¡¯s such an important talent, naturally, the guidebook titled ¡°How to Use the Saintess¡± was attached to my mental folder. I didn¡¯t give special privileges to just the saintess; I wrote separate guidebooks for all the members I consider as party members. Most Awakeneds treated my ¡°guidebook¡± as something rather suspicious. It was understandable. To me, it was knowledge gained through blood, sweat, and tears, but from others¡¯ perspective, it was like a sudden stranger popping up and shouting, ¡°Your ability actually bes stronger the more aggro you draw!¡± Honestly, even I found it hard to believe. ¡°Koyori has a top-tier mental contamination ability as a passive. It¡¯s top-notch. No matter how strong someone¡¯s mental strength is, they will be brainwashed if theye into contact with Koyori.¡± ¡°Ah¡ I see.¡± The saintess never once doubted my guidebook. Even though she couldn¡¯t share memories with me, she shared records. She epted my mere ims as truth without hesitation, and strategized based on that truth. Tap, tap ¨C The saintess organized information on the keyboard and talked to me. ¡°Have there been any instances where I, observed Ms. Koyori through irvoyance and had a breakdown?¡± ¡°Yes, it was in the 89th round.¡± ¡°How did the incident unfold?¡± ¡°It happened too quickly to know the details, but at that time, Koyori was a member of our party. Perhaps Seo Gyu was brainwashed first. But Seo Gyu knows what your ability is and where you live, right? With that information, Koyori probably approached you. When I rushed over, I found you hanging from a towel rack.¡± ¡°Was it suicide?¡± ¡°Probably. More urately, it was induced suicide.¡± ¡°¡¡± The saintess stroked her chin. ¡°Mr. Seo Gyu. Indeed. It¡¯s important to always keep Seo Gyu as a reliable ally. Apart from that, as for me, it wouldn¡¯t hurt to dig deeper into Koyori¡¯s identity with the readiness to abandon this round¡ but¡¡± After examining my expression, the saintess nodded. ¡°¡I don¡¯t necessarily need to take such risks. Then, please let me know what else I should be careful of.¡± ¡°Except for what I¡¯ve mentioned so far, there¡¯s nothing else.¡± That was both true and a lie. ¡°I¡¯ll handle all remaining risks.¡± The sound of typing stopped. The saintess tilted her head and looked at me. ¡°Doctor Jang.¡± ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°What will happen to me if you leave the risks alone?¡± There was a moment of silence. There were several matters I intentionally kept silent about. Matters regarding time seals and mentioning overseas fell into that category. They required some preparation to unravel. Very rarely, but if an Awakened ¡®corrupts,¡¯ they turn into monsters. That¡¯s something I hadn¡¯t mentioned until now. So I¡¯ll speak about it now. The story of what happens when the saintess corrupts¨Dthe so-called ¡®Executioner Route.¡¯ 2 Since we met at a convenience store by the river and became aware of each other¡¯s existence, in any round, I trusted the saintess, and the saintess trusted me. Having lost Old Scho, I desperately needed an ally. The saintess also needed a warrior to make up for herck ofbat power. Our alliance was inevitable. [Thank you for your hard work in exterminating the Ten ns, Doctor. This means most of the threats south of the Han River are eliminated.] At first, there were no problems. [Udumbara¡ exterminationplete. If what you said is true, then the flowers blooming from that corpse would have covered the entire world. It¡¯s a very sad thought. Thank you for your hard work.] Among the people I knew, the saintess had exceptional mental strength and survivability. She always survived until the day the world ended. She was strong in that she could live without interacting with others and without relying on physical strength. [Meteor Shower, exterminationplete. ¡Now, no more Awakeneds and civilians will be wiped out overnight without understanding why. It wouldn¡¯t have been possible without you, Doctor. Thank you so much.] We safely passed the critical point of the seventh year when the meteor shower was guaranteed to appear. The changes were noticed by the twelfth year. [Doctor.] ¡°Hmm? What¡¯s the matter?¡± [A civilian massacre urred in Nampo, North Korea.] The saintess¡¯s irvoyance reached most of the Korean Penins. It was no exaggeration to say that, limited to the penins, we had unlimited vision. ¡°Excuse me? A civilian massacre? Exactly where? I¡¯ll go check it out.¡± [¡No. I just found out now. The massacre is almost over. It is estimated to have urred from the morning of July 11th to now, July 13th.] But the saintess¡¯s irvoyance only applied to the Awakeneds. She couldn¡¯t observe every person living on thisnd. In other words, she was utterly powerless when civilians killed civilians. Murder. Massacre. Whatever the crime, if it happened among civilians, she was always one step behind, observing only the ¡®scene of the already finished event.¡¯ [Doctor.] [I think my ability is gradually getting stronger.] The situation worsened a bit more. ¡°Oh, really? Depending on the Awakened, their abilities can either grow or remain stagnant, but it seems yours is the former. How far does your irvoyance reach now?¡± [It¡¯s still a bit iffy, but when I¡¯m in Seoul, I think it can reach the tip of the Shandong Penins.] ¡°Wow. That¡¯s amazing. Congrattions.¡± [¡Yes. Thank you.] ¡°By the way, have you thought about learning martial arts from me? You should exercise, Saintess. Training is essential not just for strength, but for health.¡± [I¡¯ll think about it¡ Thanks.] Originally, the saintess¡¯s abilities developed slowly. When the Korean Penins was swept away by the Ten ns, when the world ended by Udumbara, when the world copsed due to the meteor shower, the saintess met her death. She died before her abilities could mature. But as the rounds progressed, her lifespan gradually extended. Five years, seven years, twelve years, fifteen years. The longer her time stretched, the broader the world she could observe became, inch by inch. Most importantly, by this time, I was giving the saintess almost all the elixirs that were no longer useful to me. She was my most reliable ally. [¡¡] As a result, the tragedies the saintess had to bear also increased. It was manageable when we limited our scope to Korea. [Trantor ¨C Jjsecus] [Proofreader ¨C Gun] Even though we couldn¡¯t take care of everyone, we created a social system called the National Road Management Team. Furthermore, due to the presence of the constetions, it was rare for Awakeneds tomit severe transgressions, and even if they did, the [irvoyance] would quickly detect it. Large guilds in Korea, like Tang Seorin¡¯s Three Thousand Worlds, were also cooperative with us. However, things were different beyond the sea. We simply couldn¡¯t afford to pay attention to everything out there. Wecked resources. Before even discussing theck of materials and manpower, the simple fact was that as a regressor, I didn¡¯t have enough time. For instance, even if I took the least amount of time to travel to Tianjin, China, it would take a week. This meant that for a week, I would be absent from the Korean Penins, and I would inevitably miss crises that required my intervention. [¡¡] The saintess was wise. She deeply empathized with the premise that all good starts with the efficient allocation of resources. In fact, the saintess was considerate of me. After mentioning the massacre in Nampo, North Korea, just once, she never again brought up tragedies that urred outside the jurisdiction of the National Road Management Team. She worried it would be an unnecessary burden for me. But her silence didn¡¯t stop the killings. [¡¡] Thanks to our extermination of the Milky Way, countless people were saved both domestically and abroad. But what they did with their lives afterward was up to them, and it was not umon for some to take others¡¯ lives with their own. We could have turned a blind eye. We could have severed our concern, and there would have been no problem. But the saintess never stopped ¡®observing.¡¯ If the world had shrunk as much as she ignored, it might have been different. But that didn¡¯t happen. As long as the world existed, and as long as someone died without even being able to scream, the saintess wanted to remember at least that death. Poison. The poison umted in her heart, drop by drop. [¡¡] The saintess¡¯s heart was strong. It could withstand 16 years¡¯ worth of time. 3 Crash- The sound of breaking ss echoed through the old yground. This yground used to be in the middle of an apartmentplex. The buildings had long since crumbled, leaving only the echoes of their former value, but the half-demolished remnants resonated well enough. In reality, it wasn¡¯t the sound of ss breaking. It was the sound of metal shing with metal, more precisely, the noise of aura colliding with aura. ¡°Wow.¡± I deflected the hand axe the saintess had thrown with my sword and marveled. ¡°Impressive. Not only do you have aura, but you also have a natural talent for martial arts.¡± ¡°¡Thank you. I still have a lot to learn.¡± ¡°No, no. Compared to me, you¡¯re almost a natural prodigy. While I¡¯ve mastered aura training, Ick martial talent. If I had even half your talent, I would¡¯ve saved the world long ago.¡± This wasn¡¯t entirely ttery. In truth, I had almost zero talent in martial arts. In terms of martial arts fiction, I was the type who simply kept umting inner strength to brute force my way through with sheer power. Even this was something I barely managed to achieve, as my skills were preserved from my 10th regression onwards. ¡°It¡¯s also fascinating how your aura is transparent. I mean, how does a transparent aura even exist?¡± ¡°¡¡¡± Most notably, the saintess¡¯s aura felt almost imperceptible. It was literally colorless and odorless. A clear, transparent aura. When it shed, it made a noise like ss shattering¡ªcrash, crack! It seemed that the saintess¡¯s aura was reminiscent of a ¡®mirror,¡¯ which suited her perfectly. ¡°Anyway, that¡¯s enough for today. You¡¯ve worked hard.¡± ¡°Thank you for your hard work, Doctor.¡± ¡°If you¡¯ve achieved this much in just a year, in three to five years, you could be fighting in my ce. Why did you avoid training for so long when you¡¯re this skilled?¡± ¡°Moving my body wasn¡¯t a hobby of mine.¡± ¡°Has your hobby changed now?¡± ¡°¡Yes.¡± I felt a sense of pride. ¡®Even the perpetual recluse saintess can change.¡¯ Although it took about 16 years for this change to ur. But what did it matter? Throughout my entire life of regression, this was the first time the saintess had learned martial arts. I handed the towel to the saintess and spoke, ¡°Saintess, do you have any separate ns for today?¡± ¡°¡¡¡± ¡°Saintess? Saintess.¡± ¡°¡Ah.¡± The saintess blinked. It had been happening frequentlytely. Originally, the saintess had a strong tendency to observe everything from a distance, buttely, has the air around her thickened? She often spaced out and stared into space even during conversations like this. ¡°Are you okay?¡± That absent-minded expression strangely suited the saintess, aesthetically, there was no problem, but I worried if there might be a health issue. If the saintess fell ill, Noh Doha would immediately try to seize control. The saintess¡¯s irvoyance was crucial for operating the National Road Management Division. ¡°Yes, I¡¯m fine¡ Sorry. What did you just say?¡± ¡°Do you have any ns to go out separately today?¡± ¡°No.¡± The saintess replied promptly. ¡°I don¡¯t.¡± ¡°That¡¯s a relief. Hasn¡¯t the security been worseningtely? Although I¡¯m sure you¡¯ll handle it skillfully, please be careful. Sometimes you overexert yourself, Saintess.¡± ¡°¡You know me well, Doctor.¡± ¡°Of course. I¡¯ve been watching you for a few years.¡± The saintess took the towel from me and wiped her face. At the time, I just thought she was bowing her head to wipe off sweat. Looking back now, maybe she used the towel to subtly avoid my gaze. ¡°Thank you as always, Doctor.¡± [Trantor ¨C Jjsecus] [Proofreader ¨C Gun] Chapter 40 â€“ The Former Watcher II Chapter 40 ¨C The Former Watcher II [Trantor ¨C Jjsecus] [Proofreader ¨C Gun] Chapter 40 ¨C The Former Watcher II At that time, I had enough reasons to worry about the saintess¡¯s safety. First of all, the security wasn¡¯t great. ¡°Another one died¡¡± Noh Doha muttered during the regr meeting. Despite having been in office as the head of the National Road Management Division for quite some time, his gloomy gaze, as if he hated everything in the world, remained unchanged. ¡°Again? Is it the serial killer?¡± ¡°Yes, it¡¯s the Wheel Killer. This time, they died in Cheongju. It just got posted on SGNet. Take a look yourself¡¡± Although it was never his character to fiddle with smartphones during meetings, it was a brief break, and Noh Doha insisted, so I couldn¡¯t help it. When I logged into SGNet, chaos ensued. -Anonymous: December 24th, Cheongju. The title of the post on the bulletin board had no distinctive features. It was posted by an anonymous user, and only the date and location were written. Not only the title but also the content of the post was simple. There were no flowery words, just a single video attached. Clicking on the video, I saw a man bound in some underground parking lot. ¨C Ah, no¡ The underground parking lot was already flooded up to the ankles. Pitch-ck sewage. A chair was ced in the murky water, and the man was tightly bound to it. ¨C I, I¡¯m Lee Soyeol, 29 years old, from Cheongju. I¡¯ve killed six people so far. The first murder was a year ago¡ There was a woman in my neighborhood who seemed well-off. I didn¡¯t originally n to kill her. But when I got into a fight with her father, the daughter stabbed me in the back, and I had no choice but to¡ The man somehow recounted his crimes. The video didn¡¯t continue uninterrupted. It was undoubtedly edited. For example, there were gaps between the lines the man just spoke. There was a gap between ¡°I¡¯ve killed six people so far¡± and ¡°The first murder was two years ago.¡± The reason why you could notice this difference was because there was a new nail driven into the back of the man¡¯s hand. In other words, someone filming the video was torturing the man. However, they thoroughly deleted any footage of ¡°torture¡± or ¡°screaming.¡± As a result, the man¡¯s confession seemed to continue smoothly, as if nothing had happened. ¨C I, I got angry. I got angry, so I did it. But I just killed them. I didn¡¯t torture them or, um, curse at them¡ A nail was driven into his right hand. ¨C I¡¯m sorry. I¡¯m sorry. The man¡¯s voice trembled a bit more thinly. ¨C Actually, in front of the women, I tortured them until each of them died. The second murder wasmitted in Goeun. Goeun Intersection. People passing through there to Cheongju often. Not those whoe and go with the National Road Management Division, but alone. Or with two or three people¡ Targeting those people¡ Nowadays, travelers put all their belongings in their backpacks¡ Damn it! Those who dare to travel alone without fear! Nails were driven into both arms. Blood dripped from where the nails were driven in. However, no matter how much blood dripped, the color of the sewage flooding the parking lot didn¡¯t change at all. It remained pitch ck. ¨C I¡¯m sorry, I¡¯m sorry, I¡¯m sorry¡ I didn¡¯t want to live like this either. Isn¡¯t it the world¡¯s fault? I was 12 years old when the gate to Seoul exploded. I was an elementary school student. -¡.. ¨C Half of my life, no, my whole life, waspletely thrown into the trash. Damn it. You guys at least lived half your life happily. You lived well. You went to school. I didn¡¯t! I couldn¡¯t! It¡¯s your fault, damn it! ¨C I didn¡¯t do anything wrong¡ If I were awakened, I wouldn¡¯t have done such things. Dirty bastards. They awaken their abilities without even trying, and then what? They join a guild and act all high and mighty. People like me, ordinary folks, are worthless, right? But what¡ A nail was driven into his shoulder. ¨C Th, the third murder was. -¡ ¨C The third murder¡ Some punk tried to break into my house and steal. Me, an adult. Trying to steal money earned through bone-breaking work without a care in the world, isn¡¯t that insane? I didn¡¯t particrly n to kill him. I just wanted him to starve. I was going to untie him after keeping him tied up for three days, but he, he died on his own after just two days. It¡¯s true. I was going to untie him. Ah. I¡¯m sorry. I¡¯m sorry. I¡¯m sorry! Please save me! Please! Stop it, don¡¯t. Please save me¡ The next moment, something strange was embedded in the man¡¯s head. It was a car wheel. Ever since gasoline became a relic of ancient civilizations, the cars scattered around the world had lost their meaning beyond megaliths. However, the person who filmed the video witnessed new possibilities from the wreckage of discarded cars. ¡°He¡¯s dead.¡± ¡°Yes. He went down cleanly. No. He went down filthy¡?¡± The trademark of the serial killer. The culprit always drove a nail into the victim¡¯s skull after killing them. And then they ced a car wheel on the nail. Known as the ¡®Wheel Killer.¡¯ Or simply ¡®Wheel.¡¯ ¡°Isn¡¯t this the 16th already?¡± ¡°That¡¯s about it. Actually, when you just take the videos, there are about 16, but there are likely many more murders that weren¡¯t posted as videos. Last time, we found a body with a wheel attached to the head, but that person never appeared in any of the videos¡¡± The killer¡¯s signature left no anonymity with ¡®Anonymous¡¯. In other words, bing a ¡®named¡¯ figure in themunity was inevitable. -[Baekhwa] 6thGradeHighSchooler: I¡¯m so scared¡ ?_?) -Anonymous: Wow, as expected of the Wheel Master. Nice shot today too. -[Yull Nation] Investigator: Is this cooperation or is it the self-justification of a malicious cult member? It¡¯s really hard for me to judge. ©¸KoreanVige: Temte -Anonymous: The murder of a woman in Chungju, even if it was a case from a year ago, I think I know what that¡¯s about? At the time, the body was so brutally mutted that rumors spread in the Chungju area. -Anonymous: I support you. Kill more. -dolLHoUse: Neutral. -[Three Thousand Worlds] Officer: Where is Chungju guild managing? If there hadn¡¯t been a wheel, they wouldn¡¯t have caught that guy. Can¡¯t they even manage security properly? Awakeneds belonging to that guild should be ashamed. Real-timements were being posted on the bulletin board. ¡°I¡¯m back¡ Huh? What¡¯s wrong with the atmosphere?¡± Just then, Seo Gyu opened the door and entered the conference room. The regr meeting consisted of Noh Doha, me, and Saintess, but sometimes Seo Gyu participated too. If Noh Doha controlled the surface roadwork, Seo Gyu managed the underground roadwork. ¡°Seo Gyu. The Wheel Killer posted another message.¡± ¡°Ah¡¡± Seo Gyu made a subtle expression. It seemed apologetic, as if he had no face. ¡°Should we delete it?¡± ¡°No, looking at public opinion, if we delete it arbitrarily, it might backfire. But is this anonymous person really so difficult to track down?¡± ¡°Yes, for now, they¡¯re not a regr member¡ I checked their ess logs, and they only log in when they post something, they don¡¯t even ess S the rest of the time.¡± ¡°The reaction from thements is high, so it means they¡¯re not the type tomit crimes because of the reactions.¡± ¡°Yeah. Maybe they don¡¯t even read thements at all. Or maybe they have a very unique hiding skill that my abilities can¡¯t catch.¡± ¡°¡That¡¯s also possible.¡± I nodded. There were indeed a variety of abilities in the world. ¡°Talking about the murderer?¡± The Saintess followed Seo Gyu in. They both had left the conference room for a moment during the break and came back. ¡°Oh, yes.¡± ¡°I just saw the post on S too.¡± The Saintess took her seat. As usual, she spoke with an expressionless face. ¡°They essed S and posted a message, so it¡¯s clear that they¡¯re an Awakened¡ But no matter how much I continue to use irvoyance, for some reason, the culprit doesn¡¯t appear in my sight.¡± So, it¡¯s probably an ability in the Concealment category. ¡°It¡¯s puzzling.¡± After the meeting ended that day and Seo Gyu left, the three of us entered another crisis meeting. The topic of the meeting was, of course, the Wheel Killer. ¡°Since the public order has copsed anyway, there¡¯s no way to prevent private sanctions. There¡¯s no justification or reason. The problem is¡¡± ¡°Is there any guarantee that this murderer is truly a good person?¡± Noh Doha continued the conversation. ¡°So far, they¡¯ve only dealt with clear viins. But with the same ability, they could kill someone else without anyone knowing. Maybe they¡¯ve already killed someone and just haven¡¯t attached a wheel to the body yet¡¡± ¡°¡¡± ¡°It¡¯s necessary for us to at least understand who this person is. Are you saying this type of murderer appearing is unprecedented for us Awakeneds?¡± ¡°Yes. It¡¯s the first time in my lifetime. It is not that surprising, as this is the first time that a run has progressed so steadily until it¡¯s 16th year.¡± This run was lucky in many ways. Usually by this point, beings known as Outsiders would interfere with our world and cause chaos. But for some reason, the 107th run was quiet. A miraculous run. Therefore, it was even more precious. ¡°Then, Doctor Jang, as an Awakened, please try to find out at least some detailed information about the culprit this time¡ So we can n how to deal with it in the future, whether by negotiation or elimination¡¡± ¡°That¡¯s what I nned to do anyway.¡± ¡°Some guild leaders suspect that the Wheel Killer might be an assassin raised by us. If we had such an assassin, things would have been much easier, sigh¡¡± We were doing our best. By the 16th year, the National Road Management Authority had sessfully connected almost all major cities with primary roads. While guild leaders in each city acted like feudal lords, the ones ruling over them were the lords of the National Road Management Authority. Since they monopolized the distributionwork connecting city to city, it was a natural conclusion. Above all, the currentrgest city in the penins, Busan, fell into the hands of the Three Thousand Worlds guild leader, Tang Seorin. As mentioned before, Tang Seorin was one of the key figures who contributed to the founding of the National Road Management Authority and was extremely favorable to us. [Trantor ¨C Jjsecus] [Proofreader ¨C Gun] Her influence was powerful enough that she could potentially rule as the lord of guild leaders herself. Having her cooperation meant no one could ignore the National Road Management Authority. It¡¯s akin to the French royal family securing the loyalty of Burgundy in the Middle Ages. Yet, despite this, the limitations of the National Road Management Authority were evident. We couldn¡¯t take responsibility for the security of the entire Korean Penins. We couldn¡¯t handle administration. We couldn¡¯t manage judiciary affairs. In essence, we couldn¡¯t even govern the whole penins. At best, we controlled the lines connecting city to city. Where the spider¡¯s web didn¡¯t reach, monsters and anomalies always lurked in the void. Whenever they tore through the web and encroached upon humanity¡¯s territory, I had to respond. While the power of the National Road Management Authority was considerable, moving as swiftly as I did was still challenging. A fundamental reason was myck of time. ¡°I don¡¯t have the capacity. I just don¡¯t.¡± ¡°¡ ¡± After the meeting ended, we each returned to our lodgings. The reason I turned back at this point was purely capricious. Since Saintess concluded her training at the secluded retreat and started wandering outside, my visits to the Yongsan Dongbinggo neighborhood, which used to be Saintess¡¯s base, had dwindled. Even if the Saintess herself didn¡¯t care at all, it didn¡¯t look good for a man to frequent a woman¡¯s home too often when she lived alone. It couldn¡¯t be helped before when Saintess was holed up at home, but circumstances had changed. We couldmunicate telepathically at any time. ¡®But because of the Wheel Killer, Saintess must be feelingplicated.¡¯ More than anyone, she was stringent about ethics. The reason we were cautious about private sanctions even in a situation where public authority had crumbled was simple. In a ce without a system, one person¡¯s deviation could cause a major mistake. The reason for different individuals making judgments in the first, second, and third stages also had something to do with these circumstances. One human couldn¡¯t be expected to be absolutely fair and just forever. With variousints like this, Saintess¡¯s head must have been spinning too. ¡®I¡¯ve got a precious fish now. She¡¯ll be happy if I give it as a present.¡¯ December 24th. Christmas Eve. I put tropical fish in a stic bag and headed to Dongbinggo. A silent touch settled on my forehead. White snowkes. The snowy path fromst night had turned into a snowy road again. ¡°Hmm.¡± Afraid the tropical fish might get too cold, I wrapped the stic bag with my palm. I hadn¡¯t forgotten to delicately create an aura to maintain the temperature. There were footprints engraved in the path leading to Dongbinggo. They were probably all Saintess¡¯s footprints. ¡°Saintess, are you there?¡± Knock, knock. I knocked on the door, but there was no response. ¡®She must have gone straight home after the meeting?¡¯ I tilted my head and turned the doorknob. The shoes Saintess wore during today¡¯s meeting were by the entrance. That meant she had at least stopped by home once. ¡°Saintess?¡± Still no response. ¡°Hmm.¡± ¡I braved rudeness and stepped inside. The memory of Saintess being assaulted by Koyori in the past had left a slight trauma. If the Saintess was okay, I could apologize right away. Saintess was someone who knew how to ept apologies. I entered the living room. ¡°¡?¡± Soon, I witnessed an unbelievable sight. The aquariums that surrounded Saintess¡¯s living room like fortress walls. The tanks that always gleamed with a vivid blue were now empty. ¡°Huh?¡± I inadvertently opened my mouth. Raising fish was Saintess¡¯s only hobby. Saintess had never given up on her fish, not even on the day the world ended. This was proven back in run 90, when I was still working as a convenience store manager. But now, there was nothing in the tanks. Well, upon closer inspection, there were two tanks filled with water. However, the water¡¯s color was murky, indicating that the filters had not been running for quite some time. In the muddy water, a couple of tropical fishy dead, flipped upside down. Coincidentally, all the fish that left corpses were the ones I had gifted before. ¡°Doctor Jang?¡± I heard a voice behind me. Turning around, I saw the Saintess entering from the front door. I looked at Saintess, holding the stic bag of tropical fish intended as a gift. ¡°What¡¯s going on?¡± ¡°¡Ah. I apologize for barging in. Someone I know gave me tropical fish, but I thought it would be better to give them to you rather than keeping them myself, so I came without notice. But¡ do you no longer raise fish?¡± The Saintess blinked. ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°Why? You loved them so much¡¡± ¡°Most of the ones I used to raise have died, and managing the tanks has be increasingly difficult. I¡¯ve been meaning to clean up the remaining tanks, but I¡¯ve only been thinking about it and haven¡¯t actually done it yet.¡± I nced at Saintess¡¯s attire. She was wearing a double coat. It didn¡¯t look particrlyfortable to move around in. It was different from the clothes she wore during the meeting. It wasn¡¯t her usual fashion choice. ¡°¡I see. Are you on your way back from a walk?¡± ¡°Yes. If I knew you wereing, I would have prepared something, at least. You visited while I wasn¡¯t looking, didn¡¯t you.¡± In other words. ¡®I returned home once before going out, and with this attire, there¡¯s not much else I could be doing besides a simple walk,¡¯ was strongly implied by her attire. It was snowing outside. Even her double coat was dusted with snow. However, it seemed somewhat unnatural. Like, yes. There were traces that suggested if you brushed the snow off the floor where it umted under the coat, you wouldn¡¯t find those footprints. ¡°¡¡± ¡°Doctor Jang?¡± I looked past Saintess and stared at the snow-covered ground in front of the house. The footprints, which were previously only twoyers deep until I came in, had increased to ¡®fouryers¡¯. One was the footprint I made when I arrived. The other was the one Saintess made when she returned. I picked up the shoes Saintess had just taken off at the entrance and examined the soles. The footprints on the snow-covered ground and the appearance of the soles were different. ¡°Doctor Jang? What are you doing?¡± ¡°Saintess.¡± ¨C¡ªIt was a kind of intuition. It was weak evidence to call it deduction. There was no physical evidence. But a sh of insight like a spark flickered in my mind. The overturned dead fish. The empty tanks. Saintess¡¯s asional absent-mindedness. Seo Gyu¡¯s apologetic eyes. The double coat. The footprints. A possibility that had never crossed my mind until now suddenly fit together like a puzzle and was thrown out of my mouth. ¡°Could it be, Saintess, you¡¯re the Wheel Killer?¡± Silence. An eternity seemed to pass. It felt like the world had been pressed on a pause button. ¡°Doctor Jang.¡± Saintess¡¯s lips parted. ¡°You really know me well.¡± [Trantor ¨C Jjsecus] [Proofreader ¨C Gun] Chapter 41 â€“ The Former Watcher III Chapter 41 ¨C The Former Watcher III [Trantor ¨C Jjsecus] [Proofreader ¨C Gun] Chapter 41 ¨C The Former Watcher III 5 There had always been a hypothesis that I had been suspicious of. ¨D¨D Could it be that certain monsters, certain anomalies, were actually born from humans? I hadn¡¯t entertained this thought for a long time. The moment I seriously considered this hypothesis was when I uncovered the identity of Udumbara, in the World Tree. As you may know, Udumbara originated from Asan, Chungcheongnam-do. It was the corpse of a mother and child presumed to have died of starvation. And it was none other than humans who gave birth to the unprecedented virus. It seemed illogical for anomalies to be born from ordinary humans. But with a slight shift in perspective, it became quite usible. Assuming they were Awakeneds with ¡®such abilities¡¯, everything made sense. We couldn¡¯t determine which of the mother and child was the Awakened. By the time we discovered them, they were already gone. But what if one or both of them were Awakeneds? If Udumbara itself was an ability? ¨D¨D When objectively analyzed, the abilities of Awakeneds were no different from those of monsters, anomalies. In theory, Awakeneds had the potential to ¡®fall¡¯ into monsters just like them. No, in fact, you couldn¡¯t even call it a fall. Awakeneds and monsters were essentially the same from the beginning. [The ability to grow two hearts in the body and constantly regenerate tentacles]. Thus, the tentacle monsters came to be called Ten ns. [The ability to observe a wide area covering the entire Korean Penins at will and freely shoot telepathy at all Awakeneds]. Thus, the Saintess who imed to be an Awakened. If viewed from the perspective of someonepletely unrted to humanity, such as aliens, which of the two creatures would be more dangerous? Whether they took on a ¡®human form¡¯ or not, the only difference in appearance was superficial¨D¨D they were both terrifying beings in essence, weren¡¯t they? ¡°¡Saintess.¡± ¡°Yes. I killed her.¡± A remarkably straightforward affirmation. But considering that these words came from the Saintess herself, it was more cold than straightforward. ¡°Why¡.¡± ¡°Doctor Jang. That¡¯s a strange question. I¡¯ve simply taken the same stance as always.¡± The Saintess remained expressionless. ¡°To prevent Awakeneds frommitting crimes recklessly, we created the Constetion system, which doesn¡¯t even exist in this world. We mimicked it. The operating principle of the Constetion system is the possibility that [someone may be watching my every move]. Anxiety. Humans restrain themselves when others are watching, but let go of reason when they¡¯re not.¡± The Saintess tilted her head. ¡°Is there really a difference between me and a serial killer?¡± ¡°¡.¡± ¡°The Constetion system could control the riots of Awakeneds. But it couldn¡¯t reach out to ordinary civilians. Unfortunately, my telepathy abilities only apply to Awakeneds. So, I¡¯ve simply recreated the possibility that ordinary people could also fear me.¡± Snow was falling. Snowkes fell over the Saintess¡¯s head, over her double coat. As soon as the cold descended from the sky and touched her body, it melted away without maintaining itself. The Saintess¡¯s eyes narrowed. ¡°There¡¯s too much garbage in this world. No, ¡®garbage¡¯ isn¡¯t the right term. There are too many beasts pretending to be human.¡± ¡°So¡.¡± ¡°So, I killed them. Are you worried that there might be innocent people? Don¡¯t worry, Doctor Jang. I¡¯ve checked. I¡¯ve killed them over and over again. I¡¯ve never regretted my killings for a single moment.¡± Why was it? Even though I was talking to the Saintess, the presence emanating from the figure in front of me felt unfamiliar. It wasn¡¯t just that the person had changed or their personality had changed. It was as if their very existence had changed. Sweat inexplicably beaded on the palm of my right hand. ¡°You¡¯re too kind, Doctor Jang.¡± ¡°¡Me? I didn¡¯t expect to hear such words from you, Saintess.¡± ¡°You give everyone infinite chances.¡± Crunch. The Saintess took a step forward. The snow underfoot crunched. Reflexively, I took a step back, keeping my distance from the Saintess. Even if the Saintess was a murderer, there was no reason for me to avoid her. We were allies. Even if the Saintess were to set the whole world on fire, I would stand by her side. So, the reason I moved my foot was not logic, but intuition. Instincts umted over 107 cycles of life controlled my footsteps. ¡°Chances?¡± ¡°Yes. What do you think about the ability of [Regression], Doctor Jang? You undoubtedly think that you yourself are constantly receiving endless chances. But from my perspective, from the standpoint of someone watching you, it¡¯s a bit different.¡± ¡°What do you mean?¡± ¡°It¡¯s not just you who receives chances. Everyone except you, every time the world regresses, receives chances.¡± One step. ¡°The evildoers who killed innocent girls in the previous cycle will receive a chance to change in this cycle. They will have the opportunity to take away the food that the child had saved until the end, to bind the child, and to deliberately watch as she starves to death. Once. Twice. Ten times. Twenty times. Thirty times. Forty times. Fifty times.¡± ¡°¡.¡± ¡°But how many of them hesitated in front of their own wicked deeds? How many of them killed the same person, tortured the same person, more than thirty or forty times?¡± ¡°¡Those people don¡¯t know that the world is regressing.¡± ¡°Exactly. Ignorance. Not knowing is always a good excuse. People always hide behind ignorance, even when ites to killing others. I understand. I¡¯ll understand. But what about the people who were killed?¡± ¡°¡.¡± ¡°Why should those people endure countless unjust deaths and wrongful suffering?¡± One step. ¡°Doctor Jang, someday you will seed in saving the world. Yes, undoubtedly. In the future world, even evildoers will be given the chance to live a new life again. Perhaps in a world where evildoers have be a little more rxed, in a slightly more peaceful era, they might notmit sins anymore. I think that would be very¨D¨D wrong.¡± Another step. ¡°Doctor Jang, if you kill someone, you must face punishment.¡± The Saintess said quietly. ¡°It¡¯s not about getting a chance.¡± At some point. Before I even realized it, a small and nimble hatchet was already clenched in the Saintess¡¯s hand. It meant that the Saintess had armed herself at a speed beyond my cognitive abilities. More sweat trickled down my neck. ¡°Even if Doctor Jang regresses many times to save this world, the sinsmitted by evildoers within it will not disappear. No. I won¡¯t allow myself to disappear.¡± ¡°What do you mean¡?¡± ¡°I will forever bring suffering to the sinners.¡± Steam rose from the Saintess¡¯s lips. It was white smoke rising to the boundless sky. [Trantor ¨C Jjsecus] [Proofreader ¨C Gun] ¡°You are wee to regress, whenever you want. A hundred times. Two hundred times. A thousand times, if necessary, to save this world. But I won¡¯t let evildoers enjoy the benefits of your efforts.¡± ¡°¡.¡± ¡°Every time Doctor Jang regresses, I will execute the punishment that should rightfully fall upon this world. If evildoers continue tomit crimes forever, I will torture them forever.¡± The steam emanating from the Saintess¡¯s lips twisted sideways. It was the Saintess¡¯s mockery. ¡°I may not have the ability to create heaven on earth due to my ipetence, but I do have the ability to create hell, albeit on a small scale.¡± As the Saintess took her final step, I drew my sword like a sh of lightning. The target was the axe the Saintess was holding. I couldn¡¯t understand why the Saintess had armed herself against me. But I didn¡¯t doubt her intellect. If the Saintess had taken up arms, there must have been a reason for it. What was the Saintess¡¯s n? After subduing me, what did she intend to do? It was hard to guess, but one thing was clear: it wouldn¡¯t end well for me. Suppressing my ominous feeling, I attacked the Saintess. ¡°What¡?¡± However, the Saintess easily evaded my attack. Just one step. Just moving one step to the side. It was as if she knew in advance where the attack woulde from and where it would go. Crash! Suddenly, a noise of ss breaking echoed from my body. Not just one ce. Left arm, right arm, left leg, right leg, my limbs all vibrated from the collision at the same time. The four axes struck my body and ricocheted off in all directions. I couldn¡¯t even tell when or from where the axes hade flying. It felt like the axes had suddenly appeared ¡®right in front of me¡¯. ¡°If I hadn¡¯t developed the habit of wearing aura armor all over my body, I would have suffered serious injuries from that blow.¡± I immediately distanced myself from the Saintess. I pounded the ground with my feet and leaped backward in one breath. ¨D¨DBut the gap didn¡¯t widen. ¡°You¡¯re strong. Just as expected, Doctor Jang.¡± Without a doubt, the Saintess had covered dozens of meters in one leap and was ¡®already¡¯ standing in front of me. ¡°¡!¡± Not only that, but when I crashed, the axes bounced off my body again. This time, there were six of them. I could barely react to only two of the axes and fend them off with my sword. ¡®How? Even if she had talent in martial arts, it wasn¡¯t to this extent. This isn¡¯t a skill, it¡¯s¡.¡¯ That¡¯s when it hit me. As I watched the Saintess effortlessly following my movements, a memory from long ago suddenly surfaced. Run 36. The conversation I had with the Saintess when we first met. ¨C How did you create the Constetion system? ¨C It¡¯s thanks to my abilities. I can use irvoyance and Telepathy. ¨C But isn¡¯t it impossible to impersonate the Constetions with just irvoyance and Telepathy? You need another ability to simultaneously observe multiple people and send messages. Don¡¯t you have another ability? ¡°Oh, that¡¯s¡¡± The Saintess chuckled lightly. ¡°That¡¯s a secret. I¡¯ll tell youter.¡± An old memory. Now I felt like I knew what that secret was. ¡°Time stop¡?¡± ¡°¡¡± The Saintess paused. ¡°You knew?¡± ¡°I was just guessing. It was one of several possibilities. To impersonate multiple Constetions and observe multiple Awakened Ones simultaneously, you would need a remarkable ability, like multi-perspective or multiple personalities¡ But time stop.¡± Time stop. It was the joker card I thought was the least likely. If it was true that she also had the ability of [Time stop], then the Saintess was essentially the most powerful Awakened One. Iughed bitterly, forgetting about being cornered. ¡°irvoyance, telepathy, and now time stop? It¡¯s ridiculous. It¡¯s not just having one extraordinary ability; it¡¯s monopolizing three. Spare me your ttery, Saintess.¡± ¡°That¡¯s excessive praise. Even if I have abilities, I¡¯m notparable to an infinite regressor.¡± ¡Finally, everything made sense. The Saintess had used [time stop] to simultaneously observe so many Awakened Ones and also to impersonate multiple Constetions. It was inevitable to ept that she had dodged my attacks and suddenly thrown axes from all directions. With time stopped, she could calmly assess where attacks wereing from and where to strike. And what¡¯s more? If she used [irvoyance] on me, the Saintess could synchronize her vision with mine, predicting exactly where I was looking and aiming. As long as she didn¡¯t let her guard down, she was practically invincible. ¡°My abilities weren¡¯t this strong from the beginning. Even when time was stopped, I could barely flow my consciousness or move my eyes. But as time passed, it got stronger. Now, I can stop time and travel across the country to find viins.¡± ¡°Amazing. So, what do you intend to do by overpowering me?¡± ¡°Well¡¡± The world froze for a moment. The next moment, I had no choice but to widen my eyes. Where there had been only a few lines of footprints on the snow-covered ground, countless footprints suddenly appeared. There were no footprints of mine. The tattoos on the shoes the Saintess wore were spread out in hundreds, thousands, surrounding me like a panorama. It meant that my moment was eternal to her. The Saintess didn¡¯t waste time. Right now, thousands of bullets flying towards me from all directions proved her diligence. It wasn¡¯t just bullets. Among the bullets, dozens of axes also appeared. Unlike the mere shots fired, each axe seemed meticulously aimed. ¡°It¡¯s a secret.¡± Countless bullets stormed towards me. Boss battle. Ocean-level danger. Awakened Ones: Lee Myung and the Saintess. Fallen Ones: Lee Myung and the Executor. Battle begins. [Trantor ¨C Jjsecus] [Proofreader ¨C Gun] Chapter 42 â€“ The Former Watcher IV Chapter 42 ¨C The Former Watcher IV [Trantor ¨C Jjsecus] [Proofreader ¨C Gun] Chapter 42 ¨C The Former Watcher IV 6 By the way, most of the proper nouns I use in the main text are ones I created myself. It¡¯s not like I have a godplex that gives me the right to name everything. It¡¯s just that I happened to witness most of these phenomena firsthand. Think about it. Who else but me could have witnessed the transformation of an Awakened into a monster in real time? Therefore, the phenomenon of ¡®corruption¡¯ and the term ¡®Fallen One¡¯ were terms I had toe up with on my own. But it wasn¡¯t just terminology I had toe up with. Whenever powerful boss-level monsters appeared, I also had to write up strategies for defeating them. I hope others don¡¯t make the same mistakes as me. So, here and now, I¡¯ll write up a strategy guide in preparation for the Fallen One, the monster created when one of the strongest Awakeneds, the Saintess, falls into corruption. ©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤ [Fallen Saintess] [Executor Route: Route Liberation Conditions] 1. Minimum of 15 years passed with the Saintess still alive. 2. The number of civilian victims witnessed by the Saintess exceeds ¡®at least¡¯ 1 million. Especially if the number of times witnessing helpless elderly or children dying or being tortured exceeds 100,000. 3. The Saintess masters the usage of Aura. ©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤ Commonly known as the ¡®Executor Route.¡¯ If any of these conditions are not met, the Executor Route will not ur. This knowledgees from numerous regressions. In fact, Conditions 1 and 2 are nearly identical, so it¡¯s fine to consider them the same. Whether S exists or not is not important. Even if the means to distribute videos online is blocked, the Saintess won¡¯t stop the ¡®executions.¡¯ It¡¯s just that the location of the executions will change. If the online video distribution is blocked, the Saintess won¡¯t hang the bodies in underground parking lots but will hang them in city squares instead. If even that is not possible, she¡¯ll write confessions of the sins on paper and attach them to the corpses like posters. Have you ever seen the sight of bodies hanging in city squares in 12 cities across the country on the same day? Again, the Saintess is a multi-talented Awakened bordering on fraudulent. She should never be underestimated. The best course of action is to never enter the Executor Route in the first ce. But if it happens, she must be subdued as soon as possible. ©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤ [Executor¡¯s Abilities] 1. Time Stop 2. Telepathy 3. irvoyance ©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤ Let¡¯s start with an exnation of Time Stop. Our time and the Saintess¡¯s time aren¡¯t the same. To me, even if just one day has passed, it could be two days, a week, a month, or even a year for the Saintess. With each passing second for us, the Saintess gets what seems like an eternity of opportunities. For example, right now. ¡°Oh no¡!¡± Avoiding thousands of bullets and dozens of axes altogether was impossible. I ran with all my might, but like clothes getting soaked in a drizzle, or even drenched in a torrential downpour, I was soaked in the onught. I managed to ward off the attacks with my aura, but the aura was far from infinite. My mental strength was gradually depleted in real-time. ¡°I think Doctor Jang¡¯sbat abilities are remarkable.¡± As the battle continued, hundreds of footprints umted on the ground. In front of me. Behind me. All around. Footprints I hadn¡¯t stepped on and hadn¡¯t seen were gradually closing in on me. ¡°But how long can you hold out?¡± The Saintess¡¯s aura seemed infinite. Despite unleashing countless attacks just moments ago, the Saintess, without showing any signs of fatigue, once again directed dozens of axes at me with aura flowing individually for each one. A logically unreasonable use of aura. ¡°Are you replenishing your aura while time is stopped?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± The Saintess¡¯s indifferent tone pierced directly into my mind. Even though the tone was the same as usual, it sounded malicious to my ears for some reason. ¡°I rested for ten days and recharged. While Doctor Jang was standing still, I rested deeply.¡± I cursed inwardly. In essence, it was like fighting with infinite HP and MP cheats enabled. ¡®This must have been how Ten s must¡¯ve felt when facing me.¡¯ I couldn¡¯t recall how I felt facing the Ten ns, but from their perspective, I was a being who kepting back to life no matter how many times they killed me, shouting for a rematch. They probably wanted me to stop cheating. I felt just like that right now. Unintentionally, my monster sensibilities were growing rapidly. However, just like my regressions, the Executor¡¯s Time Stop ability wasn¡¯t perfect. There was definitely a weakness. ¡®If she kept attacking me while time was stopped, she could have easily subdued me, but she didn¡¯t do that.¡¯ Not doing that meant she couldn¡¯t do it. Above all, the Saintess used throwing axes as ranged weapons rather than direct melee weapons like swords or spears. She stubbornly preferred rangedbat over close-quartersbat. This probably signifies a loophole in the Time Stop ability. And although the Saintess just imed she ¡°rested deeply for ten days,¡± it was likely just boasting. In this era, firearms and ammunition were not abundantly stocked. Gathering those rare resources, bringing them here, and firing them at me would have consumed considerable time. It might have been just a moment for me, but during that time, the Saintess would have been preparing her attacks nationwide. Of course, it wouldn¡¯t matter if she stopped timepletely for a year, or even ten years. But even for the Saintess, that would be challenging. Living alone for several years in a world where no one moves or talks would be difficult. At least asionally, releasing time every ten days or so was essential; otherwise, the Saintess¡¯s mental strength would quickly deteriorate. Thus, battling the Saintess was like ying a shooting game, or perhaps a bullet hell game. Even closing my eyes for a moment, countless bullet patterns obstructed my view. The game was about avoiding the saturation of bullets and the onught of axes somehow, and ultimately getting close to the Saintess to make a ¡°touch.¡± The clear conditions might seem excessively difficult, but unfortunately, the Saintess¡¯s gimmick was not over yet. [Kwaaaah!] [Trantor ¨C Jjsecus] [Proofreader ¨C Gun] Startled- I staggered at the sudden st that came from my left auditory sense. Had the Saintess finally resorted to bombs instead of just guns? But it was strange. I quickly turned my gaze to check, but I couldn¡¯t find any explosions no matter where I looked. Naturally, the momentary pause inbat was quite deadly. In that moment of my flinching, countless bullets poured onto my body. My whole body vibrated. My head felt dizzy. It seemed that the residue of the aura had diminished considerably due to the recent blow. ¡®What was that explosion just now?¡¯ I quickly moved while pondering incessantly. Before I could even deduce the identity of the explosion, a new noise tore through my brain with a force that split my eardrums. [Eeeeeeek-!] My expression twisted. The sound, like scraping metal against metal with sharp fangs, was diforting, especially since my senses were more heightened than the average person¡¯s. But amidst the rain of bullets from all directions, there was no way a sound like scraping metal could be heard so loudly. ¡®Telepathy ability!¡¯ I gritted my teeth. This was the noise the Saintess directly inserted into my head. ¡°Wasn¡¯t telepathy only supposed to transmit voices?¡± ¡°As I mentioned, my ability grows over time. I can rey any sound I remember. Shall I y a song for you?¡± Damn it. If the Saintess were to be a radio DJ herself, I¡¯d dly listen and even send fan letters. But the problem was that the DJ was currently causing auditory harassment to me. The explosions and the grating sounds weren¡¯t the only things tormenting me. [Doctor! I¡¯vee to help!] This was a hoarse voice. Although I knew logically that the person behind the voice wasn¡¯t here, my body couldn¡¯t help but react. Taking advantage of my hesitation, a barrage of bullets once again poured over the barrier of aura. It was maddening. [Hyung-nim!] It was Seo Gyu. I ignored him with clenched teeth. But the next moment, when I heard a whispering voice right next to my ear, I thought I was truly going crazy. [Guild Leader?] It was none other than Koyori¡¯s voice. Goosebumps spread all over my body. ¡®They¡¯re turning on me.¡¯ There wasn¡¯t even a viin as viinous as this. As much as I knew the Saintess well, she knew me equally well. Closing my senses was useless. How could I escape telepathy that directly hit my brain? In the end, I couldn¡¯t even trust my own hearing. I continued the battle in a state of heightened senses. [No matter how much you run, it¡¯s pointless, Doctor. Have you forgotten that I¡¯m still revered as a Constetion by others?] I opened my eyes wide. What? [As soon as the battle began, I designated you as the ¡®target for extermination¡¯ to awakeners nationwide. Of course, I also announced the location. When I checked with irvoyance, hundreds of awakeners were converging here.] ¡°All the awakeners love me!¡± [No, only 50% of the Awakeners like Doctor. The majority of the strong ones are in that 50%, but there are also many among the remaining Awakeners who have been eyeing Doctor. Like the Swordmaster of Yuldo Kingdom. Now that I¡¯ve proimed ¡®Doctor has fallen¡¯ under the name of the Constetion, even if temporarily, there¡¯s a pretext.] ¡°Tang Seorin¡¡± [Of course, I didn¡¯t send messages to the leaders of the Three Thousand Worlds Guild and their surroundings. The National Highway Authority Chief is the same. But just in case you¡¯re disappointed because neither of them were invited, I prepared a surprise gift for Doctor without his knowledge.] This is insane. ¡°Please, say it isn¡¯t Koyori!¡± [As expected, Doctor knows me well.] My head spun. Dealing with the fallen Saintess was already unbearable, and now Koyori was joining the fray? Were they really intent on submerging the Regressioner in Regressioner soup? [We have three hours left.] It¡¯s like adding a time attack to a bullet hell game. Maybe it was just a bluff to make me anxious, but who knew. In the end, when I summed up the Saintess¡¯s abilities, it was as follows: ©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤ [Executor¡¯s Abilities] 1. Time Stop: A near-infinite attack capability while being able to dodge enemy attacks at any time. However, it is estimated that the time stop is released when there is ¡®direct contact with the opponent.¡¯ 2. Telepathy: Originally, it only transmitted the Saintess¡¯s voice, but as the ability upgraded, it changed to ¡®sound reproduction¡¯ entirely. It can reproduce not only the voices of others but also noises such as explosions. 3. irvoyance ©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤ How do I defeat this? Honestly, even if I dered it unbeatable, there was nothing to say. ¡°¡¡± But there¡¯s always a strategy. I always thought there was no solution when facing the Ten ns, Udumbara, or the Milky Way for the first time. However, as seen with Udumbara, sometimes the problem is solved inpletely unexpected ways. I gave up. More urately, I gave up on beating the Saintess. Instead, I erased the aura that had been covering my entire body all at once. ¡°¡!¡± I could see the Saintess¡¯s eyes widening in the distance. [Trantor ¨C Jjsecus] [Proofreader ¨C Gun] Chapter 43 â€“ The Former Watcher V Chapter 43 ¨C The Former Watcher V [Trantor ¨C Jjsecus] [Proofreader ¨C Gun] Chapter 43 ¨C The Former Watcher V ng! The sound of shattered ss echoed from all directions. Though I didn¡¯t catch it with my eyes just now, it was evidence that the Saintess¡¯s aura had been activated. The bullets rushing toward me like a school of sharks shattered simultaneously. Axes rolled on the ground. The sight of thousands of bullets being crushed like powder, mingling with snowkes, was truly magnificent. ¡°¡¡± The mastermind behind this miraculous sight, the Saintess, or the fallen one who wouldter be named ¡°Executor¡± by me, was staring at me intently. ¡°What are you nning to do?¡± The Saintess¡¯s tone seemed ordinary at first nce. But I had spent countless years with her in the past and would continue to do so in the future. It was difficult to hide emotions perfectly from a destined opponent of thousands of years. The Saintess seemed flustered. ¡°As expected.¡± I nodded. The fight wasn¡¯t meant to happen in the first ce. The Saintess truly had no intention of killing me. Just aiming to subdue. I couldn¡¯t know what the Saintess was plotting in her mind right now. Unfortunately, I only mastered the Solitude Technique in the 554th run, and at this point, it was only the 107th run. Still, there were clues to specte. ¡°Saintess.¡± ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°Please stop using Time Stop. Send back the Awakeneds you summoned. Otherwise, I willmit suicide immediately, without any dy.¡± ¡°¡¡± The Saintess looked into my eyes. For a moment. Perhaps eternity. Or maybe while looking at herself through my eyes. Pupil reflected in pupil. Thud. The axe the Saintess released fell into the pile of snow. Snowkes continued to fall from the sky. They settled on the thousands, tens of thousands of footprints left on the ground. Time passed. ¡°It has stopped.¡± The Saintess expressed it as ¡°it has stopped.¡± Suddenly, I felt an unbearable emotion. In the twisted flow of time, both she and I were kin. Commonly, those who have lived in familiar spaces were called natives, while those who lived in unfamiliar spaces were called foreigners. Then what about time? To ordinary people, aren¡¯t both of us just strangers with no ce to belong? Snow fell. I thought of this ce as an isted ce, a world forsaken by everyone. Coincidentally, banishment originally stemmed from returning to one¡¯s hometown. Returning to one¡¯s hometown had be a form of punishment at some point. In that case, the void of this world might truly be the hometown of both of us. ¡°¡Very well. Since the Saintess doesn¡¯t wish for my death, and I also don¡¯t wish for the death of the Saintess, we should be able to have a conversation.¡± ¡°Agreed.¡± The distance between us was about 6 meters. ¡°Then let¡¯s first confirm each other¡¯s demands. I hope the Saintess won¡¯t oppress my freedom.¡± ¡°¡I, likewise, hope that. I hope that Doctor Jang won¡¯t obstruct my execution.¡± The Saintess spoke up. ¡°If we regress once again and the 108th world begins, Doctor Jang will undoubtedly try to prevent me from bing ¡®like this.''¡± ¡°¡¡± ¡°You wouldn¡¯t want me to be a murderer. You¡¯d always want me to be ced in a position where I have done nothing wrong. But this is a conclusion I¡¯ve reached, that I will inflict pain on those who havemitted sins, even if I have to do it myself.¡± ¡°So you tried to subdue me?¡± ¡°Yes. I intended to detain Doctor Jang until I found a way to specifically erase certain memories. The world is vast, and there are many Awakeneds, so there must be abilities to control memories somewhere. In the worst-case scenario, I could rely on Koyori.¡± Koyori is not an option. ¡°By the way, you mentioned earlier that you called Koyori. Is that person on their way here?¡± ¡°That was a lie.¡± The Saintess said casually, with an expressionless face. ¡°It was also a lie that I called other Awakeneds in the name of the Constetions. It was a tactic to make Doctor Jang impatient and make a mistake. No one else except us wille here.¡± ¡°¡I see.¡± Unbelievable. It was aplete bluff. I couldn¡¯t afford to let my guard down around this person. I took a deep breath. Then, sheathing my sword, I said, ¡°Saintess, I will never hide the fact that you have reached the conclusion of punishing wrongdoers yourself, no matter how many regressions we go through, even in the next run or the one after that.¡± ¡°¡¡± ¡°I promise. So please ease your anxieties, Saintess.¡± ¡°¡¡± ¡°Even if you were to set the world on fire, I am on your side.¡± Silence fell. With eachnding of snowkes on the Saintess¡¯s shoulders, there was a faint, almost imperceptible sound of ss cracking. Amidst the quiet, only the sound of snow falling and ss shattering softly echoed. ¡°It¡¯smentable.¡± Amidst the white and transparent sounds, the Saintess¡¯s voice seeped in like a shadow. ¡°The fact that this memory, this conversation, will bepletely forgotten by me in the next run. That all the memories of the past 16 years spent with you will melt away like snow.¡± ¡°¡I will remember.¡± ¡°Yes.¡± The Saintess lowered her eyes subtly. ¡°And that makes it even more poignant.¡± ¡°¡¡± ¡°I¡¯m sorry. It must be sadder for you than for me. But I couldn¡¯t bear it any longer. The possibility that all the events, memories, and the meaning of someone¡¯s death might disappear. ¡The fact that all of this has to be entrusted to one person¡¯s shoulders.¡± ¡°It¡¯s okay. I can handle it. Because you¡¯re here too.¡± Snow fell. With the sound of ss shattering, the Saintess¡¯s lips parted. ¡°When an Awakened¡¯s ability reaches its peak, it¡¯s hardly distinguishable from a monster.¡± This was the first in my regressions. And also the first time in human history that the phenomenon of ¡®corruption¡¯ was identified through one person¡¯s mouth. ¡°Pardon?¡± ¡°At some point, even in a frozen world, I became able to move freely. Not only my own voice, but also all the sounds I remember, can now be reyed telepathically.¡± The Saintess was utterly serious. She assembled her words at a pace calm enough for me to follow. ¡°At first, I just thought my abilities had evolved. It was a natural inference. But as time went on, another hypothesis, another possibility, began to circte in my mind.¡± ¡°What possibility?¡± ¡°That I¡¯m not growing, but rather, I¡¯m losing myself ¨D that¡¯s the hypothesis.¡± The Saintess¡¯s eyes narrowed. ¡°Originally, telepathy only transmitted ¡®my¡¯ voice. But what if I transcend my own physical body? What if I gradually be less human? In that case, couldn¡¯t I rey not only the nurturing of a human, but also countless other sounds?¡± ¡°Uh¡ logically possible. But still, could the phenomenon you mentioned simply be interpreted as the expansion of the Saintess¡¯s scope, the breadth of the self?¡± ¡°Yes. But they¡¯re not so different.¡± The Saintess nodded slightly. ¡°¡It¡¯s very difficult to exin this feeling to someone else. But there are symptoms that are too distinct to simply dismiss as psychological anxiety.¡± ¡°Symptoms?¡± ¡°Invisible aura.¡± Why was it? The moment those words flowed from the Saintess¡¯s lips, I too was seized by a sense of foreboding. A sensation as if an invisible tongue licked from my throat down to my pelvis¡ªlicking my spine. The Saintess was staring straight at me. ¡°The aura Awakeneds manifeste in all sorts of colors. You interpreted mine as ¡®having a transparent color¡¯ because there was no color in my aura.¡± ¡°¡That¡¯s correct.¡± ¡°But what if it wasn¡¯t an aura?¡± The Saintess murmured, probably pondering over a problem she herself had endlessly agonized over within the frozen time. ¡°Like producing effects simr to an aura enhancement, but not actually an aura. Doctor Jang must have witnessed countless phenomena like that.¡± ¡°Monstrosities¡?¡± ¡°Yes. Monsters.¡± The Ten ns don¡¯t use aura. They just have bodies that seem enhanced by aura from birth. My heart raced. The sound of the Saintess¡¯s entire body making a faint noise, like a shuffling, matched my heartbeat endlessly. ¡°I¡¯m gradually being eroded by emptiness.¡± ¡°¡¡± ¡°That¡¯s not all.¡± Thunk. The Saintess flicked her finger. At that moment, my perspective flipped. ¡°¡?¡± No, to be precise, it wasn¡¯t flipped. It was as if I was experiencing astral projection ¨D seeing my own body from above. My first-person view had switched to a third-person perspective. ¡°Saintess?¡± My lips moved. I saw the sight of my own lips moving. It was a very strange sensation. [Trantor ¨C Jjsecus] [Proofreader ¨C Gun] I saw my own back. If I were to do strength training in this state, I could strike the weight with unparalleled precision. But the third-person perspective world didn¡¯t just offer advantages like that. ¡°What on earth¡?¡± Sense of buoyancy. Ultimately, a person¡¯s ego clings to their body. The physical body is the most direct objectivity. If the body loses its immediacy and is ced ¡®alongside¡¯ other objects, merely bing one among many, then the person¡¯s ego is adrift like waves on an endless sea, having lost its anchor. ¡°That¡¯s the world I see, Doctor Jang.¡± Crunch. The Saintess approached me, stepping on the snow. I was helpless, like a newborn baby who hadn¡¯t yet learned how to control its body. ¡°In the past, I only experienced that perspective when using Thousand Mile Vision. But as I got used to it¡ now I¡¯ve reached a point where I can¡¯t distinguish between my own perspective and the third-person perspective.¡± The Saintess grasped my hand. The sensation of her cold hand on the snow was vivid. But somehow, that sensation felt ¡®distant¡¯. Should I express it as tactile sensations feeling like colors? Despite sensations being something felt closest to the skin, there was a sense of distance. The sensation the Saintess described was difficult to exin to others. It was eerie. It was strange. Uncanny. ¡°I think I¡¯ve already be about half eerie.¡± ¡°¡When Doctor Jang found out my secret, I thought it was a big problem. But looking back now, I¡¯m relieved it was discovered. If a little more time had passed¡ I might have lost even the most important part of myself.¡± The Saintess whispered in front of me from afar. The Saintess gathered the remaining warmth in her hands and enveloped my hand. ¡°If it hade to that point, I might have been able to freeze time to prevent Doctor Jang¡¯s regression. No. Not ¡®might.¡¯ I¡¯m certain.¡± ¡°¡.¡± ¡°Losing my color, losing my perspective, losing my form, losing time, just bing something that merely observes everything. That¡¯s the uncanny.¡± Steam escaped from the Saintess¡¯s mouth. A thread of human warmth rose in the midst of the snow-covered world. ¡°Remember, Doctor Jang. This fight, this challenge to save the world, is not an infinite game. The opportunities for challenge are infinite, but once you enter the stage, there¡¯s a ¡®time limit¡¯.¡± ¡°Time limit¡¡± ¡°That time limit is probably 15 to 20 years. Beyond Awakeneds getting ustomed to their abilities, once they be so consumed by their abilities that they devour themselves, they¡¯ll be eerie like me. Do you understand? An Awakened¡¯s ability is not a pure blessing. It¡¯s a double-edged sword.¡± Crunch- From somewhere, near or perhaps far away, the sound of ss shattering echoed. It wasn¡¯t until now that I realized it might not be ss at all, but some sort of barrier surrounding the Saintess, an invisible barrier. ¡°This time, Doctor Jang, you focused on my growth, which ultimately led to me bing like this the fastest¡ But I don¡¯t know what will happen in other runs. My intuition tells me that the more powerful an Awakened is, the more dangerous they be. For example¡ Tang Seorin from the Three Thousand Worlds is likely no exception.¡± ¡°20 years. Before 15 years pass, you must restore the world to its original state. Please remember, Doctor Jang. The time limit¡¡± The sound of ss breaking became clearer and clearer. I understood the Saintess¡¯s intention. That¡¯s why I pulled her hand and embraced her. It was quite difficult to control the body from a third-person perspective, so I might have applied too much force. The Saintess¡¯s eyes widened. ¡°¡Ah.¡± ¡°So, you intend to kill me. To ensure the regression happens before youpletely transform yourself. But that¡¯s just greed to shoulder the burden alone.¡± A small exhale andughter was heard. ¡°You really know me well, Doctor Jang.¡± ¡°Let¡¯s go together.¡± ¡°¡Yes.¡± ¡°I may not have said it, but I¡¯ve actually lost my mind control. During the third run, I¡¯ve traveled around the country and even worked as a convenience store owner.¡± ¡°A convenience store owner?¡± ¡°Yes. Even the Saintess needs to learn to let go a bit.¡± I summoned my aura throughout my body. As the ss barrier continued to crack and break, the sound intensified. Crackle- crackle. As my aura enveloped the two, countless cracks reverberated. The snow fell. The ss shattered. Even as the snow continued to fall, the two shadows etched on the white snow remained untouched. ¡°¡It¡¯s warm.¡± The Saintess closed her eyes. ¡°Why do people¡ hurt each other¡ when we¡¯re all just¡ human.¡± Crackle. The world fell silent as the snow stopped. That was the Saintess¡¯s testament. 8 There is an epilogue. This epilogue isn¡¯t limited to a specific run. In the 109th, 110th, and 111th runs¡ this scene was inevitably reproduced in the runs where I formed an alliance with the Saintess. ¡°That¡¯s what happened.¡± ¡°¡¡± After listening to my story, the Saintess remained silent, asionally rubbing her chin in thought. Sometimes, she tilted her head as if lost in deep contemtion. ¡°It doesn¡¯t feel like my story, even though it is mine.¡± ¡°Is that so?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± The Saintess looked at my face with a very serious expression. ¡°You¡¯ve been diligently exploring the outside world, but it doesn¡¯t suit you.¡± ¡°¡I see.¡± Was it really like that? The Saintess stood up and gestured to the aquarium. The fish she had carefully collected before the world became like this quickly gathered at hermand. Red, white, yellow, blue¡ Various creatures swam in the water. ¡°It¡¯s difficult to understand punishing viins anonymously. Using one¡¯s own position to instill fear in people is effective, but it¡¯s the mindset of someone who doesn¡¯t trust others. If she had been as sincere as she was thorough in exploring, wouldn¡¯t it have been better to publicly announce her existence, her abilities, and even govern the world herself?¡± ¡°Um. Maybe she wasn¡¯t that diligent?¡± ¡°Exactly. She was mediocre. Choosing seclusion to avoid mediocrity.¡± The tip of the Saintess¡¯s finger gently brushed the surface of the water. For the fish, the boundary of the world, the barrier of this world, was slightly disturbed. The Saintess seemed to enjoy the sensation. ¡°Above all, in the 107th run, I described it as if Awakeneds automatically fall into corruption as their abilities develop. But that¡¯s a wed analysis. There¡¯s clear evidence against it.¡± ¡°Evidence?¡± ¡°Doctor Jang.¡± The Saintess spoke. ¡°You¡¯ve regressed countless times already and continuously developed your abilities. If my theory were correct, you would have experienced corruption sooner than anyone else. But seeing that such a phenomenon hasn¡¯t urred to you, the likelihood is that corruption is simply a mental issue.¡± Simply a mental issue. She was still strict with herself. ¡°But I understand the meaning behind the final testament.¡± ¡°What meaning is that?¡± ¡°The fact that humans kill each other. Even though they¡¯re human. It¡¯s always a painful truth. And¡¡± ¡°And?¡± ¡°¡¡± The Saintess nced back discreetly. I blinked. Like a crab clicking its pincers against the ss in the aquarium. Then, something truly rare happened. The Saintess gave a faint smile. ¡°It¡¯s a secret.¡± ¨C The Former Watcher. The End. [Trantor ¨C Jjsecus] [Proofreader ¨C Gun] Chapter 44 â€“ Returnee I Chapter 44 ¨C Returnee I [Trantor ¨C Jjsecus] [Proofreader ¨C Gun] Chapter 44 ¨C Returnee I 1 Among Awakeneds, there are many entrics. I can¡¯t speak for elsewhere, but among Awakeneds from the Korean Penins, the proportion of entrics is definitely high. Whether it¡¯s Tang Seorin, who¡¯s serious about witch cosy, or Cheon Yohwa, who calls her guild a girls¡¯ high school. But at least they belong to a rtively safe category in that they canmunicate in humannguage. Today, let¡¯s talk about one of the standout entrics among the entrics¡ªthe Sword Maiden of Yuldo Kingdom. 2 As we¡¯ve seen, the ¡°Wheel Killer¡± incident was somehow resolved. However, the fact that the Saintess had fallen into corruption itself was a huge shock to me. It was quite a while since I had suffered such a mental blow. If I had to find a simr case where I received simr damage, it would be like when I waspletely blindsided by a home run from Koyori, whom I thought was a ¡°good person.¡± What does that mean? ¡®It¡¯s vacation season.¡¯ A scream echoed from the other side of Busan Station¡¯s main hall. ¡°What the hell are you talking about!¡± ¡°Hey.¡± Bang! The sound of a balloon bursting also echoed. The man who exited the stage faster than anyone else, Seo Gyu, failed. ¡°Aaaah!¡± People screamed and fled in all directions because of the fairy who didn¡¯t understand human hearts. It was a familiar scene. With this, the birth of S disappeared. In other words, I had abandoned one of the means to control Awakeneds, verbally or non-verbally. What was I nning? As for me, Doctor Jang, the regressor, I had no intention of saving the world in this 108th run. Seo Gyu¡¯s failure was just evidence that I was taking a break. ¡®Agh, that bastard¡ He¡¯s too weak when ites to women.¡¯ Seo Gyu had already betrayed Koyori and sold information about the Saintess. I could somewhat understand this. Koyori¡¯s mind control beam was so strong. Even I almost fell into a trance and almost ended up drawing an R-rated gore manga out of nowhere. Butst time was different. Now that I thought about it calmly, that little jerk Seo Gyu had definitely been recruited by the Saintess. He probably yed a subtle role in manipting public opinion on S or stirring up fear about the Wheel Killer. There was no problem with him cooperating with the Saintess. The problem was that he kept it hidden from me! ¡®What a despicable guy. A treacherous guy. After all I¡¯ve done for him.¡¯ Oh, how I raised you like a precious jewel only to find out that in the end, you valued your rtionship with your female colleague more than being grateful to your benefactor and teacher. For reference, I had a bit of a grudge. How long? Well¡ roughly 200 years? When a regressor holds a grudge, instead of a new moon, we get snow, hail, and yellow dust all year round. Is it unfair that the mistakes of the previous run¡¯s self result in punishment for the next run¡¯s self? Life was inherently unfair. That little brother needed to take a beating for a while to learn his lesson. Where in the real world would you find a brother like me? Because Seo Gyu loved Italian-style pizza so much, I went out of my way to save a pizza artisan in Busan and helped set up a shop. My brotherly love was that profound. ¡®Seize the pizza!¡¯ That scoundrel Seo Gyu, who dared to disappoint his brother, would have to endure a pizza-less life for the next 200 years, namely during 10 to 15 runs. Anyway, Seo Gyu got hiseuppance after being caught by a fairy saying ¡°Hey.¡± What¡¯s really important is how to make the most of this vacation. As I sat in a corner of the main hall, nning my vacation, Fairy No. 264 came over. ¡°What are you doing, human?¡± ¡°As you can see, I¡¯m nning my vacation.¡± ¡°Vacation?¡± ¡°Yeah. Since the world is already doomed, I might as well enjoy some rxing and meaningful time. If I¡¯m going on vacation, might as well choose a different, unexplored course, right?¡± ¡°Heok. You¡¯re insane¡ Seniors told me not to go near crazy people like you¡¡± The fairy ran away. As usual, I farmed silver droplets at the souvenir shop in the main hall and then pondered alone. Suddenly, the conversation I had with the Saintess in the previous run struck me like lightning. ¨C Awakeneds all like me! ¨C No, only 50% of Awakeneds like you, Doctor Jang. It¡¯s just that the majority of the strong ones are among that 50%, and there are also many others among the remaining Awakeneds who have been eyeing you eagerly. Like the Sword Maiden of the Yuldo Kingdom. The Saintess¡¯s words inadvertently touched my pride. I, Doctor Jang, a humble regressor, took pride in treating people without prejudice and helping them. Afraid that my personality might be arrogant after many regressions, I deliberately didn¡¯t always use honorifics with people I first met. If I set my mind to it, I believed not just 50%, but 90%, no, 95% of Awakeneds would like me. ¡®Excellent.¡¯ I stood up from my crouched position. This run, I¡¯ll try to win the heart of the Sword Maiden of Yuldo Kingdom. The fact that the Sword Maiden was a crazy old man could be clearly seen from his epithet ¡°Sword Maiden.¡± For those familiar with martial arts novels, they would know that ¡°Sword Maiden¡± was a kind of title. And it was a title that only applied to female masters, not male ones. However, the Sword Maiden in our world was undoubtedly an old man well over sixty, with a nicely grown beard. Isn¡¯t that a bit odd? ¡°I am the greatest in the world!¡± And this guy, using ¡°I¡± in the first person, called himself ¡°I.¡± Despite calling himself the Sword Maiden, he went around brandishing a sword, but the sword he wielded was actually a fake sword made of aluminum, stolen during a time when a certain swordsmanship school had gone bankrupt. I believe this perfectly exins why I didn¡¯t get along with the Sword Maiden until the 108th run. He¡¯s truly a crazy old man. ¡°Furthermore, I am the greatest of all time.¡± [PR/N: GOAT grandpa?] Alright. Perhaps some of you have already made a judgment like, ¡°Ah, I thought he was crazy, but if you delve into his inner thoughts, he¡¯s surprisingly sane, huh? I know.¡± [Trantor ¨C Jjsecus] [Proofreader ¨C Gun] If so, I¡¯m sorry to bring you some sad news. You have absolutely no talent as a mind reader. A true madman¡¯s cosy is different from this one. Digging into his inner thoughts is like getting closer and closer to a radiation exposure site, increasing the level of madness. ¡°Lastly, I am the Sword Maiden of Yuldo Kingdom!¡± ¡°What¡¯s Yuldo Kingdom?¡± ¡°Oh, you don¡¯t know Yuldo Kingdom? Ohoho. It¡¯s thend of justice. It was a nation founded by His Majesty, who rose up against the tyranny of those damned Yeonggilli.¡± Later, I found out that the real name of Yuldo Kingdom was the ¡°Shirand Kingdom,¡± a micronation. How this old man discovered some fateful intersection between ¡°Shirand¡± in English and ¡°Yuldo Kingdom¡± in Korean, even I, who speaks eightnguages, have no idea. Maybe if you ask theborers at the Tower of Babel construction site, they wouldn¡¯t know either. By the way, Shirand¡ I mean, Yuldo Kingdom, wasn¡¯t a democracy; it was a hereditary monarchy. There was even a strict caste system. It seemed a bit behind the global trends and fashions. Furthermore, the government of Yuldo Kingdom learned its philosophy of governing from the Romance of the Three Kingdoms. During the era of the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, there was a monarch in the Han dynasty named Emperor Wu of Han. This ruler,monly known as the ¡°Enlightened Emperor,¡± was a progressive leader who was ahead of his time. Even 1,700 years before the Wealth of Nations was published in Ennd, Emperor Wu of Han had already grasped the principles of capitalism. ¨C The country is my property. Therefore, government positions are also my private property. ¡°If you want to borrow someone else¡¯s property, shouldn¡¯t you show proper respect?¡± The Emperor firmly rejected the custom of establishing government positions based on blood ties, instead opting for a belief unique in this world: that money, rather than lineage, determined one¡¯s position. This reform-minded ruler not only sold high-ranking positions for exorbitant prices but also created a system allowingmoners to pay in installments, considering the immediate cash needs of the lower ss. Contrary to convention, the seed of capitalism flourished in the East before the West. Although Yu Gwang¡¯s reforms ended in failure, theyter inspired countless revolutionaries. Even the birthce of capitalism, Ennd, could not escape this influence. At the end of the 20th century, a British man set out to found a nation in a remote area. He learned the wisdom of governing a country from ancient sages. ¡°Wouldn¡¯t selling noble titles help the country¡¯s finances?¡± Indeed, there could not help but be a reversal of fortunes, a shift from the East to the West. This British man went one step further than his predecessors, opening the gates not only to his own citizens but to people worldwide. He understood well that there should be no borders or nationalities when it came to money. The power of open borders also reached South Korea, far away from Ennd. And the protagonist of this story, the Sword Maiden, became a major yer in this endeavor. For a hefty sum of 70,000 won, totaling 250,000 won with various options, he purchased the title of Viscount in the Yuldo Kingdom. It was a triumphant moment for a Korean to reim the noble titles that had officially disappeared since the fall of the Korean Empire. The old man proudly lifted his nose. ¡°From now on, call me the ¡®Sword Gentleman.''¡± Because he liked martial arts novels, hence ¡®sword.¡¯ And since he was a viscount, ¡®gentleman.¡¯ Although his naming sense was crazy, the tragedy didn¡¯t end there. While humanity was divided by race and nationality, monsters treated their Koreanpatriots equally. When Seoul disappeared in Korea, East Anglia vanished entirely in Ennd. Naturally, neighboring micronations could not have remained unscathed. Yuldo Kingdom, boasting a poption of four, disappeared, leaving behind only a page in history. By the way, it became the country with the shortest lifespan to copse after the Gate Incident. ¡°I can¡¯t believe it! The homnd has copsed!¡± The old man swallowed his sorrow. If he had fallen here, he would have been nothing more than a third-rate. But the old man stood up. A single tear was enough for a man dedicated to his fallen country. ¡°From now on, I will continue to maintain Yuldo Kingdom!¡± The country with the shortest lifespan also experienced the shortest-lived revival movement. ¡°But how can I, in all conscience, im the title of Grand Duke, considering the grace of His Majesty? I will only im a title inferior to that of a grand duke or marquis. From now on, call me the ¡®Sword Maiden!''¡± Indeed. The Chinese characters for ¡°Sword Maiden¡± surprisingly meant ¡°the one after the sword.¡± The case of skipping from a viscount directly to a marquis and appointing someone as a marquis without passing through the ranks of earl was rare even in the Yul Nation. That¡¯s because the traditional Yul Nation didn¡¯t have the position of marquis. Naturally, the official name of the New Yul Nation also changed to ¡®Yul Marquisate¡¯, a country ruled by a marquis. Of course, there was no one else but the marquis himself who imed to be a citizen of this backward country. If you¡¯ve heard the background story of how the marquis came into being, any sensible person would think, ¡°If I get too close to that old man, my home address might end up being moved to a mental hospital.¡± But surprisingly, the marquis survived. Even in this chaotic era where the world is on the brink of destruction and monsters rampage, he steadfastly preserved himself. Instead of being isted in a mental hospital, awakening individuals were in a frenzy because they couldn¡¯t capture the marquis. Could it be that the marquis was a master of swords as his name literally suggests? The answer is NO. The marquis didn¡¯t know how to wield a sword. How well could a fashionista swordsman fight with a wooden sword he carries around? I guarantee you that an elementary school student who just received a yellow belt at a martial arts dojo would disy more skill than the marquis. The survival strategy of the marquis unexpectedly worked in apletely different field. ¡°Um, elder.¡± ¡°¡¡¡± ¡°¡¡¡± ¡°¡Marquis.¡± ¡°Oh, aren¡¯t you a disciple of Murim? What brings you here?¡± ¡°I¡¯m here to inquire about how this spring¡¯s crops are progressing¡¡± ¡°I know! Farming requires dedication and care. I¡¯m sure I¡¯m cultivating them well enough, so why are you bothering to monitor me?¡± ¡°No, not monitoring, but¡¡± ¡°I know! Young disciples talk too much! If you keep bothering me, your guild might cut off your food supply altogether!¡± Behind the shouting marquis, golden wheat fields stretched out. The marquis¡¯s ability was [nt Growth]. Regardless of climate,nd, or water quality, he could grow crops to an extraordinary extent and elerate their growth rate by up to three to six times, a miraculous SSS-level ability. Because of this, the marquis evolved from being known as the ¡®crazy old man¡¯ to the ¡®old man who absolutely no one could touch orin about.¡¯ ¡°You know, if I set my mind to it, the disciples¡¯ stomachs would all be bursting! Want a taste of my power?¡± ¡°¡¡¡± The marquis. Unfortunately for the awakening individuals of Korea¡ this crazy old man was the only source of food left on the penins after civilization copsed. [Trantor ¨C Jjsecus] [Proofreader ¨C Gun] Chapter 45 â€“ Returnee II Chapter 45 ¨C Returnee II [Trantor ¨C Jjsecus] [Proofreader ¨C Gun] Chapter 45 ¨C Returnee II 4 The marquis may have been crazy, but his ability was great. To truly grasp how great it was, some additional exnation is needed. This world hates humanity. Even kids in their adolescence, caught up in their teenage angst, mutter, ¡°It feels like the world hates me.¡± And as you grow older, you gradually (actually, not so gradually) learn that the world doesn¡¯t really care about your existence. Honestly, from the world¡¯s perspective, there are quite a few things to care about besides you. Like turtles swallowing stic or quantum entanglement. But not anymore. Since the Gate Incident, something decisively changed. It changedpletely. From that day on, the world decided to dislike humanity a bit. The Void. Alternatively called the abyss or hell. While the term ¡°gate¡± was used before, gradually people started using the word ¡°void.¡± ¨C Hey, what¡¯s that? ¨C Huh? What? ¨C That flower. Why does it have teeth? In the Void, shark teeth grow on the petals of the Rafflesia flower. Spiders sprout legs, numbering thirteen. Dragonflies develop sixpound eyes. Headless elephants roam. Without exterminating monsters and aberrations, extensive gic mutations ur in the affected areas. The number of malformed creatures increases drastically. It¡¯s called the Void Toxin. The culprit that swiftly dismantles the civilizations and knowledge painstakingly built by humanity. Have you ever seen a paddy field dyed crimson like blood? Rice grains resembling the shapes of all the insects, from beetles to flies? Instead of rice grains, water lilies bloom. There¡¯s even a reported sighting of rice fields where all the nted rice seems to have roots connected underground like a bamboo forest. Despite the same field, same crop, same water, and same sunlight, the rice on the left side of the field looked different from the right side. Human civilization was built on the foundation of ¡®repeatability¡¯. Even as everything in the world changes, when you realize that springes again after a year and winter repeats itself, humanity erected a tower of gold. At the sharp top of that tower, time finally turned into history. The tower has now copsed. Time flows. It flows uncontrobly. Like a desert storm covering the once glorious surface of the tower with sand. What is humanity? What are ¡®we¡¯? Are we the beings where flowers grow from our heads and fish gills sprout from our tongues? From those gills, the cries of a newborn baby can be heard. Eventually, they onlymunicate and convey messages through the baby¡¯s cries, but we cannot understand the meaning of that resonance. Sometimes time flows rapidly near Incheon, while it flows slowly near Seoul. Nothing repeats. Nothing is reproduced. It just flows. ¡°We connect each city¡¡¡± Therefore, I, the Saintess, the Warlord, and the Triumvirate dered war against the void that devours our world. ¡°Humanity needs to return to the era when it was overwhelmed by nature.¡± To the question of whether this is regression, the Warlord shook his head. ¡°Just as evolution and regression are only distinctions made by humans, this is merely adaptation to the environment, not the decline of civilization¡¡ From domination in terms of surface (area) to domination in terms of lines (linear).¡± From surface to line. From line to surface. That was the motto of the Highway Management Bureau. ¡°So, we can escape from being isted by the void and maintain ourmunity as ¡®us¡¯¡¡¡± Like providing a wheelchair to a disabled person, the Highway Management Bureau paved the way for humanity. Theyid the ¡®rails¡¯ in the world. Finally, the isted points, cities, and people became rest stops where people could take a break. ¡°I¡¯m fixing the railways that have been destroyed in this world, one by one, and continuing to move forward.¡± I was able to fulfill themand of the fallen leader. It took many years. And it will take even more years in the future. ¡°From history to history, forever.¡± The Highway Management Bureau did not represent Busan. It could not symbolize Seoul. The Highway Management Bureau was simply the cradle of humanity¡¯sst stand, the final unit, and the frontline. ¡°We can do it. No, we must do it¡¡¡± Every time they left the road, the patrols of the Highway Management Bureau could not guarantee their survival. The patrol that left for Gangneung never returned. The patrol sent to explore the North Korean area returned after two years, with all 13 patrol members transformed into sunflowers walking with their heads bowed towards the g they were carrying when they left, rather than the sun. Yet, we did not hesitate to stand on the frontline. ¡°Well, this season is also a bumper crop!¡± The marquis could be considered the support unit of this frontline. ¡°With this much food, we can feed and save the Three Han countries and still have leftovers! Truly, it must be the care of the heavens!¡± No matter how much we clear the way, people still need to eat. It¡¯s my urgent fate to ensure that they have three meals a day, two meals, or even just one. I did not ept this hunger as a burden or sadness. If one were infected with the virus of New Buddha, they could escape from the fate of hunger at any time. This meant transcending from being human to bing a void existence. Hunger was dismal, but it was the misery of humanity, still the misery of beings born and raised on thisnd. However, I did not live to consider the horrors of humanity as its beauty. Food had to be eaten. The head chef responsible for the rice essence of the Korean Penins was none other than the marquis. ¡°Honey, would it be alright for me to enjoy a little excursion this summer?¡± And, as emphasized several times, our head chef was also a lunatic. ¡°Ah, Marquis. An excursion?¡± ¡°Exactly, it¡¯s just a leisurely stroll. Young Murim novices. Don¡¯t ever mention this anywhere else. I¡¯ve kept it a secret all along, but the fact is¡¡± The marquis looked around cautiously. Even the gaze of the Highway Management Bureau, checking for monsters nearby, wouldn¡¯t be as sharp as his. After confirming that there was no one else around except me, the marquis whispered in my ear. ¡°I am the sessor to the 260th grand master of the Mount Hua Sect.¡± ¡°¡¡¡± ¡°The martial art secrets of the Mount Hua Sect, which contain the essence of its 3,000-year history, are in my hands.¡± So, he was iming to be not only the marquis of the Youl Nation and the marquis of Murim, but also the next grand master of the Mount Hua Sect. In addition, he had an aluminum sword at his waist. By this point, my head was spinning. ¡°Um¡ I¡¯m not sure if I can ask this, but why is a venerable elder of the Mount Hua Sect in the Korean Penins?¡± ¡°Of course, to hide from the despicable cultists¡¯ eyes. As the rightful heir of the 24-Style Plum Flower Sword Technique, it¡¯s inevitable that malicious individuals would try to spy on me. Look. Even now, the demons summoned by the Heavenly Demon are shaking the world, aren¡¯t they?¡± ¡°Oh, my god.¡± ¡°That¡¯s right. I literally want to find God! Originally, I was a grandmaster at the peak, but I suffered serious injuries during a chase by the cultists. But now that I¡¯ve recovered mentally and physically on this Easternnd, I must return to my mountain and fulfill my duties as a disciple, don¡¯t I?¡± ¡°¡Are you saying you¡¯re going to Mount Hua in China right now?¡± ¡°Exactly.¡± I sighed deeply as I looked up at the sky. ¡°Marquis, are you insane?¡± Although I briefly hinted at the story of Kim Joocheol and Kim Sieun, ¡®overseas travel¡¯ in this era was nothing more than a more sophisticated term for ¡®suicide.¡¯ The marquis simply tilted his head at my straightforward speech. ¡°I am perfectly sane.¡± Asking a madman if they¡¯re also mad would likely yield no meaningful answer. It¡¯s like asking a dolphin if it¡¯s a dolphin. Unless one¡¯s eyes are crossed, the truth is obvious. I adjusted my strategy. ¡°If it¡¯s the Plum Flower Sword Technique, perhaps? When mastered to the extreme, blossoms emanate from the sword, reaching a thousand li.¡± ¡°Oh, you¡¯ve also heard of it from the Murim novices. Precisely.¡± ¡°Do you happen to know if there are abundant plum blossoms on the volcano?¡± [Trantor ¨C Jjsecus] [Proofreader ¨C Gun] ¡°Of course.¡± ¡°¡That¡¯s a setting created in Korea.¡± At that time, my knowledge of martial arts novels was limited to a few I had read as a child. But even I knew. Mount Huashan wasn¡¯t particrly famous for its plum blossoms. You could tell just by looking at pictures. Huashan was a mountain where rocks were as abundant as leaves, making it difficult for plum blossoms to bloom profusely. The scent, too, was the same. It was biologically impossible for the scent of plum blossoms to emanate from the Mount Hua Sect¡¯s sword without developing olfactory organs that could perceive the scent of stones as plum blossoms. What¡¯s the point? The story goes that a self-proimed grandmaster of the Mount Hua Sect, the 261st (scheduled), bearer of the sword, a native Korean from Ulleungdo, whocks proficiency in Mandarin, is spouting nonsense. This old man was lying through his teeth from head to toe. ¡°Gaaaaaal!¡± The marquis burst out with a lion¡¯s roar. ¡°How dare you mock your senior, disciple! The scent of plum blossoms I learned from my master in my youth still lingers in my nostrils! If you dare insult my master and the Plum Flower Sword Technique, I won¡¯t let it slide!¡± ¡°Then, as an ignorant novice, let¡¯s see a demonstration from the sessor of the Plum Flower Sword Technique, the esteemed marquis.¡± ¡°If I hadn¡¯t suffered injuries from the evil cultists and were in perfect condition, I would have shown you right away.¡± ¡°He¡¯s losing it.¡± Yeah, he¡¯s younger than me, but more immature. And back in the civilized days, being 60 wasn¡¯t even considered old. How old am I this year? ¡No, let¡¯s stop this strategy. Winning in this battle felt like inevitable defeat in war. Anyway, the marquis was a type of person I couldn¡¯t handle. Fortunately, we had the ¡°Ultimate Weapon for Facing Elders¡± at our disposal. ¡°Noh Doha, help.¡± ¡°A 60-year-old grandpa? Hmm. Tough one¡¡± The most beloved man among the elderly in the Korean Penins, the greatest guarantor knight andmander of the Highway Management Bureau in history, Noh Doha, smirked ominously. ¡°Elder¡ Are you feeling good¡?¡± ¡°Oh my, oh my. My joints are all loosening up.¡± The marquis began to melt under the shoulder massage Noh Doha provided. Even if they said his previous upation wasn¡¯t as a government official but as a masseuse, his skillful hands were believable enough. ¡°Whether plum blossoms bloom at the top of a mountain or on the streets, they¡¯re still plum blossoms. So, if they bloom in people¡¯s hearts, wouldn¡¯t they still be plum blossoms? Now that the mantle of the Mount Hua Sect has been passed down to you, it doesn¡¯t matter whether it¡¯s Haidong or Jiang¡¯an, does it?¡± ¡°Well, but the disciples¡¡± ¡°No, no¡ Your master has already passed away, hasn¡¯t he? Then, since you¡¯re the most senior member of the Mount Hua Sect, although it¡¯smon for juniors to visit their seniors, I¡¯ve never heard of seniors visiting their juniors. They shoulde to you, so why are you moving around?¡± ¡°Oh? That¡¯s indeed a valid point.¡± ¡°If you write a letter, I¡¯ll take responsibility and send it to China. If they understand the rtionship between superiors and inferiors, they¡¯ll surelye to see you¡¡± ¡°Oh ho! Your advice on diplomacy is truly correct!¡± ¡°Then, I¡¯ll look forward to the harvest of autumn strolls¡¡± ¡°Hmm! Leave it to me!¡± The Highway Management Bureau is a sovereign state, and its leader is a sovereign. That¡¯s what it means. After finishing the inspired hand movements and tongue movements, Noh Doha turned back to me and chuckled. ¡°That¡¯s why I prefer adults over young people¡ Communication works, you know?¡± I won¡¯t argue against that im. But no matter how much effort Noh Doha put in, there were limitations. The marquis was a lunatic, and lunacy was an incurable disease. ¡°I have to visit the Huashan at least once before I die.¡± Every time the seasons changed and the rice was harvested, the marquis murmured incessantly, like someone afflicted with nostalgia. ¡°I have to go before I die¡¡± Since the establishment of the Highway Management Bureau, in the 54th run, 55th, 56th, and 57th, the marquis murmured like this every season. Time passed. Finally, in the 108th run. During the vacation season, I visited the marquis. It was still very early on, before the first year had passed. The marquis was still living in his hometown, Ulleungdo (yes, this person had no reason to be afflicted with nostalgia). ¡°Marquis.¡± ¡°Hmm?¡± The old man, watering the flowers in the front yard of his shabby house, turned towards me. Water dribbled from the watering can. ¡°Who are you, young man?¡± ¡°I am someone bestowed with the knighthood of Yuldo Country.¡± ¡°What?¡± If an ordinary person had an unfamiliar stranger walk into their front yard and suddenly im a micronation¡¯s title, they would probably either call the police or at least swing a broom at them. ¡°Oh, this is one of my countrymen! Come in quickly!¡± But indeed, the marquis was extraordinary. I secretly wondered if this old man had been cosying as a nobleman ever since he came to Ulleungdo, but it seemed he had already discarded that act since his time in his hometown. ¡°But your title sounds strange. I¡¯m not the Marquis, but the South Marquis. Why have youe to find me?¡± I put on the saddest expression I could muster. Method acting wasn¡¯t particrly difficult. Just recalling the scene when the leader died made it simple. ¡°Unfortunately, Yuldo Country has been destroyed.¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°The sinister influence of the demon cult has reached even to the distant seas. Not only Yuldo Country, but also the eastern part of Yeonggilli has been devastated, and even His Majesty the Duke couldn¡¯t escape.¡± ¡°No¡! How could such a thing¡!¡± ¡°Marquis.¡± Thud! I knelt in the yard. And with an unprecedented solemnity, I shouted. ¡°Although the government of Yuldo Country has failed, can we consider it right for the people to ept the nation¡¯s downfall? Isn¡¯t it true loyalty to establish a country with the remaining people alone?¡± ¡°¡¡!¡± ¡°Now that there are no nobles left in Yuldo Country except you, it is only proper for you to establish a new government here. However, as a person of reason, we cannot forget His Majesty the Duke¡¯s grace. Therefore, please ascend to the marquisate and revive the Yuldo nation!¡± For the record, the marquis¡¯s house was shabby. And the shabby house was located in a shabby neighborhood. Furthermore, a characteristic of the shabby neighborhood was that when something unusual happened next door, you could easily peek over the fence to see what was going on. The people in the neighborhood all looked this way. To express their gaze, it was like, ¡°Oh, just casually looking.¡± ¡°Ah, heaven has not yet abandoned me!¡± The marquis paid no attention to the neighborhood¡¯s people. ¡°Get up quickly! How could you understand my intentions so well!¡± ¡°I apologize.¡± ¡°You truly are the marquis¡¯s right-hand man!¡± It was basically saying ¡°best friend¡±. 108th run. That day, I had lunch with the future head of the Mount Hua Sect. [Trantor ¨C Jjsecus] [Proofreader ¨C Gun] Chapter 46 â€“ Returnee III Chapter 46 ¨C Returnee III [Trantor ¨C Jjsecus] [Proofreader ¨C Gun] Chapter 46 ¨C Returnee III ¡°In true friendship, there is no distinction of age; there is only the free exchange of souls,¡± David Hume said. Immanuel Kant said, ¡°From young friends, we learn vigor, and from old friends, we learn wisdom. Therefore, one should not choose friends based on age.¡± The most important point here is that they never actually said such famous quotes. But the nuances got across, didn¡¯t they? So, isn¡¯t that enough? The way I befriended the Marquis and shared our friendship also followed the ¡®nuance¡¯. ¡°Doctor Jang!¡± ¡°Marquis!¡± We emptied four bottles of makgeolli and ate rice cakes as blood brothers that day. We could recognize each other as brothers almost just by locking eyes, so there was no need for a separate reunion like those of long-lost families. Even the three brothers of Yoo Gwanjang would have been consumed with jealousy and entered into a 500-round anger-eating session if they had witnessed our bond. What does that even mean? Well¡ understand it through the ¡®nuance¡¯. Our ¡®makgeolli resolution¡¯ didn¡¯t just end as a one-night amusement. ¡°Marquis, I have something to tell you.¡± ¡°Hmm¡?¡± The next morning, I approached the Marquis with solemnity. By the way, the Marquis had be a furnace and was personally checking the temperature of the veranda with his left cheek. ¡°You wanted to say something? Huh¡ What is it?¡± ¡°Last night, didn¡¯t you reveal to the senior disciple of the Mount Hua Sect that you were his predecessor?¡± There was actually no such asion. But the Marquis nodded as if it were the most natural thing. ¡°Oh, right.¡± ¡°How can someone destined to be the head of the Mount Hua Sect confine themselves to a humble thatched house forever? Even though it¡¯s a life offort, you can¡¯t pursue tranquility while the world is in chaos. Return to Mount Hua and establish the pir of the sect.¡± ¡°What are you talking about?¡± The Marquis opened his mouth. His surprise was palpable. More specifically, his surprise as a furnace was palpable. For a moment, there was a time of giving the morning air to the furnace in the front yard. To be more precise, it was a time of letting the furnace taste the air of disguise. I could have described this scene in more detail, but out of my benevolence for you, dear readers, I won¡¯t provide any visual or auditory material. My goodwill for you is so affectionate and boundless. ¡°Phew.¡± The process was skipped, leaving only the oue. After gulping down water from a stic water bottle (the kind you see at the springs), the Marquis looked at me seriously. ¡°Doctor Jang.¡± He seemed to want to exude an aura of solemnity. In my personal opinion, it smelled like something, but it was closer to bad breath than inner strength. ¡°Is my younger brother offering to guide me back to the Mount Hua?¡± ¡°Exactly.¡± ¡°While I¡¯m deeply grateful for your intentions, the current martial world is a yground for the cunning followers of the wicked Demonic Cult. The Tao has been cut off, righteousness has copsed, and chivalry is nothing more than a sheath carried around by viins for show. What audacity do you have to guarantee a journey to Mount Hua?¡± ¡°I simply intend to navigate through troubled times with benevolence.¡± ¡°¡!¡± Do you understand what that means? I don¡¯t. But there was indeed a nuance, and the Marquis seemed to understand everything just from that as he widened his eyes. He pounded his knee. ¡°Indeed! If I can¡¯t aplish something alone, then I should do it with my brothers! I¡¯ve been secluded for too long, forgetting even such a simple truth!¡± ¡°Will you trust me?¡± ¡°Returning to Mount Hua has been the lifelong wish of mine. While friendships based on gain are precarious, friendships based on wishes are steadfast. I trust only you.¡± The subsequent events were like a fairy tale. We immediately left the ind. Considering he had lived on Ulleung Ind all his life, the provisions the Marquis prepared were minimal. They were so sparse that within less than 40 minutes of deciding on the journey, everything was ready. The notable item in the Marquis¡¯s attire was the bulging pouch at his waist. ¡°What¡¯s that, sir?¡± The Marquis chuckled as he stroked his beard. ¡°It¡¯s the essence of the Mount Hua Sect.¡± It was his usual nonsense. I shrugged and climbed onto the deck. ¡°Woohoo!¡± Oh, by the way, on the ferry ride to the maind, the Marquis even showcased his disguise¡¯s scent to the East Sea. It was as if he had painted the heavens and the earth with his own colors, a true mark of an aplished master¡¯s dignity. But wait, wasn¡¯t this guy originally from Ulleungdo? Even if he had a bit too much makgeolli, shouldn¡¯t he be seasick? It¡¯s embarrassing for an inder. ¡°Wuekk¡.¡± On every boat ride from Ulleungdo to Gangneung, from Incheon to Shanghai, the Marquis proudly disyed his camaraderie with the railing. Thanks to him, I could have easily transitioned into a professional masseur for the Marquis¡¯s back. The Marquis exined somewhat sheepishly. ¡°The Marquis¡ suffered some damage to his stomach and duodenum when he was wounded. Ah-haha. This never used to happen before. It¡¯s embarrassing.¡± [PR/N: The first part of the small intestine.] Was the duodenum connected to the stomach? It was surprising anatomical knowledge. It had as much schrly value as investigating what material a unicorn¡¯s horn was made of. As a footnote, let me say that securing passage on a ship to Shanghai was itself a miracle and an aplishment of mine. As you know, when the Gate Incident urred (now that everyone¡¯s familiar with the terminology, it seems appropriate to express it as ¡°the Void Incident¡± or ¡°the Advent of the Void¡±), arge chunk of Seoul south of the Han River disappeared in an instant. Incheon was lucky to remain intact. There were many people fleeing bynd as well as by sea. If it weren¡¯t for me, a seasoned traveler who had been abroad several times, we wouldn¡¯t have been able to find a captain in the chaotic Incheon Harbor. ¡°Oh.¡± We finally arrived in China after endless hardships. The Marquis¡¯s eyes reddened. ¡°This ce¡ is China¡! Behold! I, the Marquis, have returned!¡± It sounded like he was saying the journey was over. But I was a perpetual returner. While I mainly operated domestically, I had traveled to China several times when I once considered myself an internationalist. So I knew very well that the true ordeal was about to begin. 6 Have you ever read Greek or Norse mythology? Perhaps you¡¯ve been struck by thisment while reading mythologies from other countries. ¡°Why didn¡¯t Korea have many systematic mythologies?¡± I could talk about this for a long time, but my intention now is not to engage in academic discourse. Rather, I want to tell you this. ¡°It¡¯s damn lucky we don¡¯t have any.¡± There¡¯s always a reason why I suddenly bring up mythology. Because ever since the advent of the Void, characters from myths started crossing over into reality. And they didn¡¯t appear exactly as described in the myths. They appeared more visceral, more Lovecraftian, and therefore more misanthropic. Now you might understand why I listed India and Japan as the most dangerous ces for overseas travel. Of course, in Asia, only India and Japan boast mythologies. As ghost-holding countries, Thand and other Asian countries are no less dignified. But my point is, wouldn¡¯t it be better off than Japan, where all eight million gods have descended as humans, solving the low birthrate and aging poption issues in one go? Areas where Hinduism has spread, like India and Nepal¡ let¡¯s leave those aside for now. Have you ever seen thendscape where the Ganges River and the Himyas paint everything red? It¡¯s quite a spectacle, but I wouldn¡¯t want to see it twice. It¡¯s truly the end times. In a world where everyone gets along just fine together, China couldn¡¯t possibly be left out and bullied. China also had an impressive list of formidable deities, shouting, ¡°Me too! Let me join the fun!¡± You know how when you go to a fancy Italian restaurant, the wine list is dazzling? Likewise, China boasted menus like the Shanhaijing, the Shiyouji, the Bowuzhi, and the Shen Yi Jing. This was the transitional period when the trend in martial arts fiction was shifting from ancient to divine, from divine to righteous. Creatures like monsters and demons, which may have felt somewhat alien in traditional martial arts, received praise for being ¡°YOUNG¡± and ¡°MZ¡± in righteous fiction. Naturally, in China, which could be considered the birthce of martial arts fiction, it led the trend. Therefore, as the leader of this journey, I made a very rational decision. ¡°Let¡¯s not go straight to the Mount Hua, let¡¯s stop by Jiang¡¯an first.¡± ¡°Hmm? Why? Won¡¯t that just be taking a detour for no reason?¡± ¡°There¡¯s a very difficult monster nearby. We need to avoid them.¡± Avoidance. Always avoidance. When it came to the most challenging opponents in China, each awakened individual might have their own preferences, but personally, I wanted to point out just two: ¡®Chaos¡¯ and ¡®Greed.¡¯ As far as I knew, tens of thousands of awakened individuals had fallen to these two alone. Here, tens of thousands meant a figure close to 20,000 to nearly 100,000. The number of civilians sacrificed couldn¡¯t even be counted, even by the awakened. It would be a good example of what tragedy could ur when the world¡¯s genre shifted to righteous fiction, yet no one truly reached the pinnacle of freshness. ¡°If we were properly equipped, it might be a different story, but attacking them in our current state is not a wise move.¡± ¡°Hmm. If my brother says so¡¡± It¡¯s a rule to be courteous and keep a distance when ites to genres one is not familiar with. My genre belonged strictly to modern fantasy, so how could I not hold back from martial arts fiction? I carefully nned the travel route to avoid Chaos and Greed. Instead, we often encountered other monsters, but they were all quickly dealt with under mymand. Meanwhile, the Marquis watched from behind, admiringly, asionally letting out a sigh of amazement. ¡°Your level truly is astounding! You¡¯re equal to or even greater than the Marquis in his prime!¡± ¡°¡¡± [Trantor ¨C Jjsecus] [Proofreader ¨C Gun] Something like moltenva rose deep within my chest, but I suppressed it. ¡°Thank you. There¡¯s still a lot I need to learn. Please continue to guide me well, sir.¡± ¡°Haha. With that attitude, you¡¯ll soon reach even greater heights. Keep striving.¡± Originally, it was wise to designate specific responsibilities for each person during a trip. Like you look into hotels while I check out restaurants. Any trip would quickly be tiresome if roles weren¡¯t properly assigned. If you¡¯ve ever traveled long-distance with family or a partner, you¡¯ll understand what I mean. I, Doctor Jang, though I didn¡¯t show it, considered myself a master of travel. Naturally, I understood the importance of role distribution. So, during our journey of about two months, my roles were as follows: nning the travel route, managing travel expenses, procuring groceries, scouting amodation, engaging locals, interpreting Chinese (since the next leader of the Mount Hua Faction didn¡¯t know Chinese), carrying luggage, firefighting, security. Now, what did the Marquis handle? Um¡ alcohol? Anyway. Among my roles, interpreting Chinese was particrly important. No matter how much of a time-traveler I might be, this was my first time visiting Mount Hua, so inevitably, I had to rely on local guidance. Moreover, major roads were devoured by Chaos and Greed, so we couldn¡¯t even move along well-known routes. Every time we passed through rural roads, locals looked at us with curious eyes. ¡°You¡¯re Korean? What brings you here?¡± ¡°We¡¯re on a journey to Mount Hua.¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°This gentleman here is my grandfather. Before he passes away, he wishes to see Mount Hua with his own eyes. So, I¡¯ve embarked on this journey to fulfill hisst wish, offering to interpret for him as he doesn¡¯t speak Chinese.¡± ¡°Oh¡¡± Initially approaching with curiosity and suspicion, the locals¡¯ eyes welled up with tears upon hearing my response. By the way, throughout the trip, the Marquis was perched on my back. It was inevitable. If I had asked him to walk on two legs, the duration of the trip would have increased twenty-fourfold. Not a joke or an exaggeration. ¡°A truly rare filial child, no, filial grandson!¡± ¡°No, sir. My grandfather raised me alone after losing my parents when I was young. I consider it a natural obligation.¡± ¡°How can there be such people in this chaotic world! Well, I have nothing to offer, but please take some peanuts. The peanuts from our vige are really delicious.¡± Indeed, filial piety is a magical preseason pass valid anywhere in East Asia. Despite having little, rural vigers tried to give me something extra. I barely managed to stop them from filling a bag with peanuts. To show gratitude for their kindness, I cleared the monsters near the vige like weeding a garden. That¡¯s a win-win. As the Marquis marveled while perched on my back, ¡°People say rural hospitality is disappearing, but it¡¯s all nonsense. Aren¡¯t they so kind?¡± ¡°Well, if I had said the old man I was carrying was an old Mount Hua faction leader, 99% of this kindness would have disappeared.¡± ¡°Hmm? What did you just say?¡± ¡°I didn¡¯t say anything.¡± Day 62 of our journey through China. After countless twists and turns, barely escaping a typhoon mid-journey, and all sorts of chaos, we finally arrived at the Mount Hua. ¡°Oh, finally¡ Mount Hua¡!¡± The prospective 261st leader of the Mount Hua Faction eximed as if seeing Mount Hua for the first time, much like a tourist. Of course, I didn¡¯t point that out. I was understanding. I just politely inquired. ¡°It was indeed a challenging journey. Even I would like to witness the majesty of the sect you im to have trained under. Where is the sect¡¯s building?¡± ¡°Unfortunately, our sect was destroyed by the Heavenly Demon¡¯s attack 45 years ago.¡± The old man deftly avoided the implied question, ¡®Your sect doesn¡¯t exist, does it? There¡¯s no building?¡¯ Indeed, such trivialities didn¡¯t matter to a master who had dedicated his life to mimicking a martial arts sect. ¡°As the executioners were ughtering everyone, I had no choice but to flee. Now, it¡¯s even difficult to find the ruins.¡± ¡°It¡¯s not that you don¡¯t know where it is?¡± ¡°The mountain is serene and truly majestic.¡± My questioning didn¡¯t faze the Marquis. I shook my head and continued climbing. Mountains, you see, don¡¯t unt their scenery but keep it hidden. Simrly, Mount Hua, being one of the world¡¯s famous mountains, only revealed its true faceyer byyer as I ventured deeper. With each step, thendscape expanded like a folding screen. I surveyed the mountain range. ¡°People have left, but the buildings are rtively intact.¡± Oh, by buildings, I didn¡¯t mean the Mount Hua Faction¡¯s buildings. I meant various facilities like shelters, stairs, and snack bars. Perhaps even the cable cars that climbers used before the advent of the Void were still in good condition. Near the cable carnding site, there was a rest area, which seemed suitable as a base camp. I checked the warehouse, but there was no food left. Well, the living biological farm was ourpanion on this trip, producing food just by being alive. So, I didn¡¯t worry too much. ¡°Sir, I¡¯ll set up a base camp here.¡± ¡°Do as you wish, my friend.¡± I put down my backpack and also let the Marquis down (he seemed to think it was a standard service even while climbing). The Marquis copsed on the floor of the rest area as if he could finally rest. ¡°Oh, my tired body. After decades, I¡¯ve returned, but now I can¡¯t even move around.¡± ¡®If anyone saw, they¡¯d think he climbed up here all by himself.¡¯ I took out water, a burner, and ramen from my backpack and started cooking. Even with just one line of description, I believe you can guess how much I suffered on this journey. Yes, indeed. I crossed the Chinese continent, carrying the Marquis on my back and embracing a one-meter backpack with my chest. ¡°Sir, the ramen is ready.¡± ¡°Hmm.¡± The old man, who had been lying on the floor, rose like a ghost and picked up his chopsticks. After slurping the ramen, the Marquis looked up at the ceiling of the rest area. ¡°Wow. I may be exaggerating, but the ramen you cooked is truly delicious. I¡¯ve met countless ramen masters in my lifetime, but nonepares to you.¡± ¡°You tter me.¡± ¡°No, I¡¯m serious. I don¡¯t know how you achieve such perfection¡¡± Well, anyone who boils ramen for centuries will eventually reach this level. I even tried being a chef in the 45th turn. Though I may not be the world¡¯s greatest chef, I dared to im the top spot when it came to cooking with ingredients from the Void. This was the essence of a Regressionist¡¯s cuisine. It was truly inconsequential ramen. ¡°Burp. That was delicious.¡± I changed the subject. Anyway, what mattered now wasn¡¯t my ramen-cooking skills, but how the Marquis would react from now on. Until now, the Marquis had always muttered about his wish of visiting Mount Hua. In thest turn, and even before that, he always wished to visit Mount Hua. A wish that remained constant regardless of time. It showed the strength of his heart. It signified his beliefs. As a Regressor, few things were as fascinating to me as a person¡¯s mind. ¡°And now I¡¯ve fulfilled his lifelong wish.¡± Now that his wish hade true, only curiosity remained. The most important curiosity in the world. ¡®So, what reaction will you show, Marquis?¡¯ Now that he had crossed off everything on his bucket list, should we return to the Korean Penins? Or should he fulfill his delusion and build the Mount Hua Faction¡¯s building? Which way to go? I watched the Marquis silently. He patted his full belly as if expressing his satisfaction, then stood up and stretched. ¡°I¡¯m full and rested, so it¡¯s time to work.¡± Let¡¯s just say, all my expectations werepletely off. [Trantor ¨C Jjsecus] [Proofreader ¨C Gun] Chapter 47 â€“ Returnee IV Chapter 47 ¨C Returnee IV [Trantor ¨C Jjsecus] [Proofreader ¨C Gun] Chapter 47 ¨C Returnee IV ¡°What¡¯s the matter? What are you talking about?¡± ¡°Hehe. I have many thoughts, you know. Just watch.¡± Suddenly, the Marquis walked out of the rest area. If he told me to stay put and I actually did, I might as well have given up being a Regressor long ago. Naturally, I followed the Marquis. The old man nced at me once but didn¡¯t stop me. Until just before arriving at Mount Hua, the Marquis was aplete novice when it came to directions. But suddenly, he navigated the mountain trails with ease, as if he had installed and updated a GPS in his brain. I thought he stopped to rest after climbing the mountain, but I was mistaken. The Marquis was pulling something out of his pocket. When I leaned in to take a closer look, I saw that it was a seed. It must have been the seed pouch he cherished since leaving Ulleungdo. He was nting the seed in the soil between the rocks. ¡°What are you doing now?¡± I asked. ¡°Could you please exin to me, sir?¡± ¡°Hehe. Reconstruction.¡± ¡°Reconstruction?¡± ¡°Or restoration, if we add a poetic vor, it could also be called regression.¡± Reconstruction. Restoration. Regression. It was truly a list of unknown words to me. But the Marquis just chuckled and stroked his beard, not giving a precise answer to my inquiry. His response actually irritated me, so I kept following him. But following him proved futile. The Marquis repeated the same thing over and over again. He climbed the mountain, nted seeds, covered them with the scarce earth on the rocky mountain, and lovingly patted the mound with his wrinkled hands. The next day. And the day after that. Continuously. Seriously, what is he doing? ¡®He even walks well!¡¯ That was what baffled me. When crossing the Central ins, he heavily relied on me to carry him, but now, he climbed the mountain so well. Did this old man fake being weak all this time? ¡®Could he have deceived me¡?¡¯ Leading an old man and climbing up and down the rocky mountain was not easy. But the Marquis got up at dawn and walked tirelessly until evening. He didn¡¯t evenin about muscle pain. As if Mount Hua¡¯s air was gasoline to a car, the Marquis walked tirelessly. Just to be sure, I also tried using my assistant to engage in activities simr to Qi Gong Breathing Exercises, but whether it was the air in Seoul¡¯s Gangnam or the air near Mount Hua, I only obtained scientific research results that didn¡¯t include any mystical ether properties. -Kuohhh! ¡°Oh, my, help! The wicked demons of the evil sect are attacking the members of Mount Hua sect!¡± Moreover, it was clear as day that this wasn¡¯t some kind of ¡°weakling cosy.¡± The Marquis was genuinely 100% frail. He couldn¡¯t even handle a monster the size of a wild boar and ended up running away from it, relying on me. It was like his physical stats were at 99 but his strength was only at 10, highlighting the extreme contrast in the Marquis¡¯s abilities. ¡®Something¡¯s really off¡¡¯ In the end, I had no choice but to follow the Marquis around and fulfill the duties of a bodyguard. After a while, I got tired of it all and just cleared out all the monsters near Mount Hua. As a gesture of goodwill, I hunted down strange creatures while roaming around the Jeo Province¡ Well, if we were to rte it to modern times, I roamed around the entire southern region, including Jeo Province, hunting down monsters. Thanks to this, people were grateful and gave me various gifts of food and clothing. One week. Two weeks. Three weeks. Gradually, I started being called the ¡°Mount Hua Sect Master¡± by the locals, almost like a ckedy. Every spot where the Marquis nted seeds, saplings sprouted. The speed at which they grew was distinctly remarkable. It was clear that the ability that turned the Marquis into an S-rank Awakened,monly known as ¡°nt Growing,¡± was in effect. ¡°What kind of sprouts are these?¡± I muttered to myself. Anyway, even if I asked the Marquis, he wouldn¡¯t give me a proper answer. For now¨D¨D it was undeniable that they were ¡°trees¡± and not grass or flowers. But my encyclopedia-style knowledge stopped there. Although I, too, had my fair share of experience as a Regressor, I wasn¡¯t deeply versed in botany to be able to identify tree species just by looking at small saplings like these. ¡°Hey, what are you exactly?¡± Even if I asked, the saplings didn¡¯t reply. Aste summer passed. The Marquis¡¯s journey continued through early autumn and into winter. White snow settled on the volcanic rocks with a pinkish hue. In this ruined world, winter seemed to preside over the funerals of all life. Just as an aged physician usually does, the quiet and peaceful manner in which winter conducted the world¡¯s funeral with snow was dignified and harmonious. Winter¡¯s touch was cold yet gentle. Life and civilization quietly bowed their heads to its snowfall. Rumors circted among the locals that a million civilians were barely buried under the snow after just a fortnight. The scope of my monster hunting gradually expanded. It not only covered the southern region but also extended to the Gyeongsang Province. The ¡°tutorial dungeons¡± were a phenomenon that urred worldwide, and it just so happened that a high-level dungeon emerged in the Yeongnam region, particrly in the Yeongju area. There was no separate end of the century when even pseudo-religious terrorists from the Daoist lineage got involved here. What can you do? You have to help. ¡Surely, when I started the 108th run, it was supposed to be a vacation, but somehow I ended up working even at the resort. Is this what they call being a workaholic? Well, to make excuses, I already had business in the Yeongnam area anyway. The headquarters of an Awakened named ¡°Baekhwa,¡± operating a guild called ¡°White Blossom,¡± was located nearby. Thanks to that, I was able to obtain good information about him. We¡¯ll talk more about that inter runs. Anyway. Spring. Amidst all life turning their gaze to the winter¡¯s snow, only the saplings cared for by the Marquis stood proudly. The lives touched by the Marquis didn¡¯t recognize the seasons, they just grew regardless of the environment, even thriving innds prone tondslides. When the snow stopped, the saplings, which had been tiny seeds, had grown to my waist. The trees bid farewell to winter and weed spring a bit earlier than the world did. Their way of dealing with the seasons was to paint the world red. ¡°Ah.¡± Seeing that redness, I finally knew the name of these things. Plum blossoms. ¡°¡.¡± The old man was nting plum blossoms on Mount Hua. 7 The snow was still lingering, and the rocks of Mount Hua were white. The plum blossoms, like white tes, carefully arranged their red and pink colors, ting themselves on the surface of the rock. The chef who nted various red dishes as a treat for this massive mountain was none other than a humble old man. ¡°Now it¡¯s time to transnt.¡± The shadow of the old man delved into the shadow of the mountain. With each step deeper he took, the snowy mountain shed red blood into the valley. The old man broke off the branches of the plum tree with familiar gestures. Then, among the rocks and winding valleys, in the sparse soil, he carefully transnted them. Among the rugged rocks, the plum blossoms spread like moss, gradually turning into red moss. ¡°¡.¡± After that, I restrained myself from going out and spent more time with the Marquis. The terrain of Mount Hua was rugged. Although his stamina had suddenly be infinite aftering here, there were still many gaps and voids that were difficult to cross with the old man¡¯s frail legs. I dly lent my back to the Marquis. Crossing cliffs and cliffs, the Marquis nted trees. In the first spring, plums bloomed near the rest area. The following year, a cluster of red flowers colored the western peak of Mount Hua. The giant was immense. His dying time, and thus the time his blood blossomed, were infinitely slowerpared to human life. The Marquis regted the giant¡¯s time. His death and the manner of dying were solely at the Marquis¡¯s discretion. Even the natural cycle of living in spring and dying in winter was not permitted by the Marquis. The blood shed by the giant flowed through the Golden Pass over three years and cascaded down to the North Peak. His wounds bypassed the Central Peak in the fourth year. Then, the following year, they surged towards the East Peak. The direction of all life and death flowed as dictated by the Marquis¡¯s footsteps and imprints. Six years had passed. ¡°¡.¡± I stood on the roof of a pavilion on the southern peak of Mount Hua, looking down below. Thend was filled with plum blossoms. Mount Hua was a mountain of flowers. On every slope of the sliding rocks, red and white flowers shyly nestled. The ck trunks of the plum trees leaned against the rocks with grace. The giant finally breathed hisst, and in the face of his majestic blood¡¯s demise, humans could only hold their breath. And thus, without any metaphor or allegory, without any other interpretation or exnation. Plum blossoms bloomed on Mount Hua. ¡°It is done.¡± One human being could make a proposition true. For one proposition to bloom into a flower, it took six years of an old man and hundreds of years of an Awakened. And that proposition was beautiful. ¡°Now it is done.¡± The fog was thinning. When fog enveloped Mount Hua, it concealed the tracks of the rocks. The fog moved as if alive. Only the bright red flowers barely stretched their heads above this opaque surface. I, too, woke up from sleep and raised my head. The rest area, where I had spent most of my meals for the past six years. There was no sign of the Marquis. ¡°Sir?¡± When no one responded to ¡°sir,¡± I already had a feeling about something. Without even washing my face, I got up immediately and followed the Marquis¡¯s trail. [Trantor ¨C Jjsecus] [Proofreader ¨C Gun] The old man was far away, beyond the sea of ??fog, on the summit of the southern peak. And I saw something unbelievable with my own eyes. At first, I thought the Marquis was rowing a boat on the rocks. The fog was so thick under the Marquis¡¯s feet. But a person couldn¡¯t row a boat on top of a mountain. Looking closely again, I realized that the Marquis was not rowing a boat but wielding a sword. A wooden sword. The old man was dancing with the sword. ¡°¡.¡± It was a dance with a sword, as the movements were woven with the de, it was a Sword Dance. Also, with each sway of the sword, the mist of the mountain twisted and twirled, thus it was also a Sword Mist. The dull de of the wooden sword seemed to manipte all the mist on the mountain, much like how the old man¡¯s wrinkled hands once turned the giant red. The old man wielded the mist of the world as if it were his garment sleeve. At that moment, I knew I would never forget this scene. ¡°¡.¡± Crunch. Somewhere, the sound of slipping snow whispered softly. Was it the sound of the Marquis stepping on the snow? Perhaps. The world was shrouded in mist, making it difficult to discern the path ahead. Only the sound and smell were vivid against the skin. Within the mist, the flowers murmured softly, their murmurs exhaling the scent of plum blossoms into the air. Or maybe, just maybe, the scent emanated from the tip of the old man¡¯s sword. The wind blew. Waves of boundless mist engulfed the peaks. ¡°Sir?¡± The mist surged with a current slower than waves. White rocks and red plum blossoms revealed themselves once again. But there was no sign of the Marquis. ¡°Sir!¡± There was no response to the returning call. The echoes of ¡°Sir¡± reverberated, soon drowned out by the murmurs of plum blossoms. ¡°¡.¡± Suddenly, the world fell silent. In Mount Hua swept away by white mist, only the fragrance of plum blossoms permeated the dense air for miles. 8 Should this be called a tale forter days? There remains a somewhat peculiar story. After the Marquis disappeared, I naturally set out to find him. But ultimately, I failed to locate him. If he had fallen on the mountain and perished, there should have been a body somewhere. Even if beasts had devoured him, there would still be traces. However, no matter how much I searched Mount Hua, I found no trace of the Marquis. It was an absurd disappearance. ¡®¡Could it really be a fantastical tale?¡¯ For a moment, I entertained such doubts. But it was impossible. The Marquis was nothing more than an old man with no mastery of martial arts. If he were truly a ¡®master at the pinnacle of the current age,¡¯ as he imed, then it would have been impossible for me not to recognize it. We had spent six years together, and hadn¡¯t I carried him on my back for over sixty days? Upon returning to the Korean Penins, I even obtained documents. The Marquis was undoubtedly a Korean born on Ulleung Ind. However, people from the same neighborhood as the Marquis didn¡¯t have particrly detailed memories of him. ¡°Oh, that old man?¡± ¡°I¡¯ve seen him asionally. Yes? He was in our neighborhood decades ago? Well, I remember him vaguely¡¡± ¡°Seems like he appeared and disappeared, on and off?¡± Anyway, the Marquis was born on Ulleung Ind. Various certificates and documents proved this. If the Marquis truly was the next leader of Mount Hua faction and eventually ascended to be a sage, there were too many aspects to exin. Firstly, he would have had to go to China before he turned 15, no matter what. And in his childhood, he would have be an apprentice to the preceptor of Mount Hua faction. The Marquis was in his mid-60s before his disappearance. He testified that he had witnessed Mount Hua faction being attacked by the Heavenly Demon 45 years ago, before he and I crossed over to China. By the time Mount Hua faction was attacked by the Demon Sect, the Marquis was already maintaining his status as the preceptor¡¯s apprentice. So, by the age of 15 at thetest, he would have had to bear the expectations of Mount Hua faction disciples as the next leader¡ Was that possible? What percentage chance would have to be surpassed for such a miracle to ur? From the start, how did a Korean child born on Ulleung Ind end up in Mount Hua faction in China? From the start¨D¨D I hadn¡¯t even heard of Mount Hua faction that only appears in martial arts novels in reality. Let alone the Heavenly Demon? The Demon Sect? It was an utterly absurd hypothesis. It was nothing more than a futile and absurd story that didn¡¯t even need consideration. I dismissed the idea of ¡®Marquis = Leader of Mount Hua Faction¡¯ under the most rational judgment. However, one day, well over 200 runster, a very strange incident urred. ¡°Sir.¡± ¡°Hmm?¡± ¡°I¡¯m sorry, but could you spare some food?¡± At that time, I was wandering around Incheon¡¯s Chinatown with the Marquis. The person who called us ¡®sir¡¯ and asked if we had any food was Chinese. Perhaps mistaking the Marquis, with his long white beard, for a fellow Chinese, he approached us without hesitation. ¡°Ah-¡± As revealed during run 108¡¯s journey, I was the only one among us who could speak Chinese. I pondered how to respond without embarrassing the other person and tried to answer in Chinese before the old man next to me could make the atmosphere awkward for no reason. And then it happened. ¡°Of course.¡± Before I could even open my mouth, fluent Chinese was heard from beside me. I turned my head in astonishment. There was the Marquis, responding to the young man approaching us in Chinese as if it were only natural. ¡°Though I have little to offer at the moment, how can I refuse even a modest request from a passerby who hase to talk?¡± ¡°Yes? Me?¡± ¡°I happened to be on my way back from buying dumplings there. It might not be much, but please take this.¡± ¡°Oh¡ Thank you, sir! I will never forget this kindness!¡± I didn¡¯t even think about closing my gaping mouth. My astonishment continued until the young Chinese man who received the vegetable dumplings from the Marquis disappeared into the distance. I barely managed to regain my senses and grabbed the Marquis¡¯s shabby shoulder. ¡°No, Marquis. Wait a moment. Just a moment.¡± ¡°Hmm?¡± ¡°Marquis, did you know how to speak Chinese?¡± The Marquis blinked. ¡°Chinese? What are you talking about?¡± ¡°Yes? Didn¡¯t you just speak Chinese! Earlier, with that young man!¡± ¡°I don¡¯t understand Chinese.¡± The Marquis blinked his eyes with a face that truly didn¡¯t seem to understand what was being said. ¡°Why are you suddenly like this, Doctor? I didn¡¯t say anything, I just handed him dumplings.¡± ¡°No. Wait. No.¡± Am I going to fall for such nonsense? I immediately dragged the Marquis around Chinatown. However, the young man I had just seen was nowhere to be found, and even trying to talk to other Chinese people was of no use. The Marquis shouted in frustration, seeming to be unable to understand any Chinese. ¡°Hah! Just because I, as the Marquis, can¡¯t speak Chinese, does that mean this youngd has to harass me like this! A hero knows no nationality. Even if mynguage skills arecking, my enlightenment is higher than anyone else¡¯s!¡± In the end, the Marquis couldn¡¯t even utter a single word of Chinese. It wasn¡¯t a face of lying. Isn¡¯t this enough to make one¡¯s hair stand on end? Even now, I can¡¯t be sure how the Marquis truly became a sage and left this world beyond the mist of Mount Hua, had a fluent conversation with a Chinese person in Incheon¡¯s Chinatown, or if everything was just my imagination and hallucination. I just learned one thing. There are truly many entrics among the rivers andkes. ¨C Returnee. The End. [Trantor ¨C Jjsecus] [Proofreader ¨C Gun] Chapter 48 â€“ Survivor I Chapter 48 ¨C Survivor I [Trantor ¨C Jjsecus] [Proofreader ¨C Gun] Chapter 48 ¨C Survivor I 1 Excuse me, but how do you feel when you encounter the words ¡®student council¡¯ or ¡®student council president¡¯ in a creative work? Why this sudden question, you ask? Well, it¡¯s because it¡¯s relevant to this turn. As mentioned at the end of thest turn, there are truly many entrics among the rivers andkes. The character we¡¯ll be introducing today is no exception, just like the Marquis. In other words, he¡¯ll boldly carve his name into the ranks of ¡®illustrious figures who illuminated the Korean Penins¡¯. In the distant past, Korea had this and that ser yer, this and that idol, and filled the national pride with them. However, even if civilization copses, history tends to progress. Now, people from various countriespeted in national pride by boasting about how great Awakeneds they possessed, and in this new standard, the Korean Penins was never left behind. ¡®A witch who spends every day on the train forcing her subordinates to wear berets¡¯, ¡®A marquis who turns Mount Hua into Mount Hua (flower mountain)¡¯ and so on. It couldn¡¯t help but be a lineup that made your heart swell with pride. Is this really the state of affairs on the Korean Penins? Truly a feast for entrics, no, for illustrious figures. Blessings never ceased on thisnd. There were even more figures that I hadn¡¯t introduced yet. Name, Cheon Yohwa. upation, reflecting the trend that it¡¯s hard to make a living by focusing on just one job nowadays, she¡¯s a multi-faceted individual working multiple jobs. Primary upation, high school student. Since the country copsed along with public education, children were reduced to unemployed individuals who couldn¡¯t even choose between ¡®elementary school student/middle school student/high school student¡¯ when signing up for intemunities. In that sense, Cheon Yohwa was one of thest high school students remaining on the Korean Penins. If you were to measure it by grade, she would probably be around the sixth year of high school. Just this fact alone made her an SSR-ss rare upation in gaming terms, and the rest of her upations were even more unique. Secondary upation, necromancer. Cheon Yohwa was the only necromancer in the Korean Penins. 2 Since we¡¯re talking about high school, there was no longer such a thing as ¡®school connections¡¯ on the Korean Penins. It couldn¡¯t be helped. What good was it even if you graduated from a prestigious university? Would monsters care about your educational background while they¡¯re eating people? But the human system didn¡¯t change easily. If there¡¯s no bread, people will eat cake, and if ser yers disappear, they¡¯ll suck on the national pride as Awakeneds. In ce of school connections being erased, new cliques were installed immediately. ¡°Hmm?¡± One day, while wandering around the guild, I witnessed a shocking sight. ¡°Wow, really?¡± ¡°Yes, I¡¯m serious. Ahaha.¡± It was none other than Seo Gyu and Sim Aryeon (viin of the KoreanVige)ughing together while having lunch at the restaurant. As everyone knows, Seo Gyu had anger management issues, while Sim Aryeon was a serious inte addict. Both of them had some ws in their DNA when it came to establishing close rtionships with other Homo sapiens. It was like seeing a hippopotamus and a crocodile peacefully sipping from the same oasis spring, and like witnessing a miracle, I couldn¡¯t help but feel intense curiosity. ¡°When did you two be friends?¡± Blinking. Both of them turned to each other at the Guild Master¡¯s unexpected question. ¡°Us?¡± ¡°Uh, we¡¯ve just been friends for a while¡¡± Are they dating by any chance? Two souls shed in my mind. There was the old-fashioned belief that frowned upon office romance, and there was the nostalgic feeling of watching young people flirt with each other. ¡°No, sir. Whatever you may think, it¡¯s definitely not like that¡¡± ¡°Then how did you be close?¡± ¡°Why not?¡± Seo Gyu replied as if it were obvious. ¡°Well, we¡¯re all from the same ¡®Busan Station.''¡± ¡°What?¡± That¡¯s right. Nowadays, Awakeneds didn¡¯t care about their academic backgrounds. Instead, they focused on where they were when they awakened. If we had to name it, it would be called Gongyeon, a kind of connection rted to location. If it was dyed, it was dyed. Seo Gyu, Sim Aryeon, and I all awakened at Busan Station. The being who must not be named, the master of hypnosis and brainwashing, ¡®K¡¯ also hailed from Busan Station. Later, by the time we reached turn 555, even Oh Dokseo joined the Busan Station Awakened Family. ¡°Could it be¡ Busan Station is treated like some kind of prestigious university among Awakeneds?¡± ¡°Why wouldn¡¯t it? Of course we get that kind of treatment. Sir, we¡¯re the top dogs in Gongyeon.¡± ¡°¡¡± I was shocked. No, you guys would all be lost in Busan Station or eaten by monsters within three weeks without me! In reality, all the Busan Station natives died by turn 3. Even Seo Gyu, the fastest man, recorded 50 deaths by turn 50, achieving the shortest escape time. These little kids¡ a prestigious university? ¡°Hey, you bunch of clueless fools. What¡¯s with all this fuss about Gongyeon? Instead of wasting time on that nonsense, you should be focusing on improving your skills through training.¡± ¡°Why do you always speak like an old sage, sir?¡± ¡°Yeah, it¡¯s weird. If it weren¡¯t for this, you might have been really popr¡¡± Even as the Guild Master lectured them, they looked unimpressed. ¡®Ah, here goes Inspirational Grandpa again,¡¯ their expressions seemed to say. My head was spinning, and I couldn¡¯t catch my breath. I¡¯m an infinite regressor. It¡¯s my destiny (or not) to save the world. Do I deserve this treatment? ¡°Um, Guild Master¡ But isn¡¯t it natural to discuss Gongyeon?¡± ¡°What are you talking about, Aryeon?¡± ¡°¡.¡± Sim Aryeon¡¯s expression changed from ¡®Ah, Inspirational Grandpa is using outdated expressions again¡¯ to a more subdued one as he met my gaze. ¡°Well, it¡¯s terrifying when you first fall into the Void, isn¡¯t it¡? Your phone doesn¡¯t work, weird creatures jump out at you unexpectedly, and people are dying left and right¡ Gongyeon is about going through the same hell together with yourrades, enduring hardships. So, you can¡¯t help but feel deep emotions, right¡?¡± ¡°Hmm.¡± ¡°I think all guilds, not just ours, would feel the same way¡.¡± Upon listening again, Sim Aryeon¡¯s logic didn¡¯t seem absurd. ¡°But I didn¡¯t suffer.¡± ¡°Why? Do you have something to say, Aryeon?¡± ¡°No, Guild Master¡¡± I joked, but in truth, I meant it. The decisive reason why I couldn¡¯t rte to trends like Gongyeon was right here. Yeah. I didn¡¯t feel like I suffered alongside them in the same ce and time. I suffered alongside Old Scho. To me, the Void wasn¡¯t ¡®Busan Station,¡¯ but the ¡®world¡¯ itself. Challenging, dying, regressing, challenging again. A dungeon where you repeated countless processes to clear it somehow. So, I couldn¡¯t help but feel a strong camaraderie with Old Scho, who had the same regression coin as me. Of course, camaraderie like that no longer existed. When the heck is this old maning back from vacation? I¡¯m going to give him a piece of my mind. ¡°Just out of curiosity, where¡¯s the most famous awakening site among Awakeneds?¡± ¡°Huh? It¡¯s Busan Station.¡± ¡°No, besides there.¡± ¡°Besides there? Uh, well¡¡± Sim Aryeon hesitated before speaking. ¡°¡Then, it¡¯s probably Baekhwa High School¡ isn¡¯t it?¡± ¡°Ah.¡± [Trantor ¨C Jjsecus] [Proofreader ¨C Gun] Baekhwa Girls¡¯ High School. There was a private school with that name. Perhaps some of you may have heard of the name. Whenever there¡¯s a post on intemunities like ¡®List of the Prettiest School Uniforms in Korea,¡¯ Baekhwa Girls¡¯ High School is often mentioned with a high probability. I¡¯m not sure objectively if the uniforms are really pretty. I¡¯m not interested in uniforms anyway. But objectively, I could admit that they were unique. Here, the uniform is a rare traditional sailor suit in Korea. ¨C The ribbon of our uniform symbolizes Baekhwa¡¯s pride! Such ridiculous words were passed down among juniors and seniors like a tradition. While in the neighboring Japan, it was still a style of uniform that showcased its robustness as an active-duty sailor suit, the trend of sailor suits and sailor-type uniforms hadn¡¯t even crossed the waters of the Korea Strait. Nevertheless, the reason Baekhwa Girls¡¯ High School epted the J-uniform (strictly speaking, originally from the UK) was surprisingly simple. Because the school itself was built during the Japanese colonial period in the 1920s. Baekhwa Girls¡¯ High School boasted quite a long history. And like most such schools, it upied a very subtle position, treated as a ¡®prestigious high school¡¯ by graduates but giving an impression to external students as ¡®Hmm, is it really that good?¡¯ In other words, except for having a sailor-type uniform and operating a dormitory system, it was just a widely known regr high school in Korea. Despite being such a typical school, with a dormitory but seniors advising against entering the dormitories unless absolutely necessary, with a rtively small number of prestigious university admissionspared to its long history, and therefore, during the college entrance exam season, the granite school gate would be even more tumultuous and heated with banners reading ¡®(Cheers) Congrattions to those who passed (Celebration) Seoul National University¡¯, and thus, during an extremely ordinary lunchtime, in the middle of the school grounds. ¨C Huh? Why isn¡¯t the school gate opening? ¨C The security guard¡ is nowhere to be found. Let¡¯s tell the teacher. Emptiness descended. ¨C Huh? ¨C Wait. Even the teachers aren¡¯t here? ¨C What¡¯s going on¡? The school gate remained closed. It was a typical closed-type void. The closed period was not typical. The school gate of Baekhwa Girls¡¯ High School remained closed for 11 months. That year, Baekhwa Girls¡¯ High School didn¡¯t produce a single sessful candidate for the college entrance exam. 3 I couldn¡¯t fathom what tragedies the students of Baekhwa Girls¡¯ High School experienced in an environment of nearly a year of closure. Because I was an outsider. The only thing I could find out was the ¡®numbers¡¯ observed from the outside. Approximately 750 enrolled students. Survivors after 11 months, 19 people. 12 monthster, 17 survivors. 2 suicides. ¡°Oh, it was actually longer than 11 months!¡± It wasn¡¯t until muchter that I had the chance to talk to one of the survivors, and I¡¯ll write down exactly what that child testified here. ¡°It was longer?¡± ¡°Yes. Why, you know, sometimes the flow of time changes, the speed varies? Space changes haphazardly too. Ahaha. It seems our school was one of those cases!¡± The survivor who spoke like this seemed unwrinkled. I heard somewhere that there are ways for people to ept unhappiness, either through their faces or through their hearts. ¡°So, how did it feel for you¡ exactly how long were you trapped in the school?¡± ¡°Oh, it was 4 years!¡± Some might call this a tragedy. Out of over 750 trapped students, only 19 barely made it out alive, and out of them, 2mitted suicide. But I dare say it¡¯s a ¡®feat.¡¯ When I cleared Busan Station for the first time, I was the only survivor. There were plenty of cases where everyone trapped in the void perished. For ordinary high school students, enduring 11 months or 4 years in the jar of istion and loneliness, and surviving to two digits¡ªisn¡¯t it closer to a miracle? ¡°Ah, a miracle, huh. Doctor Jang, you¡¯re overdoing it.¡± And every miracle has its protagonist. In this case, it was the one and only necromancer on the Korean Penins, acimed as the best in the world, today¡¯s Awakened Hero we¡¯ll focus on, Cheon Yohwa. ¡°Alright, Baekhwa Girls¡¯ High School! Fighting!¡± ¡°Fighting-!¡± The 17 survivors rallied around Cheon Yohwa. ¡No, to be more objective, more precise, such a description should be revised. Cheon Yohwa gathered the 17 survivors around herself. There wille a day when in another turn it will be mentioned, but Cheon Yohwa had such a talent. Interpersonal skills. Organizational skills. The ability to read human psychology and use it. The skill to break down the walls surrounding people¡¯s minds. The skill to choose the right space and time. Mediation skills. Resolving conflicts within the organization and projecting unresolved conflicts outward. Cheon Yohwa skillfully used all these abilities as if receiving divine inspiration. As a result, ¡°President.¡± ¡°Student council president.¡± ¡°Cheon Yohwa, student council president.¡± To the survivors of Baekhwa Girls¡¯ High School, ¡®Baekhwa¡¯ was no longer just the name of their alma mater. It was their destiny, their connection. ording to today¡¯s trend, it was a ¡®performance,¡¯ and perhaps even stronger than blood ties. For 4 years, Cheon Yohwa secured 17 awakened individuals who were willing to risk their lives for her. And together, they emerged into the world. [Trantor ¨C Jjsecus] [Proofreader ¨C Gun] Chapter 49 â€“ Survivors II Chapter 49 ¨C Survivors II [Trantor ¨C Jjsecus] [Proofreader ¨C Gun] Chapter 49 ¨C Survivors II 4 ¡°Vice Guild Leader. Can I have a moment?¡± My first awareness of Baekhwa Girls¡¯ High School was during the 5th turn. It was still a time when I lived as the right hand man in the Three Thousand Worlds. ¡°Yes. What¡¯s the matter, Guild Leader?¡± ¡°It¡¯s nothing remarkable, just some news. Have you heard of a ce called Baekhwa Girls¡¯ High School?¡± Meow, and at that moment, the ck cat we kept in the guild (A Witch¡¯s Essential Item) purred on myp. ¡°No, I¡¯ve never heard of it.¡± ¡°Hmm. Well, there¡¯s apparently a school called Baekhwa Girls¡¯ High School. It got swallowed whole by a gate. Almost a year ago? But it openedst week.¡± ¡°For a year. Then there should be no survivors.¡± Then and now, I judged by healthymon sense and sound intellect. Tang Seorin lowered her voice. ¡°Well¡ it¡¯s not as surprising as you might think.¡± ¡°Yes?¡± ¡°Roughly around 20 survived, give or take.¡± I widened my eyes. Meow~ and the ck cat cried. ¡°20? Is that true?¡± ¡°Yeah¡ I wish I could say for sure. But I don¡¯t know exactly. It¡¯s still just a rumor. For now, the information I have is that the ¡®gate was closed for a year,¡¯ ¡®there are about 20 survivors,¡¯ ¡®all those trapped in the gate were high school students,¡¯ and that¡¯s about it.¡± ¡°Even high school students.¡± I couldn¡¯t help but be astonished. As I mentioned, even as a regressor, it took me three tries to clear Busan Station. And even then, there was only one survivor. Both Tang Seorin and I could empathize with how astonishing Baekhwa Girls¡¯ High School¡¯s survival rate must be. ¡°Guild Leader. If that¡¯s true¡¡± ¡°Yeah. It would mean among the survivors, there are incredibly talented individuals, possibly some of the greatest Awakeneds in history.¡± Tang Seorin reached out and stroked the ck cat¡¯s back. The cat trembled. ¡°So, what I¡¯m saying is. It would be great if Vice Guild Leader could go and investigate personally, even if it¡¯s a bit inconvenient. To see if the rumors are true, if there are indeed top-tier Awakeneds, and if so¨D¨D¡± ¡°We should recruit them into our guild.¡± ¡°Yeah.¡± ¡°Understood. I¡¯ll make sure to recruit them before other guilds take notice.¡± ¡°Reliable as always. Oh, by the way.¡± Tang Seorin added as an afterthought. ¡°If their character is seriously wed, we don¡¯t necessarily have to employ them.¡± Looking back now, our witch might have had the power of prophecy. In fact, upon sober reflection, it was something that could be expected. Even physically and mentally sound adults often turned into lunatics after being trapped in the Void for a single stint. What would happen to high school students, in their prime emotional sensitivity, if they were to endure a long period of real-life horror game? As soon as I arrived at Baekhwa Girls¡¯ High School¡¯s ¡°guild headquarters,¡± I began to feel the answer. ¡°¡This is the guild building?¡± Caw, caw ¨C Crows cawed. Just like how the Saintess lived in an aquarium temple and Tang Seorin resided in a train, the mental worlds of extraordinary Awakeneds were remarkable from the design of their homes. Baekhwa Girls¡¯ High School was no different. Baekhwa Girls¡¯ High School, literally, had turned a real school building into the guild¡¯s hideout. ¡°(Gyeonggi) Seo¡ö University 2-person Pass! (Cheers)¡± The banner hanging on the gate was already tattered. The ¡®Seoul¡¯ in ¡®Seoul National University¡¯ had a hole punched right through it. Of course, it could also have been Sogang University or Seogang University, so it couldn¡¯t be confirmed until observed beforehand. The yground looked as though it had been pummeled by a meteor shower, with craters all over. The of the ser goal was so twisted and tangled that even King Alexander would be shaken to see it. The most impressive sight was the dormitory and school building, where the walls had copsed, exposing the steel frame underneath. ¡°It¡¯s more like an abandoned school than a school.¡± I wasn¡¯t the protagonist of a horror game. So I hesitated whether to actually enter or not. ¡°Um. What brings you here?¡± ¡°Oh, um¡¡± As I stood awkwardly in front of the gate, the security guards approached. And, uh¡ the appearance of the security guards was quite unique. To put it bluntly, their skulls were smashed in. ¡°¡¡± In other words, zombies. The security guards had their skullspletely exposed to the world. However, their attitude towards me was very polite. If they were wearing motorcycle helmets, you wouldn¡¯t have known they were zombies. ¡°I¡¯m sorry, but if you have no business here, please leave. This is a private school. Outsiders cannot enter freely.¡± ¡°Uh, um.¡± Even as someone who prided themselves on having quite a bit of experience as a regressor, I found it difficult to decide what to say in this situation. ¡®If they¡¯re zombies, aren¡¯t they monsters? Should I attack them as soon as I see them?¡¯ ¡°I came from the Three Thousand Worlds Guild.¡± ¡°Three Thousand Worlds? Guild?¡± The zombie guard scratched his bald head. ¡°Where is that?¡± ¡°Well¡ It¡¯s the most prominent guild in Busan.¡± Wait, hold on. Am I exining things while holding a monster captive? Suddenly, I realized andposed myself. ¡°I¡¯m here to meet the person in charge. Is she avable?¡± ¡°Oh, you¡¯re here to see the guild president, huh.¡± Guild president? ¡°She¡¯s in ss right now, so she can¡¯te out immediately.¡± ¡°In ss?¡± ¡°Yes? Yeah. This is a school. Naturally, if it¡¯s ss time, the students would be in ss.¡± At this point, I already had a feeling. A very, very familiar sense of foreboding. It was akin to the unease that washed over me when, in response to Tang Seorin¡¯s offer of employment, I went to Three Thousand Worlds and suddenly heard, ¡°Oh, by the way, anyone who joins our guild has to wear a funny hat no matter where they are.¡± After years of living as a regressor, I developed a sixth sense. The so-called ¡®shrewd tentacle.¡¯ A sensory organ unique to regressors. When a certain level of shrewdness was detected, a tingling sensation shot up from my tailbone to my neck. Especially now, the warning rang out from my fourth cervical vertebra. Considering that meeting Tang Seorin had only made it tingle up to the sixth thoracic vertebra, this was a significant level of shrewdness. ¡®Should I run away?¡¯ If I had eaten a bit more rice, I would have immediately retreated inpliance with my body¡¯s sirens. But by the fifth regression, I had be unnecessarily upright. I clung to a truly meaningless pretext, thinking, ¡®Even so, I can¡¯t just abandon the mission Tang Seorin entrusted me with, even if it¡¯s absurd.¡¯ ¡°¡I see. Okay. Until when should I wait for ss to end?¡± ¡°Um.¡± The guard turned his head and looked at the clock. It was a giant clock installed on the school¡¯s outer wall, boasting a design that didn¡¯t sh with the surroundings at all. The hands of the clock were broken, indicating that it wasn¡¯t working at all. But even the zombie guard seemed to have some kind of sixth sense like me, as he easily checked the time from the broken clock. ¡°It¡¯s about 15 minutes until break time. It¡¯s a bit awkward to leave a guest standing¡ Would you like to wait inside?¡± ¡°I¡¯ll just stay here.¡± I replied promptly. I didn¡¯t want to cross this gate if I could help it. Even though I didn¡¯t run awaypletely, my decision to wait was based on my spine¡¯s reaction to some extent. The guard shrugged his shoulders. ¡°Is that so? Well, feel free to stay however you like.¡± It didn¡¯t take long for my judgment to be proven very correct. ¡°Ding-dong-dang-dong.¡± ¡°¡.?¡± I looked at the guard. Note that I used quotation marks (¡°¡±) to indicate that I just wrote the sound effects. So, this ¡®ding-dong-dang-dong¡¯ wasn¡¯t a bell ringing. It wasn¡¯t a bell sound broadcast from a speaker or a bell ringing from a bell tower. The guard, the broken-zombie with his mouth and throat moving, was making the sound. ¡°Ding-dong-dang-dong.¡± ¡°¡.¡± As soon as I saw that scene, my third cervical vertebra tingled. Just like how rats go crazy before an earthquake, this time, too, my spine¡¯s premonition was not wrong. Zombies poured out of the school building, or more precisely, the closed school building. ¡°Ding-dong-dang-dong.¡± ¡°Ding-dong-dang-dong.¡± All the zombies were wearing school uniforms, meaning they were wearing the uniforms of Baekhwa High School. And hundreds of zombies all moved their lips to chant ¡®ding-dong-dang-dong.¡¯ ¡°¡.¡± I shuddered. ¡®Let¡¯s run.¡¯ But it was already toote. ¡°You called for me?¡± [Trantor ¨C Jjsecus] [Proofreader ¨C Gun] A living human walked out among the hundreds of zombies. Wearing the same white school uniform as the zombies. Her hair was in a ponytail. Dyed orange. In a private school with a long tradition, such a hair color would inevitably stand out, so perhaps she received some support from the students, which is why she approached me like a student who was called out by a guest while attending ss. ¡°Who are you?¡± It was Cheon Yohwa. ¡°Hello. I¡¯m Doctor Jang, the deputy guild master of Three Thousand Worlds Guild in Busan.¡± ¡°Huh? Guild? Deputy guild master?¡± Cheon Yohwa tilted her head. In terms of dialogue alone, it was quite a cute reaction. The problem was her pupils. Cheon Yohwa¡¯s eyescked focus. It¡¯s like her iris and pupil couldn¡¯t be distinguished. Her pupils werepletely immersed in ck shadows like wells. ¡°What¡¯s that? I¡¯ve never heard of it.¡± ¡°Well¡ I see. Um. A guild refers to a group of Awakeneds.¡± ¡°Awakeneds?¡± ¡°Awakeneds are, uh, people with special abilities.¡± Cheon Yohwa blinked her eyes. In response, my third cervical vertebra also blinked. Quite fiercely. ¡°Special abilities? What¡¯s that? Um, sir, are you perhaps an otaku?¡± ¡°No, I¡ excuse me, may I ask your name?¡± ¡°Oh, I¡¯m Cheon Yohwa.¡± In this passage, she also politely bowed her waist to greet me. And I somewhat rxed at this ¡®normal reaction¡¯. It couldn¡¯t be helped, but I¡¯ve always had a weakness for polite people. Even with Koyori. From then on, a parade of verbal slips erupted from my mouth. At the time, I wasn¡¯t even aware that they were verbal slips. ¡°I¡¯m in charge of the student council here.¡± ¡°Um, didn¡¯t Cheon Yohwa awaken her abilities? I don¡¯t know what kind of ability it is. The abilities of the members here, such as the security guard or the [zombies] roaming around the yground, the abilities of the awakened people here¡ª¡± ¡°Huh? Zombies?¡± Fatal verbal slip 1. ¡°Yes. Cheon Yohwa¡¯s ability is very powerful. I don¡¯t know if she turned the already dead [bodies] into zombies or if she turned living people into zombies.¡± ¡°¡Bodies?¡± Fatal verbal slip 2. ¡°Cheon Yohwa and the guild members here could have a much better environment than now. In our Three Thousand Worlds, we don¡¯t make empty promises. You don¡¯t have to struggle to live in this [abandoned school] where the roof copses and the outer walls fall off.¡± ¡°¡.¡± Fatal verbal slip 3. ¡°Of course, I¡¯m not suggesting we do anything immediately. Just give us some time to arrange a meeting and we¡¯lle visit formally¡¡± ¡°Please leave.¡± ¡°Yes?¡± ¡°Leave our school immediately.¡± Only then did I realize that the surroundings had quieted down. The security guard who had reacted like a living person until just now, the zombies crowded in the yground, the real students interspersed among them, and Cheon Yohwa in front of me. They were all silently staring at me. ¡°¡.¡± ¡°No, don¡¯t go.¡± Cheon Yohwa grabbed my wrist. ¡°It¡¯s already short-staffed with security guards. Yeah, this works out well. Sir, would you like to [work] at our school? Mr. Security Guard. Yeah, it seems like a good idea.¡± ¡°¡.¡± ¡°Or you could transfer schools. The basketball team juniors have beeniningtely about theck of new students.¡± My second cervical vertebra triggered a disk symptom. Even the me from the 5th run, who was not exactly known for his perceptiveness, could sense that this situation was going downhill fast. With a swift motion, I shook off Cheon Yohwa¡¯s hand and fled without hesitation. I fully expected the ¡®enemies¡¯ to chase after me. It was a reasonable assumption, and thus, a wrong one. The entities affiliated with Baekhwa High School did not pursue me. Looking back, they hadn¡¯t even taken a step outside the school gates. ¡°¡.¡± The wall separating the school from the outside world was crumbling in ces. But the zombies, as if there was an ¡®invisible barrier,¡¯ never crossed the school¡¯s perimeter. From behind the gate, behind the wall, hundreds of gazes stood glued to me like cicadas on a wall, silently watching this way. ¡°Ding-dong-dang-dong.¡± ¡°Ding-dong-dang-dong.¡± ¡°Ding-dong-dang-dong.¡± The bell echoed through the abandoned schoolyard. The zombies turned back around. ¡°Oh, break time¡¯s over.¡± Cheon Yohwa muttered emotionlessly. She, too, walked towards the school gate amidst the zombies. Although there were asional ¡®real humans¡¯ mixed in, honestly, I couldn¡¯t tell the difference between them and the zombies. They seemed like a single, cohesive entity rather than individual beings. The yground fell silent in an instant. Listening closely, I could hear voicesing from the school building in the distance. It was English. From another ssroom, I could hear the sound of math being taught. Astoundingly, the guild members of Baekhwa High School, including the zombies, were receiving ¡®lessons¡¯ inside the school building. ¡°¡This is insane.¡± That was my first encounter with Cheon Yohwa. First attempt at contact with aliens, failed. ¡°These kids are crazy.¡± Even the experienced Tang Seorin came to the same conclusion after seeing my report. ¡°Sometimes there are those lunatics. So, what do you think, Vice Guild Leader? Should we intervene, even if it means civilian casualties? If so, we need to take action.¡± ¡°I can¡¯t be sure yet, but I don¡¯t think we need to worry about civilian casualties. They¡¯ve set up camp in the abandoned school and haven¡¯t left.¡± ¡°Oh, really?¡± In response to my advice, Tang Seorin made a highly rational decision. ¡°In that case, let¡¯s try not to meddle unnecessarily. There¡¯s no need to disturb a ho¡¯s nest for no reason.¡± ¡°A wise decision.¡± ¡°I¡¯m always wise.¡± ¡°Guild insignia.¡± ¡°A decoration that symbolizes my unparalleled wisdom.¡± Three Thousand Worlds tidied up their hands. But in the world, there weren¡¯t only rational humans like us. 5 Human cunning was like the king of fruits, the durian. No matter how tightly you seal it in a box, it still exudes its overwhelming presence to those around it. Not long after I returned with a firm determination, all the Awakeneds on the penins began to pay attention to Baekhwa High School without exception. ¡°A necromancer? A mage-type Awakened?¡± ¡°And they can control hundreds of corpses at will?¡± ¡°They¡¯re a total rookie sensation.¡± ¡°Recruit them! Unconditionally, whatever the conditions, bring them over!¡± It was the era of human punk, where all resources were reced with manpower. Even if all other resources were scarce, corpses were plentifully excavated, making the necromancer profession itself quite appealing. Of course, I knew that this overflowing charm was just like Pandora¡¯s box. In other words, as soon as you open the package, it means that Santa us will deliver disasters to the whole world. ¡°Everyone, that ce is nothing but a hollow cave. I strongly rmend not going in.¡± ¡°Is Three Thousand Worlds afraid of the advancement of our guild?¡± ¡°Just leave it. They failed to recruit them, so they¡¯re probably trying to provoke us. Ignore them.¡± Foolishly, the guild leaders ignored my friendly advice. They were distracted by the appearance of an exceptional rookie. ¡°Wow! Not even a fake virus, but a real zombie horde controlled by a necromancer!¡± ¡°Step aside¡ Everyone step aside! With just a dark magician, we might be able to overthrow Tang Seorin¡¯s dictatorship!¡± When Three Thousand Worlds, the biggest guild, dered that they would be absent from this FA transfer market, other guild leaders rushed in as if they were crazy. They each selected the most attractive candidates from their guilds and fervently pressed the ¡®recruit¡¯ button. The only difference between me and the other candidates was the presence or absence of spinal nerves. ¡°Why¡ Why aren¡¯t theying back from Baekhwa High School?¡± ¡°Are yours the same? Our guild members are also missing in action.¡± Even though the guild leaders waited, the candidates did not return. In the end, guild leaders, exhausted from waiting, visited Baekhwa High School themselves and witnessed a surprising sight. ¡°Why¡ Why are you working here?¡± ¡°Yes? I¡¯m just an ordinary security guard.¡± ¡°What?¡± The candidates sent by the guilds all ended up getting hired by Baekhwa High School, of all ces. During the job interviews, it seemed like their skulls had holes drilled in them because the rookie security guards all leaked their memories along with their brain fluids. They couldn¡¯t even recognize the faces of the guild leaders they had served in the past. Just as when you gaze into the abyss, the abyss gazes back at you, sending out new talents with the intention of hiring them, but instead losing their existing talents is always a possibility. However, the guild leaders were not mature enough to ept such a truth. ¡°What the hell¡ Damn it, this won¡¯t do. Screw it!¡± And those who seek to screw others over must be prepared to be screwed over themselves. The guilds, seeking revenge on Baekhwa High School, all seeded in ¡®hiring¡¯ without exception. In an era of job scarcity, Baekhwa High School single-handedly lowered the unemployment rate in the penins. ¡°This is insane¡ What is this?¡± ¡°Doctor Jang was right after all?¡± The guild leaders were astonished. ¡°We should never mess with them.¡± ¡°Damn, did you see what they¡¯re eating in the school cafeteria? Human flesh! They¡¯re sitting there eating human flesh! Crazy bastards.¡± ¡°Damn, they weren¡¯t just unable to eat, they were unable to eat zombies.¡± But it was already toote. Pandora¡¯s box had been opened. Baekhwa High School reached a temporary saturation point. It was natural, considering the sudden influx of rookie security guards. Even for a prestigious school boasting history and tradition, 136 security guards felt a bit excessive. The unnned increase in manpower inevitably ced a heavy burden on Baekhwa High School¡¯s financial operations. If Cheon Yohwa were an ordinary corporate CEO, she would have wielded the three swords of ¡®workforce reduction,¡¯ ¡®massyoffs,¡¯ and ¡®restructuring¡¯ here. But Cheon Yohwa was no ordinary person. She was different. She judged that now was precisely the time to aggressively push forward with a merger policy. ¡°Um, um?¡± ¡°Why¡ why are they increasing?¡± Literally, the ¡®school¡¯ had expanded. More precisely, the scope of the school had been gradually expanding. The building in front of Baekhwa High School had be a ¡®tteokbokki restaurant¡¯ and a ¡®convenience store¡¯ at some point. It wasn¡¯t just a story about selling tteokbokki in the store. ¡°Hello, boss. Please give me two servings of tteokbokki with three fried dumplings added!¡± If a zombie student said this, ¡°Our student is so pretty, so I added one more fried dumpling.¡± the zombie boss would reply. Nothing was exchanged between them. The zombie student handed over transparent banknotes, and the zombie boss handed over transparent tteokbokki. And both of themughed happily. This was somewhat on the normal side, at least. Sometimes, there were even cases where they handed over transparent banknotes and received ¡®human flesh tteokbokki¡¯ in return. Laughter from students never ceased at the snack bar in front of the school. The stores thrived during lunchtime and after school. This was the true essence of a creative economy. ¡°Hello! I¡¯m Cheon Yohwa, the student council president of Baekhwa High School!¡± ¡°Eek¡! H-help me!¡± ¡°Oops, hold on a moment. These days, our students are really interested in extracurricr activities! Are you perhaps interested in working with our school?¡± ¡°Not interested! Leave me alone!¡± ¡°Thank you!¡± ¡ The guilds that had been gaining ground around Baekhwa High School gradually sumbed to the school¡¯s educational fervor. In less than a year, the Korean Penins saw the birth of a mega-academy city. [Trantor ¨C Jjsecus] [Proofreader ¨C Gun] Chapter 50 â€“ Survivors III Chapter 50 ¨C Survivors III [Trantor ¨C Jjsecus] [Proofreader ¨C Gun] Chapter 50 ¨C Survivors III The Academy City was both dead and alive at the same time. They grew together like one giant zombie. I used to criticize theck of realism whenever settings like the Academy City appeared in fiction. Now, I realized I was wrong. I had to reflect on how narrow-minded my past self was. Indeed. Surprisingly, the Academy City existed. Its economic power surpassed any other city, equipped with transcendent scientific technology that could create something out of nothing. And at the pinnacle of governing this Academy City was none other than the student council president. And yes, all of this was true. ¡°This is real¡?¡± Even the usuallyposed Tang Seorin was taken aback by the unexpected debut of the Academy City. ¡°Vice Guild Master. Is there something wrong with the Korean Penins? Did Grandpa Tan-gun fall for a real estate scam when he was building the country? It¡¯s already hard enough dealing with the Ten ns, but where did these crazy groupse from?¡± ¡°They came out of the gates. Did you know that? It¡¯s said that Baekhwa High School¡¯s swimming pool has no water, only zombies in swimsuits wriggling on the rail floor.¡± ¡°¡.Let¡¯s just pretend we didn¡¯t hear that.¡± Those with even a hint of brain in their heads adopted the same attitude toward the Academy City. Complete disregard. Even in the runs where I started operating independently under Tang Seorin¡¯s authority, the basic strategy remained unchanged. Don¡¯t look. Don¡¯t show interest. Don¡¯t talk. The so-called 3-N policy was indeed the right way to deal with Baekhwa High School. Truly, this was the best way to protect the durian-sealed Pandora¡¯s box. Even though some guilds were tempted by the promotional slogan of ¡®historic necromancer¡¯ and tried to take a bite, I desperately stopped them. No, don¡¯t! If you eat that, you¡¯ll get an upset stomach. ¡°Huh? Who are you to stop our guild?¡± ¡°With a necromancer, we can defeat Tang Seorin!¡± Of course, not all guilds obediently followed me from the beginning. Some guild leaders stubbornly refused to listen and contributed to the establishment of the Academy City. But I didn¡¯t get angry. Looking at my long lives as a regressor, they were like immature newborn babies. If I continued to care for them with love and attention, eventually, they would realize their parents¡¯ worried hearts. ¡°Well, if you say so, Doctor Jang¡¡± ¡°Yeah. Thinking about being a necromancer makes me feel sick. Messing around with corpses, what¡¯s up with that?¡± Ah¡ How can you make prideful awakened individuals submit? It¡¯s very simple. Be a regressor and defeat the Ten ns. Then, even the toughest tsundere types will be dere in front of me. And so, starting from the 10th run when the suppression of the Ten ns began, guild leaders also obediently followed my orders. Always, the entrance to Baekhwa High School was overgrown with tapes like spider webs. [No Entry] [Safety First] [Danger] [Human Flesh Caution] [Control Zone] It was a really simple solution, but surprisingly, these yellow tapes had a power that rivaled even barriers. Unless they were disturbed from outside, Baekhwa High School was safe. I became so curious about what they were doing inside that Cheon Yohwa and her student council rarely made public appearances. Really, asionally when Cheon Yohwa herself went out to procure supplies, Saintess would immediately whisper to me, ¡®The student council president has appeared.¡¯ Yet, major incidents rarely urred. Even after the 30th run. Even after the 40th run. Even after the 50th run. Yellow tapes were still stretched in front of Baekhwa High School¡¯s ¡®gate¡¯. I can guarantee that except for the runs where I went on vacation, the seal here was never broken. In other words, if I set aside the runs where I pushed aside my regressor duties and went on vacation, there was a very high probability of no appearance of an ¡®Academy City¡¯. The same was true even for the 108th run when I returned from Mount Hua hunting with Marquis. Once again, the Korean Penins was proving why thisnd was once called ¡®Hell Joseon¡¯ and instilling fear in everyone. -Ge?ru?gu?wi?lo?go?! ¡°Eternal Fire! Eternal Life Flower! Akrigongjeong!¡± ¡°Boss, here¡¯s two portions of tteokbokki!¡± Lonely gourmets from the Ten ns. Heretical religious Shinbul. And now, thergest Academy City in history, Baekhwa High School! My old friends from home greeted me warmly. It¡¯s so nostalgic that tears areing. If meteor showers fall here, the Four Heavenly Kings of the Korean Penins will bepleted altogether. It was better to quietly regress than to directly confront that mess, and that¡¯s exactly what I did. ¡°Hmm.¡± As we returned to Busan Station after finishing a vacation season, it was time for philosopher time. Vacations really did wonders. Diseases unique to infinite regressors like ¡®Why me¡¯ syndrome, ¡®I¡¯m tired now¡¯ syndrome, ¡®Nobody remembers me¡¯ syndrome, were all miraculously cured. Instead, diseases that were theplete opposite, like ¡®But I still have to fix it¡¯ syndrome, ¡®I¡¯m perfectly fine¡¯ syndrome, ¡®Even if everyone forgets, I¡¯ll remember everyone forever¡¯ syndrome, emerged again. Oh well. Isn¡¯t human life just a record of battling diseases named unhappiness or happiness? A regressor was nothing more than a long-term patient who, like everyone else, dealt with the same diseases but more deeply and skillfully. I¡¯ve been in this hospital for a long time, in other words, I¡¯ve returned to this world. And until then, I quietly observed the situation on the Korean Penins from an angle I had never thought of before. ¡°Compared to Saintess, maybe Cheon Yohwa is a very rational conversational partner?¡± It was truly a paradigm shift! After all, having dealt with the legendary lunatic Saintess for a whopping 6 years, I finally had this realization. Indeed,pared to a dog covered in poop, a dog covered in mustard was like an adorable Shih Tzu. ¡°A high school student council president? Compared to nobles from some ind country, they¡¯repletely normal.¡± There was no longer a regressor from the 5th run trembling at the sight of student zombies. There was only the awakened from the 109th run, just back from experiencing a sequel to the Reign of Terror and the eruption of Mount Hua. People do grow, don¡¯t they? I, Doctor Jang, lightly admired my own growth as I prepared for my tasks. I cured SG Man Seo Gyu¡¯s anger management disorder, formed an alliance with the perennial hikikomori Saintess, and after defeating the Ten ns and clearing up the Udumbara, I trained on Ulleung Ind andid all the groundwork by pulling out Marquis, who was training in martial arts. And then, several monthster. I headed to Baekhwa High School alone. ¡°What brings you here?¡± An NPC was standing at the school gate. It was the familiar face of a security guard. Just as the gates of Dante¡¯s Inferno bear the inscription ¡°Abandon all hope, ye who enter here,¡± this NPC was in charge of the entrance to a terrifying dungeon. ¡°Sorry, but if you don¡¯t have any business, please leave. This is a private school. Outsiders cannot enter casually.¡± ¡°Ah. Thank you for your hard work. I¡¯m not an outsider.¡± But to me, who had cleared Saintess and returned, the security guard was nothing more than a trivial monster. The Guardian that couldn¡¯t kill me only made me stronger. ¡°I¡¯m this person.¡± ¡°Hmm? What¡¯s this¡?¡± I politely handed him a printout. The printout had the Education Bureau¡¯s mark kindly stamped on it. [Notice from Baekhwa Girls¡¯ High School Alumni Association] ¡°¡Oh.¡± The security guard¡¯s pupils shook. I grinned. ¡°Hello. I¡¯m a graduate visiting here this time for the Baekhwa High School Alumni Association. Nice to meet you.¡± ¡°¡¡± The zombie guard stumbled, frozen like an NPC encountering an unexpected move from the yer. Of course, the document was forged. But what did it matter? Would they bother calling the alumni association to verify if it¡¯s real or not? By this time half of Seoul is relocated to Mars. [Trantor ¨C Jjsecus] [Proofreader ¨C Gun] ¡°Um¡ isn¡¯t this a girls¡¯ high school?¡± ¡°Ah. I¡¯ve had a gender change. It¡¯s what they call TS syndrome, I¡¯ve awakened to that ability.¡± ¡°Uh¡¡± If the zombie guard were to react, questioning where such a crazy ability exists in this world, they wouldn¡¯t know if they were being discriminatory or not. It was a harsh situation for an NPC programmed to act ording to a set pattern. ¡°Um. No, uh¡ could you pleasee in and wait? I¡¯ll call the responsible person.¡± ¡°Oh, I already called earlier today regarding the alumni association visit, but it seems the message didn¡¯t reach the security guard. Well, go ahead and wait then.¡± ¡°T-Thank you¡¡± I effortlessly entered Baekhwa High School¡¯s premises. Have you seen it? This is the daily bread of a 109th turn regressor. [Is this really the best way¡?] I ignored the Saintess¡¯sment in my ear. ¡°Um, you¡¯re our school senior?¡± Blink. Cheon Yohwa, who greeted me in the student council room, blinked incessantly, observing my every move. Even the feared necromancer couldn¡¯t hide her bewilderment in front of a self-proimed graduate iming to have TS syndrome. ¡°Yeah. Judging by your hair color, you must be Cheon Yohwa? I heard a lot about you from the kids.¡± ¡°Uh¡¡± I casually addressed Cheon Yohwa. ¡°It¡¯s been going around our alumniwork that a very smart and quick-witted junior got elected as the student council president.¡± ¡°T-Thank you¡?¡± ¡°By the way, I also worked in the student council and now I¡¯m the alumni association president.¡± ¡°Ah¡¡± Cheon Yohwa became increasingly flustered. This is the weakness of lunatic-type Awakeneds who create their own worldview and settings inside their skulls. They fiercely resist outsiders who ignore their settings, but be infinitely weaker in front of visitors who faithfully adhere to their settings. ¡°This time, our alumni association is nning a gathering, and my friends want to visit the school after a long time.¡± ¡°Oh, I see¡¡± And this was exactly what I intended. Naturally, the nemesis of lunatics is another lunatic with a higher level of wit. The truth of the nutjobs was once again proven. Why? You¡¯re a student. You¡¯re even the student council president of a school proud of its history and tradition. Oh, you¡¯re a necromancer and all, so why bother the grand senior alumni president like that? ¡°Yeah. We¡¯ll avoid ss hours, so could the seniors maybe use a teacher¡¯s office after school?¡± ¡°Uh, just a moment. Please wait!¡± Cheon Yohwa got up from her seat and went to the corner of the student council room. Oh, by the way, there were about ten students gathered in the student council room besides Cheon Yohwa. They weren¡¯t zombies. They were all properly alive humans. They were probably the true members of the ¡°Baekhwa Girls¡¯ High School Guild.¡± ¡°What should we do? He¡¯s a senior¡¡± Baekhwa¡¯s guild members whispered to each other. ¡°It¡¯s unbelievable. Can someone¡¯s gender actually change?¡± ¡°Come to think of it, since President Yohwa¡¯s ability is more amazing, theoretically, it¡¯s possible¡¡± ¡°But it could be a lie.¡± ¡°But how did they recognize the name without even introducing themselves as the student council president?¡± ¡°Let¡¯s test it.¡± ¡°What kind of test?¡± ¡°If they¡¯re a senior who graduated from here, they should know everything rted to our school. Let¡¯s test them with questions that would be impossible for anyone who didn¡¯t graduate from Baekhwa Girls¡¯ High School.¡± Whispering. They might think they¡¯ve kept their voices down, but I heard it all. ¡°Um¡¡± ¡°Why?¡± ¡°Do you happen to know what our dormitory is called?¡± I expected this kind of test. And for the past few months, I¡¯ve thoroughly prepared for this exact situation. The result of that preparation whispered to me. [¡It¡¯s Baekhwa Hall. But among students, we just call it the dorm.] Ah, this is what they call a Saintess, an Awakened with the ability of irvoyance¨D¨D. With irvoyance, you can observe all Awakeneds as you wish. You might not know, but we¡¯ve been inseparable for over half a year now. Because I specifically asked the Saintess to do so. ¡°Baekhwa Hall. But we just call it the dormitory, usually.¡± ¡°Oh. Where¡¯s our school cafeteria¡?¡± ¡°You go out here and go down to the first floor, then it¡¯s on the left hallway after a short walk.¡± ¡°The name of our dorm supervisor teacher is¡¡± ¡°Oh, Gori? She¡¯s been working here for ages. When I was here, the dorm supervisor always had permed hair, is she still like that?¡± ¡°¡..¡± Cheon Yohwa¡¯s pupils shook. As ast resort, Cheon Yohwa took out the graduation album. Since I said I was from the 96th batch, she opened the album that corresponded exactly to that. Of course, when she looked at the album, even the Saintess looked at it. ¡°Um, could I hear the names of the seniors¡¡± ¡°Han Yesol. Lee Miri. Park Hayoon. Kim Jiyoo. Kim Yerin.¡± ¡°¡..¡± ¡°The ones I was close with, that¡¯s about it. But¡¡± I stood up. ¡°Why do you keep asking weird questions?¡± ¡°What do you mean?¡± ¡°Are you suspecting something about our juniors? Wow, Baekhwa has really changed a lot. When we were here, we at least sent two to Seoul National University. Are you preparing well for the college entrance exam? As the student council president, you must be aiming for Seoul National University, right?¡± ¡°¡¡¡± ¡°Yohwa.¡± ¡°Yes¡¡± ¡°I¡¯ll be counting on you from now on.¡± ¡°Yes, senior¡¡± That day, the regressor gained a Necromancer junior who listened well. ¨C Survivor. The End. [Trantor ¨C Jjsecus] [Proofreader ¨C Gun] Chapter 51 â€“ The Judge I Chapter 51 ¨C The Judge I [Trantor ¨C Jjsecus] [Proofreader ¨C Gun] Chapter 51 ¨C The Judge I 1 Continuing from thest episode, let¡¯s dive further into the Necromancer¡¯s story. 2 The reason I suddenly brought in the second biggest lunatic in Korea (the first being, of course, the Sword Queen of Yuldo), the student council president of Baekhwa Girls¡¯ High School, wasn¡¯t because I wanted to befriend crazy people. There was a broad and deep reason behind this decision. And I must rify that I, Doctor Jang, am not some scheming character. I¡¯m not the type to draw up ns alone and thenugh maliciously as they fall apart. Such scheming characters are usually adults who, having experiencedmunication failures in their childhood, have turned their hopes for humanity into contempt for mankind¡ªa clear result of being trapped in their own childhood traumas. ¡°Indeed. But why are you looking at me like that while saying this¡?¡± ¡°That¡¯s not the point right now, Nodoh.¡± ¡°Is that so? Shall I gouge out your eyes, salt them, and then dip them in soy sauce for you¡?¡± ¡°Too much salty food is bad for you.¡± ¡°You damn regressor bastard¡¡± True to someone who had a rough childhood, Nodoh quickly got angry and cursed. Of course, as a mature adult, I knew how to calmly respond to his anger. ¡°The recruit I¡¯ve brought in this time, Chun Yuhwa, will be a crucial asset to our n.¡± ¡°Why? Because you¡¯re a pervert with a fetish for sailor uniforms¡?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t like school uniforms. Nodoh, try getting to my age. Everyone looks like a kid.¡± ¡°Hey, aren¡¯t you already, like almost 1,000 years old by your standards? How am I supposed to reach that age¡?¡± ¡°That¡¯s not my concern. Anyway, the reason Chun Yuhwa¡¯s necromancy is important is because it provides us with a stable source of ¡®manpower¡¯.¡± ¡°Hmm¡¡± Nodoh sipped his coffee. Coffee I had brewed. During the nearly 1,000 years (to be exact, only 771 years at this point) I¡¯ve lived, my barista skills have consistently improved. While I still couldn¡¯t perfectly replicate Sho¡¯s old man¡¯s caf¨¦ auit, I had reached a peak in my own right. Even someone as perpetually cynical as Nodoh softened when drinking my coffee. He would mutter, ¡°Damn, why does this taste so good¡?¡± It was satisfying. This was the reward of being a regressor. ¡°Is manpower that important? Honestly, these days it¡¯s the one thing we have in excess¡¡± ¡°I¡¯m talking about the manpower of the National Highway Administration.¡± ¡°Ah.¡± Nodoh nodded, holding the coffee cup with both hands. ¡°Yeah,e to think of it, managing this organization has made me realize that National Highway Administration members are basically synonymous with suicide squads. Send them to the void, and there¡¯s a 20% chance they¡¯lle back with flowers on their heads like aliens¡¡± ¡°If we assign these dangerous tasks to zombie corpses, the survival rate will significantly increase.¡± ¡°Sounds usible¡ Let¡¯s try it.¡± ¡°But there¡¯s a condition.¡± ¡°What condition¡?¡± I looked around. The saintess, who had been silent all this time, was quietly sipping her bagged coffee. I smiled brightly in front of the trustworthy ¡®Regressors¡¯ Alliance¡¯. ¡°From now on, you¡¯re all graduates of Baekhwa Girls¡¯ High School.¡± ¡°¡.¡± ¡°Alright, this is the graduation album for the 96th ss, but I¡¯ve already tampered with it. See the ss 2 photo here? Just pretend it¡¯s Nodoh and the saintess back in their younger days. I was the vice president, Nodoh was the president, and the saintess was the secretary.¡± ¡°¡.¡± ¡°And this is a separate document I prepared specifically for Baekhwa Girls¡¯ High School. It has the dormitory names, a list of teachers the students often interacted with, school-specific ng¡ªeverything is written here, so memorize it.¡± ¡°¡.¡± Nodoh looked at the saintess. The saintess nodded. ¡°I already memorized it.¡± ¡°¡Damn, is this for real¡?¡± It was indeed real. ¡°Hello! Seniors! Nice to meet you for the first time!¡± A few dayster. We could witness firsthand the sight of Chun Yuhwa knocking heads right in front of us. Alongside Chun Yuhwa, the Baekhwa Girls¡¯ High School student council, the real survivors¡ªnot zombies¡ªstood in a row. ¡°Uh, yes¡ I¡¯m Nodoh¡¡± ¡°Please feel free to speak, seniors! Hehe. You were the student council president? I heard from Senior Jang that you need help from us, your junior council. Please feel free to boss us around like dogs!¡± ¡°How much have you spoiled this brat¡?¡± Nodoh grumbled at me. I couldn¡¯t help but feel sorry. Wasn¡¯t it a foolish and ignorant reaction on my part? The 109th regressors had yet to experience what kind of lunatics Baekhwa Girls¡¯ High School was made up of. ¡°Don¡¯t let your guard down. If you don¡¯t respect their concept, hell will break loose. I warned you.¡± ¡°But they seem so nice¡?¡± ¡°They are. But their kindness is temporary. If they don¡¯t consume human flesh at least once every four days, they turn into ravenous creatures.¡± ¡°¡.¡± Baekhwa Girls¡¯ High School joined the National Highway Administration. That very night, six members of the National Highway Administration ¡®enrolled¡¯ in Baekhwa Girls¡¯ High School. The enrollment conditions weren¡¯t too strict. They just had to have holes in their skulls. ¡°What the hell is this?¡± Only then did Nodoh realize the seriousness of the situation. ¡°What kind of lunatics did you bring here, Awakening One?!¡± ¡°I warned you in advance.¡± ¡°I didn¡¯t expect it to be this bad¡!¡± ¡°By the way, how did they die?¡± Nodoh handed me the report. It was quite like a former government official. Even in this copsing world, he always documented incidents. ¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D Victim A: What¡¯s this? New recruits? Chun Yuhwa: Hello! I¡¯m Chun Yuhwa, the student council president of Baekhwa Girls¡¯ High School! Victim B: Huh? A high school? Student council? What¡¯s that, some sort of act? Chun Yuhwa: No? I¡¯m really the student council president of Baekhwa Girls¡¯ High School! Victim A: Oh my. Our new recruits must have learned some weird stuff somewhere. Just looking at her face, she seems past high school graduation age, but¡ Victim B: Yeah, hey. Only someone who¡¯s been seriously hit on the head would do this without anyone intervening. Someone like you, a mediocre Awakening One, won¡¯t get any recognition. What student council? Chun Yuhwa: (Mysteriousughter) ¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D Hmm. Just reading this much was enough. ording to the attached document, some parts of the bodies of Victims A and B were found in canned food. I diagnosed the cause of death for the victims. ¡°It appears to be suicide.¡± ¡°Is this for real¡?¡± Nodoh shuddered. But like me, she was adept at dealing with ¡®undertakers.¡¯ She was a master in the specialized skill of dealing with lunatics¡ª¡¯lunatic-socializing.¡¯ When Chun Yuhwa realized that Nodoh was an undertaker, he immediately readied himself. ¡°Chun Yuhwa junior¡¡± ¡°Yes! Senior Nodoh!¡± ¡°How¡¯s your SAT preparation going these days?¡± ¡°Huh?¡± ¡°Sigh. Back in my day, if you were a student council president, you were expected to get into Seoul National University at least. Senior Jang mentioned that. I assumed Chun Yuhwa junior was aiming high too, right¡?¡± ¡°¡.¡± Nodoh immediately caught on and started pressuring Chun Yuhwa like a dog. Just so you know, I also made a fake Seoul National University admission certificate for Chun Yuhwa and showed it to him. [Trantor ¨C Jjsecus] [Proofreader ¨C Gun] This too was a forged document. So what? What could you do? I even set myself up as a graduate in German literature. As you all know, my German skills were impable. Moreover, with [Perfect Memory] added, I even thought I could recite Goethe¡¯s Faust and Schiller¡¯s poems on the spot. I raised an eyebrow as if to say, ¡°Hmm. Isn¡¯t this expected of the Baekhwa Girls¡¯ High School student council president?¡± ¡°¡.¡± Chun Yuhwa bowed tearfully before the seniors¡¯ dignity. If she had been a ¡®fake,¡¯ she would have given up and dropped the concept at this point. But Chun Yuhwa was real. Baekhwa Girls¡¯ High School existed in her mind, and naturally, the school¡¯s traditions were intact. ¡°I¡¯ll work hard to follow your guidance, seniors¡¡± The monstrous academy city that once terrorized all the awakeners on the Korean Penins had disappeared without a trace. There was just one pathetic student left. This is what they mean by ¡®survival of the fittest.¡¯ ¡°Oh. Zombies actually have their uses¡?¡± And Nodoh confirmed that Chun Yuhwa had value, even ¡®persisting in such a concept.¡¯ Then there was no longer any reason to hesitate. Nodoh, the embodiment of pragmatism, immediately coerced Chun Yuhwa into ¡®field training¡¯ under the guise of sending her to the National Highway Administration. With the addition of the ¡®scout unit¡¯ by Chun Yuhwa, the National Highway Administration underwent a significant transformation. The disappearance rate of members, which had reached as high as 20%, decreased to less than 5%. However, no one cared that the rate at which zombies turned into real corpses increased. In a world where even human rights had disappeared, considering zombie rights seemed overly harsh. ¡°Is this the true usefulness of corpses¡?¡± Corpses were indeed useful. They could work without eating, feel no pain, didn¡¯t require consideration of their rights, and simply followed pre-programmed actions. Once you tasted it, you couldn¡¯t escape, much like a drug. Especially for practical-minded individuals like Nodoh. Nodoh discovered a new preference. 3 ¡°Awakening One Jang. What exactly are zombies¡?¡± One day, I received such a question. ¡°Excuse me?¡± ¡°Think about it. The zombies created by Chun Yuhwa all perform their roles. Guards, students, teachers¡ They only act ording to pre-programmed instructions, so they can¡¯t respond to unforeseen situations. But still, in terms of their roles, they look quite human, don¡¯t they?¡± ¡°What are you trying to say?¡± ¡°Well, isn¡¯t it more urate to call them NPCs instead of zombies¡?¡± Nodoh¡¯s eyes glinted darkly. ¡°Awakening One Jang probably called them zombies based on their appearance, but in my view, that¡¯s not quite uratebeling. Chun Yuhwa is a necromancer, but she¡¯s not producing ¡®zombies¡¯¡ She can be considered more of a designer who creates ¡®NPCs.¡¯ In a sense, you could say she¡¯s imbuing them with ¡®AI¡¯¡¡± ¡°Interesting interpretation. But would that change anything?¡± ¡°Well, we¡¯ll have to see as we go along¡¡± Nodoh chuckled. ¡°I believe a lot of things could change¡¡± ¡°Is that so?¡± ¡°Yes. In that sense, could you please summon Dang Seorin, the guild leader¡¡± Even though Dang Seorin was the head of the National Highway Administration, he wasn¡¯t someone who could issue orders to Dang Seorin. But as a member of the ¡®Gourmet Pilgrimage Club,¡¯ I could easily persuade Dang Seorin toe along. The next day, Dang Seorin showed up at the National Highway Administration headquarters, looking annoyed. ¡°What¡¯s going on? I¡¯m busy these days.¡± ¡°Oh, sorry. I asked Awakening One Jang for a favor and had him summon you. This is something that only the Great Witch of the Three Thousand Worlds can do¡ Oh, and this is a copy of the Necronomicon I happened to find at the old bookstorest time. As soon as I saw it, I thought it would be a fitting addition to the Great Witch¡¯s library¡¡± ¡°If you¡¯re a guild leader living on the Korean Penins, you should cooperate with the National Highway Administration¡¯s work.¡± ¡°Could you use some magic incantation¡?¡± Thud. Dang Seorin ced severalrge books on the table, and even to me, a reincarnator, the titles were very unfamiliar. [Supreme Court Case Digest], [3 Concept Latest Case Digest], [Civil Execution Act], [Essential Tax Case Digest], [Criminal Procedure Code: Commentary and Case Digest]¡ They were all gruesomely thick. They were undoubtedly produced with the purpose of physically and mentally destroying human heads. The overwhelming presence even made Dang Seorin hesitate for a moment. ¡°What are you going to use these for?¡± ¡°Heh. Don¡¯t worry. The Great Witch just needs to use [Repeat], [Read Aloud], and [yback]¡ So it¡¯ll be fine¡¡± ¡°Oh, really? Okay, got it.¡± Dang Seorin went into the warehouse and cast a magic incantation. Soon enough, in the warehouse, numerous case digests automatically flipped through their pages, providing ¡®read-aloud¡¯ support. Naturally, it was quite a magical sight. After sending off Nodoh with Dang Seorin, I immediately brought Chun Yuhwa to the warehouse. ¡°Chun Yuhwa junior¡¡± ¡°Yes, senior!¡± ¡°Bring three security guards and leave them here. And could you ask those people to do something for us? [Remember all the soundsing from this warehouse]¡¡± ¡°Huh? Um, to input that much information, it¡¯s going to consume a lot of energy.¡± ¡°It¡¯s a senior¡¯smand¡¡± ¡°Ugh¡¡± At this point, I was gaping in amazement. I couldn¡¯tprehend how one would reach such a thought process, which is why I couldn¡¯t help but admire it. ¡°Nodoh, are you¡?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± Nodoh chuckled softly. ¡°Now that the National Highway Administration is established, shouldn¡¯t we start considering setting up a court¡?¡± This person¡ was trying to create ¡®AI judges¡¯ using zombies! [Trantor ¨C Jjsecus] [Proofreader ¨C Gun] Chapter 52 â€“ The Judge II Chapter 52 ¨C The Judge II [Trantor ¨C Jjsecus] [Proofreader ¨C Gun] Chapter 52 ¨C The Judge II ¡°Goodness.¡± I was partly bewildered, but with the other half filled with undeniable anticipation, I asked, ¡°Can zombies really perform the role of judges?¡± ¡°Oh, they¡¯re not zombies, they¡¯re NPCs. Please don¡¯t make that mistake again. And as for whether it will seed¡ Well, I¡¯m not sure, but it¡¯s worth a try, don¡¯t you think¡?¡± Noh Doha said it with his mouth, but his ominous gaze couldn¡¯t hide the glimmer of anticipation. Both of us stared at the warehouse where texts ofw books were constantly being recited, like mischievous kids ying tricks behind the teachers¡¯ backs. Judges! Reviving the function of a ¡®court¡¯ in this crumbling world had long been Noh Doha¡¯s and my old wish. While the National Highway Administration seeded in connecting the tornnd with thin spider webs, establishing a nationwide court system seemed impossible. ¡°Handling major cases could involve guild leaders volunteering as judges temporarily or gathering prominent guild leaders to act as jurors.¡± Neither I nor the guild leader Tang had idle bodies. How could we handle the dozens of cases happening daily in the apocalyptic world? In the end, at present, most cities upied by guilds had to run their own ¡®court-like systems.¡¯ In other words, it was like handing a gavel to gangsters. Was there any chance it would work properly? Busan, managed by Taesu, with Intelligence 91 and Political Power 95, sang songs of peace (of course, by apocalyptic standards), but most cities in Korea had a boss named Byeon Sato. Unless you were Simcheong herself, you were likely to receive quite irrational judgments. Even if you were Simcheong, it wouldn¡¯t make much difference. ¡°How long do you think it¡¯ll take for them to input all thew books into their heads¡?¡± ¡°Oh. Um, I¡¯ve never been told to memorize this amount of text, so I¡¯m not exactly sure, but I think a month should be enough!¡± Noh Doha nodded at Cheon Yohwa¡¯s words. We sealed the warehouse door and returned to our daily lives. Finally, one monthter. Noh Doha, I, and even the Saintess, gathered here with all the members of the Regressor Alliance. Cheon Yohwa also participated as a guest member. ¡°Then let¡¯s begin!¡± nk, the heavy warehouse door opened. A slightly musty smell, as if you had been brewing a broth for a recluse hikikomori for about three months in a corner of your room, wafted out. And no one even raised an eyebrow. Of course not. These days, even if the smell of corpses wafted in front of your house, the true attitude of modern people was to just pass by, thinking, ¡®Oh, someone else diedst night.¡¯ ¡°Hmm.¡± In the middle of the warehouse, NPCs¡ no, zombies were standing with expressions that seemed incredibly stupid. I wondered if they would really be able to memorize thew books properly, but among our party, there wasn¡¯t a single fool who judged people solely by their appearance. ¡°They look incredibly stupid¡¡± Except for Noh Doha. ¡°Anyway, let¡¯s test it out. We¡¯ve gathered only the busiest people, haven¡¯t we? Now, Cheon Yohwa junior¡?¡± ¡°Oh, yes. Senior!¡± Cheon Yohwa stepped in front of an NPC and reached out to pat its head. ¡°You¡¯re a judge.¡± [¡¡] ¡°When there are conflicts between people or organizations, please judge which side is right or mediate between both sides!¡± Sssrr. As Cheon Yohwa whispered about the ¡®role of the judge,¡¯ shadowy figures with a solid presence seeped from her forearm into the NPC¡¯s head. The way their tails swayed back and forth made them look like pitch-ck snakes. That¡¯s probably Cheon Yohwa¡¯s necromancy. Before long, the ck snakes wrapped their tails around the NPC¡¯s heads. Cheon Yohwa pped her hands and said, ¡°Done. It¡¯s my first time trying to ¡®request¡¯ someone like this, so I¡¯m not sure if it worked well. Anyway, feel free to ask anything!¡± ¡°Hmm.¡± I nced at the Saintess. Although she always had a poker face, I could sense her keen interest in the NPC in front of her with my experienced regressor eyes. After all, wasn¡¯t the Saintess the mastermind behind turning dark in the 107th run because viins weren¡¯t properly punished? Noh Doha also acknowledged my gaze and gracefully deferred to the Saintess. ¡°Would you like to ask the first question¡?¡± ¡°¡¡¡± A nod. The Saintess took a step forward and faced the NPC. Despitemanding the most powerful abilities or authority in the penins, the NPC still looked clueless ¨C mouth agape. Cheon Yohwa cheerfully said, ¡°First, set the scene!¡± ¡°¡A middle-aged man entered an abandoned house. However, inside the house, there was actually an 11-year-old child living there. While the man was searching the house for usable items, he discovered the child, and the child immediately cursed at him to leave. Enraged by the curse, the man rushed at the child and stabbed him with a dagger the size of a kitchen knife, killing him.¡± ¡°Hmm.¡± ¡°The man believes he had no intention of killing the child. In this case, please answer whether the murderer had intent or not, and whether it would affect the sentence.¡± [Answer initiated. Intent in the crime of murder does not necessarily require a specific purpose or nned intent to kill.] Thud. The NPC, which was tilted about 10 degrees, suddenly straightened its neck. [Having awareness of the killing is sufficient, and in this case, ¡®awareness of the killing¡¯ is involuntary, including unintentional killing.] ¡°¡¡¡± [Considering the circumstances, it is impossible to deny that the defendant had no ¡®awareness of the killing¡¯ at the time of the murder, judging by the method of the crime, such as being greatly provoked by the victim¡¯s curse, and immediately fatally stabbing the victim¡¯s neck with a dagger, causing immediate death. Therefore, it is justified to recognize the defendant¡¯s criminal act as guilty in the murder case.] ¡°¡¡¡± [Answer concluded.] Thud. The NPC weakly lowered its head again. ¡°Hmm.¡± While everyone remained silent, Noh Doha let out a grunt. No, it was more of a groan than a grunt. Everyone had their habits when lost in thought. [Trantor ¨C Jjsecus] [Proofreader ¨C Gun] In Noh Doha¡¯s case, it was always ying with his ck gloves. He grabbed the tip of the glove¡¯s index finger and fiddled with it, as if managing invisible nails, pulling it here and there before tucking it back in. ¡°Hmm. Well, I guess¡?¡± Crack- Noh Doha tightly clenched the leather gloves until they almost tore apart. A sigh of mncholyughter echoed in the shabby warehouse. ¡°Let¡¯s test it out on the scene immediately¡.¡± 4 The results of the beta test of the ¡®AI judge¡¯ were less than satisfactory. ¡°What? An AI judge?¡± ¡°What¡¯s the use of such a thing?¡± Because the guild leaders who upied each city did not feel the need to introduce an AI judge. They already enjoyed a position akin to warlords. Why should we separate the judiciary? Separation of powers is an outdated concept anyway. However, no matter how much the guild leaders swaggered in their own neighborhoods, there were limits. In other words, once they stepped beyond the neighborhood boundaries, they became weaklings in an instant. ¡°They invaded our turf first!¡± ¡°Why is that your turf? It¡¯s our area. Besides, you guys killed our people first!¡± For example, conflicts between guilds. In such cases, guild leaders usually either fought each other to death or sought mediation from a third party. And there were only three individuals in the entire penins who were recognized as capable of mediation by everyone. Tang Seorin, Noh Doha, and me. ¡°Chief of the National Highway Management!¡± ¡°Chief, please make a judgment!¡± Noh Doha tried to show as much empathy as possible for your situation. ¡°Well, that¡¯s unfortunate. As always, I will mediate sincerely to ensure that no difort or resentment remains as much as possible¡¡± ¡°Okay. We trust you, Chief!¡± ¡°Yes.¡± The problem is, the three of us couldn¡¯t be perfectly fair. Of course, we tried our best to be fair. But whether outsiders saw us as such was another matter. Satisfying both sides in a dispute was almost impossible, and so every time we proposed a mediation, there were considerable ¡°whispers¡± behind the scenes. ¡°By the way, have any of you heard of the AI judge that came out recently? It¡¯s quite amazing¡¡± ¡°Huh?¡± We pushed the guild leaders who were targeting this point to ept the AI judge. And Noh Doha yed his usual game here as well. ¡°Before the world became like this, I was a civil servant, you know¡?¡± ¡°Oh, yes. It¡¯s a famous story.¡± ¡°In fact, the government was already discussing whether to introduce AI judges and to what extent their authority should be recognized until the world became like this. They argued that it would be fine to leave the judgment to AI judges based on precedents, especially for very trivial cases¡ That was also a point of contention in the legalmunity.¡± ¡°Oh¡ yes¡¡± ¡°A while ago, the patrol units confiscated severalputers from the government building, and one of them had an AI program installed. So, this is a real AI used in practice. What do you think, everyone? Would you like to test it out once and hear its judgment¡?¡± ¡°Uh¡¡± Even the guild leaders, who weren¡¯tpletely stubborn, felt that the AI judge was fair and surprisingly convenient to use. [Verdict. A mustpensate B with 200 million.] ¡°Wow. How are we supposed to get 200 million won in today¡¯s world?¡± Noh Doha chuckled quietly. ¡°What do you think? If you¡¯re not satisfied, we can ignore the opinion of this program and I can mediate from the beginning¡?¡± ¡°¡¡± ¡°¡¡± The guild leaders were lost in thought. Judging by their expressions, it went something like this: ¡®Before the country copsed, if we had about 200 million in cash, we could roughly calcte and just hand over a small workshop to them, right? Considering the triviality of the dispute?¡¯ ¡®Anyway, if I sided with them, but then quietly handed over mediation to Chief Noh Doha here, would it not damage my reputation?¡¯ The guild leaders exchanged nces with each other. ¡°Um, yeah. Let¡¯s first try to reach an agreement among ourselves, and if not, we can ask Chief Noh Doha for help again?¡± ¡°Ah, sure, that¡¯s fine. I¡¯ll also distribute a few NPCs equipped with this AI to each of you, so make good use of them¡¡± ¡°Really? Is that okay?¡± ¡°Of course. Heh. It¡¯s free¡¡± The judge NPCs that Noh Doha had created were distributed evenly throughout the cities of the penins. The guild leaders returned to their respective cities, pondering how to make use of the new toys. And naturally, even if one guild managed a city, there were numerous factions within it. ¡°Your guys invaded our turf first!¡± ¡°Why is that your turf? It¡¯s our area. Besides, you guys killed our people first!¡± ¡°Boss!¡± ¡°Boss, please make a judgment!¡± ¡°Uh¡¡± It was the guild leader¡¯s role to mediate whenever disputes arose between factions. By making appropriate judgments at such times, the guild leader demonstrated their power. But even so, it wasn¡¯t easy to be seen as fair in everything. And finally, the guild leaders realized something. What role this interesting yet seemingly impractical AI judge could y in this era. ¡°By the way, have you guys heard about the AI judge that came out recently? It¡¯s really something¡¡± ¡°Huh?¡± AI judge, making its national debut! [Trantor ¨C Jjsecus] [Proofreader ¨C Gun] Chapter 53 â€“ The Judge III Chapter 53 ¨C The Judge III [Trantor ¨C Jjsecus] [Proofreader ¨C Gun] Chapter 53 ¨C The Judge III Before the copse of civilization, people used to say half-jokingly: ¡°Ah, what kind of judgment is that?¡± ¡°I¡¯d rather just leave it all to AI; it would be better than this!¡± Of course, the other half of this statement probably contained the sentiment that artificial intelligence made of steel and code would be more impartial than Homo sapiens, who were often entangled in various interests. Now that AI judges had made their nationwide debut, one might expect people to rejoice, thinking, ¡°Wow! This is the era of justice where biased judgments will never be made!¡± But naturally, things weren¡¯t so straightforward in the world. ¡°Judgment. The defendant is sentenced to life imprisonment.¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°He killed someone, shouldn¡¯t it be a death sentence?¡± ¡°Why on earth shouldn¡¯t criminals be put to death?¡± People were bewildered. Since no updates had been made after the copse of civilization, the judgments of AI judges seemed rather dull to the current human pte, which had adapted to the apocalypse. ¡°Judgment. The defendant is sentenced to three months in prison.¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°They dared toy hands on someone else¡¯s property, and it¡¯s not a death sentence?¡± ¡°Why on earth shouldn¡¯t criminals be put to death?¡± From the outset, the concept of a ¡®prison sentence¡¯ handed down by AI judges was already an antiquated relic of the past. Prison? Where was that? They didn¡¯t just build sturdy walls and install iron bars; they even had to feed, house, and rehabilitate prisoners. Did prison guards get their sries for free from the sky? Yes, the AI judge was fair. But it was a fairness akin to that of a deity. It was meaningless unless it descended into reality. ¡°Wait. Three months in prison is about the same as losing a finger, isn¡¯t it?¡± ¡°Oh¡¡± Therefore, there was inevitably a need for a specialized profession to ¡®interpret¡¯ the ¡®word of god¡¯. In ancient times, it was priestesses, in the Middle Ages, it was priests, and now it was guild leaders, who continued the role of their trusted associates. A guild leader who had achieved enough feats to upy a city was rightfully considered the human closest to a deity within that city. ¡°As expected of the guild leader. How about six months in prison?¡± ¡°Hmm, that¡¯s cutting off a finger. Of course, if the victim wants, we could just cut off a toe.¡± ¡°What about a year in prison, guild leader?¡± ¡°Then maybe we should go as far as cutting off a hand or a foot? Ah! But if we do that, and thebor force declines, it wouldn¡¯t be good. Let¡¯s go with a 50-50¡ for example, three fingers from the perpetrator, two fingers from the perpetrator¡¯s family, totaling five fingers as punishment.¡± ¡°Oh¡¡± ¡°As expected of the guild leader.¡± If prisons were relics, then the system of cutting off fingers and toes was an item that guilds these days were eager to have. ¡°What if all their fingers and toes are gone?¡± ¡°Then we kill them. Damn it. If you¡¯re given 20 life points but can¡¯t y the game, then it just doesn¡¯t match, right?¡± ¡°That makes sense.¡± ¡°Moreover, if there¡¯s no friend or rtive willing to lose a finger on behalf of the criminal, then killing them wouldn¡¯t make anyone sad anyway, right? Just kill them all.¡± ¡°Oh¡¡± Here¡¯s an edited version of the conversation, tailored to be easier to read and follow, spoken by a guild leader from Incheon: Interpretations by the ¡®priestesses¡¯ varied from city to city. In ces like Incheon, they neatly reduced all life stats to fingers and toes, while in other cities, they interpreted a six-month sentence as a six-month term of very, turning the perpetrator into the victim¡¯s ve. However, it was precisely because of this that guild leaders readily epted AI judges. ¡°This isn¡¯t bad.¡± Tang Seorin casually tapped the head of the AI judge. ¡°From beginning to end, it¡¯s much easier for us to say that someone else, who is already respected, made the judgment, and we just added our interpretation¡ª from the perspective of a guild leader.¡± ¡°Hmm.¡± ¡°The judgment wasn¡¯t wrong. It¡¯s just the application to reality. In other words, there are some nuances in interpretation. So, even if there are slight mistakes, it¡¯s rtively less damaging to the guild leader¡¯s reputation. Ah. Perhaps this principle is why the ancient rulers were also priests.¡± As a guild leader who ruled the most prosperous city in the penins, her words carried weight. Ironically, Tang Seorin herself had merely handed over the AI judge to themon citizens; she didn¡¯t actually use it to make judgments. However, it was not just about Tang Seorin seeing the ¡®responsibility that need not be taken¡¯ as a leader¡¯s badge of honor. Tang Seorin was a self-proimed sorceress, and her method of ruling Busan was unique¡ well, if you had to put it, it was quite ¡®witch-like.¡¯ In Busan under her rule, a system known as the ¡®Witch¡¯s Trial¡¯ operated separately. But for now, the protagonist of today¡¯s chapter was not Tang Seorin, so we¡¯ll mention herter. [PR/N: Talked to the TL, and the author has used episode here. I¡¯m wondering if I should use chapter or episode?] Actually, I wasn¡¯t particrly enthusiastic or serious about the introduction of AI judges. I was just surprised by Noh Doha¡¯s ingenious idea. As I mentioned earlier, the judgments of AI judges were nothing more than the words of Confucius and Mencius, far removed from reality. As a doctor, I had ambitions. Someday, I would create a legal system that truly matched the apocalypse. From my perspective, the AI judge was just a clever invention, a defective product that fell far short of the regressors¡¯ standards. However, this very aspect¡ª the ¡®disconnection from reality¡¯ or ck of perfectness¡¯¡ª was surprisingly epted not only by guild leaders but also by ordinary people. ¡°Why aren¡¯t they sentencing to death?¡± [Response initiated. In modern jurisprudence and legal philosophy, discussions about the death penalty can be approached from various perspectives. One of the most effective arguments is that governments cannot decide on the citizens¡¯ right to life. While citizens partially transfer their rights to the government through social contracts, they still retain exclusive rights over the dignity of life. The government is not a natural person but an artificial agreement, akin to a program, and therefore cannot make judgments on matters not inputted to itself.] ¡°Hmm¡ so?¡± [Response level decreased by 2 steps. Response changed. Governments are imperfect. Due to ipetent judges, malicious evidence tampering, or political forces attempting judicial murder, governments can make mistakes at any time. Therefore, it is wise to prevent ¡®irreversible mistakes¡¯ in life itself.] ¡°Oh¡ so?¡± [Response level decreased by 6 steps. Response changed. Let¡¯s just cherish life.] Indeed, the AI judge did not try to execute a death sentence, as it proimed. [Trantor ¨C Jjsecus] [Proofreader ¨C Gun] ¡°A serial killer who brutally murdered two-year-old children for no reason.¡± [We can impose the death penalty, but we won¡¯t execute it.] ¡°A spy turned terrorist who detonated a bomb in a public facility, resulting in three thousand deaths!¡± [We can impose the death penalty, but we won¡¯t execute it.] ¡°Hitler!¡± [We can impose the death penalty, but we won¡¯t execute it.] ¡°Damn, you¡¯re still not killing them? Even now?¡± As the situation unfolded, the citizens of Busan (Tang Seorin had ced judge NPCs in the square for themon people to y with) lost their minds. I mean, seriously, how far do we have to go to impose a death sentence? ¡°¡This is ridiculous. Why not just put a knife to their neck and be done with it? Why go through all this trouble just to not execute them?¡± ¡°Well, bute to think of it, it used to feel like this before the world ended. Even the ones deserving death were just having rice and beans in jail.¡± ¡°Yeah, it was like that. In the old days.¡± ¡°How did things end up like this?¡± ¡°¡¡± ¡°¡¡± Everyone in the post-apocalyptic world longed for the past. They had rushed forward without looking back, and as a result, the few survivors who had barely made it through realized how far they hade when they heard the judgments of the AI judges. Yes. The world had changed. They had changed too. Taking a brief pause now, the possibility of humanitypletely oveing emptiness and rebuilding civilization seemed remote. Everyone in this era knew that they were in the twilight years of humanity, with death looming over them. Nostalgia for a homnd that could never be revisited. So, how people in this era spent their leisure time (whenever such luxury miraculously arose) was by gathering in guild buildings and watching ¡®movies from the previous era¡¯ onrge TVs. Even if the movies were boring, it didn¡¯t matter. ¡°Wow, the asphalt roads are so clean!¡± ¡°Cars were driving around!¡± ¡°Damn, drinking coffee like it¡¯s just water.¡± ¡°Why didn¡¯t they kill someone even after being shoulder-butted?¡± Watching footage from the past reminded people of the glorious days of human civilization. Even their posture while watching TV gave it away. They didn¡¯t sit neatly side by side watching the screen. Instead, they gathered together, casually leaning on each other, munching on peanut shells, and chatting loudly about the ¡®rare items in the footage¡¯. ¡°Hot watering out directly from home? Just press a button for bottled water? Wow¡¡± ¡°But why do they have so manyints on their faces? There¡¯s no paradise after all.¡± ¡°Anyway, they all look bloated. They need to be beaten by monsters until their brains cook a bit. Hey, this is hard to open. Pass me a hammer.¡± This was roughly a reflection of modern times. Thus, the ¡®unrealistic judgments¡¯ of AI judges were initially treated as toys, but as time passed, they took on a different hue. [Judgment. Defendant B is ordered topensate intiff A with 1 million won.] ¡°Really? Wait a moment. I¡¯ll have it arranged within a week.¡± ¡°Huh?¡± Some people epted AI¡¯s judgments as they were. In this world, money was more like a talisman than currency. It reminded them of the days when they were still part of civilized society. Collecting ¡®100 million won¡¯ worth of such talismans was extremely difficult. But some citizens stubbornly collected 50,000 won, 10,000 won, 5,000 won, and 1,000 won bills as much as they could, and actually handed over 1 million won to the defendant. ¡°Is it done now?¡± ¡°Uh, yeah¡¡± ¡°All right. Sorry for disturbing your business. Our rtionship is settled now.¡± Surprisingly, one citizen¡¯s apology was epted. Money had lost all meaning beyond being a talisman and could not be exchanged for anything else. In other words, money that hadpletely lost its value as currency was acknowledged aspensation for wrongdoing. This idental incident prompted more and more citizens to voluntarily follow the judgments of AI. Of course, citizens did not rely on AI judges for incidents that caused real harm or endangered lives. But for minor incidents, things that didn¡¯t involve killing each other, people willingly obeyed the ¡®judgments of the old era¡¯¡ªobeying the justice of the time when the world was still intact. ¡°Here¡¯s 3 million won.¡± ¡°Let¡¯s live well from now on. A bit.¡± Even if it was thetest currency, people cherished and exchanged worn-out, dusty pieces of paper that had been printed over ten years ago with great care. From a distance, it looked more like a religious ritual than the execution of thew. A ritual of proving and certifying each other¡¯s belongingness to a world that they had once been part of, amunity¡¯s procedure for proving membership in the same society. What should I say? Usually, when an apocalypsees, currencies are quickly treated as trash, but the reality was quite different from the contents of such works. ¡°¡I really didn¡¯t expect this.¡± I felt a bit psychologically punched. But it wasn¡¯t a bad feeling. No matter how much the world had fallen apart, most people still lived with nostalgia, and I could confirm that. Even after the 109th run, I continued to maintain the ¡®AI judges¡¯. Even though they weren¡¯t much help judicially, if they could remind the people living in this era of a little ¡®humanity¡¯, wouldn¡¯t that have its own meaning? ¡°Judge.¡± [Yes.] ¡°There¡¯s a certain infinite regressor who, instead of cooperating with his partner, decides to keep flirting with his wife alone, abandoning his colleague and neglecting his duties. Thanks to him, his abandoned colleague is left all alone trying to save the world with all his might. What kind of judgment would be suitable for such a despicable regressor?¡± [Judgment. Not guilty.] ¡°¡¡± Humanity is nonsense. Indeed, AI didn¡¯t understand human hearts. ¨C The Judge. The End. [Trantor ¨C Jjsecus] [Proofreader ¨C Gun] Chapter 54 â€“ Ruler I Chapter 54 ¨C Ruler I [Trantor ¨C Jjsecus] [Proofreader ¨C Gun] Chapter 54 ¨C Ruler I 1 Today, let¡¯s talk about the guild leader, Tang Seorin, from the Three Thousand Worlds. But before that, let¡¯s take a moment to dive into Three Thousand Worlds¡ Perhaps, living as a regressor allows you to see certain changes more clearly, like noticing details more than others. For example, there¡¯s the ¡®change innguage¡¯. If you¡¯ve been following my stories, you¡¯re probably already familiar with the changes innguage. One notable example is the term ¡®monsters¡¯. Initially referred to in English, these creatures, or sometimes even things that aren¡¯t considered living beings, started being called ¡®anomaly¡¯, precisely because they were ¡®weird¡¯. And you all know how ¡®gate¡¯ changed to ¡®void¡¯. Up until now, I¡¯ve avoided mentioning it to prevent confusion, but the term ¡®awakened¡¯ has also undergone quite a transformation. Many people used to refer to them as ¡®hunters¡¯, then ¡®transcendents¡¯. Later on, the term ¡®ascendants¡¯ became moremon. As time passed, there was a growing emphasis on what¡¯s known as ¡®awakened superiority¡¯, a bizarre ideology. Those who wanted to draw a line between such pseudo-scientific ideas and reality tended to prefer the more neutral term ¡®awakened¡¯. Why. ¡°Teacher Jang¡¡± Noh Doha would call me that. It was more an expression of ¡®I don¡¯t see you as a transcendent or ascendant¡¯ than a respectful title like ¡®teacher¡¯. It was a secret I heard directly from someone in one of the runs. Truly a Noh Doha-like sense of cheekiness. Anyway. Asnguage undergoes changes, there are still words that remain steadfast, unchanged despite the passage of time. One such word is ¡®guild¡¯. 2 I don¡¯t know who first started calling a ¡®group of awakened individuals¡¯ a guild. It¡¯s as if, in the subconscious collective of Koreans, the deration ¡°From now on, let¡¯s call it a guild¡± naturally stuck. Most awakened individuals joined guilds as if it were the obvious choice. Didn¡¯t even that lunatic Geomho create a guild called the ¡®Justice League¡¯? (Although for a brief period in run 108, the guild membership briefly increased to two.) Now, some might have a brief moment of doubt here. What exactly does a guild do as a group? Well, you might think like in RPGs, adventurers can go to the guild to receive quests? Depending on how well theyplete quests, they can evolve through tiers like B, A, S, or even tiers like bronze, silver, gold? Unfortunately, that didn¡¯t happen. It¡¯s just a crazy habit of East Asians, who have been indoctrinated into bureaucracy since ancient times, to even categorize social ranks in the private sector. I can easily answer the question of what a guild is. It¡¯s just a gang. ¡°Guildmaster.¡± ¡°Yes?¡± For example, in run 6, during the time I was deeply involved in Tang Seorin¡¯s right-hand role in the Three Thousand Worlds, there was an incident like this. ¡°Last night, the members of the Cheonghae Guild went around all the bars in Namgu and caused trouble.¡± ¡°What?¡± Tang Seorin, who had been nkly staring, snapped to attention. ¡°These kids dared toe up to the maind while they were supposed to be on the ind, eating seaweed or something. Do we have evidence?¡± ¡°Everything¡¯s set up for the journey back. I told Director Yu to keep the mini-map on. Feel free to give the order to execute the operation at any time.¡± ¡°This is why I like the Vice Guild Leader.¡± ¡°Would you like to go directly?¡± ¡°Yeah, of course. Let¡¯s finish this.¡± Remember when I mentioned that it seems like I¡¯ve only talked about good stories about Tang Seorin? If anyone from the Tang Seorin fan club is reading my story, I apologize. In reality, conversations like the one above were quitemon in the Three Thousand Worlds guild office (train car). The ¡°Greatest Star Awakened Witch Idol Tang Seorin¡± from the Korean Penins, whom you¡¯re familiar with, was just a creation that underwent significant historical distortion yearster. I know this well from working as her manager-like profession for decades. *Ding dong!* As the bell rang, guild members poured out of the train. Surprisingly, all over two hundred guild members were wearing tall hats. And that¡¯s not all¡ªeach of them was carrying a broomstick. It was a perfect example of our guild being utterly insane in this crazy world. Tang Seorin ascended to the stage of history, like a principal standing on a podium. Everyone looked fondly at the sight of them all wearing tall hats. ¡°Hello, everyone.¡± ¡°Yes, Grand Witch!¡± ¡°The brats from the Blue Sea Guild were partying at the tavern we¡¯re protectingst night. They have a lot of money. They even went up to the 16th round of drinks. It seems like living in the Blue Sea is good these days. But they didn¡¯t say anything to us, their neighbors. It¡¯s frustrating, isn¡¯t it?¡± ¡°We should kill them!¡± Someone shouted. It was Yoo Jiwon, my subordinate and the biggest windbag on the Korean Penins. Tang Seorin blinked as if taken aback by the unexpected suggestion. ¡°Hmm¡ I hadn¡¯t thought about that aspect, but now that I hear your thoughts, I suddenly have an epiphany. Yes, that¡¯s a really good suggestion. Let¡¯s kill them.¡± ¡°Hooray!¡± d in ck hats and capes, the Three Thousand Worlds guild members marched through the city. Aren¡¯t they ashamed to act like this as adults? Well, some of them aren¡¯t even adults, but even if we make exceptions for them, it¡¯s still embarrassing. But if you say that in front of Tang Seorin, you¡¯re dead. The opposing guild members, who unexpectedly found themselves under attack, were horrified. ¡°Damn it! It¡¯s the Witch Guild!¡± ¡°Three Thousand Worlds!¡± ¡°The Witch Guild is attacking! The crazy witches are here!¡± ¡°Three Thousand Worlds, you say? Bring it on!¡± No one paid attention to Tang Seorin¡¯s words. In fact, hardly anyone remembered the guild name Three Thousand Worlds. They just knew them as the Busan Witch Guild. And the specialty of the Witch Guild was hunting witches. As times changed and civilization advanced from the medieval era to the present, the trend shifted from witches being hunted to witches hunting. ¡°P-please spare us¡¡± After three hours ofbat, the Blue Sea Guild, based in Busan Yeongdo, was annihted. Thump! [Trantor ¨C Jjsecus] [Proofreader ¨C Gun] Tang Seorin, with a grim expression, tapped the head of the opposing guild leader with the end of her broomstick. ¡°Hey.¡± The stiff bristles of the broomstick poked the Blue Sea Guild leader¡¯s eyes. ¡°Ah¡ aah¡¡± ¡°Why did you raid the wallets of the ordinary folks who are just trying to make a living before even a day had passed? We didn¡¯t want to fight you. But the merchants asked us for help, huh? We can¡¯t just ignore the pleas of the neighborhood people. Why make people ufortable?¡± ¡°I-I¡¯m sorry¡ I¡¯m sorry¡ Please spare us¡¡± ¡°Let¡¯s y a witch game. If you sink after being thrown into the water, you¡¯re innocent. If you float to the surface, you¡¯re guilty. Got it?¡± ¡°You son of a b*tch! You crazy lunatic! Are you even human after doing that!¡± ¡°Hey, what¡¯s up? We¡¯ve got a new acquisition,¡± I eximed. ¡°Acquisition?¡± ¡°Hmm?¡± Again, as I mentioned before, modern times are more advanced than medieval times. Instead of the past where they tied rocks or iron blocks to ankles, we introduced thetest invention, ¡®concrete climbing shoes.¡¯ Undersea mountains, or rather, there were many mountains under the sea when you think about it. Concrete shoes were inventions that allowed humanity to conquer underwater mountains. Shortly after, bubbles bubbled up in the sea off Busan. I nodded my head. ¡°He¡¯s not floating up. Guildmaster.¡± ¡°He¡¯s innocent.¡± Tang Seorin lifted the tall hat and pressed it firmly against her chest. Then, she lowered her head with a sad expression, eyebrows furrowed. ¡°This too is a tragedy of war. Let us all mourn.¡± ¡°All bow.¡± Following Tang Seorin¡¯s lead, all two hundred guild members bowed. Our guild didn¡¯t just deal with water magic. We also had fire magic that brought the scent of burning wood, time magic that made every second of a futile day feel real, healing magic that gave a hot stone path massage effect by heating it up¡ and so on. As a guild led by Tang Seorin, who was proficient in all types of magic, the Three Thousand Worlds never discriminated between white and ck magic and loved all four elements equally. In the crazy world, the Three Thousand Worlds Guild was even crazier, especially with Tang Seorin leading the charge. It was good evidence that she was crazy. Well then. Even from this short story, I believe you can understand why I asserted that the guild was a ¡®gang.¡¯ Although I purposely brought up slightly provocative runs, the guild¡¯s main source of ie was protection fees. We carefully collected taxes from people doing business in the city, working people, and evacuees. It couldn¡¯t be helped. The miraculous fantasy of monsters dropping gold coins after being subjugated didn¡¯t exist in reality. There was no dreamy superconductor energy source ¡®Mana stone¡¯ that could rece oil. The only useful items dropped by monsters were probably just meat? But setting up a butcher shop in the guild was somewhat inadequate. People didn¡¯t prefer monster meat, and sometimes it contained things like radiation, etc. In the end, the guild had no choice but to milk ¡®protection fees¡¯ from people. In fact, all guilds nationwide, no, all guilds worldwide were the same. The real difference came next. That is, how the concept of ¡®protection¡¯ was interpreted. ¡°The essence of the world is the struggle of man against man, and man is the most terrifying beast. Protecting humans, for humans, by humans, is the most necessary measure for humanity at present.¡± Those who adopted such an answer sank deeply into their sofas. It was also the ruling ideology chosen by the overwhelming majority of macho men. ¡°Aren¡¯t monsters scarier than humans?¡± About 4% of the extremely small number of cowards had different thoughts. ¡°Even though they¡¯re humans, we should start with the monsters.¡± ¡°What¡¯s the point of catching them when nothing goodes out of it?¡± ¡°Why not? Busan is falling.¡± Tang Seorin designated the 1st of each month as the deadline for protection fees. And whenever the end of the month approached, she led the guild members to the void outside Busan to subjugate it before returning. It wasn¡¯t just hunting. Tang Seorin made sure to capture the dying moments of monsters on camera, and at least one was captured alive and brought back to Busan. And in front of the citizens of Busan, the Grand Witch proved that her magic was not limited to humans. -Gwweeeeaaak! Having tasted fire magic, water magic, time magic, and healing magic in sequence, the monster, with its limbs tightly bound, offered its thanks. ¡°Make them suffer more! More! More!¡± ¡°That¡¯s our Three Thousand Worlds Guild Master. She really knows how to have fun.¡± This magic show became so popr that it turned into a source of pride for the citizens of Busan and a famous attraction for the city. Surprisingly, when we collected protection fees the day after or even two days after an execution, the payment rates significantly increased. The general sentiment among the citizens seemed to be, ¡®They gave us an entertaining show, so we should pay the entry fee.¡¯ Even when the National Tax Service of South Korea was fully operational, they didn¡¯t see such high rates of honest taxpayers. ¡°Guild Master¡ are you a genius?¡± ¡°Yes. You can keepplimenting me.¡± ¡°If it weren¡¯t for the pointy hats, you¡¯d be in the history books.¡± ¡°Do you want to die?¡± Just as Tang Seorin predicted, it wasn¡¯t long before Busan naturally fell into the embrace of the Three Thousand Worlds. As the situation evolved, some humanists had to reconsider their political philosophies. ¡°Now that I think about it, monsters are scarier than humans.¡± ¡°Exactly. At least you can talk to humans. You can¡¯t negotiate with monsters.¡± ¡°I can¡¯t believe it took me so long to realize this obvious truth! I feel ashamed of myself!¡± True to the early adopter spirit of the Korean people, the guild leaders across the penins didn¡¯t hesitate to follow Tang Seorin¡¯s example. Whether out of local patriotism or a lust for power, guild leaders switched their primary role to hunters. Those who failed in their new vocation naturally faded away and weren¡¯t even worth mentioning. However, none could match Tang Seorin¡¯s ¡®magic show.¡¯ Who else would dare to disy magic that involved severing a monster¡¯s limbs (which were actually more than just four) and then reattaching them in mid-air? ¡°Why are our local executions so boring?¡± ¡°Down in Busan, they have fire magic, water magic, and more.¡± ¡°Ha, there¡¯s nothing like the original.¡± In a world where the inte and movie theaters had copsed, monster executions were an irresistible spectacle. More and more people started moving to Busan. Tang Seorin¡¯s protection fees for Busan citizens were extremely reasonable, which also fueled the migration trend. It was around this time that our Grand Witch, Lady Tang Seorin, began to entertain some strange ideas. Of course, she was always a bit entric, but now her thoughts were bing ¡®a bit more unusual.¡¯ [Trantor ¨C Jjsecus] [Proofreader ¨C Gun] Chapter 55 â€“ Ruler II Chapter 55 ¨C Ruler II [Trantor ¨C Jjsecus] [Proofreader ¨C Gun] Chapter 55 ¨C Ruler II 3 As mentioned in the previous episode, all guild masters across the country readily epted AI judges, except Tang Seorin. ¡°Oh, really¡ª.¡± Now, I want to talk about the reason for that. Because, in a sense, I couldn¡¯t escape responsibility for this issue either. So, you could say this is a record of collusion between Tang Seorin and me. ¡°Failed again. Again.¡± The starting point was the 6th turn. With her hat off (a very rare sight), Tang Seorin gripped her head with one hand. Like a novelist stuck on a plot or a lyricist dissatisfied with their song. In fact, this description wasn¡¯t metaphorical; it was close to the truth. Tang Seorin was crafting magic, meticulously carving a goose feather into a quill. ¡°This one¡¯s taking a while. What kind of magic are you trying to create?¡± ¡°Equivalent exchange.¡± Tang Seorin pursed her lips. ¡°I¡¯m working on a spell that swaps two different objects or phenomena one-to-one.¡± ¡°¡I can¡¯t quite grasp where you¡¯d use that kind of magic.¡± ¡°Huh? You can¡¯t judge magic based on practicality. First, you have to pursue romance and create something cool.¡± ¡°A very Guild Master-like statement.¡± As mentioned before, Tang Seorin¡¯s ability was song magic. In other words, she had to sing to cast spells, and of course, her songs had lyrics. In essence¡ for Tang Seorin, developing magic was no different from crafting song lyrics. I don¡¯t know much about magic abilities since I never acquired them, but ording to Tang Seorin, when the right lyrics werepleted, there was a feeling of gears clicking into ce in her mind, and then the magic would activate or something. So, in reality, Tang Seorin¡¯s trademark ¡®Regeneration Magic¡¯ was crafted with lyrics like these when you heard them in an actual song: Roll, roll The depths of the abyss, the apex of ether Spin and whirl everything around The apex of ether, the depths of the abyss Oh, wheel of fire breathing eternally By the way, all the lyrics were in Latin. Do you think Tang Seorin knew Latin? No, there was a guild member who majored in Latin, so they were used as a trantion shuttle. That guild member was promoted to an officer simply because they knew Latin. Now, I know it¡¯s not surprising, but I hope you realize just how serious Tang Seorin is about her witch cosy. I mean, this person¡¯s life is all about being a fan? ¡°Latin is the superior poetguage, especially for choirs, they must sing in Latin no matter what,¡± thanks to Tang Seorin¡¯s crappy philosophy, whenever arge-scale song magic like a Tenfold Subjugation Battle was activated, we could listen to a grand Latin choir that covered the sky. Honestly, it was cool. Of course, it was cool enough to be the top idol in the Korean Penins. Anyway. ¡°What part are you stuck on?¡± ¡°Umm¡ I feel like Ick intuition a bit? For example, a vice-guild master. What if someone offers you six cartons of milk in exchange for a factory-made bag of potato chips?¡± ¡°That sounds like a fair deal.¡± ¡°See? That¡¯s exactly what I consider ¡®equivalent exchange.¡¯ The problem is, it gets a bit fuzzy when you exclude things to eat or drink.¡± Tang Seorin chewed on the tip of her feather. ¡°For example¡ let¡¯s say someone offered to rid this world of monsters for you. But in return, they ask you to spend 1000 years in prison.¡± ¡°Hmm.¡± ¡°By the way, it¡¯s solitary confinement. You get meals, but you can¡¯t talk to the guards. You can read books or watch dramas, but you can¡¯tmunicate with anyone else.¡± If I heard the same proposal now, I would have probably epted it as a total bargain. But back then, I was just a regressor for the 6th time. I hadn¡¯t lived for a hundred years, and even that short span of time felt incredibly burdensome. ¡°So, are you in?¡± ¡°¡I¡¯m not sure. I don¡¯t know.¡± ¡°Right. ¡®I don¡¯t know¡¯ is an honest answer.¡± Lady Witch gave a satisfied smile. ¡°Because, we don¡¯t have an urate intuition about 1000 years, do we? In simpler terms, even if someone tells you to live for 1000 years, you can¡¯t grasp how long that actually is. Whether it¡¯s 1000, 900, or 1100 years, it all feels equally vague.¡± ¡°Hmm.¡± Tang Seorin was right. In fact, in our rtionship, Tang Seorin was almost always on the right side. Now, I would ept the proposal because I finally had a precise intuition about what 1000 years meant. ¡°Not only 1000 years, but my life experiences themselves are too limited.¡± ¡°Hmm.¡± ¡°¡Right. I understand what you¡¯re trying to say. My point is, even if I¡¯ve had various experiencespared to others, I still haven¡¯t developed enough to cast grand spells like ¡®equivalent exchange.¡¯ Got it?¡± ¡°Who could umte such experiences? Life is finite, and lifespan is limited.¡± ¡°¡True.¡± Tang Seorin stood up from the wooden chair and suddenly began to sing. It was a song I¡¯d never heard before. In fact, Tang Seorin often habitually hummed songs, and I, as an unofficial duty of a vice-guild master, had to critique them as a music critic each time. I pped. After finishing her solo concert, Tang Seorin gracefully picked up her hat and nodded. ¡°Was that the ¡®equivalent exchange¡¯ magic?¡± ¡°Yeah. The spell didn¡¯t activate though. How was it?¡± ¡°It was great.¡± ¡°Good.¡± Tang Seorin grinned. And that was the end of it. asionally, Tang Seorin agonized over how to create the ¡®equivalent exchange¡¯ magic, or in other words, what lyrics to write to trigger the spell. But Tang Seorin neverpleted the creation of the ¡®equivalent exchange¡¯ magic. Before that, she died at the hands of the Ten ns. Even in the 6th, 7th, 8th, and 9th runs, it was the same. At any turn, Tang Seorin was fixated on the ¡®equivalent exchange¡¯ magic and neverpleted her bucket list. In terms ofpletion, it was barely 10%. We were not allowed the long time it would take to create the ¡®equivalent exchange¡¯ magic. [Trantor ¨C Jjsecus] [Proofreader ¨C Gun] I couldn¡¯t tell exactly how Tang Seorin died. I couldn¡¯t protect her, but my only pride was that I always died a little earlier than our little witch. And thus, the long-awaited 10th run. ¡°I can¡¯t walk the same path as you, but at least I¡¯ll follow your footsteps with my lifespan.¡± ¡°Though we can¡¯t live together, we¡¯ll bepanions in death, won¡¯t we?¡± ¡°Take care from now on. My fellow traveler in time,¡± Tang Seorin left this parting message before she died. I couldn¡¯t prevent her death, but at least I could arrange her funeral. I attended as the only mourner, as neither I nor Tang Seorin had any family. I don¡¯t want to describe Tang Seorin¡¯s funeral in detail right now. No, I can¡¯t even guarantee that I¡¯ll ever want to do so. The only certain fact is that Tang Seorin¡¯sughter-filled parting words left a deep mark on my heart. After the 10th run, came the 11th. ¡°Oh, really¡ I failed again. Again.¡± ¡°This one¡¯s taking a bit longer. What kind of magic are you trying to create?¡± ¡°Equivalent exchange.¡± I no longer used honorifics with Tang Seorin, and she started calling me ¡®Doctor¡¯ instead of ¡®Vice-Guild Master,¡¯ but our rtionship remained unchanged. ¡°Nice name. Is it a spell that exchanges two objects or phenomena?¡± ¡°Oh? Uh, yeah. That¡¯s right.¡± Tang Seorin blinked. ¡°How did you guess? Surprisingly, you understood, Doctor.¡± I struggled to swallow the words, ¡°Because I¡¯m a regressor and I used to serve you as my leader,¡± which I was asked to keep secret until the end. I received that request. Thinking back now¡ªTang Seorin had a chilling aspect. To herself. To me. Humanity was sometimes about how much cruelty we allowed each other. ¡°What part are you stuck on? It seems like your intention to exchange everything isn¡¯t too ambitious.¡± ¡°Oh? Yeah, that¡¯s a reasonable point. But it¡¯s more fundamentally aboutcking intuition about everything. Hmm.¡± Tang Seorin closed one eye. ¡°Could you listen? Sometimes hearing others¡¯ opinions can help generate ideas.¡± You, who believed that magic should always remain secret, and when asked if you wouldn¡¯t cast any magic on me, you justughed and said, ¡°Huh? Is that how it works?¡± I remembered all of that. As someone who remembered all that, I couldn¡¯t refuse Tang Seorin¡¯s request. ¡°You want me to hear an unfinished piece from the Three Thousand Worlds¡¯ leader? Quite an honor.¡± ¡°Well, well. Let¡¯s consider it an honor.¡± I listened. ¡°How was it?¡± ¡°I enjoyed it. It was impressive.¡± ¡°Of course. What I want from you is feedback, feedback. This lyric in Latin means¡ Is there anything to fix?¡± ¡°Hmm. Then, how about changing ¡®object¡¯ in this lyric to ¡®starlight¡¯ or ¡®moonlight¡¯?¡± ¡°Oh?¡± ¡°This part is about representing the immeasurable things in the world. So, rather than using a dry word like ¡®object,¡¯ it¡¯s better to vividly show the meaning of being difficult to grasp by human hands.¡± ¡°Ah, so starlight, huh. Hmm? Wait a minute. Then¡?¡± Tang Seorin¡¯s inspiration struck, and she scribbled with her feather pen in her notebook. Of course, Icked talent as a creator, insight as a critic, and qualifications as a magician. I just recited the lyrics of an unfinished song that Tang Seorin had tried to create in previous turns. ¡°All right! Yes! There¡¯s still a long way to go to finish it, but I definitely feel like some progress has been made!¡± ¡°I¡¯m d I could help.¡± ¡°Yeah, thanks, Doctor. Hey, by any chance, do you have any witch talents? Why not join our guild after all? I¡¯ll appoint you as an officer right away. Huh?¡± ¡°Sorry, but the Three Thousand Worlds uniform doesn¡¯t quite fit the Three Thousand Realms¡¡± ¡°What? You wanna die?¡± And so, our ¡®Equivalent Exchange Magic Creation¡¯ began. Though in the 10th run had begun the suppression of the Ten ns, Tang Seorin had poured most of her lifespan onto the battlefield, leaving her always short of time to devote fully to magic creation. Nevertheless, with each turn, Tang Seorin gradually approachedpletion, adding one word, one sentence at a time. ¡°Wouldn¡¯t ¡®Judgment¡¯ be more fitting than ¡®Exchange¡¯ for the chorus here? At least for you, Tang Seorin.¡± ¡°Oh?¡± My role was to deliver this unfinished piece to the ¡®next turn¡¯s Tang Seorin.¡¯ ¡°Alchemy might carry more emotion here than ¡®transaction¡¯¡¡± ¡°Perhaps insisting onpleting the Equivalent Exchange Magic with just one inspiration is unnecessary. We can split the song into two and activate it that way.¡± ¡°First, regeneration, then a song about the immeasurable, and finally¡¡± The 11th, 12th, 13th turns. Thepleteness of the Equivalent Exchange Magic improved day by day as we progressed. Tang Seorin¡¯s expression, initially half resigned, brightened significantly as we moved forward. ¡°Wait a minute. Hold on! If we do it like you suggested¡ Could we actually make it¡?¡± Honestly, Perhaps all of this was just my little whim. Even if I couldn¡¯t reveal to Tang Seorin that I was a regressor, I wanted us to have ¡®a work created together with time and effort.¡¯ It didn¡¯t matter what that work was. Perhaps Equivalent Exchange just happened to catch my eye. There was always a part of me, as a Doctor, that was somewhat withdrawn. To myself, to you. I wanted to believe that sometimes humanity was about how far we could retreat from each other in certain situations. And I¡¯ll say it again, Tang Seorin was right. ¡°Unbelievable! It¡¯s reallyplete!¡± Finally, the 26th turn. ¡°I mean,pleting such a grand magic with just two inspirations¡ I must be a genius! And Doctor, you seem like a bit of a genius too!¡± Tang Seorin hadpleted the Equivalent Exchange. [Trantor ¨C Jjsecus] [Proofreader ¨C Gun] Chapter 56 â€“ Ruler III Chapter 56 ¨C Ruler III [Trantor ¨C Jjsecus] [Proofreader ¨C Gun] Chapter 56 ¨C Ruler III 4 So, if you were to ask Tang Seorin, the Grand Witch, who had painstakingly crafted such a long and powerful spell, what she did with it, she would say¨D¨D nothing in particr. ¡°Doctor Jang, are you resilient to pain?¡± ¡°I¡¯d say I¡¯m on the stronger side. Why do you ask?¡± ¡°Even if I were to inflict harm upon you, do you have the capacity to forgive and move on?¡± ¡°¡.¡± Things suddenly felt tense. ¡°What¡¯s your intention?¡± ¡°First, answer me this. Do you exist, or not?¡± ¡°I can¡¯t exactly say that I don¡¯t exist.¡± ¡°Good. Doctor Jang. I¡¯m going to show you something amazing.¡± Immediately after saying this, Tang Seorin took out a fountain pen and pricked my right hand with it. I screamed like Tom from Tom and Jerry, writhing in pain. Wait, is this madness? ¡°Wait! Stop! Hold on! I¡¯ll do it too!¡± ¡°What?¡± With determination, she pricked the palm of her left hand with the pen. Blood trickled from the sharp tip of the pen. Is this really happening? As I looked on in bewilderment, Tang Seorin performed an even crazier stunt. While both of us were bleeding, she suddenly began to sing. And something incredible happened. ¡°Ah-?¡± Swish. A bluish ¡®Libra¡¯ appeared in the air as if it were a hologram. And at the same time, the wound on my right hand healed instantly. Truly instantaneous. But in exchange, wouldn¡¯t a new wound appear on my left hand? The exact opposite happened to Tang Seorin. That is, the wound on her left hand transferred to her right hand. Soon after, droplets of blood appeared on either side of the Libra. And then, the Libra vanished into thin air. I was dumbfounded. ¡°What is this¡?¡± ¡°Ah, this is what you call an exchange spell.¡± Tang Seorin grinned with an otaku smile. It was quite unlucky. ¡°Your pain and my pain. We exchanged our suffering.¡± ¡°Amazing!¡± I genuinely admired it. Although our wounds had simply switched ces and were still bleeding profusely, it was undoubtedly a remarkable magic. ¡°What¡¯s the principle behind it?¡± ¡°I told you. It¡¯s an exchange spell. I conducted an exchange through magic that I deemed fair.¡± ¡°Wow. So, could I potentially transfer a bunch of wounds to an enemy after I¡¯ve incurred them?¡± If so, this could be a revolutionary turning point in dealing with foes. However, Tang Seorin shook her finger from side to side with a characteristic annoyed expression. ¡°Tsk tsk. Unfortunately, such usage is nearly impossible. For this magic to work, the consent of the other party is absolutely necessary.¡± ¡°Ah¡¡± I couldn¡¯t help but feel disappointed. So, that¡¯s why she was asking me those strange questions earlier. ¡°¡Wait, then where can you actually use this? Exchanging pain for pain or pleasure for pleasure, the total amount stays the same anyway. Could it perhaps be used to convert energy into energy?¡± ¡°Oh, that¡¯s a brilliant idea, but it¡¯s not possible. Like I said, you need the other party¡¯s consent, and you can¡¯t get consent from energy or matter. They don¡¯t have brains. Ah, and it doesn¡¯t work on nts or animals either, because they can¡¯t understand humannguage¡.¡± ¡°Then it¡¯s really a useless spell!¡± ¡°Magic is never useless!¡± Tang Seorin¡¯s trigger had been pushed. And when she was triggered, she immediately unleashed attack magic. Naturally, our fight ended in my victory. For Tang Seorin to beat me, she¡¯d need to set up her long incantations at least 30 minutes in advance. That¡¯s the inherent disadvantage of a fair warrior against a devious wizard. After that trivial dispute, how much time had passed? Of course, with my [Perfect Memory Ability], instead of saying ¡°how much,¡± I could precisely say it was exactly 398 dayster. It¡¯s just a literary expression. No one really cares if I kept track of time like someone with savant syndrome. So, exactly 398 days, 16 hours, and 38 minutester, I visited the headquarters of the Three Thousand Worlds. But Tang Seorin was not on the train. ¡°Ah, you mean the Grand Witch? She¡¯s stepped out for a trial today.¡± A guild member who recognized my face told me. His silver hair shimmered beautifully. His name was Yoo Jiwon, an asset picked in the 5th run and now serving as an executive in the Three Thousand Worlds. He was quite capable but had a significant personality w, being a psychopath. To add, he majored in Latin. ¡°A trial day? What¡¯s that? And why is the Operations Manager handling the counter? Where are your subordinates?¡± ¡°Most of the other guild members have gone out to the za. I don¡¯t have much to do there, so I¡¯m just guarding the ce.¡± ¡°Hmm. So what¡¯s this trial day about?¡± ¡°Recently, we¡¯ve designated thest day of each month as trial day here in Busan.¡± The silver-haired psychopath adjusted his sses. ¡°The Grand Witch personally judges criminals who havemitted murder or inflicted serious injuries. It¡¯s very popr with the citizens.¡± Oh, by the way, ¡®Grand Witch¡¯ was Tang Seorin¡¯s official title. Especially for guild members of the Three Thousand Worlds, this title was mandatory. It¡¯s simr to how everyone must call the Sword Saint ¡®Sword Saint.¡¯ Only I, during my time as the Vice Guild Master around the 5th run, was allowed to call her ¡®Guild Master.¡¯ Because that was the condition I set when I joined her. ¡°She¡¯s probably on thest trial by now. It should take about an hour¡ Would you like to wait in the reception room? I¡¯ll get you a train ticket.¡± ¡°No, that¡¯s fine. Being with you guys would just waste expensive snacks. Where is the trial being held?¡± ¡°In the za just ahead.¡± I walked to the ce I was directed. Finding the way was not difficult. It was the same za where Tang Seorin held her infamous ¡®Monster Dissection Shows,¡¯ known as the Execution za. [Trantor ¨C Jjsecus] [Proofreader ¨C Gun] Despite the apocalypse, the well-maintained za was already hosting a trial. The trial was grand. At a nce, nearly six hundred citizens were sitting around, watching the proceedings. ¡°Kill him! Kill him! Kill him!¡± ¡°Silence! Please be quiet!¡± A guild member¡¯s voice rang out loudly. It was probably enhanced by ¡®Amplify¡¯ magic. Since no singing was heard, ¡®Silence¡¯ magic must have been applied as well. ¡®Considering there¡¯s at least threeyers of incantations, including basic repeating magic, Tang Seorin has put quite a lot of effort into this.¡¯ I turned my gaze. In the center of the za, a man who appeared to be the defendant was standing with his head bowed. And Tang Seorin, acting as the judge, was lounging with her chin on the table. ¡®This is a sight I¡¯ve never seen before.¡¯ In my many lives, this was the first time Tang Seorin had held a public trial in front of citizens. Curious, I watched the trial from a distance. As the za quieted down, a guild member raised his voice. ¡°Please remain silent! I will exin again! The used is a witch who has been with the Three Thousand Worlds for six months and was assigned to thebat unit. However, during an expeditionst week, she fled the battle against the monsters instead of fighting alongside herrades, causing the front line to copse. Although there were no fatalities, two were injured, and it nearly put the entirebat unit at great risk.¡± ¡°Booooo!¡± ¡°Coward!¡± A few citizens threw stones, but they bounced off, likely due to a protective barrier around the trial area. ¡°Silence! Now, Grand Witch, Tang Seorin will pass judgment!¡± The area fellpletely silent. The hundreds of citizens who had been jeering and partying just moments ago were now silent. If the measure of an artist is how many people they can stir, then the measure of a ruler is how many they can silence. This scene showed the status Tang Seorin held as the guild master in Busan. ¡°This individual is a deserter.¡± Tang Seorin¡¯s voice rang out through amplification magic, her beautiful voice making the hair on my neck stand up. Soft and seemingly slow, but the words flowed quickly, hammeringplex terms and sentences into the listener¡¯s ears with precision. It was more like breathing than speaking, a voice that filled the za. The guild members of the Three Thousand Worlds looked at Tang Seorin with a certain dazed reverence. It was a bit cringeworthy, but as someone who had once been her right hand, I could understand. Her voice was indeed somewhat magical. ¡°Deserters are typically dealt with by immediate execution. But in this case, there were no fatalities, and the deserter turned herself in the very next day.¡± ¡°¡¡.¡± ¡°Deserter, your actions nearly cost yourrades their lives. Do you regret your actions?¡± ¡°Yes, yes. I¡¯m sorry¡.¡± ¡°Can you promise me you will never make such a mistake again?¡± ¡°Of course, Grand Witch. Absolutely¡.¡± At that moment, a blue ¡®Libra¡¯ appeared above Tang Seorin¡¯s head. It wasn¡¯t a garish neon blue but a soft, twilight blue, like the glow of distant stars outlining the scales. ¡°Then, you can be forgiven. I, the witches of the Three Thousand Worlds, and therades whose ranks you brokest week will never hold [your desertionst week against you].¡± Swoosh. ck smoke, thin as thread and slithering like a snake, came from Tang Seorin and the guild members¡¯ chests and from the direction of the Three Thousand Worlds headquarters. These ck threads gathered on the left side of the scales. The bnce tilted sharply. ¡°In return.¡± Tang Seorin waved her finger. ¡°You will [never retreat first in any battle, and if you must retreat, it will only be after all yourrades have safely withdrawn].¡± ¡°Ah¡.¡± ¡°Not just yourrades. This includes civilians on the battlefield. You will never retreat until their safety is secured. In other words, [you will always be thest to withdraw].¡± ¡°¡¡.¡± ¡°Do you agree?¡± The defendant¡¯s face was pale. Fighting monsters was never safe. Statistically, jumping off a cliff with a wingsuit had a higher survival rate. But for some reason, alongside the paleness, there was a hint of relief on the defendant¡¯s face, as if they were finally at ease. ¡°¡Yes. Grand Witch. I agree.¡± ¡°Good.¡± Swish¡ª A white, snake-like thread emerged from the defendant¡¯s body. It looked like a breath in the winter air, exhaled not just from the mouth but the entire body. The defendant gazed nkly at the white serpent leaving their body. The serpent coiled up to the right side of the scales in the sky. With a clink, the scales bnced perfectly. ¡°Bnce has been restored.¡± ¡°Thank you¡ Thank you¡.¡± ¡°Yes. From now on, fight at the forefront for yourrades, and above all, for the citizens.¡± A few spectators let out a cheer. In response, hundreds of citizens burst into apuse. ¡°¡¡.¡± The scene shocked me. The great magic of equivalent exchange, which I had thought useless, was now functioning as the judicial system in Busan. This was why, even in distant future iterations, Busan uniquely resisted AI judges. It was Tang Seorin¡¯s ¡®Witch Trials.¡¯ [PR/N: A new spin off witch trials, I like these ones tbh.] [Trantor ¨C Jjsecus] [Proofreader ¨C Gun] Chapter 57 â€“ Ruler IV Chapter 57 ¨C Ruler IV [Trantor ¨C Jjsecus] [Proofreader ¨C Gun] Chapter 57 ¨C Ruler IV 5 After the trial ended, we went out to have a meal of sundae. I didn¡¯t feel like returning to the guild building, plus my rtionship with Tang Seorin had shifted from ¡°Guild Master and Vice Guild Master¡± to ¡°foodie friends.¡± I couldn¡¯t hold back my questions even before the assorted sundae tter arrived. ¡°Tang Seorin. What was that earlier?¡± ¡°Hm? What do you mean?¡± Tang Seorin tilted her head with a clueless expression. I frowned and passed her a dish of dipping sauce. ¡°Here. The trial, I mean. Since when did you start using equivalent exchange for judgments? Thest time I was here, there was nothing like that.¡± ¡°Well, you wouldn¡¯t know since you rarely show your face in Busan. We¡¯ve been doing this for almost half a year now. Here.¡± Tang Seorin mixed salt, chilli powder, and pepper in perfect proportions and handed it to me. ¡°The citizens really like it. It¡¯s now one of Busan¡¯s top three attractions, along with the monster dissection shows.¡± ¡°What the heck¡? Tell me more. Boss, could we get some makgeolli over here?¡± ¡°Sure thing!¡± I took the makgeolli kettle and immediately mixed half a cup of cold water with floating ice. This was Tang Seorin¡¯s favorite ratio. Such is the privilege of being a friend who has looked after her for centuries. ¡°There¡¯s not much to exin. An eye for an eye. A tooth for a tooth. It¡¯s just the Code of Hammurabi applied directly.¡± ¡°Hm.¡± ¡°When the country was functioning normally, we could lock people up for every offense. But now, there are no prisons. And just cutting off fingers or heads wastes manpower. So I¡¯m merely providing ¡®revenge everyone can ept¡¯.¡± ¡°¡Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.¡± ¡°Huh?¡± ¡°It¡¯s from Romans 12. Jeez. Leave you alone for a second and you¡¯re pulling crazy stunts.¡± ¡°What? Are you picking a fight?¡± ¡°My mind is what¡¯s blown here. This is ridiculous.¡± The assorted sundae, sundae soup, makgeolli, and well-fermented kimchi disappeared beyond our chopsticks and lips. It was a taste you could only savor in Busan these days. ¡°I actually think it¡¯s strange how the old society tried to handle everything with imprisonment.¡± Tang Seorin raised her chopsticks. ¡°Think about it. How can theft and murder get the same punishment? The feeling when someone steals your stuff is different from when you get stabbed. There¡¯s a qualitative difference.¡± ¡°Hm.¡± ¡°Theft also varies. Losing today¡¯s meal feels different from losing a secret radio or a kidney.¡± ¡°Is thatst one still theft?¡± ¡°Of course. Anyway, punishment should be decided based on the severity and context, as well as the personalities of the offender and the victim. For instance, Jesus might offer the other cheek, but you, Doctor Jang, would probably take a tooth along with the p to consider it a fair trade. Right?¡± ¡°I get your point.¡± ¡°And surprisingly¡ this greatest of all witches, the unprecedented and unparalleled Tang Seorin, can provide a fair trade for everyone.¡± Just then, a little kid shyly approached and said, ¡°Grand Witch!¡± while holding out a party hat. Tang Seorin smiled brightly and signed the brim of the hat. As soon as the fan service ended, Tang Seorin¡¯s expression drooped like a sponge soaked in hot water. It was always the same wherever our idol from Busan went. ¡°Aww, so cute.¡± ¡°But that fairness is just ¡®what you think is fair.¡¯ People always run the risk of making wrong judgments.¡± ¡°That¡¯s why ¡®equivalent exchange¡¯ doesn¡¯t activate without others¡¯ consent. If they think my proposed trade isn¡¯t fair, they simply don¡¯t agree from the start.¡± ¡°Who would dare refuse a ruling from Busan¡¯s ruler?¡± ¡°Hey, in a world like this, they should be grateful I even hold trials. If I don¡¯t pass judgment, they¡¯ll all just end up dead from a witch hunt. It¡¯s better than dying, right?¡± ¡°Hmm.¡± ¡°If you¡¯re so worried, why don¡¯t youe watch the trial next month?¡± Tang Seorin grumbled. ¡°Anyway, what have you been up to these days? It¡¯s been hard to see you around.¡± ¡°¡¡¡± ¡To be honest, I was a bit lost at this time. Sharp readers might have already noticed, but the 26th regression was when Old Scho officially dered his ¡®vacation.¡¯ Naturally, when a teammate I believed would fight through this shitty game of world destruction with me for life officially retired, my mental state was like Barcelona right after Lionel Messi transferred. I had quite a few embarrassing moments as a regressor during this time¡ but let¡¯s skip the dark history. ¡°Alright. I¡¯lle again in a month.¡± ¡°Sure. Bring some Melona.¡± Exactly one monthter, I showed up at Busan¡¯s ¡®Execution Square¡¯ with homemade ice cream made from blended melons. ¡°Here. I brought it.¡± ¡°Oh, thanks¡ Wow! It looks just like real Melona!¡± Tang Seorin was impressed by my versatility. By the way, I could recreate almost 92% of the taste of cup noodles, instant noodles, and snacks from the days when civilization was intact. You can trust me; I got the recipes by raiding the headquarters of snackpanies. What? Why? What do you think a regressor does with all that time? This was the most productive hobby I could find. ¡°I reserved a good spot over there.¡± Unlikest time, I got to watch the entire trial from a prime spot. While I was savoring my Melona¡ªand Tang Seorin, sitting at the judge¡¯s bench, was also casually eating her Melona¡ªI observed that, surprisingly, Busan¡¯s witch trials were quite rational. ¡°You severed someone¡¯s leg, so the guilty party will serve the victim for life. [For all tasks that the victim¡¯s two legs would have done, they can nowmand you]. You are not allowed to leave the victim¡¯s side without their permission. Do you agree?¡± ¡°The only newspaper left in Busan wrongly used an innocent citizen, who thenmitted suicide. Although there are no surviving family members to avenge them, the newspaper¡¯s tarnished reputation must be restored. From now on, all the wrongdoings of the guilty party must be documented in the newspaper. [All your past mistakes and any future ones must be reported without a single omission]. This way, all the citizens of Busan will know what kind of person you are. Do you agree?¡± ¡°A person didn¡¯t pay the promised wages despite the work done. Labor is an investment of time. [For the exact amount of time the victim worked, the guilty party must follow the victim¡¯s orders]. Of course, orders like mit suicide¡¯ or other highly unreasonable demands are not allowed. The guilty party will eat the same meals, sleep in the same bed, wake up at the same time, and rest at the same times as the victim. Do you agree?¡± These judgments would be unimaginable in the modern world where civilization was intact. [Trantor ¨C Jjsecus] [Proofreader ¨C Gun] No, they could never be realized without Tang Seorin¡¯s magic in the first ce. Tang Seorin¡¯s rulings were harsh and cruel¡ªand yet, strangely, they had a persuasive power that made the hundreds of people gathered in the vast square feel ¡®satisfied.¡¯ Every time a judgment was made, a blue scale glittered in the air. The trial that left the biggest impression on me was the one dealing with a murderer. The judgment for murder. ¡°¡¡.¡± Tang Seorin chewed on the stick of her now-finished ice cream. On one side stood the defendant, charged with murder; on the other side were the victim¡¯s family members. Tang Seorin¡¯s dark blue eyes swept over them. ¡°Defendant, do you repent for your murder?¡± ¡°¡Yes.¡± ¡°Are you truly sorry to the victim¡¯s family?¡± ¡°Yes¡ I am sorry¡¡± ¡°Then, [whatever the family decides to do to you, you must ept it without resistance]. You cannotin to anyone or express your grievances. You must simply ept it.¡± ¡°¡¡.¡± ¡°Well? Do you agree?¡± ¡°¡¡.¡± A long silence followed. Compared to the length of that silence, the moment the defendant nodded was extremely, almost absurdly, brief. ¡°Yes. I agree. Please¡ please do so, Great Witch.¡± The scale lit up. ¡°You bastard!¡± At that moment, one of the family members leaped over the barrier and rushed at the defendant. Thwack! I clearly heard the sound of a fist breaking bone. ¡°How could you! Our child! You promised to marry them, how could you! You bastard! You filthy, wretched dog!¡± Normally, someone would have intervened, and in a time when civilization hadn¡¯t copsed, at least the courthouse security would have stepped in. But in the execution square, no one, not a single person, stopped the family. Other family members joined in, kicking the defendant who had fallen to the ground. With most high-rise buildings copsed, the view in Busan was clear. The one thing unchanged from past to present was the red sunset reflecting off the sea and back onto the city. In the execution square bathed in the crimson sunset, drops of the defendant¡¯s blood sttered to the ground. It wasn¡¯t long before the breathing stopped. ¡°¡¡.¡± And in that moment¡ªI was struck by an intense realization that this entire scene might just be a projection of Tang Seorin¡¯s inner world. While all the spectators focused on the family¡¯s punishment, I alone turned to look at Tang Seorin. She was looking back at me. Between us, the sunset zed a deep red. 6 Afterword. I do not consider myself to have the right to judge the world. Thus, I did not interfere with Tang Seorin¡¯s ¡®witch trials.¡¯ She had her own sense of rationality and fairness. And to be fair, her rationality and fairness were the best possible in the apocalypse. Other cities? They were subject to personal vengeance by guild leaders seeking their own gains. It was well known that the introduction of AI judges was a long way off. Not just in the 26th regression, but in every run where I taught Tang Seorin theplete version of the ¡®equivalent exchange¡¯ magic, she held witch trials without fail. ¡°So¡ what did you think?¡± ¡°What do you mean, what did I think?¡± ¡°You know. The trial.¡± That day, we returned to the train of the Three Thousand Worlds and drank. Usually, visiting bars outside was our way of maintaining our friendship. But when Tang Seorin said, ¡°Let¡¯s drink on the train today,¡± it meant she wanted to get thoroughly drunk that night. As the ruler of Busan, the leader of the Korean Penins Guild Union, and the founder of the Magic Song Dynasty, the Great Witch couldn¡¯t afford to be seen stumbling around drunk in public. Not even in front of guild members. To avoid any loss of authority when hanging around with Tang Seorin, one would need to be someone like me¡ª Doctor Jang who defeated the Ten ns, reimed the southern part of the Han River in Seoul, and trained countless disciples through SG Net. ¡°It seems fine to me.¡± ¡°What part seems fine?¡± ¡°The fact that you¡¯re even asking if it¡¯s okay means that everything is fine.¡± ¡°Pfft.¡± Tang Seorinughed. ¡°What is that? You sound like an idiot.¡± But her expression visibly rxed. As I listened to my friend¡¯s drunken ramblings for a while, Tang Seorin suddenly activated her equivalent exchange magic. ¡°Doctor Jang. Put your feelings for me on the scale.¡± ¡°Oh,e on. What are you, a child? Are you one of those parents who ask if the kid likes mom or dad better?¡± ¡°Ugh, whatever. Just put it on the scale already. Do you agree?¡± I sighed and said, ¡°Fine.¡± From my chest emerged a dark yet bright serpent tail, half shadow and half light. Tang Seorin waved her fingers. From her heart, a white snake of light slithered out, coiling on the opposite side of the scale. Creak¡ª A sound, impossible to exist physically, echoed as the two sides of the scale slowly found bnce. Before long, they reached perfect equilibrium. Tang Seorin¡¯s lips curled like a cat¡¯s. ¡°Hmm.¡± ¡°What does that mean?¡± In the middle of the night, inside the train, the scale Tang Seorin created glowed faintly like starlight, and outside the window, the Milky Way poured down. It was a meteor shower. With the night sky¡¯s rain as the backdrop, Tang Seorin smiled brightly. ¡°It¡¯s a secret.¡± It was a very witch-like answer. ¨C Ruler. The End. [Trantor ¨C Jjsecus] [Proofreader ¨C Gun] Chapter 58 â€“ The Puppeteer I Chapter 58 ¨C The Puppeteer I [Trantor ¨C Jjsecus] [Proofreader ¨C Gun] Chapter 58 ¨C The Puppeteer I 1 The genre of this run is somewhat an eerie mystery. 2 Sometimes I use the term ¡°route.¡± This is because I often liken my journey to prevent the world¡¯s destruction to mountain climbing. Mountaineers climbing the Himyas often refer to the path they take as the ¡°route.¡± I borrow their usage and express my own strategy as a route. The epitome of a regressor. ¡°How can we prevent the apocalypse?¡± How can we conquer the ¡°Mount Everest of Time,¡± which no human has ever climbed before? Throughout my 1183 regressions, there have been countless routes. For example, from regression 35 to 107, the route I attempted to pioneer was the ¡°Civilization Rebuilding Route¡± or the ¡°Resurrection Route.¡± Therades of my climbing team for this path were: 1) The presence of the ¡°Saintess,¡± who can observe all Awakeneds within the radius and holds a very high moral standard. 2) The SG Netmunity, where all Awakeneds can participate anytime, anywhere, even if their activity areas are fragmented. In other words, the presence of ¡°Seo Gyu,¡± who possesses ubiquitous abilities. 3) The existence of a steward who minimally connects the city hubs with roads, maintains and manages the roadwork, and does not be politically corrupt. In other words, the presence of the ¡°Noh Doha,¡± the head of the national highway management. 4) A being who can mediate and lead them all, always sincere, the superhuman riding the white horse of this era, in short, me, Doctor Jang. If you¡¯ve listened to my story so far, you¡¯ll understand that my preparations were methodical and steadfast. Even in the situation where I lost the strongest swordsman, Old Scho, and the greatest joker, I believe I did my best. However, the ¡°Resurrection Route¡± copsed in an instant. -Please remember, Mr. Jang. -The abilities of the Awakeneds are not pure blessings. They are double-edged swords. The alias of the Saintess after corruption, the executioner. The appearance of this beingpletely distorted the route I had been nning. -When Awakeneds go beyond bing familiar with their abilities and end up being consumed by them, they be almost like me. -Twenty years. Before fifteen years approach, you must restore the world to its original state. Please remember, Mr. Jang. Yes. Awakeneds were never opposite beings to monsters. They were of the same kind. If monsters were beings born from emptiness, Awakeneds were raising monsters in their minds and hearts. Tang Seorin. Noh Doha. Cheon Yohwa. Geomho. The abilities they possessed, miracles that ordinary humans could never achieve¡ They were not only blessings but also curses. Now, some readers might start to understand why I had to roll back to regression 1183. Yes. To catch the monsters, we need Awakeneds, but when Awakeneds be powerful, they transform into super monsters. It¡¯s like the world. ¡°Do you also like trash? Actually, I really like it. Trash.¡± ¡°Here, I made some delicious trash stew. Would you like to try just a spoonful¡?¡± It¡¯s like awkwardly asking someone about their taste as if forcing their own preferences on others. Well, you might think there are all sorts of crazy people out there, but unfortunately, the misery of the world doesn¡¯t end here. But let¡¯s leave theints of the regressor for now. Today, I want to briefly mention the route I first established. Commonly known as the ¡°A Route.¡± It¡¯s the first route of my regressor life, and its detailed name is the ¡°Academy Route.¡± 3 Unlike other routes, the ¡°A Route¡± was uniquely created by me and Old Scho. So, it was a route before Old Scho went on his damn vacation (really, just wait till that guyes back). ¡°Hey, Yeomjang.¡± Old Scho said while lifting dumbbells. It was awkward to ask me why he suddenly lifted dumbbells. Because, generally, Old Scho was always working out 24/7. By the way, ¡°Yeomjang¡± was another term for Doctor Jang, which Old Scho asionally called me. Of course, not out of respect for my name but simply to subtly imply ¡°yeombyeong-ah¡± (a bit crazy) with the pronunciation of ¡°Yeomjang.¡± Crafty inspiration. ¡°Why?¡± ¡°Did you hear the news?¡± ¡°What news?¡± ¡°From Fukuoka¡ No, how does the kid¡¯s speech go? Uh-huh? Responding to adults¡¯ questions with a stutter?¡± The exact time was the 18th regression. At that time, Old Scho was still mentally stable. Of course, even if Old Scho seemed mentally stable, it simply meant that another German-style old geezer would be added to the world. Let me tell you an amazing fact here. That inspiration, he graduated from a fine arts school. Isn¡¯t that something? If you¡¯ve studied history, you can guess what sentence pops out when the subject ¡°Germany¡± isbined with the predicate ¡°Fine Arts School.¡± [PR/N: AHA DARK HUMOUR I LIKE IT.] ¡°When you regressedst time, did you leave your brain cells behind¡ Anyway, what about Fukuoka?¡± ¡°Oh, yeah. It seems like an interesting Awakened has appeared in Fukuoka. They say his alias is Puppeteer.¡± ¡°Puppeteer? What kind of ability is that?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know. Awakeneds usually keep their abilities hidden. We¡¯ve only received information that they¡¯ve been discussing it in the association a few times.¡± Old Scho tapped his nose. Unlucky. ¡°But I have a hunch. A hunch. The Puppeteer is definitely someone outstanding.¡± ¡°Oh, that hunch of yours.¡± ¡°Why? My hunches are usually right.¡± In subculture works, there¡¯s a concept called ¡°Academy Drift.¡± It refers to when a decent work suddenly loses its footing, such as when the protagonist enrolls in an academy out of nowhere. Usually, when they fall into the abyss, the form of the work also deteriorates like a ghost. However, there was a very reasonable reason for Old Scho and me to establish and operate the academy. ¡°Let¡¯s recruit.¡± It was to collect promising talents. Anyway, whether it was Old Scho or me, just the two of us preventing the world¡¯s destruction was almost impossible. So, wouldn¡¯t it be possible to at least hold back the constant turmoil of our world, where we¡¯re always making trash stew, by forming a powerful party? But even if we recruited talented individuals. -Would you like to join our guild and listen to some bullshit? -Would you like to enroll in the academy and receive lessons from experts? There was a significant difference in tone between these two solicitations. Especially towards Asians. Many Asians, including Koreans, get excited at the mention of words like ¡°education,¡± ¡°entrance exams,¡± and ¡°prestigious schools.¡± There was no reason not to take advantage of such a good culture. Old Scho didn¡¯tbel himself as the guild leader but rather as the ¡°Academy Principal.¡± I took on the role of vice principal. We even added some seasoning to it. ¨C An academy run by Germans! ¨C Proven skills from the Ten ns Suppression. Guaranteed by Sword Saint and Doctor Jang. The promotional slogans about a pure-blooded foreigner running an academy were definitelyced with Asian-specific brainwashing beams. By the way, the name of our educational institution was Freedom Academy, or in German, Freiheit Academy. Ironically, if Germans had seen it, they would have raised their eyebrows at the emphasis on ¡°pure blood¡± at the institution of ¡°freedom.¡± Even at the entrance of the most famous building built by Germans, there was a phrase saying ¡°Labor will set you free.¡± [PR/N: Bro. ??] Fortunately, Old Scho was a supporter of the Saenuri Party. People ced unwavering trust in the foreigner-run academy specialized for Awakeneds without any hesitation. Creating an institution called a guild but functioning as an academy to snatch up promising Awakeneds from various countries. That was the truth of the ¡°A Route.¡± ¡°Well, if they¡¯re truly exceptional talents, we should recruit them. So, are you going all the way to Fukuoka to recruit that Puppeteer? Are you still running short on cash these days?¡± ¡°Well, where there¡¯s a will, there¡¯s a way. If the schr goes, won¡¯t he get what he needs even without a boat?¡± ¡°Even if you safely cross the Tsushima Strait, I doubt the Japanese folks will just willingly send their Awakeneds. It seems a bit urgent there too.¡± ¡°It¡¯s fine. They¡¯re not Japanese; they¡¯re Korean.¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°He was originally from Busan and hurriedly evacuated when the Gate opened.¡± ¡°But why evacuate¡ It¡¯s not like the monsters were North Korean soldiers. It¡¯s hell here and there, no different.¡± ¡°Who would know that? It¡¯s only been three years, Yeonseok.¡± ¡°Oh.¡± I had a moment of contemtion. ¡°¡But if it¡¯s Fukuoka, could it be rted to the Provisional Government? You¡¯d have a headache if you got involved with those brats for no reason.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know. I¡¯m not all-knowing.¡± ¡°Hmm. So when will you go, Your Excellency?¡± ¡°Well, when do you n to go?¡± ¡°¡?¡± ¡°¡?¡± An exchange of nces ensued. ¡°¡¡?¡± ¡°¡¡?¡± Communication, failed. [Trantor ¨C Jjsecus] [Proofreader ¨C Gun] We both silently raised our swords. We deeply respected the traditional method chosen whenmunication failed throughout human history. Five minutes passed. ¡°Take care, Yeomjang.¡± ¡°Sure thing¡¡± ¡°Why are you trying to defeat a Swordmaster with such a shabby sword skill? Oh. If there¡¯s instant ramen on your way back, grab some. Might as well get tonkotsu. They say Fukuoka is famous for tonkotsu, right? Let¡¯s stock up on some grease for our stomachs.¡± Unjust as it was, what could I do? Until now, I had been even more ipetent than Old Scho. Dragging my bruised body, I solemnly left the principal¡¯s office. [¡°The Savior of the Nation¡± is rooting for you.] I forced a bitter smile. ¡°Indeed, my only ally is the savior.¡± Of course, in the 18th regression, I didn¡¯t know that the savior¡¯s true identity was an Awakened. The rtionship between me and the Savior was closer to a parasocialism, a pseudo-social rtionship, using professional terms. ¡°The Savior only recognizes me. I¡¯ll be briefly going on a business trip to Japan, so please take care of the old man while I¡¯m away.¡± [¡°Don¡¯t worry,¡± says ¡®The Savior of the Nation¡¯ to you.] ¡°Savior¡!¡± To give you the closest example, it¡¯s like being a YouTuber and having an overly enthusiastic fan. Well, anyway, since the Savior stuff originated from an inte broadcasting tform, it¡¯s a pretty wholesome hobby, right? Hmm. ¡Those were immature times in many ways. In my memory, even if it was close to a dark history, from other people¡¯s perspective, the ¡°Doctor Jang¡± as an Awakened was undoubtedly a pivotal figure. Old Scho. Tang Seorin. Doctor Jang. No matter what anyone said, we three were the main yers in the Ten ns Suppression. And the fact that we, purely driven by civilians and not government-led, sessfully subdued boss-level monsters was a global first. Originally, there was a tradition on the Korean Penins where irregr forces were favored over regr armies. So, it wasn¡¯t anything strange. Of course, if we list poprity without discriminating between domestic and international fame, Tang Seorin > Old Scho ¨R Doctor Jang would be the order. While Old Scho and my fame fluctuated, Tang Seorin always maintained her unbeatable top spot. She was the head of the Korean Penins Guild Union (the name subtly changed depending on the regression). Above all, in terms of character, she outshone people like Old Scho and me. A witch singing on the battlefield? Isn¡¯t that cheating? How could two swordsmen beat that? Frankly, if anyone saw Tang Seorin singing a 4-level a cappe on the battlefield, they¡¯d think she was amazing. Even more so if her singing provided buff doping without any side effects. Ah, already Awakeneds on the Korean Penins couldn¡¯t go out to subdue bosses without Tang Seorin¡¯s songs¡ Anyway, My position on the Korean Penins was as the second-inmand, asionally stepping down to third ce when Old Scho disyed his unprecedented potential. ¡°Wee to Japan! Doctor Jang!¡± Just with that position alone, all sorts of hangers-on flocked to me. ¡°Wow!¡± ¡°Wee to Busan!¡± ¡°Doctor! Doctor! Doctor!¡± As soon as wended at the port, nearly three hundred people cheered enthusiastically. They were more like a massive army than hangers-on. They even pped banners fervently instead of fly wings. The banners bore these patterns: [¡ïPride of South Korea, Awakened Doctor Jang¡ï] [Wee to Busan!] [All members of the Provisional Government of South Korea] Ah. It made my spine tingle. ¡°What¡¯s with Busan, you crazy people¡¡± Let me exin. First of all, naturally, I took a boat from Busan to Fukuoka, Japan. I definitely didn¡¯t go on a tour around the Korea Strait ande back to Busan. What went back wasn¡¯t my destination but their state of mind. Fukuoka. In Chinese characters, it¡¯s read as ¡°Bugang.¡± Here, ¡°Gang¡± means ¡°hill¡± or ¡°mound.¡± So, the flying insects in front of me agreed to call Fukuoka ¡°Busan.¡± Leaving the perfectly fine city name as it is. It was akin to stamping ¡°From now on, you¡¯re Indians¡± on the Native Americans of the American continent. What¡¯s even more irritating is the fact that Japan already has a city called Toyama that could serve as an equivalent to Busan. In essence, the people in front of me were causing triple trouble in Busan, Fukuoka, and Toyama. Why, though? ¡°Heh, wee, Doctor Jang!¡± The middle-aged man standing at the forefront of the weing crowd exined everything. Jung Sijang. His real name was Jung Sangguk. Although he was referred to as a mayor, he wasn¡¯t currently in office. The profession of a civil servant on the Korean Penins had been abolished long ago, along with elementary, middle, and high school students. Jung Sangguk was a ¡°former¡± mayor of Busan. Currently, he was also the leader of the Provisional Government of South Korea. When a massive vacuum emerged south of the Han River, causing the Blue House and the legiture to reconcile and start heading towards paradise, Sejong and Busan were the only cities that could quell the situation. The group of officials in Sejong even attempted to control the military (and they all went on a gourmet trip to Shi in harmony). On the other hand, Mayor Jung Sangguk of Busan chose a slightly more traditional approach. ¨C Fellow citizens, what ethnicity are we? ¨C Um¡ the delivery people? ¨C No. We¡¯re the people of Terran. Jung Sangguk took his supporters and organization and moved themand center. The citizens couldn¡¯t help but admire the humor that suited their generation. While the founding father of the Great Donggang faction, Kim Il-sung, might have thought he could spread the doctrine alone, Jung Sangguk teleported the entire group. The fact that the archenemy of the Samhan martial arts was in the Donggang faction was evidence. It was literally a different level ofw. Now Koreans recognized Mayor Jung Sangguk of Busan on par with the Commander of the Samdo Sugun Tongsaji, Won Gyun, and Prime Minister Yi Wan-yong of the Korean Empire. Considering Koreans are particrly stingy when ites to evaluating politicians, it was not an easy achievement. After all, all politicians are staunch idealists. Politicians believed that even if theycked practicality in reality, they could always borrow loans from concepts. Jung Sangguk was no exception. The exile group had suddenly be a ¡°government in exile,¡± and the government in exile had suddenly transformed into the ¡°Provisional Government of the Republic of Korea.¡± Jung Sangguk¡¯s business card was reprinted each time, and now he was the ¡°Prime Minister of the Provisional Government of the Republic of Korea.¡± And on the day of his inauguration as prime minister, Fukuoka was also renamed as Busan. Thanks to this, Jung Sangguk also acquired the title of ¡°Representative of Busan¡± as the head of the Fukuoka Korean Association. In short, it was madness. Now I was invited to the stage of that madness. It¡¯s a grammar that¡¯s universally epted worldwide for a fallen politician to fawn over a war hero. ¡°I¡¯ve admired you, Teacher Jang, for a long time!¡± Back in the day, when Terran user Jung Sangguk reached 2150 points on StarCraftdder, he smiled brightly and embraced me. He was followed by numerous handshake requests from the Prime Minister of the Provisional Government, who then became the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Minister of Finance, Minister of Justice, and Minister of the Interior. It was a very restrained mechanical hug. I also smiled mechanically. And silently, I gave thetest MZ-type nicknames to the members of the Provisional Government, such as ¡®damn inspiration tank,¡¯ ¡®that¡¯s why I didn¡¯t want toe on a business trip to Fukuoka.¡¯ Heh-heh-heh. In the distance, along with theughter of Old Scho, there seemed to be an auditory hallucination saying, ¡°Yeah, your sword skills are pathetic.¡± Damn it. [Trantor ¨C Jjsecus] [Proofreader ¨C Gun] Chapter 59 â€“ The Puppeteer II [Trantor ¨C Jjsecus] [Proofreader ¨C Gun] Chapter 59 ¨C The Puppeteer II 5 To put it bluntly, I had zero respect for the Provisional Government. I respected my eye gunk more and didn¡¯t want to be rude. The problem was the Fukuoka city government. The ones who likely leaked the information about my visit to the Provisional Government were probably them. At this point, unlike the Korean Penins, the Japanese archipgo¡¯s government hadn¡¯tpletely copsed. So they had the luxury of holding onto the Provisional Government coin without throwing it away. You never know, right? This junk coin might shoot up to Mars¡¯s atmosphere. It was an extremely irrational decision, but gamblers are not easily swayed by logic. After all, the sweet sess story of Yi Wan-yong coin was ingrained in the minds of the Japanese. The point at which the Japanese government started regaining its senses was when the Eight Million grotesque beings descended. Except for the part where they had to sacrifice their heads, arms, torsos, legs, and organs to gain wisdom, it was a good deal. I personally took down one of these grotesque beings, Inunaki. But that¡¯s a story for another time. That future hadn¡¯t yete to pass. Therefore, for now, I had to consider the dignity of the Fukuoka authorities. My mission was to abduct an A-grade Awakened residing in Fukuoka for free. It would be foolish to antagonize the locals. Of course, if it were the 180th run me, I could ignore all politics and secretly kidnap the Puppeteer. But this was just the 18th run me, still a rookie. What can you do? Sometimes, you have to do the dirty work. ¡°Haha. To think that a patriot like you, Doctor Jang, supports our Provisional Government so enthusiastically! It feels like we have a thousand reinforcements!¡± ¡°Oh, support is too grand a word. I¡¯m just someone who wants to share in the hardships of our fellow countrymen living abroad during these tough times.¡± ¡°Aha, I see. You are truly humble! Here, have a drink, Doctor Jang!¡± In the end, I spent the whole night drinking with the officials of the Provisional Government. To Jung Sangguk, it was sweeter to have a friendly chat with a war hero like me than the alcohol itself. After singing his praises adequately, Jung Sangguk seemed quite pleased. ¡°By the way¡ what brings you to Fukuoka?¡± ¡°Ah, it¡¯s more of a business trip than official duties.¡± ¡°Oh, in these times, what¡¯s the difference? If it¡¯s your business, Doctor Jang, it¡¯s practically national policy. Please, tell me more.¡± ¡°Your words put me at ease. I¡¯m here to find an Awakened person known as the Puppeteer living in Fukuoka. Do you know of them?¡± ¡°¡The Puppeteer?¡± This was the first time Jung Sangguk hesitated. ¡°Yes, the Puppeteer.¡± ¡°¡Yes, I know them well. But why¡?¡± ¡°As you know, I run a small academy, a training center for Awakeneds. I would like to meet the Puppeteer and, if they are suitable, invite them to join our academy.¡± ¡°I see¡¡± The Busan mayor stared at me and muttered. ¡°¡Maybe it¡¯s for the best.¡± It was an inexplicable mutter. As the silence between us stretched to two seconds, Jung Sangguk broke the awkwardness. ¡°By the way, do you smoke?¡± I was a staunch anti-smoker. But that question was a signal to go outside and talk privately. So, I could sacrifice my lung health for a bit. Some people abandoned their country, so what? ¡°Yes. I¡¯m dying for one.¡± ¡°Let¡¯s go. I tend to feel the heat easily, so I need some fresh air. Haha.¡± We left the bar and stepped into the city¡¯s night air, contributing to the pollution levels. As Fukuoka¡¯s fine dust levels rose moderately, quite an unusual scene unfolded. ¡°Oh. A shooting star.¡± ¡°Huh? Really.¡± A few shooting stars streaked across the night sky. It was more like a few drops of a fox rain than a meteor shower. Soon, the celestial rain stopped. Jung Sangguk barely nced at the shooting stars, looking around nervously instead. ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡± ¡°I envy you, Doctor Jang.¡± ¡°Excuse me?¡± ¡°Sometimes I imagine how great it would have been if I had be an Awakened too.¡± Jung Sangguk, with trembling hands, took out a portable ashtray and stubbed out his cigarette. From that gesture, I sensed not his neatness but a survival instinct honed by living in a foreignnd. If he carelessly flicked his ashes on the streets of Fukuoka, random Japanese passersby might wonder, ¡°Does this Korean think ournd is an ashtray?¡± ¡°The Puppeteer is my daughter.¡± I was so distracted by the portable ashtray that I responded a bitte. ¡°¡What?¡± ¡°The Puppeteer. Yul. Lee Hayul. She¡¯s my daughter. If you take her, please take good care of her.¡± Unbelievable. As I was about to ponder the mysteries of life and the subtlety of fate, I quickly came up with a question. ¡°Wait a minute. Aren¡¯t you Mr. Jung? Excuse me if this is rude, but if your daughter is a Lee¡¡± ¡°Oh. She took her mother¡¯s surname.¡± Could he be one of those people who believe that children should carry both their father¡¯s and mother¡¯s surnames? But my imagination was too limited. The former Busan mayor smiled. It seemed a bit forced. ¡°Second. She¡¯s my hidden daughter.¡± What the hell. 6 The first day¡¯s schedule was over. After that, I had two days and three nights to myself. The Provisional Government had arranged my amodation. ¡°He¡¯s quite something.¡± Even as the country was copsing, he managed to take care of his second family and flee abroad. A hero who uses teleportation is indeed different. [Trantor ¨C Jjsecus] [Proofreader ¨C Gun] Long ago, Han Gaozu Liu Bang, when fleeing from the Heavenly Demon Xiang Yu, had no choice but to board a chariot. At that time, Liu Bang threw his children off the chariot, iming it was overloaded. Any RPG yer would understand that having a full inventory is an unforgivable sin. But in the game of Chu-Han Contention, children were designated as essential items, and a warning window popped up saying, [Abandoning them is impossible!]. In the end, he failed to abandon them. This is why one should learn martial arts. If Liu Bang had mastered Jung Sangguk¡¯s teleportation technique, he wouldn¡¯t have needed to rely on a weak chariot and could havemitted his filial betrayal proudly. ¡°Doctor Jang, are you there?¡± Knock, knock. Just as I was testing the boundary between meditation and delusion, a martial arts master arrived. It was a reunion after two days. Jung Sangguk handed me a piece of paper with the Puppeteer¡¯s address on it. However, his appearance was somewhat odd. Despite the warm spring day, he wore gloves, and his cologne was quite strong. Moreover, Jung Sangguk refused to apany me to the Puppeteer¡¯s house. ¡°Why not? Why won¡¯t youe with me?¡± ¡°Sorry about this.¡± Jung Sangguk gave an awkward smile. It was a smile uncharacteristic of a politician, and his expression was stiffer than it had been at the drinking party. ¡°My daughter¡¯s been going through a pretty rough phasetely¡.¡± ¡°Still, aren¡¯t you worried about me meeting her alone?¡± ¡°Oh, not at all. There¡¯s a housekeeper at Hayul¡¯s ce, so it¡¯s fine.¡± ¡°Hmm.¡± ¡°Besides, I stopped by Hayul¡¯s ce yesterday and told her about it. There¡¯s no need to worry.¡± ¡°Alright. I¡¯ll see you this evening.¡± In truth. I should have noticed something suspicious at this point. If Jung Sangguk¡¯s second family was functioning normally, the ¡®housekeeper¡¯ at Hayul¡¯s ce should have been her biological mother. More importantly, it was odd that someone who had been so desperate to win my favor would suddenly refuse to apany me. But what could I do? I followed the address, asking locals for directions until I finally arrived at Lee Hayul¡¯s mansion. Knock-knock. I tapped on the door knocker attached to the front door (few people used electric doorbells because they were considered a waste of electricity). ¡°Is anyone there?¡± Knock-knock. ¡°Hello. I¡¯m someone named Doctor Jang. I¡¯ve been introduced by Mayor Jung Sangguk. Is anyone there?¡± Knock-knock. ¡°¡¡.¡± If I felt a sense of foreboding by then, it was purely due to my experiences as someone who had gone through countless regressions. I turned the doorknob. It was unlocked. ¡°¡¡.¡± Step. As soon as I stepped into the foyer, cobwebs came into view. There were huge cobwebs strung across the hallway, the living room, and the staircase to the first floor. The ce looked abandoned. No matter how tough life was abroad, or how illegitimate her status, this was too bizarre a living condition for the daughter of the head of the Provisional Government. ¡®Are these even cobwebs? They¡¯re too big.¡¯ Rustle- Something crunched under my shoe. It was a doll. I had been so distracted by the cobwebs that I hadn¡¯t noticed the dolls scattered throughout the house. ¡°Lee Hayul?¡± Carefully avoiding the dolls, I moved further into the house. Figurines, Russian matryoshka dolls, Japanese Ichimatsu dolls, Barbie dolls, ball-jointed dolls, stuffed animals, paper flower dolls. It was literally a house of dolls. Or a spider¡¯s nest. The woman I assumed to be the housekeeper, in her 40s, was hanging by a cobweb in an upstairs bedroom, dead. ¡°¡¡.¡± I was used to corpses. I didn¡¯t panic. But seeing thirteen dolls arranged around the corpse as if in worship was a first. And it wasn¡¯t the only strange sight. Click, click, click. Dolls hung from strings, moving up and down around the corpse. Like kids ying on a seesaw. I had no idea what kind of mechanism was set up, but the strings wrapped around the dolls¡¯ wrists extended to the corpse¡¯s ¡®jaw¡¯ and ¡®hands.¡¯ So, as the dolls moved up and down on the seesaw, the corpse¡¯s jaw clicked and its fingers twitched into strange shapes. Like a Nutcracker doll. ¡°What the hell¡.¡± The stench was overwhelming. Judging by the degree of rigor mortis, the time of death seemed to be over 30 hours ago. At least 30 hours, but it somehow felt much older. This was strange. Thirty hours ago would have been the day before yesterday, not even yesterday. Moreover, Jung Sangguk had testified that he met his daughter yesterday and told her about me. So, was the housekeeper already dead at that point? ¡®Something¡¯s off.¡¯ I instinctively felt that Jung Sangguk had lied to me. Especially the gloves. The out-of-season gloves were strangely bothering me. I left the ¡®Doll House¡¯ and returned to my lodging. I intended to gather my belongings and go look for Jung Sangguk. Soon, it turned out that wouldn¡¯t be necessary. In the middle of my lodging, Jung Sangguk¡¯s body was hanging from a spider web. ¡°¡¡.¡± How? Something was off. No, it was dangerous. Regardless of Jung Sangguk being a powerless traitor, the fact that his corpse was found in my room was bad news. One part of my brain cooled rapidly. A familiar sensation. My decision was swift. ¡®I need to deal with this.¡¯ Whoosh-! Without investigating further, I immediately incinerated the corpse. Completely. Using my aura to burn every trace, including my own. It was a skill not easily seen unless one had umted internal energy over many runs like me. ¡¯59 seconds.¡¯ I casually grabbed a book and walked out of the lodging. I made a point of cheerfully greeting the staff. From their perspective, I was a guest who had ¡®just briefly entered the room and then came out.¡¯ It would be difficult for them to imagine that a body was incinerated in such a short time. The only thing I needed to worry about now were witnesses. Those who might have seen Jung Sangguk visit my room. CCTV was not a concern. These days, ces with CCTV were rare. Not because of electricity, but because CCTVs were prone to being infected by the strange creatures, so people avoided them. I asked the staff, ¡°Have you seen Mr. Jung Sangguk?¡± They shook their heads, thus saving their lives. Four minutes had passed by this point. While it wasn¡¯t a perfect alibi, it was good enough to clear me. After all, I hadn¡¯tmitted the murder. This was the truth. And I was strong. The power of truth, when in the hands of the weak, can still be sharp. But when in the hands of the strong, what more can be said? ¡®Principal Scho, I¡¯m going to make sure I get paid well for this trip.¡¯ I headed back to the Doll House. This time, secretly. Making sure no one saw me. ¨D¨DCircumstances pointed to ¡®the culprit¡¯ being Jung Sangguk¡¯s illegitimate child, Lee Hayul. Evidence was unnecessary. I was neither a detective nor a police officer. I was a regressor. I could verify the evidence in other runs. What mattered now was observing as many traces of the culprit, Lee Hayul, as possible, to gain an advantageous position in future runs. Soon, it became clear why this was necessary. In front of the entrance, the presumed Lee Hayul, an Awakened with light brown hair,y dead. ¡°¡¡¡± Lee Hayul had died in a wheelchair, stabbed in the chest by a knife held by a doll. This was the first time I realized that the ¡®Puppeteer¡¯ was a girl with no legs. I had never heard her voice, nor would I ever in this 18th run. Standing before her corpse, I covered my forehead with my left hand. ¡°You crazy old man¡¡¡± Really. I was going to need a hefty fee for this mission. [Trantor ¨C Jjsecus] [Proofreader ¨C Gun] Chapter 60 â€“ The Puppeteer III [Trantor ¨C Jjsecus] [Proofreader ¨C Gun] Chapter 60 ¨C The Puppeteer III 7 As I mentioned earlier, I am neither a detective nor a police officer. My domain of deduction spans not just the past but also the future. That¡¯s why I can pull off feats like this. ¡°The Puppeteer is my daughter.¡± ¡°Excuse me?¡± ¡°The Puppeteer. Yul. Lee Hayul. She is my daughter.¡± 19th turn. I deliberately followed the same steps as in the previous turn to travel to Fukuoka. As long as the butterfly effect didn¡¯t interfere, causality was strict. Jung Sangguk said the same thing as in thest turn: ¡°I¡¯ll contact my daughter, so please wait at the hotel for a few days.¡± What changed in the 19th turn was that, instead of excitedly rushing to the hotel to enjoy the hot springs, I secretly tailed Jung Sangguk. A third-rate detective arrests the criminal without inferring their past. A second-rate detective uncovers the criminal¡¯s twisted history. A true first-rate detective tracks the uing crime and witnesses all the causes in real-time. You think that doesn¡¯t make sense? Well, if you don¡¯t like it, you can awaken the ability to regress. Just remember, there¡¯s a catch¡ªyou have to exterminate all kinds of anomalies, including the Ten ns. Sounds easy, right? Knock knock. Jung Sangguk headed straight to the ¡®House of Dolls¡¯ after our drinking session. When he knocked on the door a few times, the housekeeper appeared. Up to this point, everything seemed normal. The abnormality started right after. ¡°I¡¯m back.¡± With a bow, Jung Sangguk lowered his head. Not the housekeeper, but Jung Sangguk bowed to the housekeeper. I couldn¡¯t help but widen my eyes. Just as my jaw was about to drop, the housekeeper spoke. ¡°Come in.¡± ¡°Yes.¡± The Prime Minister of the Second Provisional Government of Korea followed the housekeeper inside without hesitation. ¡°¡¡¡± What on earth is going on? Feeling like I was possessed, I pressed myself against the ¡®House of Dolls.¡¯ My vision was blocked by the wall, but my aura-enhanced hearing helped me eavesdrop. ¡°How was the meeting?¡± ¡°Ordinary.¡± ¡°What does Doctor Jang want?¡± ¡°He wants to take Hayul to the academy.¡± Murmur. The voices of the two people traveled over the wall. Jung Sangguk spoke politely but with a hint of fear, while the housekeeper¡¯s tone was cold and mechanical. ¡°Academy?¡± Just now, the voice also sounded like it was distinctly breaking down the word ¡°a/ca/de/my.¡± ¡°Yes. He said he wants to gather talented awakened ones like Hayul-nim and train them.¡± ¡°¡¡¡± Hayul nim? He was referring to his own daughter with an honorific? ¡°I also received the curriculum. Here. I read through it once, and it seemed quite usible. The principal is the Sword Saint, the vice principal is Doctor Jang, and even Tang Seorin is listed as an honorary professor¡¡± ¡°So?¡± ¡°Excuse me?¡± ¡°Did you ept?¡± ¡°No, no! How could I dare? I couldn¡¯t decide alone, so I booked him a room at a city inn. He should be staying put for the next two days.¡± Silence. ¡°You went out.¡± ¡°¡Excuse me?¡± ¡°During the drinking session. You went out alone with Doctor Jang. What did you talk about?¡± ¡°Oh¡ We just stepped out for a smoke. We didn¡¯t talk about anything significant.¡± ¡°Lies.¡± A chill ran down my spine. ¡®How does she know that?¡¯ When Jung Sangguk and I talked, there was absolutely no one around. Could it be that someone from the Provisional Government at the table leaked information to the housekeeper? Could this seemingly ordinary housekeeper really be the mastermind controlling the Provisional Government from behind the scenes? The questions didn¡¯t linger for long. Soon, Jung Sangguk made a decisive confession. ¡°Come down. Below.¡± At themand toe down, Jung Sangguk, who had been maintaining hisposure, panicked. ¡°I swear, Hayul-nim! Please believe me! Please, I beg you! Spare the puppet room!¡± My jaw dropped. ¡®Lee Hayul!¡¯ There was no doubt. Jung Sangguk had just referred to the housekeeper as ¡®Hayul-nim.¡¯ It was absurd unless Jung Sangguk had dementia and couldn¡¯t tell the difference between the housekeeper and his own daughter. There was no way the housekeeper and Lee Hayul were the same person. The housekeeper was in her forties. The body of Lee Hayul I saw in the previous turn couldn¡¯t have been older than her early twenties. In other words¡ ¡®Lee Hayul is controlling the housekeeper!¡¯ The Puppeteer. Whoever came up with that name was spot on. I suspected Lee Hayul had the [ability to control people]. The housekeeper was a marite. She was practically Lee Hayul¡¯s puppet. But it wasn¡¯t just the housekeeper. I remembered when I arrived in Fukuoka and received countless handshakes from Provisional Government officials. The Foreign Minister, the Finance Minister, the Justice Minister, and the Interior Minister. Their embraces had felt oddly stiff. ¡®Are the high-ranking officials of the Provisional Government also marites? All of them? Or just some? If some, then how many?¡¯ The realization of a truth I hadn¡¯t considered in the 18th turn left me stunned. In a way, Old Scho was right. ¡°Come down. I said it twice.¡± ¡°Please, please¡¡± The next words never came. They couldn¡¯t. Jung Sangguk could no longer speak. Only faint sounds of choking and gurgling could be heard. The human ear isn¡¯t that precise. Understanding everything through sound alone was difficult. But I could infer that something had silenced Jung Sangguk. ¡°Hmph¡!¡± Jung Sangguk struggled. Considering that an adult man couldn¡¯t put up much of a fight, it was likely that his body was subdued by some unnatural means. Spider webs. I recalled the webs that had bound the housekeeper and Jung Sangguk¡¯s corpses. The webs that covered the dollhouse. Maybe those weren¡¯t spider webs but ¡®puppet strings.¡¯ ¡°Mmff¡!¡± Srrrrk. The sound of a body being dragged. The vibrations from the first floor gradually subsided. I quickly grasped the situation. Jung Sangguk was being dragged to the basement by the housekeeper. No more discernible sounds reached me. The walls were too thick. This was the limit of the aura I had cultivated in the 18th turn. The basement. That must be the trueir of the Puppeteer. Once again, my decision was swift. I resolved to break in. [Trantor ¨C Jjsecus] [Proofreader ¨C Gun] A skilled awakener has exceptional memory. To survive the void, you must memorize numerous rules. Onemonly known saying goes: ¨C A well-constructedir of an awakener isparable to the void. Personally, I find this a bit exaggerated, but it underscores the need for caution. For example, the trains used as bases by Tang Seorin are equipped with formidable security systems. Uninvited guests who board without a ¡®ticket¡¯ quickly learn just how deadly those trains can be. This ce was no different. The ¡®dollhouse¡¯ I visited in thest turn was just an empty shell left after its master had died. When I first visited, the Puppeteer must have deliberately lowered the security. She needed me to witness the housekeeper¡¯s death and return to my lodging. ¨C Click. Click. Click. In short, this was my first true entry into their known as the dollhouse. As soon as I blew the door open and rushed in, clicking noises echoed from all directions. The sound came from the dolls. The foyer. The hallway. The ceiling. Marites hung on ¡®puppet strings¡¯ frantically moved their jaws. With each click of their jaws, the dolls¡¯ joints creaked. Blue, ck, yellow, and red eyes swiveled. ¨C Click-click-click-click. Territorial marking. A signal to alert of an intruder. They were also following a pre-programmed process to eliminate impurities. It was evident that the marites¡¯ movements were meticulously calcted. Their joints creaked like piano keys, the strings vibrated, and a faint golden aura was embedded in the puppet strings. ¡®Aura!¡¯ At the time, the technique to wield aura was exclusively held by Old Scho and myself. It was a specialty of Freiheit Academy. So the auraden puppet show unfolding before me was entirely self-taught. ¡®Not only can she control people, but she can also infuse aura into the puppet strings!¡¯ I was impressed but didn¡¯t hesitate. Like the famous opening scene of the movie *Cube*, half-transparent strings closed in from all directions. Ordinary humans would be dismembered on contact. Fortunately or unfortunately, my life was far from ordinary. Without drawing my sword, I threw myself forward, enveloping my entire body in aura. Swish¡ª thwack! thwack! Thwack! The deadly puppet strings snapped the moment they touched my body. ¨C Click-click-click. The dolls thrashed even more noisily. The density of the webs doubled, quadrupled, octupled, exponentially increasing. But it was useless. When Old Scho evaluated me, he said, ¡°Your talent in martial arts is fifth-rate, but your talent in aura is top-notch.¡± Ipensated for external strength with internal energy. And I had the [Continue] skill. It allowed my physical abilities, including muscle memory, to carry over to the next turn. That included the amount of aura I possessed. In martial arts terms, my internal energy in the 19th turn had already surpassed one full cycle. Crack! I reached out and crushed the head of a doll. The dolls swung incessantly on their strings, moving up, down, left, and right, but they couldn¡¯t evade my grasp. No matter how power-inted and overrun with anomalies this world was, reaching one full cycle of internal energy normally required a lifetime of dedication. I had spent that lifetime on the battlefield. An awakener hiding in the rtively safe rear guard of Fukuoka could not withstand such a life. -¡! The foyer was breached. The hallway and living room were neutralized one by one. Nearly 300 dolls were crushed by my hands. Soon, even the deadly webs calmed down. The intricate arrangement of the dolls had been the keyponent of their¡¯s security system. High-level awakening ability. Exceptional understanding of one¡¯s own power. Caution without revealing one¡¯s true form. Bold and decisive actions. Mastery of aura self-taught at a young age. Precise calction skills. ¡The test was over. Though I didn¡¯t want to admit it, Old Scho¡¯s intuition was right. A genius. Without a doubt, the Puppeteer was a talent worth recruiting. Even without legs, it wasn¡¯t a significant hindrance. While she couldn¡¯t physically be on the battlefield, she had immense potential as a support operative. ¡°Lee Hayul. Are you listening?¡± Silence. ¡°I am Doctor Jang. A colleague of the Sword Saint and the Great Witch. I apologize for barging in like this. It was my mistake.¡± Silence. ¡°Lee Hayul. I want to talk to you. I used force to show my skill. I could storm into the basement, but I don¡¯t want our rtionship to be strained from the start.¡± Silence. ¡°My goal is to persuade you to join the academy in Korea. Give me a chance to convince you.¡± Creak. The basement door opened. ¡°Come in.¡± The housekeeper was holding the doorknob. Hearing the voice up close, the mechanical tone was even more pronounced. On reflection, humanity has always envisioned the ultimate machine, the pinnacle of technology, as a doll, whether made of paper, springs, or AI chips. Therefore, it wouldn¡¯t be wrong to rece the term ¡®mechanical voice¡¯ with ¡®doll voice.¡¯ I passed by the housekeeper and stepped into the basement. Thud. The heavy iron door closed behind me. ¡°¡¡¡± Finally, I could meet Lee Hayul herself. This was also a first. In thest turn, her corpse had its eyes closed. Golden eyes. Light brown hair. A girl with no legs. Sometimes the awakening process changes the color of hair and pupils. The girl in the wheelchair had colors that bore no resemnce to her father, Jung Sangguk. ¡°Mm! Mmff, bmmff¡!¡± Jung Sangguk, who had been dragged away earlier, was also in a wheelchair. In terms of mobility issues, the father¡¯s condition was actually more severe than the daughter¡¯s. Though he had both legs intact, his entire body was tightly bound with puppet strings. He was like prey caught in a spider¡¯s web. Even his fingernails were dripping blood, as if they had just been freshly mutted. ¡®¡Ah.¡¯ Right. That¡¯s why the Jung Sangguk of the 18th turn had been wearing gloves. [Trantor ¨C Jjsecus] [Proofreader ¨C Gun] Chapter 61 â€“ The Puppeteer IV [Trantor ¨C Jjsecus] [Proofreader ¨C Gun] Chapter 61 ¨C The Puppeteer IV ¡°Huff¡!¡± Bloodshot veins appeared in Jung Sangguk¡¯s eyes. His mouth and tongue were gagged by puppet strings, preventing him from speaking, but it didn¡¯t matter. Bodynguage is a universalnguage, after all. Jung Sangguk¡¯s entire body was thrashing, emitting SOS signals. I felt sorry for him, but my priority wasn¡¯t the parents; it was the child. Jung Sangguk¡¯s struggles only provoked Lee Hayul. ¡°¡¡.¡± Without a word, Lee Hayul drove an awl under his fingernail. Rip! The nail tore apart. Suddenly, anotherpetitor in the same business was opened up. ¡°Mmpphhffh!¡± The excessive bleeding from thispetitive overreach caused Jung Sangguk to faint. I mourned inwardly. It was all because he was born in the wrong era. Had he been born during the Japanese upation, a traitor of his caliber wouldn¡¯t have undergone fingernail torture. I spread my hands. ¡°Lee Hayul, I have no intention of interfering in your business with Jung Sangguk. As I mentioned earlier, my goal is merely to persuade you toe to the academy.¡± ¡°¡¡.¡± ¡°Let me introduce myself again. I am Doctor Jang. I eradicated Ten ns in the Korean Penins. Currently, I serve as the vice principal at Freiheit Academy.¡± By this point, it was appropriate for Lee Hayul to introduce himself. But that didn¡¯t happen. The housemaid marite who had opened the basement door for me stood behind Lee Hayul¡¯s wheelchair. She opened her mouth and spoke in a puppet¡¯s voice. ¡°Lee Hayul. Puppeteer.¡± ¡°Hmm. I understand your caution, but can we not converse using your own voice?¡± ¡°Impossible.¡± ¡°Why is that?¡± Lee Hayul opened her mouth wide. Her neat teeth were visible, beyond whichy an abyssal darkness. I tilted my head. What is this? Unless she¡¯s mistaken me for a dentist, this pose makes no sense. At that moment, the housemaid spoke like a puppet being ventriloquized. ¡°Vocal cords. Disabled.¡± It was an unexpected revtion. ¡°She can¡¯t produce sound.¡± ¡°¡¡.¡± ¡°Therefore, she can¡¯t converse.¡± Only then did I understand that the disabilities afflicting Lee Hayul extended beyond the loss of her legs. A physicalnguage disability. ¡If so, the girl before me must have endured extreme difort before her abilities awakened. The inability to move. The inability tomunicate. Moreover, considering her status as an illegitimate child of a prominent politician, one could add the constraint of social status to her burdens. Indeed, the ability known as [Puppeteer] was nothing short of a miracle for Lee Hayul. ¡°¡I¡¯m sorry. I didn¡¯t know.¡± ¡°It¡¯s alright.¡± Lee Hayul closed her mouth. Her expressionless face as a puppeteer revealed no emotion. ¡°It doesn¡¯t matter.¡± ¡°Hmm.¡± ¡°How did you find this ce?¡± It was a bizarre scene. Although the housemaid was speaking, the conversation was between Lee Hayul and me. The direction of the gaze and the voice didn¡¯t match. Despite the strange feeling, I kept eye contact with Lee Hayul. ¡°I followed Jung Sangguk. It was suspicious when he asked me to wait at the lodgings for two days. I saw him entering this Dollhouse and decided to eavesdrop for a while.¡± ¡°¡¡.¡± The girl¡¯s eyes softened slightly. It seemed she liked the term ¡°Dollhouse.¡± ¡°Thanks to that, I could listen in on your conversation with Jung Sangguk. If you saw me rampaging upstairs, you¡¯d know I¡¯m good at using aura.¡± Lee Hayul tilted her head. ¡°Aura?¡± ¡°¡Yes.¡± I manifested an aura on my palm. A dark me. My aura was achromatic. ¡°This. Earlier, you infused golden aura into the puppet strings, didn¡¯t you?¡± ¡°So, it¡¯s called aura.¡± ¡°Some people call it internal energy. It¡¯s a matter of preference. Some call it demonic energy, others pronounce it as aura. Did you learn it on your own?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°Impressive.¡± ¡°That¡¯s what the Magical Girls said, too.¡± For reference, Magical Girls were the strongest group of awakened individuals in Japan, andter, they essentially took over the role of the Japanese government as members of the ¡°Magical Girl Council.¡± How such a ridiculous situation came about¡ well¡ For now, let¡¯s just say awakened individuals tend to be stronger the crazier they are. There¡¯ll be another chance to talk about them. ¡°Magical Girls? Did they try to recruit you?¡± ¡°Yes. I declined.¡± ¡°Could you tell me why? I¡¯d like to know to reduce the chances of failure.¡± ¡°They¡¯re weird.¡± ¡°¡¡.¡± ¡°They wear dresses with lots of frills, have terrible fashion sense, end their sentences with ¡®nya,¡¯ and they¡¯re abnormal.¡± ¡°¡¡.¡± For a girl who was currently stripping her father¡¯s fingernails, this was quite an odd statement to make. Anyway, this bit of small talk served well as an icebreaker between us. Lee Hayul was surprisinglymunicative. If you ignored the strange puppet voice. ¡°Is it okay if I ask why you¡¯re trying to kill Jung Sangguk?¡± ¡°Huff¡?¡± Jung Sangguk reacted to the word ¡°kill.¡± Even though he was dragged into the basement and had his fingernails torn out, he hadn¡¯t expected his daughter to kill him. But Jung Sangguk was meant to die. In the 18th turn, Lee Hayul killed Jung Sangguk, hanged the housemaid, and then took her own life. Everyone here, except Jung Sangguk, considered his death to be an inevitable event. Lee Hayul naturally responded to my question. ¡°He betrayed my mother.¡± Mother? Was she referring to Lee Hayul¡¯s biological mother, Jung Sangguk¡¯s second wife? ¡°He said he¡¯d bring a doctor. That there was medicine. That her treatment was progressing. But my mother died.¡± ¡°Mmph¡!¡± ¡°My mother wanted to stay in Korea. He forced her toe here. And then he abandoned her.¡± Lee Hayul¡¯s ¡°voice¡± remained unchanged. It was the same unvarying mechanical sound. However, Lee Hayul¡¯s ¡°eyes¡± zed as if melting gold. That was the true temperature she held inside. ¡°I remember. Since I was five, he rarely visited our home. He found my mother annoying. Me, too. He was afraid to stay in Korea, scared we¡¯d be discovered.¡± ¡°Mmppph!¡± ¡°The day my mother died, I awakened. This is revenge for her.¡± Jung Sangguk desperately struggled, trying to deny it. The old wheelchair he was strapped to creaked as it shook. ¡I could feel the sincerity in Lee Hayul¡¯s words. But I also knew that sincerity doesn¡¯t guarantee the truth of the past or the future. That¡¯s the most painful reality for us humans. ¡°Can I hear Jung Sangguk¡¯s side of the story?¡± ¡°¡¡.¡± [Trantor ¨C Jjsecus] [Proofreader ¨C Gun] Lee Hayul looked up at me sideways. Her golden eyes seemed to be searching my face for any hidden intentions. She nodded. ¡°I don¡¯t mind.¡± ¡°Phhaaah!¡± Jung Sangguk¡¯s tongue finally regained its freedom. Though it was still tangled with spider webs, it ckened slightly. ¡°Th-This is a lie! Doctor Jang, don¡¯t believe the words of a child who tortures her own parent! I am Jung Sangguk! Jung Sangguk! A man who sacrifices himself for his country and people!¡± ¡°Ah, I apologize. I pretended otherwise at the party, but I actually consider the Second Provisional Government a kind of farce.¡± Jung Sangguk looked confused. ¡°Pardon?¡± ¡°The Fukuoka officials treated you well out of courtesy, not interest. Mr. Jung Sangguk, why would awakened individuals who stayed in Korea and got along with the Ten ns feel favorable towards you?¡± ¡°¡¡.¡± ¡°And as I mentioned, my goal is to bring Lee Hayul to our academy. Right now, I just want to verify if her ims are true. As you know, a teacher needs to understand their student¡¯s family background to some extent.¡± ¡°I¡¯m telling you, it¡¯s a lie!¡± Jung Sangguk shouted. ¡°How did I neglect them? Huh? How did I neglect them! If I wanted to hide my second family, would I bring them here and make a big deal about it? Think about it! If I really wanted to neglect them, I would¡¯ve left them to die in Korea!¡± ¡°¡¡.¡± ¡°Sure, it¡¯s tough living here, but Korea, you know! The Ten ns! That damn bastard! The Korean army! Our military was wiped out! The North Korean army was annihted, too! With someone like that roaming around, should I have left Soyoon and Hayul there to die? Was that right? Yes! I¡¯m a traitor! I, Jung Sangguk, am a traitor! But I wanted to save my family. I came to Japan, begging to save my family!¡± Jung Sangguk¡¯s words also felt sincere. But I knew that simting pain is a politician¡¯s instinct. ¡°If I were a selfish man thinking only of myself, I wouldn¡¯t have cared for Hayul! But how can a daughter, no matter how upset, persecute her parent like this- mmph!¡± Once again, spider webs wrapped tightly around Jung Sangguk¡¯s tongue. At first, I thought Lee Hayul had forcibly sealed Jung Sangguk¡¯s mouth. But she hadn¡¯t. ¡°Brought them, and neglected them.¡± Jung Sangguk¡¯s mouth moved. Though the sound was his, the words were not. They were Lee Hayul¡¯s words. Whether intentional or driven by emotion, Lee Hayul was controlling Jung Sangguk¡¯s tongue, teeth, and throat to speak her thoughts. ¡°This house was originally shabby. I rebuilt it using my ability to control people,¡± Lee Hayul stated. ¡°Pft- Even that! In times like these, that¡¯s a luxury and a blessing! Why don¡¯t you understand that now that you¡¯re grown?¡± ¡°Lies. Your house waspletely different.¡± Then a very strange thing happened. Both of them were using the same tongue and mouth to converse. No, to argue. Lee Hayul¡¯s words came out choked and mechanical, probably because Jung Sangguk was resisting. But his resistance failed. So the two ended up alternating as they spoke, as if they had forgotten my presence entirely, their emotions shing violently yet diverging on a single path. ¡°Of course! I¡¯m the head of the provisional government! If I lived in a shabby ce, it would disgrace all the Koreans exiled here! Do you even understand how much the Japanese care about appearances?¡± ¡°Why did you stop feeding mom when she was sick and bedridden? Why didn¡¯t you visit her?¡± ¡°I told you! I was out of my mind back then! Busy! And where do you think foodes from, the ground? Everyone was starving and struggling!¡± ¡°And mom¡¯s funeral?¡± ¡°Of course I couldn¡¯t go! I keep telling you! I¡¯m not just one person. The future and hope of Korea depend on me!¡± ¡°You said you wanted to save your family. Just a moment ago. Then why suddenly talk about the country?¡± ¡°That was at first! Only at first! When I started looking after the Koreans here, I felt a sense of duty! Do you think a person stays the same forever? Does a traitor remain a traitor for life? Should a bad person just be killed? How can you be so harsh? Even if the whole world wants to kill me, family should protect each other!¡± ¡°Lies.¡± ¡°No, it¡¯s not!¡± ¡°You didn¡¯t protect us.¡± ¡°I couldn¡¯t protect you! Yes! I¡¯m sorry, Hayul. Okay? Dad was wrong!¡± ¡°Another lie. You didn¡¯t apologize. Only after you knew about my abilities did you apologize. Why can¡¯t you admit your lies? Why live like this? Why?¡± ¡°Why can¡¯t you understand your father¡¯s sincerity!¡± ¡It was like a bizarre y. I was speechless, watching a scene unlike anything I had ever seen before. On one side was a child who couldn¡¯t speak until she awakened her ability. On the other side was a man who had always been able to say anything. Normally, we think of dolls as things that can¡¯t speak. But isn¡¯t someone who says anything also a kind of doll? After all, if words never convey true feelings, aren¡¯t they simr? ¡°You¡¯re not my daughter! You¡¯re a madwoman who tortures people!¡± ¡°You¡¯re not my father either.¡± Their anger had reached its peak. But I thought they were both wrong. Jung Sangguk was a doll too. When he was the mayor of Busan, he was a doll that said anything to gain favor with the citizens. As the representative of Fukuoka, he was a doll that said anything to win Japanese support. To him, words didn¡¯t matter at all. It didn¡¯t matter if he called the exiled group the Second Provisional Government. It didn¡¯t matter if he renamed Fukuoka to Busan. The only difference was whether it was his country or a foreign one. Jung Sangguk was a lifelong ve to national power, a national puppet. Ifnguage defines a person¡¯s essence, then Jung Sangguk was mimicking essence. Something that imitates a human. Don¡¯t we call that a doll? Strangely, the genes of a doll were passed down to a doll. For Lee Hayul, who grew up watching her mother and father, the essence of a human was imprinted as a doll. Parents, whether they intend to or not, inevitably pass down some legacy to their children. Even the parts he had ignored, his child couldn¡¯t ignore. She couldn¡¯t look away. That was the fate of being human. ¡°Lies.¡± ¡°It¡¯s not a lie¡!¡± And if someone had dedicated their life to power, they must also ept this kind of end. In a battle of spirals that would never intersect, the one who holds the stronger power always wins. Before they came to Japan, and shortly after arriving, the one with power in their family was undoubtedly Jung Sangguk. He had the power to control other dolls. ¡°Lies. Everything. All of it.¡± But not anymore. Now, the master of the ¡°Dollhouse¡± was not him, but Lee Hayul. ¡°Guh¡ªHnng?¡± Jung Sangguk¡¯s neck was constricted. Lee Hayul said nothing. Just as she had been since birth. She looked at her own blood rtive the way she did when she was born. The puppet strings dug into his skin. A choking, convulsive sound. ¡°¡¡! ¡¡!¡± A bit of struggling. And then. ¡°¡¡¡± The doll went limp. The basement fell silent. In the end, thest words of a politician who had stirred up this apocalypse were these: It¡¯s a lie. Everything. All of it. A testament cut into three words. Three segments of a broken neck. As I looked at Lee Hayul, drenched in blood, I wondered whether thosest words were closer to the truth or another lie among the many Jung Sangguk had uttered in his life as a politician. ¡°¡¡¡± Some might think that because those words weren¡¯t spoken by Jung Sangguk¡¯s own will, they can¡¯t be considered his final words. Maybe so. But they were undoubtedly his legacy. [Trantor ¨C Jjsecus] [Proofreader ¨C Gun] Chapter 62 â€“ The Puppeteer V [Trantor ¨C Jjsecus] [Proofreader ¨C Gun] Chapter 62 ¨C The Puppeteer V 9 There¡¯s a bit of a long epilogue. My entire story is essentially one long epilogue. To be honest, I originally wanted to title this memoir something like ¡°The Regressor¡¯s Epilogue.¡± ¡°Huh? Are you crazy, old man?¡± If it weren¡¯t for the interference of Otaku Oh Dokseo, that¡¯s exactly what I would have done. ¡°Why? Isn¡¯t it a good title?¡± ¡°Good? Are you kidding? These days, even the kids who hang out on the SG Net serialization boards wouldn¡¯t fall for that.¡± ¡°Hmm¡ Then how about ¡®The Infinite Regressor¡¯s Daily Caf¨¦¡¯?¡± ¡°What?¡± Oh Dokseo looked like she had just heard something absolutely absurd. ¡°What did you just say?¡± ¡°You know my hobby is being a barista. Every time I go to see Old Scho¡¯s corpse, I also drink a caf¨¦ auit. So I thought I¡¯d use the word caf¨¦¡¡± ¡°You¡¯repletely nuts. You¡¯ve lost it, haven¡¯t you?¡± I could sense the ¡°sincerity¡± in Oh Dokseo¡¯s words. Though I knew an otaku¡¯s sincerity didn¡¯t guarantee truth, this time, surprisingly, I could sense the ¡°truth¡± as well. Hmm. Is it that bad¡? ¡°How to Fail with Infinite Regression?¡± ¡°Your Excellency.¡± ¡°I Am a Regressor.¡± ¡°Your Excellency.¡± ¡°The Regressor Gives Up on Salvation.¡± ¡°Bullshit.¡± ¡°The Regressor¡¯s Epilogue.¡± ¡°Get lost!¡± ¡°Records of the Regressor¡¯s Chronicle.¡± ¡°Oh, please! Old man! Stop it already!¡± ¡°¡¡± Why, though? Is this a generational gap? No, it can¡¯t be. My artistic discernment, honed over thousands of years, has transcended human levels, reaching a point where I can casually greet Leonardo da Vinci, Michngelo, and Goethe with a ¡°Long time no see.¡± I threw out all the title ideas I hade up with over twenty minutes, but Oh Dokseo rejected them all. Even if my character were as enlightened as Gautama Siddhartha, this was an excessive tyranny. In my frustration, I blurted out, ¡°If you¡¯re so smart,e up with a title yourself.¡± ¡°Fine! But whatever title Ie up with, you can¡¯t interfere! After I read all your writings, I¡¯ll decide on a title that fits perfectly!¡± ¡°Alright, let¡¯s see what you¡¯ve got.¡± ¡°Deal!¡± ¡°Deal.¡± In hindsight, I should never have made such a foolish promise. Why did I trust Oh Dokseo toe up with a title? Was it the 50,000 won cap? The jeans full of holes? The gum she could never blow a bubble with? I¡¯d have more faith in Jungg Sangguk¡¯s patriotism. In the end, I still don¡¯t know what title my story has. You might guess that from the fact that I just call it ¡°the story.¡± What a paradox. Like not being able to call one¡¯s father ¡°father¡±¡ No, it¡¯s more like Oedipus not recognizing his father at all since I don¡¯t even know the name. I don¡¯t know how you all feel about this. If you¡¯re seeing both my story and its title, at least know that the title wasn¡¯t chosen by me, Doctor Jang. Anyway. Let¡¯s get back to the epilogue of Lee Hayul, the Puppeteer. 10 Jung Sangguk is dead. The former mayor of Busan is dead. The current Prime Minister of the Republic of Korea¡¯s Second Provisional Government is dead. The chairman of the Fukuoka Korean Association is dead. The representative of Busan is dead. No single word was quite fitting. Jung Sangguk didn¡¯t die for any of those reasons. To be precise in the death certificate, given the cause of death, the most fitting description for this funeral would be: Lee Hayul¡¯s biological father is dead. Although I didn¡¯t subscribe to Freudian psychoanalysis, I enjoyed using its terms. A child killed their father. But Lee Hayul was neither Electra nor Oedipus. A parent¡¯s death should not be considered an epilogue for a child; it is more urately a prologue. It was a cruel thing. And now, I was about to do something cruel. ¡°Lee Hayul.¡± ¡°Yes.¡± Lee Hayul answered, not by moving Jung Sangguk¡¯s severed head, but using the housekeeper¡¯s lips. ¡°Don¡¯t do that.¡± Lee Hayul tilted her head. ¡°What do you mean? This man is dead. Irreversible. Can¡¯t stop it.¡± ¡°I¡¯m not telling you not to kill Jung Sangguk. I¡¯m telling you not to kill yourself.¡± ¡°¡¡¡± She hesitated. The red circles in her eyes grewrger. No further conversation was needed. Every breath Lee Hayul took was anguage in itself. The girl was flustered. ¡°How?¡± ¡°If you¡¯ve killed your parent, you¡¯ve killed them. Why follow them in death? You have talent. The talent to kill people and the talent to save them are the same. If you¡¯re determined to kill yourself, turn that resolve into a weapon against the monsters.¡± ¡°¡¡¡± ¡°This world needs Awakeners. Humanity¡¯s survival is at stake. It doesn¡¯t matter if they are Korean or Japanese. Whether Jung Sangguk is dead or not, everyone you¡¯ve known until now will end up dead at the hands of the monsters.¡± ¡°¡¡¡± ¡°Help us. I¡¯ll help you do that.¡± Silence followed. Half of the silence spilled from Jung Sangguk¡¯s gaping mouth, lying on the concrete floor. Was it just my imagination? It felt like all the dolls crammed into the basement were staring at me. ¡°What if I follow you?¡± ¡°¡¡¡± ¡°Can you stop it? The end of the world.¡± ¡°No, I can¡¯t promise that.¡± ¡°What¡¯s your alias again? Sorry.¡± ¡°Doctor Jang.¡± ¡°Doctor Jang.¡± I had introduced myself several times, but it seemed Lee Hayul¡¯s mind was just now registering my alias properly. Before now, she probably hadn¡¯t considered it. Someone on the brink of death wouldn¡¯t bother remembering new acquaintances. Lee Hayul murmured. ¡°The Ten ns Extermination War. The Swordmaster¡¯spanion.¡± ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°Tang Seorin¡¯s boyfriend.¡± ¡°That¡¯s fake news.¡± ¡°Really? It¡¯s on the radio every day.¡± ¡°It¡¯s fake news. I swear on anything¡ªexcept Jung Sangguk¡¯s patriotism.¡± ¡°¡¡¡± Silence again. Lee Hayul raised a finger. ¡°A condition.¡± ¡°Speak. I¡¯ll try my best to meet it.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t lie. I hate it.¡± ¡°I hear that as ¡®don¡¯t act like your father.¡¯ I can promise that without a doubt. I¡¯m a firm believer in not getting married.¡± ¡°¡¡?¡± ¡°I have no intention of having children. So, I¡¯ll never be someone¡¯s father. It¡¯s the perfect solution to meet your condition.¡± ¡°¡¡¡± Lee Hayul smiled slightly. There was no sound. It was a new expression for her. ¡°I¡¯ll follow you.¡± 11 In many cycles after the 19th, Lee Hayul often became one of my subordinates. Even after Old Scho went on ¡®vacation¡¯ and the Freiheit Academy essentially shut down, that fate didn¡¯t change. Lee Hayul met numerous cruel deaths on the frontlines and in the rear, always at the hands of monsters. The only promise I could keep was that I would meet my end a little sooner and a little more cruelly than her. Of course, many things did change. ¡°Oh. Hayul.¡± ¡°¡¡¡± ¡°Want some coffee? You like con panna, right?¡± ¡°¡¡¡± ¡°Alright. Just a moment.¡± First, I learned signnguage. Now, I could understand what Lee Hayul was saying without her having to control a doll. Even now, as Lee Hayul woke up on the guild hideout¡¯s sofa, she let out a silent yawn and stretched her arms. Looking around with sleepy eyes, she spotted the housekeeper doll. With a light snap of her fingers, she activated the doll. ¡°Where¡¯s the wheelchair?¡± ¡°You left it with Master Noh Doha yesterday.¡± ¡°Oh.¡± ¡°Bear with the difort for today.¡± ¡°Okay.¡± I initially intended to leave her at the Saintess¡¯s ce instead of my guild¡¯s hideout. Both were expressionless shut-ins with support-type abilities. Didn¡¯t they seem alike? However, after a brief stint of living together in the 20th cycle, the Saintess asked me to take her back. ¡°She¡¯s too different from me.¡± ¡°Pardon?¡± ¡°To put it simply, Lee Hayul is¡ an extrovert.¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°She¡¯s a different type of person than I am, Doctor Jang. Just because we¡¯re both support-type and expressionless doesn¡¯t mean we would naturally get along like sisters. Two of my fish tanks broke.¡± ¡°¡¡¡± ¡°I prefer being alone.¡± For some reason, I couldn¡¯t understand, the Saintess and Lee Hayul seemed to have an MBTI conflict. What could I do? Like Sim Ahryeon, Lee Hayul became a permanent member of my guild. After all, her potential as an awakened being was undeniably A-grade. [Trantor ¨C Jjsecus] [Proofreader ¨C Gun] More importantly, Lee Hayul¡¯s talent, as demonstrated in the ¡®Dollhouse,¡¯ was specialized in building hideouts. Thanks to her, I could construct an impregnable hideout. I¡¯ll talk about this more in another episode. 12 Lee Hayul¡¯s routine began to change slightly around the 54th turn. The 54th turn was when I managed to bring Noh Doha into the National Roads Administration, a significant milestone. In other words, this was when Noh Doha and I started to get closer. ¡°Master Noh Doha, it¡¯s been a while. This girl with brown hair just returned from Japan. Could you make her a prosthetic leg?¡± ¡°Sorry, who are you¡?¡± ¡°¡¡¡± ¡°Just kidding. Doctor Jang. It¡¯s just that your appearance freaks me out. You scare me, so please don¡¯t just pop into my sight without warning.¡± ¡°¡¡¡± ¡°But why do Koreansing back from abroad think they get faster hospital appointments? I¡¯m swamped with work.¡± ¡°Ah.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll schedule an appointment for you now, soe back in a month. Today, I need to deal with local elders. Seriously, why are the roads in Busan so bumpy¡?¡± Hmm. Right. To be honest, Noh Doha and I weren¡¯t close personally. There wasn¡¯t anyone who had an emotional connection with Noh Doha. It was only because it was me that the appointment was in a month. For another awakened being, it would have been at least three months. A monthter, Noh Doha examined Lee Hayul. ¡°Your legs are badly damaged. It¡¯s not just physical, but you have three ovepping curses. Impossible to heal, constant poisoning, hallucinations¡ªyou¡¯ve got it all. Where did you lose your legs, if I may ask?¡± ¡°I never had them.¡± The housekeeper answered. Despite the unusual experience, Noh Doha didn¡¯t bat an eye. ¡°Hmm. So, the curses just happened to you. I¡¯ve heard Japan is like that. Do you get phantom pains every three days?¡± ¡°Yes. How did you know?¡± ¡°There are ways to know. It¡¯s severe. Quite severe.¡± Noh Doha continued to measure Lee Hayul¡¯s body with a tape measure. What was peculiar was that Noh Doha measured the lengths of Lee Hayul¡¯s ¡®missing legs¡¯ with the tape measure. ¡°¡¡?¡± Lee Hayul had a confused look, wondering if she was being insulted. But Noh Doha had no intention of insulting her. Of course, Noh Doha had a malicious nature and would tease people like a ghost whenever he had the chance. However, I had never seen him mock a patient in all my turns. ¡°Could you move a bit as if you were trying to use your legs?¡± ¡°Okay.¡± ¡°Good, very good. Now try walking in ce. Oh, could you try a small jump? Even just moving your hips is fine. Hmm. You¡¯re doing well¡.¡± It really seemed like Noh Doha could see Lee Hayul¡¯s legs. His ability included seeing not just muscles but also bones, joints, and nerves. Noh Doha¡¯s awakened ability was to observe and rece a person¡¯s lost body parts. An amazing ability, but it didn¡¯t have a specific name. That was Noh Doha¡¯s choice. He refused to have a name for his ability or even an alias for himself. ¨C ¡°A bureaucrat¡¯s name isn¡¯t useful for anything.¡± That was Noh Doha¡¯s philosophy. I managed to bring someone like him into the National Roads Administration as the chief. Because of this, his ability was casually referred to as [Prosthetic Creation]. Even [Loss Restoration] would have been a more fitting name. ¡°Yes, the measurements are done¡.¡± Noh Doha scribbled someplex numbers into a notebook. ¡°It usually takes one to two weeks to create a prosthetic. Is this tall person here Lee Hayul¡¯s guardian?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°Do you have a preference for wood or metal?¡± ¡°What¡¯s the difference?¡± ¡°Wood needs frequent recements, so you¡¯ll need to visit my workshop regrly. Metal has a longer lifespan but can make a squeaking noise and might rust. Some patients find this annoying.¡± ¡°¡¡.¡± ¡°If you prefer another material, you can bring it to me and I can work with that. A prosthetic is something you¡¯ll use for life, so if you find good materialster, it won¡¯t be toote to decide. No need to rush into getting premium materials now¡.¡± Lee Hayul pondered. You could sense her consideration as a doll expert. ¡°Then, metal.¡± ¡°Are you averse to clockwork?¡± ¡°No.¡± ¡°Do ticking noises drive you crazy, make your hair stand on end, and give you an uncontroble urge to destroy the source?¡± ¡°No.¡± ¡°Do you prefer to move silently and have tasks that require assassinations?¡± ¡°No.¡± ¡°Alright. I¡¯ll make it as quickly as possible, but it might still take more than 15 days. Once it¡¯s done, I¡¯ll send someone to your ce to inform you¡.¡± Despite saying that, it took Noh Doha less than five days to call us back. There are those who give their ideal timeframe and those who give a cautious one; Noh Doha belonged to thetter category, always doubling his estimate. ¡°This is Lee Hayul¡¯s prosthetic¡.¡± ¡°¡¡.¡± Noh Doha handed over the box with tired eyes. The long wooden box was simple yet neat. One corner of the box had ¡®Lee Hayul, xxxx year xx month xx day¡¯ carved into it. The date changed each turn. Instead of handing over the product as is, Noh Doha always packaged it in a box before giving it to the patient. Now you might understand why no one could treat Noh Doha lightly. Any awakened one who dared mess with him would find themselves up against a mob of defenders. ¡°Since it¡¯s your first time at our workshop, would you like to try it on here? If it doesn¡¯t fit well, I can adjust it for you¡.¡± ¡°Sure, please.¡± ¡°Then, Doctor Jang, please turn around¡.¡± Iplied with the instructions of the prosthetic maker. From over my shoulder, came the nking, clicking, and ttering sounds. Amidst the clinks of metal, Noh Doha¡¯s instructions continued, ¡°This goes here,¡± ¡°If it doesn¡¯t fit well, don¡¯t get upset, just remain calm and try again.¡± Finally. ¡°It¡¯s done¡.¡± I turned around. ¡°Try standing up once¡?¡± ¡°¡¡.¡± Lee Hayul shifted in her wheelchair. Even during her return from Japan to Korea, Lee Hayul was very sensitive to the wheelchair¡¯s settings, such as the angle of the seat and its intion level. Feeling a bit uneasy, with a mix of worries and some expectations, like someone suddenly leaving a rented apartment they thought they¡¯d live in forever. ¡°¡¡!¡± It was a soundless exmation, whether it was a battle cry, a protest against the world, or a message to herself. Then she stood up on her own two feet, for the first time since she was a newborn. ¡°¡¡.¡± ¡°How is it? Does it hurt, or feel ufortable, or tingly, or tight?¡± ¡°No.¡± The mechanical sounds seemed particrly loud with her words. ¡°How. Is. It. Completely, fine.¡± ¡°Hmm.¡± Noh Doha tapped Lee Hayul¡¯s ¡®legs¡¯ with his cane. The mechanical parts made a metallic noise. But the material didn¡¯t matter. ¡°Does it feel like real legs¡?¡± ¡°Yes. My toes can wiggle. It feels. Really. Like I¡¯m walking. My feet are walking.¡± ¡°Yes, indeed. Here, I attached a gear to it. It doesn¡¯t serve any engineering purpose; it¡¯s just for looks. As the walking speed increases, the clock hands attached to the gear rotate, just for the aesthetic. There¡¯s no practical use for it. I could have made a sound dampener if it fits your taste¡¡± ¡°Yes.¡± Lee Hayul cried. She wiped away her tears with the back of her hand. Though tears kept flowing, she could speak freely, unlike her usual self. ¡°Thank you.¡± ¡°Hmm.¡± Noh Doha smiled faintly. ¡°Well, I¡¯m d then¡.¡± Depending on who saw it, his smile might seem sinister or ominous. But I judged it to be an innocent smile, without any difort. I always feel a sense of guilt in my heart for dragging someone who finds satisfaction in simply recing lost body parts into a position like the Chief of the National Roads Administration, who, despite having the biggest ambition was just pulling someone out of the most inconvenient elderly patient¡¯s home straight to his workshop from the beginning to the end of his life. ¡°Thank you.¡± Lee Hayul looked at me. ¡°Thank you, Oppa.¡± Even after that, Lee Hayul often rode in her wheelchair. She had be so ustomed to controlling it like a doll¡¯s house, and she enjoyed the sensation of being pushed from behind by the housekeeper. But I witnessed it. ¡°¡.¡± One summer night, when shooting stars poured down from the sky. I saw Lee Hayul, who had been sitting in her wheelchair, rise to her feet and reach out towards the starlight. Her eyes, a dazed golden color, reflected as much golden light as her own pupils. She gazed at the twinkling little star, her thoughts a mystery. In the end, when we¡¯re born, we have no choice but to ept something belonging to someone else, whether it¡¯s their heart or their flesh and blood. We¡¯re all born as dolls. But Lee Hayul, like some puppeteer, was undoubtedly going to die as a human after facing death hundreds or thousands of times. Listening to the luby of starlight. ¨C The Puppeteer. The End. [PR/N: Beautiful chap.] [Trantor ¨C Jjsecus] [Proofreader ¨C Gun] Chapter 63 â€“ Sleepwalker I [Trantor ¨C Jjsecus] [Proofreader ¨C Gun] Chapter 63 ¨C Sleepwalker I 1 In my regressor life, I consider the 1st to 100th turns as the ¡°early stage.¡± Alternatively, it could be called the ¡°childhood phase.¡± This was the period when I romantically fantasized that simply beating down the anomalies would somehow bring peace to the world. And during this early phase, there were three boss monsters that dominated the Korean Penins as their turf. Stage 1 Boss: Crawling octopus head. No matter how much you stab it, unless you simultaneously hit both hearts, it boasts infinite regenerative power and never dies! Known as the ¡°Immortal Octopus or Ten ns.¡± Stage 2 Boss: If you don¡¯t know, you¡¯ll fall for it! Thinking it was a virus promising free immortality in the apocalypse, everyone joyfully epted it, only to find out it was just fertilizer to grow a gigantic world tree! A new Buddha and god, ¡°The Immortal Udumbara!¡± Stage 3 Boss: This one will get you even if you know about it! In the 7th year of the regression,e what may, an unavoidable Armageddon will rain down from the night sky, ¡°The Unavoidable Meteor Shower!¡± Isn¡¯t the location of the Korean Penins just a marvel? Truly, it makes one¡¯s chest swell with pride. However, among them, the octopus can gradually be ignored. By the time you hit the 100th turn, the octopus is nothing more than a mere mob that can be one-shot killed. ¨C Bloop? Yes. Even if you act cute, I won¡¯t let you off. Octopus tentacle head, ripoff Cthulhu, cut down. As for the ¡°New Buddha Virus,¡± the ¡°Red Cordyceps,¡± the ¡°World Tree,¡± and all the other names and the double the notorious fame they held, Udumbara¡¯s fate was no different. ¨C Hun?g?ry?? Though it might seem unfair from its perspective, Udumbara¡¯s matchup against a regressor is the worst. Once I figured out that Udumbara¡¯s original spawning point was in room 202 on the second floor of a closed inn in Onyang, it was perfectly conquered. And so, now to the final chapter of my childhood. ¡°Hey? Look at the sky.¡± Let¡¯s talk about the meteor shower. ¡°Oh my! A shooting star! Wow, there are so many!¡± ¡°The ground¡¯s going to hell, but the sky is beautiful¡.¡± To be precise, among the early-stage boss trio, only the octopus operated strictly on the Korean Penins. Udumbara, as known, tainted all of East Asia with the cult called the New Buddha. The meteor shower was the same. The ¡°shooting stars¡± fell not just on the Korean Penins but worldwide. ¡°Hey? Why does it seem like those are getting closer¡?¡± ¡°What are you doing! Run! Get out of here!¡± ¡°Run? Where to? The guild master, the whole sky is falling.¡± ¡°¡¡.¡± Have you ever yed a battle royale genre game? In such games, as time progresses, the yable map area gradually shrinks. For instance, a ¡°zone¡± closes in, making the safe area smaller. It was a technique to force yers into a tighter ring as the game reached its final stages. This world selectively copied the worst parts of such games. Because our lives were essentially a shitty game. ¡°Half of the Eurasian continent is gone!¡± ¡°What kind of bullshit is that?¡± ¡°Literally just wiped out. Rememberst week¡¯s meteor shower? It hit, and half the continent just got wiped out.¡± ¡°This is insane.¡± One time it was South America, another time Australia, then Eurasia, and asionally the Pacific Ocean. Any continent hit by the meteor shower invariably turned into an uninhabitable wastnd. It was truly an Armageddon. As humanity gazed up at the meteors pouring down like rain in the night sky, they were momentarily swept up in an apocalyptic sense of romanticism. But soon, that romanticism turned into a shiver of terror. ¡°Again, again! They¡¯re falling again!¡± ¡°Damn it, where this time? Where are they going to hit?¡± Meteor shower. Western awakeners often called it ¡°Armageddon,¡± while Japanese awakeners named it ¡°Meteor.¡± ording to the ssification system of the Library Society, which saw it as their mission to name anomalies, it was a continent-level threat, designated as ¡°The Shining Little Star.¡± ¡°¡¡¡± The identity of the meteor that Lee Hayul reached out for in the previous episode was none other than this. Another way for our world to meet its end. 2 The first time I encountered a meteor shower was in the 23rd turn. The number 23 holds significant meaning for me. Not in a good way¡ªif I were to put it bluntly¡ªand I believe we¡¯re close enough now for me to be this candid¡ªit was quite a shitshow. Perhaps some of you, with a memory as sharp as mine, might recall the events that unfolded in the 23rd turn, or more precisely, the events that began from the 23rd turn. ¡°Hey? Old man? Old man, are you here?¡± Ta-da- Congrattions! You¡¯ve found Old Scho¡¯s corpse! ¡°Damn it.¡± Yes. It was in the 23rd turn that Old Scho decided to take his first vacation. It was also the moment my character, Doctor Jang, got his exclusive theme song titled ¡°(Congrattions) Shitstorm (Celebration).¡± At that time, I was¡ well¡ Honestly, I was a mess. A sort of dark chapter in my history, you might say. The person I thought would be myrade for life had suddenly vanished. ¡°What the¡ you managed such high-level magic with just two incantations¡ I guess I¡¯m a genius! And Doctor Jang! I think you might be a bit of a genius too!¡± Although I never said it, this was part of why I helped Tang Seorin perfect thew of equivalent exchange magic. Back then, I leaned on Tang Seorin emotionally. Because, well¡ I have some doubts about whether I should reveal this much, but since we¡¯re bing quite close, I suppose it¡¯s time I share more openly. I¡¯ll be honest. It was because I believed Tang Seorin was the only one who could apany me through the same timeline in my regressor life. ¡°Even if we can¡¯t live together in life, we can apany each other in death.¡± ¡°Look forward to it. Mypanion in time.¡± Of course, Tang Seorin didn¡¯t remember the time we spent together. But at least, by burning her lifespan to unleash her magic, she continued to umte her lifespan through regression. So, though it¡¯s a rather embarrassing confession, I viewed Tang Seorin as a substitute for Old Scho. No, calling her a substitute doesn¡¯t do it justice. I was clearly dependent on her. Even though my mental state was shattered, I didn¡¯t forget my final duty as a regressor. Somehow, without Old Scho, I managed to build an organization by myself, then installed Tang Seorin as the leader, and eradicated the Immortal Octopus. And then, in the seventh year. ¡°Wow. Doctor Jang, look over there.¡± ¡°Hmm? A shooting star?¡± ¡°Yeah. There are so many.¡± Tang Seorin, walking barefoot on the sandy beach with a shoe in one hand, pointed at the night sky. That was the moment we first observed the meteor shower. Naturally, back then, I couldn¡¯t have imagined that the sparkling meteor shower in the night sky was actually an anomaly. I finished my nighttime stroll and went to bed peacefully¨D¨D. Blink, and the next thing I knew, I was back at the starting point of my regression. I found myself back at Busan Station. ¡°¡Huh?¡± I was so dumbfounded that I looked around nkly. What the hell was going on? Anyone would be confused if they suddenly regressed while they were just about to fall asleep. At first, I thought it was a dream. But no matter how much I pinched my cheek, I didn¡¯t wake up. So, believe it or not, I had really regressed while sleeping. ¡°You son of a bitch!¡± [Trantor ¨C Jjsecus] [Proofreader ¨C Gun] SG Guy (I didn¡¯t know his real name was Seo Gyu back then) was shouting his trademark expletives, like an rm app hell-bent on ruining a worker¡¯s morning. And I felt a simr emotion to those office workers. It was about 30% bewilderment and 70% absolute frustration. ¡®Seriously, wait a minute. Why is this happening?¡¯ But regardless of my confusion, the physical time of the world flowed on relentlessly. A scream tore through the waiting room of Busan Station. Seo Gyu¡¯s neck was neatly severed by a fairy. While people fled in panic, I alone stood there, dazed and unfocused. Some materialists might go on a rampage when their sanity goes AWOL, but I was more of an idealist who reced the void with rational thought. ¡®Did someone poison me?¡¯ This seemed like the most reasonable assumption. ¡®Or assassination? As absurd as it sounds. Even if I was asleep, could someone assassinate Doctor Jang as easily as twisting a chicken¡¯s neck?¡¯ Ah. I let out a groan. ¡®How could this happen! I¡¯ve been toocent!¡¯ Indeed. Ultimately, humanity¡¯s true enemy wasn¡¯t monsters but fellow humans. Our ancestors probably decided to write history to immortalize the sentiment [Humankind, that thing, sucks.] ¡°From now on¡ I will live for myself.¡± As I dered my resolution with a determined face, the fairy, who had been ying with Seo Gyu¡¯s rolling head, tilted its head quizzically. ¡°Huh. What¡¯s this human babbling about instead of running away?¡± ¡°Quiet, tutorial mob.¡± I responded to the fairy¡¯s rebuttal with a flick on its forehead (¡°Ouch!¡±) and then, as usual, looted the silver bell from the souvenir shop in the waiting room. Immediately, I started devising a n. Never sleep alone. Not only establish a guild and recruitrades but also build an impregnable fortress where we could livemunally¡ It was around this time that I started putting serious effort into my guild base. Although it waster torn apart from within by the mysterious existence named Koyori, who used brainwashing beams on everyone, until then, my guild base was a fortress that had never been breached. It was a ce of resistance like Gongsun Zan¡¯s camp or Jiang Wei¡¯s sword pavilion (though both eventually fell, let¡¯s ignore that for now). Of course, even though I dered that I would live for myself, I wasn¡¯t one of those typical web novel protagonists of a Korean web novel, a monopolistic regressor who says he will survive on his own but really struggles to survive, it did not suit my personality in the first ce. People should live together, shouldn¡¯t they? Naturally, I actively shared my fortress-building know-how with others. ¡°Uh, Doctor Jang. I appreciate you looking out for my safety, but¡ isn¡¯t this a bit overreacting?¡± Perhaps ¡°sharing¡± is not the most urate term. ¡°Advising¡± might be more appropriate. ¡°Gal! If you continue to be socent, you could be assassinated without anyone knowing, Guild Master Tang Seorin!¡± ¡°Uh¡ huh? Oh, um¡¡± ¡°People are ttering you as the greatest awakened one in Korea, and now your vanity is sky-high! Even if you are strong, that¡¯s only after you sing the incantation until the third verse! Before that, you¡¯re just a mage in front of a sword master! Do you think those dastardly assassins will wait patiently while you leisurely hold a concert?¡± ¡°Well, I mean¡ this is my guild headquarters, right? I have a well-organized watch and patrol system. It¡¯s impossible for anyone but someone as strong as you to get past the guards to my sleeping car, so why¡¡± ¡°Gal! Assassins would have already bribed all your loyal guild members! Or what if they have abilities like hypnosis or brainwashing? What then!¡± ¡°Uh¡¡± Surprisingly, my prediction was 120% urate. I foresaw the distant future where I would be utterly defeated by Koyori. This is what regression experience is all about. A terribly stupid experience. Tang Seorin seemed to reach a simr conclusion. ¡°If an awakened one has such a broken ability, then security is meaningless from the start¡¡± ¡°Gal! From now on, before you go to sleep, you must at least sing fouryers of incantations: [Repeat], [Auto-y], [Silence], [Barrier]. Naturally, call Hayul and ster the train cars with puppet strings.¡± ¡°Uh, but those spider webs are a bit¡¡± ¡°Gal! If you die, Korea is finished. Are you aware of your position?¡± ¡°Um, okay¡ Yeah, I¡¯m sorry¡¡± ¡°Good. No, thinking about it, singing incantations before sleep isn¡¯t realistic.¡± ¡°Oh! That¡¯s what I¡¯ve been trying to say¡¡± ¡°Therefore, we need to make an impregnable fortress. Don¡¯t worry, Tang Seorin. I won¡¯t ask you to leave your beloved train. Instead, I¡¯ll transform this train into the strongest fortress on earth.¡± ¡°¡¡¡± Tang Seorin looked at me with an expression that said, ¡®Why has this guy suddenly be such a pain?¡¯ But I ignored it. In the end, not only my base but also the train of the Three Thousand Worlds was transformed into the ¡®Ultimate Weapon¡ªTrain Fortress¡ªGxy Express 999.¡¯ Now, not even a swarm of assassins¡¯ grandfathers could breach it. In the seventh year. ¡°Wow. Doctor Jang, look at that.¡± ¡°Mm? Ah, it¡¯s a meteor shower. It¡¯s likely the annual meteor stream.¡± ¡°Really? There are so many. It¡¯s beautiful. It would be even prettier if someone hadn¡¯t covered the windows of my luxurious train car with steel bars and spider webs.¡± ¡°¡¡¡± After having drinks with Tang Seorin, I returned to my base and fell into a peaceful sleep¨D¨D. ¡°Ah, hello everyone! Hmm, the number seems a bit smaller¡ Anyway, you must be surprised to be suddenly summoned here! But don¡¯t worry! I¡¯ll be your friendly guide from the very beginning!¡± Naturally, I had regressed again. The familiar ceiling of the waiting room at Busan Station greeted my eyes. Of course, the 264th tutorial fairy was also flying around cutely. ¡°¡¡¡± My vision grew dim. In my ears, SG Guy¡¯s ever-so-friendly rm rang out. ¡°You son of a bitch!¡± [Trantor ¨C Jjsecus] [Proofreader ¨C Gun] Chapter 65 â€“ Sleepwalker III [Trantor ¨C Jjsecus] [Proofreader ¨C Gun] Chapter 65 ¨C Sleepwalker III 4 That¡¯s how I received the report titled ¡®Devastation¡¯ after the first encounter with the meteor shower. In fact, even calling it the first encounter reflects a rather human-centric mindset. It was the third encounter from the perspective of the meteor shower. Since I¡¯ve already written a report, I might as well finish it. Although the me from the 25th encounter couldn¡¯t grasp it, the scenes unfolded as follows after the meteor shower descended to Earth. sh¨D¨D¨D. Simultaneously with the meteor¡¯s fall, the starlight evaporated within a radius of tens to hundreds of kilometers in an instant. Evaporation, literally evaporation. It¡¯s a phenomenon that¡¯s difficult to describe with any other word. -Kwaaaang! Everything engulfed by the starlight, not just humans, but also animals, nts, and even most of the monsters, all turn into ¡®ashes¡¯ in an instant. The ashes are not gray but a very white color, making them look refined. If you run to the spot where the meteor appeared, you can see the entire world turned into a pile of white ashes, with countless particles fluttering in the air like cherry blossoms. It¡¯s quite magnificent. Of course, it¡¯s better not to get too close just because it¡¯s beautiful. Even if you take just one step into the ¡®territory of ashes,¡¯ or even just one finger crosses over, everything will burn white. Yes, that¡¯s for me from the 26th turn. Such a crazy experiment-loving idiot. Thus, the Gyeongsangnam-do province of South Korea was wiped out in one go, but unfortunately, the meteor¡¯s activities didn¡¯t end there. After the Korean Penins, the meteor goes on a world tour, hitting Hawaii in the Pacific Ocean, Ingushetia in Russia, China, France, India, Pakistan, Israel, and so on, one after another. Naturally, with each hit, the world is riddled with holes like Swiss cheese frequently seen in Tom and Jerry. The areas where humans can live decrease ordingly. The total time for this world tour is 6 years. Exactly 6 years after the meteor firstnded on the Korean Penins, the entire world turns into a friendly pile of ashes. By the way, in the 5th year, the meteornds in Seoul. At that time, not only the Korean Penins but also half of East Asia bes the ¡®territory of ashes.¡¯ The meteor that killed me in a convenience store roley session was this Seoul-bound meteor. There are no exceptions to destruction. No matter how deep you dig underground to build a bunker, or even if you escape to the sea on a boat, eventually, the entire surface of the Earth will be covered with ¡®ashes.¡¯ Even the sea turns white when hit by the meteor. A beautiful death. A whitened apocalypse. A world of white. ¡°¡¡¡± In the 27th turn, I seeded in escaping from the meteor. It would be more urate to say ¡®scouting for future strategies¡¯ than ¡®escaping.¡¯ Anyway, as long as I stayed out of the meteor¡¯s range, my escape wasn¡¯t difficult. Even as the Korean Penins, Tang Seorin, and many other connections turned into ashes by the starlight, I meticulously collected information about this monster. ¡®Now is the time to endure.¡¯ It was something familiar to me, a regressor. During this time, I also started using the term ¡®monster¡¯ instead of ¡®creature.¡¯ Observing the meteor, I corrected many of the fixed notions I had about monsters. Of course, that didn¡¯t mean there was a miraculous defeat of the meteor right away. Because the Korean Penins at this time was truly a hellfire penins. ¡°Bul-sal-yeong-saeng! Yeong-saeng-hwa-eom! Eok-ri-gung-jeong!¡± ¡°Ah! You know Shinbul (New Buddha)! If you put a flower on your head, you can survive even if your arms and legs are cut off!¡± ¡°Why do we need to awaken? If you just believe in Shinbul, you can really enjoy eternal life, right?¡± When the 7th year arrived, and a meteor shower poured down on Gyeongsangnam-do, I took it a step further and bloomed the World Tree, ¡®Udumbara.¡¯ But that¡¯s not all. If we couldn¡¯t properly seal Baekhwa High School, our ck magic sorcerer, Cheon Yohwa, wouldughingly turn it into a ¡®School City.¡¯ Honestly, even though I¡¯m a regressor, this was a bit too much to handle. Topare it to a nuclear explosion-level meteor strike and to spread it across East Asia as a powerful end-times cult, adding a zombie city to the mix? What¡¯s going on? Are they telling me to just die quietly? ¡®I endure.¡¯ So, I obediently died. Yes, a regressor dies once anyway. ¡®Surely, the tide of change wille.¡¯ In other words, I waited for an opportunity. Sometimes I died from being hit by the starlight bombardment of the meteor, sometimes I was torn apart by the million zombie army of School City, refining strategies for the various ways the world ends,menting theck of masterpieces to execute those strategies, feeling impatient, enduring, and waiting. Is it really possible to clear such difficult stages, or rather, scenarios? I endured. Shouldn¡¯t I focus on enjoying small pleasures now, like an old Scho, instead of burdening myself with obligations? After all, no matter how many times I return, the fact remains that the world doesn¡¯t change much, right? I endured. Perhaps I should confide everything to Tang Seorin. I endured. And then. ¡°There are no exalted beings.¡± Finally. ¡°The Saintess of the World and the Conqueror of the Alps are all just characters I created myself.¡± Swoosh. A small wave sounded in my world. ¨D¨DFinally, the current of change has arrived. 5 No matter how much the world tries to force me into the trash genre, I, Doctor Jang, never faltered. If the bookworm heard me, they would say, ¡°No, sir, not faltering is the exact key seasoning that makes trash delicious,¡± but I would ignore the literary otaku¡¯s remark with style. Game Changer. The overwhelming abilities of the joining Saintesspletely reversed the situation that had repeated dozens of times until now. ¡°I found it. Doctor Jang.¡± ¡°Chungcheongnam-do. Asan. Onyang.¡± World Tree Udumbara, conquered. The ¡®knowledge¡¯ of the regressor about the future and the ¡®eyes¡¯ of the Saintess about the present created an incredible synergy. Even without considering her awakening ability, the Saintess was a reliable partner. We shared information, devised strategies, and gradually eliminated the elements that were turning this Korean Penins into a hellfire. ¡°But I don¡¯t know how to deal with the meteor shower. From the starlight falling from the sky to the effect of forcibly putting people to sleep¡¡± ¡°Don¡¯t worry. I have a n.¡± I said. ¡°The role that you, the Saintess, should focus on right now is solely prophecy.¡± ¡°¡.?¡± The Saintess tilted her head. Before long, transparent messages appeared to all awakeners active on the Korean Penins. [¡°The Saintess of the Salvation¡± sends out a quest.] ¡°Huh?¡± ¡°What¡¯s this?¡± The awakeners tilted their heads as they read the quest window. The message read as follows: [Trantor ¨C Jjsecus] [Proofreader ¨C Gun] ©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤ [Meteor Strike] In 6 years, a special monster, ¡®Meteor¡¯, will fall on the Korean Penins. Meteor will engulf the entire southern region of the penins in mes. Survive the threat posed by Meteor. -Reward: Survival -Failure: Death ©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤ A quest distributed to all awakeners on the Korean Penins. Thanks to the Saintess¡¯s [Telepathy] ability, both voice and text messages could be delivered. Of course, the messages were sent under the name of the Saintess, not directly from her. ¡°Death? Just die?¡± ¡°This is crazy. What kind of quest is this?¡± ¡°The probability of it being a lie¡ is it nonexistent?¡± The awakeners were confused. The Saintess yed the roles of the Constetions so well that even I, as a regressor, could have been deceived. It was very difficult to doubt the authenticity of the quests given by the Constetions. After all, who would imagine that some crazy person would mimic the Constetions using [Far-Sight], [Telepathy], and [Time Freeze] abilities simultaneously? Above all, this was the moment when the Saintess¡¯s mastery of controlling the Constetions and her innate talent for manipting the minds of the awakeners would be revealed. ¡°Monster? Meteor? ¡ What is that?¡± ¡°Well, aside from saying it will happen in 6 years, there are no other clues. How are we supposed to proceed with this quest?¡± ¡°Is there anyone with more specific information! If you share information with our guild, we¡¯ll reward you generously!¡± The Saintess didn¡¯t reveal all the information from the beginning. She guided the awakeners to string together clues themselves voluntarily. [¡°The Red Cloak¡¯s Master¡± secretly teaches the term ¡®monster¡¯ to refer to monsters.] She slowly leaked messages, making it seem like special information given only to dedicated awakeners. [The Chain Quest for ¡®Meteor Strike¡¯ is activated!] For specific awakeners, information about Meteor was presented like a quest, gradually revealed in steps. ©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤ [Identity of Meteor] (2/4) Through our investigations so far, it has been revealed that Meteor is the main culprit behind the destruction of numerous worlds. If Meteor¡¯s starlight touches the ground, no one can escape destruction. You are the only one who fully understands the danger of Meteor at the moment. ©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤ I prepared all the quest rewards to motivate them. As seen when I ran the convenience store, I could secure a considerable amount of remaining logistics in South Korea if necessary. I hid goods in remote warehouses, and when the Saintess revealed the location of the warehouse as an ¡®event reward,¡¯ the awakeners eagerly rushed to grab the supplies. In addition, when Cheon Yohwater joined our operation, the authenticity of the ¡°quests given by the Constetions¡± reached its peak. ¡°Ah, Meteor¡? Definitely. Those things plunged my home world into the end.¡± ¡°I¡¯m just a refugee. So I don¡¯t know much about Meteor. But ording to rumors¡ before the starlight falls from the night sky, there¡¯s always a song that echoes.¡± NPCs created ording to my orders. asionally, when venturing into the depths of the void, I arranged for towns popted by NPCs to be discovered. The NPCs imed they were ¡®refugees from a world that had already been destroyed.¡¯ ¡°A song? What song?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know any more details than that.¡± ¡°Ha, this seems like really important information¡ We¡¯re stuck here.¡± The NPCs had parts of their bodies melting like zombies, and this visual shock ironically added credibility to their words. Anyone unfamiliar would consider it a sign of something truly ominous happening. And so, about a year passed. -Anonymous: Isn¡¯t it about time for guilds to gather and conduct joint training, with Meteor¡¯s appearance just a year away? -Anonymous: Even now, they¡¯re already regrly summoning allied guilds in the Three Thousand Worlds. -Anonymous: It seems objectively that the only master of the Korean Penins is Tang Seorin¡. ©¸Anonymous: Are you wearing a straw hat? The awakeners on the Korean Penins had perfectly prepared themselves to hunt Meteor. Now it was time for the regressor¡¯s time to shine. [Trantor ¨C Jjsecus] [Proofreader ¨C Gun] Chapter 66 â€“ Sleepwalker IV [Trantor ¨C Jjsecus] [Proofreader ¨C Gun] Chapter 66 ¨C Sleepwalker IV 6 I can easily end the Ten ns in one fell swoop. I have mastered the miracle of starlight, the aura of starlight, which was originally only allowed to Sword Masters in this world. However, I refrained from ending the Ten ns in one turn whenever possible. Despite the inconvenience, I made sure to establish the ¡®Korean Awakener Alliance¡¯ and drag them into the battlefield against the Ten ns. ¡°It¡¯s been a while, Doctor Jang. Have you been well?¡± ¡°Oh, Doctor Jang! Hello!¡± Because, to put it somewhat ridiculously, the Awakeners needed ¡®awakening.¡¯ I didn¡¯t need to lecture them on how powerful the Ten ns were on the battlefield, or how their arrogance, considering themselves as transcendent beings, was misguided. It was all neatly demonstrated in actualbat. Whether it¡¯s dung or soybean paste, you only truly know after tasting it; such is the fate of Homo sapiens. After engaging in battles of life and death with the Ten ns, the awakeners of the Korean Penins came to the realization that they should have formed an alliance sooner to handle A-ss monsters in a more amicable manner. And then, I added another trick up my sleeve. ¡°It¡¯s been a while. Have you all been well?¡± ¡°Yes, we¡¯ve been well!¡± ¡°Are you getting used to the Sword Aura?¡± ¡°Ahaha. Well, not quite yet¡¡± I immediately advertised, ¡°I offer free advanced lessons in Sword Aura techniques exclusively to awakeners who join the alliance.¡± Even though civilization had copsed, the zeal for education was ingrained in the DNA of the Korean people. The words ¡®advanced,¡¯ ¡®lessons,¡¯ and ¡®exclusive tutoring¡¯ paralyzed their brains. Many awakeners had already intuitively realized how useful the Sword Aura was in battles against the Ten ns. The tentacles of the Ten ns were tougher than the toughest squid legs in the world, and unless it was a de imbued with Starlight, hardly anything could pierce them. ¡°Doctor Jang!¡± ¡°Doctor Jang, I¡¯ve been stuck in my trainingtely¡¡± To put it inly, the Korean Awakener Alliance treated me like an ambassador of sorts. Originally, this role was held by Scho, but he retired and¡ Of course, all the Awakeners were nuts. Juniors who knew their superiors like the back of their hands were abundant. So, while teaching the awakeners Sword Aura techniques, I deliberately didn¡¯t ask for anything in return. Guild management? Why would I interfere with that? Your guild is yours, so you handle it. Tuition fees? Oh, forget about that. Just take the essence of the techniques from me. Yeah. Take this and take that, and take even more. It¡¯s okay. I don¡¯t need anything in return. In the apocalypse, this behavior was perfect for being taken advantage of. But what if that sucker passed by the Void overflowing with monsters without a care, traveled from city to city, decimated Ten n heads like fried chicken, received plenty of affection from the Constetions, and even disyed friendship with the guild masters and highway supervisors of the Three Thousand Worlds? Even the awakeners, who selectively allowed reason to enter their skulls, had to rethink the concept of ¡®sucker.¡¯ ¡°Teacher, when can we settle the debt?¡± ¡°Yeah. you can repay me anytime, but I won¡¯t deliberately ask for it, and I¡¯ll continue to do so in the future. So, if you want more advanced training in Sword Aura techniques, go for it. Thanks to these techniques, you¡¯ll survive dangerous situations and solidify your authority as a guild master, but I won¡¯t give ask for anything in return. Everyone will know that you¡¯ve cleaned up after me, yourself, and our dear old Scho.¡± ¡°Teacher! No, Brother! Please!¡± What we call the Super Eul phenomenon. To exaggerate a bit, if I came up with a decent excuse and murmured, ¡®Hey,tely it seems like the Incheon guild leaders are stirring up trouble in Korea¡¡¯ all the gathered guild leaders would say, ¡®The Ambassador is setting up the Incheon guild!¡¯ and lead their entire forces to confront them. Even the Meteor Suppression Battle wasn¡¯t just about a convenient excuse; the fate of the entire Korean Penins was at stake. Guild leaders who had received favors from me naturally had to show up. ¡°Always popr whenever I see you. You too.¡± As we returned from the handshake event, Tang Seorin greeted me with a face that clearly expressed her irritation. ¡°Why don¡¯t you just settle in one city instead of constantly wandering around the country? I can¡¯t tell if you¡¯re diligent or negligent¡¡± ¡°But I have settled down. Gangnam in Seoul is all mine. Are you implying I¡¯m ignoring thend value in Gangnam right now?¡± ¡°But there¡¯s nothing there for you except your guild building.¡± ¡°That¡¯s buying at the lowest point. Once civilization starts to rebuild, my life as Doctor Jang will be a legendary real estate story.¡± Tang Seorin chuckled. ¡°So, you have no intention of settling down at all? No thoughts of getting involved with anyone? I know quite a few people who like you.¡± ¡°I just¡ don¡¯t care much about dating.¡± After all, for the Meteor Shower to arrive, dusk had to fall. We all stood with brooms in hand, chatting eagerly while waiting for nightfall. Why did we each have a broom? Well, you¡¯ll find out soon enough. Tension filled the air. To alleviate the tension, jokes and light-hearted banter flowed freely among us, much like they did in the military. Ignoring the extraordinary by maintaining the ordinary was a wisdom humanity had grasped for a long time. ¡°Why? Are you afraid ofmitment?¡± ¡°I just don¡¯t have much interest in dating. Honestly, my mental age is around 1000 years. Even if I wanted to, dating kids like you is out of the question.¡± ¡°Pfft. Whatever.¡± Trivial banter flowed between not just Tang Seorin and me, but among all the Awakeners. It was expected. The arrival of the Meteor Shower corresponded to the seventh year of regression. Among the elite soldiers gathered here in Gimhae in, not a single human had not crossed the wall of life and death several times. Everyone knew how important it was to regte their mental strength right before battle. ¡°In fact, it¡¯s hard to imagine you, hyung, dating someone.¡± ¡°Yeah, you¡¯re right. Even though there¡¯s seemingly nothing wrong with you, there¡¯s this strange aura that suggests you¡¯ll remain single for life. You give off that vibe, Guild Master.¡± If it were the 50th meeting orter, S Seo Gyu and KoreanVige Viin Sim Aryeon would have joined in on this banter. ¡°More than anything, we should worry about the person you¡¯ll end up dating¡ 70% of the conversations between lovers will be about Three Kingdoms, 20% about the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, and the remaining 10% about Water Margin. Who could bear it¡ Even a thousand-year love will cool off¡¡± If it were the 55th meeting orter, Chief of Highway Patrol Noh Doha would have sipped ginger tea and spouted equally hot remarks. ¡°If Senior would just stop talking about the Three Kingdoms sometimes¡ I don¡¯t even understand why it¡¯s so fun. Oh, but the scene where Dong Zhuo sets Luoyang on fire was interesting!¡± If it were the 109th meeting orter, Baekhwa High School Student Council President Cheon Yohwa would have giggled and sent additional shots. ¡°¡¡¡± [¡¡] Lee Hayul and the Saintess would have remained quiet as always. Since then, asionally, allies would join or diminish in my life, leading up to the 1183rd meeting. But today is the 42nd meeting. Our alliance has not yet beenpleted, so let me depict the most tumultuous and fierce battle of that meeting. The voices of countless people faded away. Above the sky, only Tang Seorin and I, our breaths turned into white smoke. The breaths of two people mingled in the air. Mypanion of time murmured softly. ¡°Well, I also have no interest in dating.¡± The sun sank below the horizon. A pleasant tension spread throughout my body. [¨D¨DHere ites.] The Saintess murmured softly. Suddenly, the crimson hue of the world intensified. It was like mes, a gigantic wreath of fire. The center of the sky zed red while the edges were painted with shades of blue, ck, and deep darkness. The mes danced alive. The intense red glow from the center constantly exhaled into the surrounding dark blue night sky, and conversely, inhaled. [Trantor ¨C Jjsecus] [Proofreader ¨C Gun] The sky¡ª the world, was breathing with the light of sunset and starlight. ¡°Tang Seorin.¡± ¡°Yeah, I know.¡± Tang Seorin had already begun her magical incantation. How much time had passed since the song flowed from her lips? Suddenly, the darkness at the edge of the sky swallowed the entire sky in an instant. It was as if dusk had fallen, covering the entire world in a single moment. The night sky. It wasn¡¯t a physical or celestial change. It was as if the entire world was suddenly veiled by something, like a mother gently covering a child¡¯s eyes with her palm. ¡°¡It¡¯s here.¡± ¡°Damn. It was real.¡± A bustling. Some of the Awakeners were agitated by the phenomenon that was beyond rationalprehension. The tension that had been carefully suppressed with thorough strategic meetings and witty banter surged to the surface in an instant. Some Awakeners had been clenching their fists in anticipation of the strange being¡¯s appearance since six years ago. In an age where transmission towers and streetlights had closed their eyes, the eyes of the elite soldiers emitted a faint glow. They looked up at the night sky with a well-organized formation. [The ¡°Saintess of the Salvation¡± announces.] [A top-tier strange being, ¡°Meteor Shower,¡± appears in the airspace above the Korean Penins.] Crackle¡ª The darkness of the night sky expelled an endless concentration of starlight. It was as if some giant yfully poked the balloon of the sky with its scales. But the result was far from yful. ¡°It¡¯s starlight!¡± ¡°The strategy was right after all, wasn¡¯t it¡?¡± ¡°Unbelievable. That¡¯s not just a shooting star. It¡¯s a strange being that controls the entire sky.¡± Normally, at this point, the Meteor Shower would stay in the airspace for a full six hours. However, through observations in several meetings, it was concluded that during those six hours, the Meteor Shower wasn¡¯t just indulging in admiring its own starlight for free, nor was it doing runway or milkway walking in the night sky. In fact, over those six hours, it was slowly casting ¡°magic¡± on the people below. Call it hypnosis or brainwashing¡ªit didn¡¯t matter. The point was, the more people on the ground looked up at the starlight in the night sky, the more powerful the Meteor Shower became. [The ¡°Saintess of the Salvation¡± advises nonbatants to avoid looking at the night sky as much as possible.] Therefore, the most important thing in this boss battle was cooperation and swift action. Rather than quietly waiting until the Meteor Shower has gathered enough strength to fall, we aimed for its weakest point. In other words, engaging in the early stages of the battle was my strategy. ¡°Ah¡ª.¡± For that strategy, Tang Seorin was the first to open the gate. First melody, repetition. Second melody, expansion. A song often used inrge-scale battles resonated across the in. Just spreading Tang Seorin¡¯s song was enough to provide backup to allies within its reach. However, for this battle, we were fully prepared. -¡Zzit, ¡Ah¡. Everybatant¡¯s chest or waist was equipped with a radio. It was equipment prepared solely for this battle. Nearby, a base station had been constructed. As a Regressor, I knew the exact location of the battlefield, allowing for such measures. This event was evidence that we had concentrated all the remnants of civilization for this battle. Just spreading Tang Seorin¡¯s song amplified the magic of each radio, but it wasn¡¯t enough. Therefore, an additional strand of song was needed. ¡°Ah¡ªAh, Ah¡ª.¡± Third melody, Medium. Magic that made predetermined materials resonate with Tang Seorin¡¯s song like a kind of mirror. Naturally, all radios allocated to the Awakeners were designated as ¡°Mediums.¡± Another magic was needed to designate them as such, so Tang Seorin had diligently enchanted the radios whenever time allowed. It took a total of three years for this task. And the equipment that Tang Seorin had designated as ¡°Mediums¡± wasn¡¯t just cheap radios. Lastly, the most important invocation that we had prepared and executed by Tang Seorin resonated. ¡°Aah¡ª Aaah¡ª.¡± Fourth melody, Flight. The fourth song encircled the sky once and relentlessly bombarded it with Dakapos by [repetition]. Squeeze. Of the 900 Awakeners gathered at Gimhae ins, 700 selected forbat grasped their strength as agreed beforehand. Every one of their fists held a broomstick without exception. ¡°It might be a bitte to point this out now, but¡ Was a broomstick really the best choice?¡± ¡°Yeah. Of course.¡± Tang Seorin, now rxed after finishing the fourth melody, replied. It was a face that seemed to say, ¡°Why ask such a strange question?¡± ¡°If a witch wants to fly in the sky, there¡¯s nothing but a broomstick.¡± Whoosh, Tang Seorin tapped the ground with familiar footwork. Had she already mastered it through thousands or tens of thousands of repetitions? The witch¡¯s pose was rxed and graceful. Ffft¡ª From her petite figure, a cloak three timesrger than that fluttered like a g. I chuckled. Then, I spoke into the radio. ¡°All units,mence sortie.¡± That was the signal. All 700 Awakeners of the alliance stepped onto the in and ascended into the night sky. Boss battle. Continent-level threat. Meteor Shower. Battlemence. Phase 1, Takeoff. [Trantor ¨C Jjsecus] [Proofreader ¨C Gun] Chapter 67 â€“ Sleepwalker V [Trantor ¨C Jjsecus] [Proofreader ¨C Gun] Chapter 67 ¨C Sleepwalker V 7 Let¡¯s point out one obvious fact: Homo sapiens don¡¯t have wings. In other words, most people have no intuition about flying. Unless you¡¯re a pilot who considers the sound of airne engines like your heartbeat, or a paragliding enthusiast who feels the parachute as an extension of your own arms, humans, as a species, don¡¯t really get much thrill from flying. And where intuition is absent, fear is born. ¡°Uwaah! I¡¯m flying! Flying!¡± ¡°How high do we have to go?¡± Amidst the seven hundred Awakeners shooting up into the air relying on a single broomstick each, screams erupted from all directions. ¡°Mommy! I really hate this!¡± ¡°I¡¯m falling aaah!¡± ¡°Waaaah!¡± Of course, we had gathered several times for joint training sessions beforehand. Awakeners with acrophobia had been excluded from thebat unit early on. But even so, the cheap broomsticks didn¡¯t inspire much confidence as humanity¡¯s new wings. Even the owls flying in the night sky looked at us with eyes that seemed to say, ¡°What¡¯s up with these new suicidal hopefuls?¡± [The Saintess of Salvation reports.] [The vanguard has surpassed an altitude of three hundred meters.] In a sense, the owls¡¯ gaze was urate. What else would you call a group that makes non-existent wings and charges at a top-tier anomaly to defeat it? Only members of the Three Thousand Worlds Guild were skillfully demonstrating the intricacies of flight. [Six hundred meters.] Ah, by the way, I was quite proficient in broomstick flight myself. Back in the Three Thousand Worlds, I even ranked second in the guild¡¯s flyingpetition. With the screams of numerous Awakeners stretching out like shadows, I, apanied by Tang Seorin, a perennial winner of the flyingpetition, led the charge at the forefront. [Fifteen hundred meters.] It started getting chilly. ¡°Aaah¡ª.¡± But it didn¡¯t matter. Tang Seorin was already singing another verse of her invocation. Fourth melody, Physical Enhancement. It was aprehensive gift set developed by Tang Seorin bybining existing ¡°temperature control¡± and ¡°respiratory support.¡± It provided assistance to endure unfavorable environments for humans, such as cold depths, scorching deserts, or vacuum. Sure enough, as soon as Tang Seorin¡¯s invocation ended, a pleasant warmth spread throughout my body. [Two thousand two hundred meters.] Higher. Higher. [Two thousand nine hundred meters.] A flicker¡ª Looking down below, the ground had already be tiny. I lightly ignored the instinctive dizziness. I turned my head to look up at the sky again. There, the Meteor Shower awaited. When looking up from below, the starlight felt like it could fall at any moment. But from the moment we started flying until now, no matter how high we went, the starlight didn¡¯t seem to grow anyrger. An optical illusion. A mistake of the world. It felt like my brain¡¯s sense of distance and size proportional to the stars was breaking down from constantly looking up at them. But this, too, was just a mistake within a mistake, and we were undoubtedly getting closer to the Meteor Shower. [Three thousand five hundred meters.] Atst. [Four thousand one hundred meters. Enemy contact, in close proximity.] [Engage.] Shoooom¡ª A noise, like the crashing of waves, echoed out. At an altitude of 4100 meters, it was a sound that couldn¡¯t be heard, and shouldn¡¯t be heard. As we pierced through the surface of the noise, suddenly, darkness enveloped us from all sides. Rather than calling it ¡°night sky,¡± it was more fitting to say that a pitch-ck darkness covered the heavens and the earth. Shooom, shoooom¡ª With each Awakener following behind me, darkness surged. They lowered their broomsticks and hovered momentarily in the air. The Awakeners gaped in awe at the unfamiliar sight. ¡°This¡ is unbelievable¡¡± ¡°It¡¯s a void!¡± Before the confusion of thebat unit could spread, I grabbed the radio. ¡°We¡¯ve just entered the Meteor Shower¡¯s domain! There¡¯s no need to be surprised or tense! It¡¯s just the emptiness we¡¯ve experienced endlessly, now spread out in the sky!¡± ¡°Ah.¡± ¡°Proceed with the operation! Regroup your formations! Each of you, form up with your fellowbat unit members! Regroup and charge as trained! I¡¯ll give you 40 seconds!¡± ¡°Group 8, assemble! Group 8, assemble!¡± ¡°Group 11! Why are you over there! Hurry up and gather here, kid!¡± The momentarily scattered Awakeners quickly regained theirposure amidst the emptiness of the night sky. Meanwhile, I kept a close watch on the direction where the ¡°Meteor Shower¡± was located. The illusion that we might fall immediately to the ground. No, the hallucination that we were already falling. Yet, this creature remained crouched, clearly observing us. Beyond instinct and reason, as a Regressor trained through dozens of repetitions, my instincts fiercely sensed its hostility. Contrary to my instincts, the surroundings were eerily calm. It felt like being stranded in the vastness of a calm ocean at night. ¡°¡This feels odd, Doctor.¡± Tang Seorin whispered softly, leaning her broomstick next to mine. ¡°The air feels quite heavy. Breathing has be a bit difficult. It¡¯s as if we¡¯ve submerged not into the sky, but into shallow water.¡± ¡°Perhaps the monster is of the water attribute, trying to make it rain. What did you expect? The emptiness was just as empty as ever.¡± ¡°True. That¡¯s a valid point.¡± ¡°Leave thest song to me.¡± ¡°Sure. I trust you. ¡I¡¯ll be counting on you. The operation can¡¯t proceed if you copse.¡± ¡°Of course.¡± At that moment, the voice of the Saintess resonated in my ears. [Be careful, Doctor. The altimeter is malfunctioning.] Malfunctioning? [Before entering the void, it recorded an altitude of about 4100 meters, but now it¡¯s fluctuating between 7182 meters, -9699 meters, 21337 meters, 0.01 meters, constantly changing in real-time.] ¡°¡.¡± [It¡¯s not just the altitude. Other metrics like pressure are also constantly fluctuating. Please take care.] I nodded. Exactly 40 seconds. I nced behind me. The perfectly groomed 700-strong aerial vanguard was looking at me. ¡°Proceed with the operation! Charge! Charge!¡± ¡°Uwaaaaah!¡± Boss Battle Phase 2,mence. With me at the apex, the 700-strong aerial vanguard followed closely behind like spears. Tang Seorin, who had been at the forefront with me, switched to the rear here and formed up as agreed upon beforehand. Still, there was no response from the starlight. It was our best opportunity. ¡°Aaa¨Daaaah¨Daaa¨D¨D¨D.¡± From the rear, Tang Seorin¡¯s voice pierced the night sky. Fifth melody, ¡®Mirror of All Creation.¡¯ This was also a highly advanced grand magic recently developed by Tang Seorin. By integrating [Concentration], [Absorption], [Reflection], and [Amplification], Tang Seorin had finally synthesized them into one song. Its effect was obvious. Shhhhhhh¡ª Transparent mirrors formed around the 700 Awakeners. Countless mirrors circled our aerial vanguard likes orbiting the sun. Without hesitation, I issued themand. ¡°Pour all your power into it!¡± The Awakeners, as if waiting for themand, approached the mirrors and emitted their mana. The mirrors faithfully reflected the Awakeners¡¯ aura towards ¡°other mirrors.¡± Ching¡ª Having fulfilled their duty of reflection, the mirrors shattered immediately. Countless mirror fragments scattered in the air like white blossoms. The procession of auras reflected from the rear gradually distorted into more and more reflections as it bounced offrger mirrors. Ching¡ª Ching¡ª Ching¡ª Each time, the mirrors shattered, and each time, the auras ovepped and multiplied, transmitted to therger mirrors ahead. The ss, resembling the colors of the auras, poured out like stained ss onto the pitch-ck night sky, tinted by the deep darkness. The radio buzzed loudly. ¡°Team 12, fully charged!¡± ¡°Team 11, chargingplete!¡± Indeed. The role of the ¡®Mirror of All Creation¡¯ in this battle was none other than firepower concentration. Although there were some deviations, the 700-unit division averaged about one team per 60 members. In other words, as many as 60 Awakeners were concentrating their auras, strikes, and mirrors. [Trantor ¨C Jjsecus] [Proofreader ¨C Gun] ¡°Team 6, done! It¡¯s done!¡± ¡°Loss rate, about 5%!¡± Krrrrrr¡ª As a mix of different-colored auras and waves mingled, thunder resounded, like a giant beast growling. From Team 12 to Team 1. Passing through the winding twelve organs, the roar of the beast known as the Korean Federation had already boiled up to their throats. ¡°Team 4,pleted¡ª.¡± ¡°Loss rate below 3%. Within the calcted range so far. Reporting.¡± ¡°Team 3! We¡¯ve passed through!¡± The auras surged like a storm. asional screams erupted as Awakeners unfamiliar with flight staggered in the torrent of auras. It was to be expected. Therefore, I positioned less experienced Awakeners in the rear teams and skilled elite soldiers in the vanguard. There were no issues. In the rear, Tang Seorin controlled everything, while at the forefront, Imanded everything. ¡°Team 2¡ passed! Somehow, we did it!¡± ¡°Go! Go! Go!¡± Some Awakeners eximed in awe. Like the ancient Egyptians who worshiped the pyramids they built, they couldn¡¯t help but be thrilled by the torrent of auras they created. And then. ¡°Team 1! We¡¯ve done it! Doctor!¡± The team leader of Team 1 shouted. Yoo Jiwon. In the distant past, she was an Awakener who had served as my deputy when I was affiliated with the Three Thousand Worlds World. ¡°Now¨D¨D Now! Reporting!¡± ¡°Loss rate less than 1%! Less than 1%!¡± ¡°Doctor!¡± Quarrrrrrr¡ª Atst, the 700 auras reached right in front of me. All the mirrors created by Tang Seorin shattered. The magical mirrors fell to the ground, scattering countless shards. Except for thergest mirror that covered my vision. In the transparent concave mirror, a hurricane of auras swirled. ¡°Ugh¡!¡± My whole body trembled. A sensation akin to bing an almighty deity surged through my spine. Who among mortals could possibly wield such power, let alone properly control it? That¡¯s why I stood at the forefront. I infused my aura into the torrent of auras that seemed on the verge of exploding, painting them with the color of my soul. Ink ck. That was the color of my soul. The swirling torrent of auras, in various colors, was instantly infected with ckness, as if all the water in a beaker had been tainted by a single drop of ink. Thud, the flesh of my right hand peeled back to my forearm. It couldn¡¯t withstand the output of the auras. ¡°¡.!¡± My ears felt stuffed. I couldn¡¯t hear anything. Thunder incessantly roared around me, and my vision was engulfed in pitch-ck darkness. The pain of bursting blood vessels. But still, there was no problem. ¡°Saintess! The position¡ª.¡± [Adjust 3cm to the right.] A voice silently resonated in my mind. [Again, 11cm downward.] [Too far down. 2cm up.] Though unaware as a 42nd turn, the Saintess meticulously corrected the errors using ¡®time stop.¡¯ She must have scrutinized and calcted whether firing the aura now would hit the meteor shower or not, from the perspective of countless Awakeners. Perhaps over the course of several days. For me, that long time was just a moment, and I endured all the pain to withstand that moment. [Yes, just a little. Just a bit more¡¡] [Now.] Finally. [Now, Doctor.] The Saintess¡¯s time and mine intersected. At that moment, I screamed as I unleashed the storm of auras gathered before me. I couldn¡¯t hear my own scream. Quarrrrrrrrr¡ª Just the roar of a giant beast. The roar of that ink-ck scream, piercing through the souls of 700 Awakeners and the twelve organs, shook heaven and earth. ¨C Huh? Atst, the meteor shower, which had remained silent, reacted. Like a creature waking up from a deep slumber. Boss Battle Phase 3,mence. ¨C Blink, blink, Little Star. I could feel the meteor shower trembling. ¨C Indeed, it¡¯s shining brightly. ¨C From the eastern sky, and from the western sky too. A familiar melody. The luby of the meteor shower that always led the earth to destruction from the 23rd turn to the 41st turn pierced through the storm. They must intend to put us to sleep like this. ¡°Ah¡ªAh, Ah¡ªAh, Ahhh¡ª.¡± And right at this moment, Tang Seorin pulled out herst card. The song began to spread from both the eastern and western skies simultaneously. But at the moment when the two wavelengths collided in the center¡ª ¨C Huh? ¨D¨D¨D The song vanished suddenly. The Sixth Melody, Counter Resonance. An applied magic of [Silence], nullifying all noise by emitting sound waves that precisely counter the sounds emitted by the opponent. Filled with exhration, I shouted, ¡°The ability to work miracles with a song is not exclusive to you alone!¡± The point where the emptiness of Meteor Shower and the magic of Tang Seorin intersected was precisely the position where I was flying. The ck waves emitted by Meteor Shower and the white waves emitted by Tang Seorin constantly shed. ck and white. The colors of the song of humanity. The coloring of the song of the eerie. In the battlefield of the night sky filled with human and void songs, only I charged ahead on the front line of silence. Guided by the Saintess, constantly targeting the storm of auras. ¨C Huh? Ah? Was it confusion because their finishing move didn¡¯t work? Amidst the luby sung by Meteor Shower, unidentified noise crept in. But it was toote. Hundreds of battle teams and non-battle teams had trained for this one strike, this one ambush, to be aimed at you. Tang Seorin developed three top-tier magics and prepared radios, imbuing them with individual magic. The Saintess, in order to instill trust in the messages of the Constetions, concealed her existence until now and stayed silent. The time the Saintess poured into rallying all the Awakeners of the Federation over the past seven years would have been close to eternity. The few days spent until just now for precise aiming were just the final seasoning of that eternity. And I had 150 years. The optimal route. The best strategy. ¨C Huh? Ah? Ah? Huh? Therefore, this is the first and final strike. The single moment where Meteor Shower let his guard down. The moment with the least experience, never havingnded on any earth, destroyed any nation, or killed any Awakener. Literally, the finishing move of the regressor. ¨C Huh? Ah? Ah? Huh? It¡¯s unfair to me it. After all, that¡¯s how you¡¯ve fought until now. You too, die in your sleep. Eerie bastard. ¨C Ah! Aaaah! Mamaaah! Ahmaaah! sh¡ª. The starlight, soaring from the earth, pierced through the starlight falling from the sky. [Trantor ¨C Jjsecus] [Proofreader ¨C Gun] Chapter 68 â€“ Sleepwalker VI [Trantor ¨C Jjsecus] [Proofreader ¨C Gun] Chapter 68 ¨C Sleepwalker VI 8 ¡°Wheeeeeee!¡± The area formerly known as Gimhae ins. This ce had transformed into a chaotic mess resembling chunks of cheese in a Tom and Jerry cartoon, thanks to the urban development boom. Pies here, pies there. After munching around, there wasn¡¯t much left to call a ¡®in.¡¯ In other words, if urban development were to halt, everything would revert to its original state. When the bnce of power between nature and civilization, environment and humanity, shifted back towards nature after the millennia-long tug-of-war in the Elysion, Gimhae ins rapidly regained its former glory. Of course, as payment for their victory, the eerie mercenaries who participated in the battle had to cede a significant portion of nature¡¯s territory. Thanks to this, it became increasingly difficult to discern whether it was truly nature or void, and the chaos of nature was not much different from that of humanity. Among them, Gimhae ins fell into the category of areas where civilization was swiftly, perhaps too swiftly, removed. ¡°Wheeeeeee!¡± About seven years ago, a sudden air raid alert was issued in the western part of Gimhae ins, and a small-scale ¡®bombardment¡¯ took ce there. Exactly how the incident urred near this area and what led to it remains unknown to this day. It happened right at the moment when I was forcibly summoned to Busan Station to begin the life of a regressor. Even obtaining information about a bombardment in the vicinity would have been difficult if I weren¡¯t a regressor. There were testimonies iming it was not a bombing but shelling, rumors of a sudden gate opening, and even whispers that a government research facility had exploded. It was utter chaos. Perhaps a small gate had opened in Gimhae ins, and the bombardment urred to eliminate it. Perhaps Seoul had be a ruin, and losing Busan was not an option, a desperate decision for someone. Perhaps,pared to other densely popted urban areas, there were rtively few people living there, so they thought, ¡®This level of sacrifice is unavoidable.¡¯ Perhaps there was simply an error in rying orders, leading to the tragedy. Surprisingly, I consider this possibility the most likely. But now, we can¡¯t uncover the truth. Both the government and private organizations involved in investigating the incident have disappeared. Moreover, there is no way to obtain documents or witnesses rted to the incident, as they are all missing. Not only nature but also human history vanished into the void. Yet, there is one clear fact: the Gimhae ins where the bombardment urred was truly just a ¡®in¡¯ as its name suggested, and it was barren beyond imagination. Even in a ce where evidence is missing, people were still living. 9 Let¡¯s talk about the aftermath. [¡Doctor Jang (General).] [Pleasee to your senses, Doctor Jang.] Blinking, I opened my eyes. During the time I opened my eyes, I realized that I had briefly lost consciousness. A momentary ckout. Fortunately, I¡¯ve experienced countless fainting spells while living as a regressor, so I wasn¡¯t particrly surprised. [Are you awake now?] If I were to guess the reason for fainting, it was probably due to the influence of the luby sung by ¡®Meteor Shower.¡¯ Unlike other Awakeners, I was flying at the forefront. In other words, I was the furthest away from Tang Seorin¡¯s white magic, the luby, which nullified it. ¡°Yes, I¡¯m fine. You don¡¯t have to worry, Saintess. How long was I unconscious?¡± [It wasn¡¯t long. About one second.] ¡°You noticed that I fainted in just one second? Impressive.¡± I was genuinely amazed because, as I mentioned before, at that time, I didn¡¯t know that the Saintess possessed the ability to ¡®stop time.¡¯ During this crucial battle, the Saintess intermittently stopped time to observe the battlefield. I must have been caught by her telescopic vision when I briefly lounged on the broomstick. [We have a problem, General.] The Saintess skillfully diverted the topic. It wasn¡¯t just to avoid my suspicions; urgency could genuinely be felt in her voice. A chill ran down my spine. Even if it wasn¡¯t Tang Seorin¡¯s magic, people resonated with emotions in others¡¯ voices. ¡°This can¡¯t be! You mean to say the suppression of Meteor Shower failed?¡± [No. The suppression itself is almost certain to have seeded. But¡ over there.] Despite the ambiguity of what the Saintess was pointing at, I instinctively turned my head. It was the night sky where Meteor Shower¡¯s starlight had existed just moments ago. The strike prepared by 700 Awakeners over several years was indeed sharp. Our created storm of Ora tore Meteor Shower to shreds. Yes. Torn to shreds. ¡°What¡?¡± My heart raced. Meteor Shower was definitely suppressed. The sphere emitting strong starlight, gathered in one ce, no longer existed. And while there were eerie beings that scattered like smoke upon suppression, many left corpses like animals. I muttered in astonishment. ¡°Corpses of starlight¡?¡± Have you ever seen a white phosphorus? Exactly the same sight was unfolding before my eyes, no, before our eyes. Torn starlight. The fragmented starlight, shredded into pieces, was falling towards the ground. ¡°Oh.¡± And a shiver shot up my spine from the back, ominously unsettling my heart. Why didn¡¯t I expect this? If there were meteors falling from the sky, it would be a problem to intercept and destroy them, but even if sessful, the fact that the fragments of the falling meteors would also be a problem. ¡°Damn it!¡± Of course, no one, not even orcs or goblins, would have imagined that a being made entirely of starlight would leave behind a corpse. A corpse of light? Who could predict such a thing? So, this was another case of ¡®ignorance is bliss.¡¯ Damn it. Meteor Shower, shattered by the ambush of regressors, perhaps thest ace up humanity¡¯s sleeve. As a 42nd turn regressor, I had no choice but to fall into this trap card. ¡°It¡¯s over! It¡¯s all over! We really hunted down a top-tier entity!¡± ¡°Hurrah for the Korean Awakener Alliance! Hurrah!¡± ¡°This is insane¡ It¡¯s the world¡¯s first sessful suppression of a top-tier entity. Could we really have done it as humans¡?¡± ¡°The Constetion is invincible! The General is a god!¡± Looking around, there were nobatants paying attention to the corpse of Meteor Shower in the sky battlefield. Everyone was just excited about the overwhelming victory in the battle that would go down in history. Only the Saintess and I were paying attention to the eerie tremors in the night sky and the fragments of starlight that began to fall through it. ¡®If these fragments fall to the ground¡ No, wait. It¡¯s fine. Even if the entire region of Gyeongsangnam-do turns into a wastnd, it¡¯s not the worst-case scenario.¡¯ I wasn¡¯t the type of regressor who had confidence in myself. Such self-assurance was a luxury reserved for Diamond Spoon regressors who could save the world with just two or three regressions. Naturally, I evacuated as many residents as possible from Gyeongsangnam-do, bearing in mind the possibility of my n failing. ¡°Even if the infrastructure ispletely destroyed¡¡± I could handle it. Well, the true infrastructure of this era isn¡¯t capital or material; it¡¯s the Awakeners. As I swallowed the bitterness in my mouth, the Saintess spoke with a slightly more urgent tone than before. [¡General. The starlight fragments are spreading wider.] ¡°What?¡± I stretched my neck and looked down. Indeed, the starlight fragments were actively objecting to the concept of vertical freefall. It was a behavior typical of entities that questioned thews of physics whenever they were bored. [They¡¯re not just falling into the airspace above Busan. It¡¯s expected to surpass the entire Korean Penins.] ¡°No, does such madness exist?¡± Although I muttered in disbelief as a 42nd, strictly speaking, it was hard to call it madness. As I¡¯ve described, if left alone, Meteor Shower would bombard the entire world over a staggering seven years. Hawaii, Ingria, China, France, and so on. In other words¡ this guy isn¡¯t an enthusiastic entity who pours out his power from his debut. Rather, he¡¯s closer to a sinister force. A type simr to the World Tree Yggdrasil. Having punctured the bloated belly of such a sinister force at once, it was inevitable that the aftermath of the power it had been hiding would unravel one after another. The conclusion was simple. Even if Meteor Shower reached death, he could still annihte the entire Korean Penins with just his corpse fragments. ¡®What should we do?¡¯ Countless thoughts crossed my mind. ¡®Abandon the Korean Penins?¡¯ ¡®The 700 Awakeners are fine. We can abandon the main base and activate the multi.¡¯ ¡®But what about the 900 nonbatant Awakeners backing us up on the ground?¡¯ ¡®Will they die?¡¯ ¡®Tang Seorin is fine, isn¡¯t she?¡¯ ¡®What about the Saintess?¡¯ ¡®Can the Awakener Alliance maintain its strong unity even after the trust in the Constetions is shattered? Even after thest ethical restraint is removed?¡¯ ¡®A wastnd.¡¯ The starlight fell slowly. The speed of judgment increased gradually. ¡®We¡¯ll abandon this round.¡¯ ¡®But we must gather as much information as possible.¡¯ ¡®Will Meteor Shower¡¯s corpses also turn the ground into a wastnd? Will they simply fall and vanish without a sound, or will they remain as eternal mysteries, providing light indefinitely?¡¯ ¡®Even if they die, they¡¯ll struggle until the end.¡¯ [General.] A voice echoed quietly in my mind. [General, please give orders.] The shadowy figures of the Constetions, who issued orders to all Awakeners, were waiting for my instructions as a regressor. I took out the radio. ¡°All forces, the battle is not over!¡± All eyes were on me. ¡°Everyone, pay attention below! Meteor Shower¡¯s corpses are falling into hundreds, thousands of fragments! We judge that instead of disappearing upon suppression, the corpses will continue to exist as a persistent type!¡± The Awakeners roared. Though all werepetent elites, it would take 5 to 10 minutes for their roar to gather into clear judgment and precise action. Themander was a presence that shortened that time to mere seconds. ¡°ording to the information from the Constetions, as soon as Meteor Shower makes contact with the ground, it will turn the area into a wastnd! And ording to reports from the ¡®Saintess of Salvation¡¯ and observation agents on the ground, Meteor Shower¡¯s corpses are falling across the entire Korean Penins!¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°Damn it¡¡± Curses erupted everywhere. But at the same time, something remarkable happened. The Awakeners¡¯ roars subsided, reced by silence. I knew this was a crucial moment. Without any data, the Awakeners had no choice but to ept the Constetion¡¯s testimony as fact. [Trantor ¨C Jjsecus] [Proofreader ¨C Gun] I shouted, ¡°We will stop them!¡± The night sky undted. ¡°There are still 900 nonbatant operatives on the ground! As long as they remain, the Korean Penins will not fall! Here, we entrust the future to the nonbatants and defy death!¡± All the Awakeners were looking at me. In their pupils, I saw burning ck fireworks. ¡°From team 1 to 12! Allbat team members, follow your team leader¡¯s orders! Do not allow a single piece of the entity¡¯s corpse to dare touch ournd!¡± [Yes!] [Understood, General!] The radio crackled, transmitting the voices of the team leaders. ¡°Charge! All forces, charge! I¡¯ll lead the way!¡± ¡°Aaaah!¡± The tightly knit ranks of 700 fighters scattered in an instant, like nes taking off from an aircraft carrier. But unlike taking off, we were not in an emergency; we were advancing. ¡°Aaaah¡ªAaaah¡ª¡± Even Tang Seorin, who was at the very back, didn¡¯t miss the timing. Despite not being in the n or schedule, she swiftly adapted. 7th Melody, Swift. Our broomstick elerated instantly. We quickly caught up with the fragments of Meteor Shower¡¯s corpse that had started falling first. ¡°Aaaah¡ª¡± Tang Seorin¡¯s magic burned brightly as she consumed her own life force. Therefore, it was usually advised not to sing above the 4th Melody, even in crucial moments, let alone above the 6th Melody. The 7th Melody. That was the boundary line where one stepped into the realm of death. With the speed she gained at the expense of her life, this time, I dashed forward on the diagonal. ¡°Kuk!¡± I swung my sword close to one of the fragments torn from Meteor Shower. Just destroying a single piece of the corpse brought excruciating pain to my entire body. It was natural. Just two minutes ago, I had exerted all my strength, both tangible and intangible, to deliver the final blow. The amount of Aura remaining in my body had already reached its limit. My right hand, unable to withstand the output, had its flesh stripped away, revealing muscles vividly. It would be likemitting suicide to continue fighting even though I needed immediate hospitalization. I managed to scrape together what remained of my Aura and wrapped it around my de, but some parts of the fragments that came into contact with Meteor Shower¡¯s corpse had turned into ash. Nevertheless, I didn¡¯t pause and immediately charged toward the next corpse. The frenzy wasn¡¯t mine alone. [AAARGH!] [11 o¡¯clock! Another team, cover 11 o¡¯clock! This thing, it¡¯s spreading wider and wider! We have to eliminate it before it spreads further!] [Team 12, all members down.] [Die! Die, die, die!] [Thank you, Grand Witch! We love you! Hooray for the Three Thousand Worlds!] [Team 10, clear at 2 o¡¯clock.] All 700 of us disregarded our lives. Certainly, there were those who participated in the battle while neglecting their own lives, and there were even Awakeners who quickly concluded that they would raise their guild¡¯s position in the ruined Korean Penins. But at least, my pen existed to describe those different from them. [Clear at 3 o¡¯clock. Team 10, annihted. Remaining personnel, 6. Heading to 4 o¡¯clock.] [Team 7, all down. Still, clear at 11 o¡¯clock. Joining Team 10 from now on¡ Ah. Found one remaining corpse. Can¡¯t join.] [We¡¯ll go first. General, thank you for what happened in Sejong. I¡¯ll always be grateful.] [Team 4, all down.] The stars fell. Embracing the remnants of starlight with thest of my Aura, my body scattered into ash. And the night sky came to an end. The dark waves cast by the falling stars gradually faded from the edge of the sky. Underneath the fading night sky, countless brooms, now devoid of owners, silently sank. [General.] [General!] [General!] Falling. Falling. Endless descent. How much time and noise had passed? [General!!!] Blink. When I opened my eyes, I found myself falling. The sound of the immense wind hit my ears. Losing consciousness in a hellish battlefield was not at all peculiar, but this time, it felt particrly strange. There were three reasons for this. First, the world was upside down. I didn¡¯t realize it immediately, being high in the sky, but I was currently falling. I couldn¡¯t see any brooms. Perhaps this round¡¯s sign would be a fatal fall. Second, Tang Seorin was in front of me. Simply saying she was in front of me wasn¡¯t enough. She was without her cherished hat, and like me, she was falling from the sky. And she had been embracing me for who knows how long. ¡°Tang Seorin?¡± I struggled to open my lips. I tasted blood, lead, iron, and ash, all mixed together in my mouth. With a strong conviction that this was reality, everything felt like a dream. Like an uncertain lunatic hoping to dream more. Tang Seorin¡¯s smile came closer to me. Closer and closer. Eventually, her smile felt more like a contour than a sight. That was the third, and final, peculiar thing. ¡°I, I love humans!¡± Tang Seorin¡¯s face, smeared with blood, sweat, and ash, smiled brightly once again. ¡°You, what did you just¡¡± ¡°I hate people. They annoy me. Honestly, I can¡¯t stand ces with lots of people. I¡¯m so sick of humans trying to suck up to me.¡± Rrrrrrrrr- The sound of the wind relentlessly pounded our flesh. As we were hit by the currents of the sky, Tang Seorin hugged my waist tighter. ¡°I hate this, and that, and I¡¯ve hated the world before it even started to end, and I¡¯ve hated it even after it ended. But still. Humans are amazing!¡± ¡°¡¡± ¡°No one will remember, yeah. No records will remain, but we, we just saved the world! Right, Doctor Jang?¡± ¡°¡¡.¡± ¡°And¨D¨Dplease, don¡¯t hate people too much.¡± ¡°¡¡.¡± The wind. ¡°I¡¯m not usually the type to ask these things. Ah, I should have asked. Why you keep making that expression. What you did before, where you lived. Why you like caf¨¦ auit. Why your eyes are sad. I should have asked so many questions, I could have.¡± Ripples. ¡°Do you hate me? Doctor Jang?¡± ¡°Not at all.¡± A quick response. ¡°Never.¡± ¡°Yeah.¡± A smile. My dream. My illness. The reason I decided to dream of life, my delusion. ¡°I knew. So, just as much as you like me. Just that much, a little more, love humanity.¡± And then. Sunset. The night sky fades away. The sunset spread. When the meteor shower opened up the night sky, the world was still experiencing the sunset. Our battle took ce during the time of sunrise and sunset. So, as the meteor shower was vanquished and we were falling, the world was still experiencing a vibrant sunset. ¡°Oh.¡± Not a sunset being swallowed by the night sky. But a sunset pushing against the night sky, spreading out. In this world, on this Earth, a reverse sunset that can only happen once. ¡°Oh¡.¡± A redness that extends to the eternal horizon. ¡°Truly, truly¨D¨D. A beautiful sky.¡± The end. Let¡¯s end the story here. Starting from turn 43, with no oversight on handling the bodies, all 700 awakened ones were able to return to the surface safely. There are still many stories to tell about the meteor shower. Spections about where and how it originated, experiments on harnessing starlight. Yet, today¡¯s turn must end here. Because, the sunset that day was excessively red, and because humanity is a being that flies towards the horizon where the sunset never ends. Boss Battle. Monstrous Meteor Shower. Aliases: Meteor Strike, Armageddon, Unnecessary Worry, Nuclear Lunch, Milky Way. Danger Level: Lv.3 Continent-ss. Patterns: Phase 1 Appearance, Phase 2 Descent, Phase 3 Wide-area Submersion, Phase 4 Collision. Number of casualties incalcble. Number of missing incalcble. Multiple records of world destruction. Sessfully defeated. ¨C Delusional. [Trantor ¨C Jjsecus] [Proofreader ¨C Gun] Chapter 69 â€“ The Record Keeper (1) [Trantor ¨C Jjsecus] [Proofreader ¨C Gun] Chapter 69 ¨C The Record Keeper I 1 Lately, I¡¯ve been thinking I¡¯ve been talking too much about Tang Seorin. Of course, I can¡¯t tell the story of my reincarnated life without mentioning Tang Seorin. But even the greatest output of the Korean Penins, the Witch of the Railways, and the Idol of the Masses have their own private lives. Yes, privacy. I¡¯m not the type to actively pry into someone else¡¯s secrets, nor am I the type to interfere with someone¡¯s hobbies. Even if that ¡°someone¡± is a keyboard warrior with a split personality disorder and a penchant for verbal battles. ¡°Ah. G-Guild Master¡ G-Good morning¡¡± Sim Aryeon. [PR/N: After a few rounds of discussions and argument ¡®we¡¯ have decided that Sim Aryeon is a girl. 100%. (i knew)] Nickname: Considered one of the biggest agitators on S, a viin of KoreanVige. However, during the 50th turn, she was praised as the ¡°Angel of Healing¡± for treating ordinary people for free, and even volunteered as an art teacher, health teacher, and librarian for elementary school children. Fashion Style: Prefers brown-toned tops. Especially likes to wear a white doctor¡¯s gown over a brown turtleneck. Why? To show off that she¡¯s a valuable healer. Even up to this point, it would make for a pretty entertaining character profile, but her awakened skills took it to another level of absurdity. Ability: Aptly named ¡°Vigor Stone.¡± In other words, a bird that feeds on aggression. The more insults she takes, the stronger her healing ability bes. Thanks to this ridiculous ability, Sim Aryeon attracted all kinds of aggro on S. Truly a KoreanVige Anubis¡ but speaking strictly about his private life, she had quite wholesome hobbies. ¡°Yeah, it¡¯s a good morning. Where are you off to at this hour?¡± ¡°Oh, I thought I¡¯d try drawing again after a long time. Hehe. Since the Guild Master gave me an easel as a giftst time¡¡± A canvas and easel were wedged under Sim Aryeon¡¯s armpit as she awkwardly smiled. Hobby: Drawing. Yes, she was actually an art student. If you have a good memory, you might recall that during the surprise attack on KoreanVige¡¯s viin¡¯s mansion in the 50th turn, Sim Aryeon was drawing. And¡ surprisingly, Sim Aryeon, with all her brilliance, was academically excellent in our guild. Education: Yeowon School (Fine Arts) ¡ú Seoul Arts High School (Fine Arts) ¡ú Seoul National University (Design). And that¡¯s not all. Not only did she sweep art exhibitions at school from elementary to high school, she even won awards at various design exhibitions. Two awards in elementary and middle school, and one presidential award in high school. The aspiring art students who were preparing for the same entrance exams in the same year all envied Sim Aryeon. She already had the qualities of a bird feeding on aggression since childhood. Sounds like a lie? I even sneaked into the ruins of schools to dig up data. It was all true. Why on earth¡ is this real¡ At that time, I could onlyment amidst the ruins of schools with exhibition materials spread out. With such shining academic and career achievements, Sim Aryeon¡¯s main focus was¡ ¨C KoreanVige: Hmm¡ I can tell you¡¯ve never observed people in real life. Did you use a human body joint reference for this? Then I rmend switching to a biological experimental subject rather than trying to be an illustrator seriously. ¨C KoreanVige: Wow, what a jackpot. If you draw like this at a cram school, you could probably get a refund from the director right away. ¨C KoreanVige: Seriously, I drew better than this when I was 8 years old lol. These were thements. Or drawing cartoons that make people cringe and posting them on S. Right now, in front of me, Sim Aryeon was innocently giggling, but justst night, she had created a triple crown of curses, insults, and ridicule from S members. ¡°Where are you going to draw?¡± ¡°Oh, the Han River. I just felt like sketching while watching the river for a change¡ Oh, the weather is really nice today. Yeah. If I get bored, maybe I¡¯ll take a walk around the neighborhood to see if there are any elderly people who need free check-ups¡¡± ¡°Oh, my god. Why was such a child given a skill like Vigor Stone?¡± ¡°Excuse me?¡± ¡°It¡¯s nothing¡ Anyway, you¡¯re going to the riverside, right? Here, take this bag.¡± ¡°Heh. Th-there¡¯s no need to¡ Oh. Th-thank you. Guild Master¡¡± Sim Aryeon trailed behind me hesitantly, but as soon as we arrived at the Han River and set up the easel, any signs of hesitation vanishedpletely. She faced the canvas and began applying paint with swift strokes, humming to herself. ¡°¡¡.¡± Truly a masterstroke. Among the virtues of artists, ¡®speed drawing¡¯ is included, and Sim Aryeon¡¯s hands were certainly incredibly fast. But it wasn¡¯t just about being fast with her hands. Even to my eyes, which boast a fairly discerning view from encountering various artworks as a regressor, Sim Aryeon¡¯s drawings reached a considerable level of skill. ¡°Heh¡ Y-yes. I¡¯m a genius indeed¡¡± Though her asional muttering was, well, a bit excessive. ¡°Well. It¡¯s a much healthier hobby than stirring up trouble on onlinemunities, I suppose.¡± I shrugged. At least until now, I had no intention of getting involved in Sim Aryeon¡¯s hobbies. The change began around Turn 95. 2 Briefly describing the flow of history surrounding us, the time when the first conquest of the meteor shower urred was Turn 42. Unfortunately, due to thew of action and reaction, when the meteor shower was conquered, we awakening users also disappeared. But the time of a regressor defies thews of physics. Turns 43, 44, 45, as we went back, the tactics against the meteor shower became increasingly sophisticated. By around Turn 95, it could be said that the tactics wereplete. ¡°Tang Seorin. When the meteor shower appears, cast a-like magic below it in advance.¡± ¡°Huh? A? Why?¡± ¡°Think of it like dealing with meteors. It¡¯s not just about destroying them; it¡¯s also about dealing with the fragments after they¡¯re destroyed, right?¡± ¡°¡Ah.¡± Following my advice, Tang Seorin embarked on magical development. The magic, ¡®Net of Heaven and Earth¡¯, designed specifically to deal with the meteor shower, waspleted. Thus, the final desperate move of the meteor shower was easily sealed. Where else would it be like this? The quest lists to tempt the awakening users in the Korean Penins also continued to advance day by day. The AAA-grade game I nned and the saintess serviced, ¡®Growing from a Regr Person to an Awakening User in the Korean Penins,¡¯ is an open-world sandbox ultra-realistic MMORPG that not only provides information on countless voids but also offers ¡®custom growth¡¯ automatically. ¡°Oh. So my awakening ability was actually purification, not turning sewage into drinking water?¡± ¡°After clearing the dungeon, a guidebook on the most efficient way to enhance my abilities appeared!¡± ¡°Kya. This world may be shit, but at least there¡¯s a taste of growth.¡± ¡°The quests are invincible, and the saintess is a goddess!¡± ¡°Cheers! The meteor shower is just¡ a star.¡± Of course, all those rewards were obtained by me as a regressor. Running an academy and raising as many awakening users as possible had its rewards. Thanks to that, I was able to develop their potential, optimal builds, and more. ¡°Huh? The reward that popped up¡ Equivalent Exchange Spellbook? What¡¯s this?¡± Just looking at Tang Seorin, you could see that the Tang Seorin of Turn 4 and the Tang Seorin of Turn 95 werepletely different beings. The magic she had barely managed to create over several years in previous turns was now being given almost for free. ¡°¡Unbelievable! Such a ridiculous magic existed?¡± The effects were tremendous. Not only S-grade users like Tang Seorin but also most awakening users showed growth curves like Bitcoin in the early 2020s. As a result, while not exactly tenfold, even the meteor shower, albeit slowly, began to enter the ranks of the bizarre creatures lineup, if not already included. Wudamb? He was included from the start. ¨C Kyu? ¨C Are you hungry? ¨C Blink blink? Ah, sadly, the trio of Korean Penins¡¯s bizarre beings, who plunged my early days of reincarnated life into despair, were now service-terminated. However, as you know, for every advantage in the world, there¡¯s a corresponding disadvantage. [Trantor ¨C Jjsecus] [Proofreader ¨C Gun] As the power of the saintess approached its limit, the probability of the emergence of the corrupted version, the ¡®Executioner,¡¯ increased, just like with other people. The awakening users became more powerful but also started to be more dangerous. You could say ¡®eleration¡¯ was starting to kick in. If this were a character collection-type gacha mobile game, there wouldn¡¯t have been any problem. On the contrary. ¡°4th Turn Tang Seorin is 2-star, 50th Turn Tang Seorin is 3-star, 100th Turn Tang Seorin is 4-star! Wow! Multiple Tang Seorin characters!¡± ¡°If you just change the clothes of the same character, you can sell it two, three, four times?¡± ¡°Limited Edition Pickup Rerun! Saintess Alter Version ¨C Executioner Emerges! irvoyance, Telepathy, Time Stop, Existing Ability Major Buff!¡± ¡°If you¡¯re tempted¡ you gotta draw, right?¡± Various dialogues like this could have tested people¡¯s wallets and patience from different angles. But as you know, this was reality. As a regressor, I had to be mindful of various side effects. ¡°Um¡ Guild Master¡?¡± So if someone were to utter such lines in real life, they should be very careful. ¡°Hmm? What¡¯s up, Aryeon?¡± ¡°Um, is it okay for me to say this? Well, actually, I shouldn¡¯t. But, I thought maybe since you¡¯re the Guild Master, it might be okay¡¡± ¡°Huh? What¡¯s going on? Speak freely.¡± ¡°Um, then. Could you, um, lend me your ear for a moment?¡± Sim Aryeon whispered quietly. ¡°Um¡ Guild Master. It¡¯s about the meteor shower. Could you, um, just, um, slowly and gently deal with it? Just a little bit?¡± ? ¡°Why?¡± ¡°I want to draw¡¡± ? ¡°Why?¡± ¡°W-well¡ it¡¯s awesome. I mean, it¡¯s starlight that brings destruction from the sky. Creating dark waves of despair. Even lulling us with a luby¡ I think this should be preserved for eternity through a painting¡¡± ??? If someone were to im, ¡°Oh, if Cthulhu appeared in the ocean, we must draw it realistically and make as many civilians as possible witness it!¡± they¡¯d be considered insane. At that moment, my expression perfectly mirrored encountering such madness. ¡°Student Aryeon. Right now, the Guild Master is confused, but the meteor shower is an A-grade bizarre creature.¡± ¡°Yes? Oh, yes¡ ording to the Library Society¡¯s standards, it¡¯s a continental-level bizarre creature. It¡¯s more dangerous than any other bizarre creature observed in the Korean Penins so far. Of course, I know that¡¡± ¡°Yet you want to leisurely draw the meteor shower? Are you serious? What ifbat team members die while trying to subdue it?¡± ¡°Um¡ I¡¯ll try harder to make sure such tragedies don¡¯t happen, Guild Master¡¡± ¡°Um¡ and honestly, sacrifices for art are inevitable, I think. Last time, I wanted to draw the Ten ns too. Uh, it¡¯s just so regrettable that the Ten ns drawing was lost. It¡¯s a perpetual loss for humanity. Such a waste¡¡± Sim Aryeon¡¯s legitimate identification for the Ten ns, as stipted by the Library Society, was ¡®Crawling Cthulhu Spawn.¡¯ In other words, Sim Aryeon was genuinely trying to draw Cthulhu. And she actually did. I was so dumbfounded that I even made a deal next time, saying she could try drawing it while we were dealing with the Ten ns. ¡°Unbelievable! These tentacles! Something so bizarre that no terrestrial or deep-sea creature has ever had in the evolutionary process¡! The fact that such a thing exists! It¡¯s unbelievable! Ugh, I¡¯ll draw it, I¡¯ll draw it, I¡¯ll draw it¡!¡± I slightly regretted it. However, the astonishing fact was¡ Sim Aryeon¡¯s bizarre creature drawings uploaded to S received an enormous response. ¨C Anonymous: (Doodle) Today, I¡¯ll draw a small Ten ns and upload it¡ ^^ (Image file) ¨C Last time¡¯s bizarre Ten ns! I was lucky enough to join the subjugation team and get a chance to draw it! But the subjugation team fought so well that I didn¡¯t have enough time to sketch¡ ?? ¨C It¡¯s embarrassing, but I hope even the awakened users who didn¡¯t participate in the subjugation can refer to how the Ten ns looked like¡! So, I¡¯m uploading it like this¡! ¨C PS: S seems to degrade the image quality every time I upload an image. Admin, please hang in there a bit more¡! Hmm. Yes, I understand what you want to say. Unfortunately, this is truly written by Sim Aryeon (aka the viin from KoreanVige) herself. She just wrote it anonymously instead of using her formal member nickname. Of course,ments poured in,pletely different from the aggro posts Sim Aryeon usually makes. ¨C [Baekhwa] 6th Grade High School: Wow! It¡¯s so beautiful!! >_<)!! - Anonymous: Wait, it''s too realistic... - Anonymous: If you participated in the Ten ns subjugation, aren''t you quite high among the awakened users? Wow. Amazing. - [Samcheon] WitchTrialJudge: It really looks like Ten ns. ©¸ Anonymous: What do you mean by ''looks like it¡¯? - dolLHoUse: Disgusting. - LoveMySon: Oh, please, talented person, please join as a regr member. It''s hard to search for your drawings??. - Anonymous: It''s really well-drawn. - Anonymous: I was in the subjugation team, and it really looked like this. It feels exactly the same. ©¸ LiteraryGirl: How do you catch such a monster? ©¸ Anonymous: ''Doctor Jang'' ''Grand Witch'' End. ©¸ Anonymous: Simply GOAT. - Anonymous: But why does the tone of this person who uploads drawings always seem so pretentious? ©¸ Anonymous: Where''s the pretentiousness?? ©¸ Anonymous: Stop bashing the talented person. - [Satisfaction] CookingQueen: It''s a wonderful drawing. It gives me the feeling of actually seeing Ten ns rather than being drawn exactly like the real thing. It seems like you have an innate talent for expressing bizarre creatures! Hmm. I nodded at thement left by CookingQueen. There were quite a few awakened users who participated in the Ten ns subjugation on S. If even those people gathered their opinions and testified that it "looks like the real thing," then Sim Aryeon definitely had some talent. The brush strokes that make it feel like you''re really seeing it, even if you''re a stranger, and the boldness that makes it feel like a real bizarre creature, even if you know about it. The aesthetics of the bizarre creature. "Hehehe... So manypliments for my drawing..." "......" Suddenly, a thought shed through my mind like lightning. It was one of those shes of inspiration that asionally came to me as a regressor. "Aryeon." "Hehe... Yes? Guild Master?" "Do you like drawing bizarre creatures?" "W-why are you suddenly asking that? Um, nervously. Why?" Chin. I grabbed Sim Aryeon''s shoulder. I smiled broadly at Sim Aryeon, who was looking bewildered. "Have you ever thought about bing a Constetion?" "......?" ------------------ [Trantor ¨C Jjsecus] [Proofreader ¨C Gun] Chapter 70 â€“ The Record Keeper (2) [Trantor ¨C Jjsecus] [Proofreader ¨C Gun] Chapter 70 ¨C The Record Keeper II 3 As Doctor Jang, I never mingle with people, but I¡¯m extremely selective when ites to recruiting talent. Thorough screening is the name of the game. In terms of the Three Kingdoms of Korea, it¡¯s like having a military power of 70 and a literary power of 70, without even considering the military might of 70 and the intellectual power of 70. That¡¯s my gaming style. Through dozens of regressions, I carefully selected and created the control tower known as the ¡°Regressors Alliance¡±¡ a top-secret conspiracy that strategically nned while fully understanding that I was a regressor. The personnel? Simple. At the 95th regression, it was even simpler. Me, the Saintess, and Noh Doha. That¡¯s it. Among them, the Saintess acted as the viin of the Constetions, casting gaslighting on all awakened individuals on the Korean Penins, while Noh Doha, as ¡°Ah, you¡¯re trying to use the Apocalypse Road! Then you should show some respect to us,¡± teased all the awakened individuals. They were each worthy of being called the ruler of both the spirit and material of the Korean Penins. Therefore, the standing directorship of the Regressors Alliance at that time consisted only of me, excluding the two. Well, asionally, temporary directors like Seo Gyu or Yoo Jiwon would join, but that was always an exception. Of course, it was absolutely impossible for a talent like Sim Aryeon, with just [Military Power 4], [Political Power 3], [Charisma 16], and [Intellectual Power 77], barely scraping an A+ grade in skills, to join our alliance like in the past. ¡°G-Guild Master¡ a regressor?¡± But, ta-da. There¡¯s no such thing as ¡®absolutely.¡¯ With a cup of the caf¨¦ mocha I bought, Sim Aryeon had her mouth wide open, forming an ¡®O¡¯. ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°A-Are you saying¡ that you¡¯re not just a regressor, but someone who single-handedly monopolizes all kinds of tricks and even makes others envious of your unnecessary poprity, someone who¡¯s not just a diamond spoon with awakening abilities but a diamond spoon that makes others miserable by having such a good heart?¡± ¡°¡Yes.¡± What did this guy usually think of me as? Fortunately or unfortunately, Sim Aryeon¡¯s astonishment didn¡¯tst long. By the time I had emptied half of my caf¨¦ mocha, her expression had rxed as if she had entered a hot spring. When I asked for the reason, the answer was absurd. ¡°N-No¡ um. Honestly, many things have been understood. After all, you were the first to figure out the conditions for my ability [Primordial Energy]¡?¡± ¡°Um.¡± ¡°A-And, above all, I feel a bit relieved to think that your current position is not the result of pure talent or luck, but rather the result of rolling around in regression. Well, it¡¯s a bit¡ strange to see you working so hard¡¡± ¡°¡¡¡± ¡°Oh. Uh, by the way. Guild Master. Can I upload this anonymously on S?¡± ¡°Sure.¡± ¡°It¡¯s definitely going to get a lot of rmendations¡¡± Thismunity¡¯s like a ghost. ¡°Isn¡¯t Koyori dangerous, so it¡¯s not allowed?¡± ¡°Koyori? Oh, Satisfaction Club¡ I, I¡¯m actually a bit bothered by that person. It¡¯s like my character is being copied by her¡ well, it¡¯s not entirely unpleasant¡¡± ¡°¡¡?¡± ¡°¡¡?¡± The ratio of question marks always skyrocketed when I talked to her. Maybe this was Sim Aryeon¡¯s hidden awakening ability too. Continuing to exin, I relentlessly bent the question marks in my mind. S was actually created by Seo Gyu, and the Constetions were nothing more than puppets of one person. ¡°Ah, hehe¡ hehehe¡!¡± Having witnessed the truth of the world, Sim Aryeon¡¯s SAN continued to decrease. The hand holding the caf¨¦ mocha cup trembled. ¡°W-Why are you sharing such secrets with me? I feel burdened! I didn¡¯t want to know all this¡!¡± ¡°Calm down. Aryeon. How would you feel if the bizarre drawings you create were recognized as ¡®official illustrations¡¯?¡± Pointy. Sim Aryeon¡¯s ears moved. ¡°O-Official¡?¡± ¡°Yeah. Even now, I¡¯ve been discreetly uploading the strategies I¡¯ve learned through regression on S, but starting from the next round, I¡¯m thinking of refining the strategy posts a bit more. And I n to make good use of your drawing skills there.¡± ¡°H-How¡?¡± Just like this. A few dayster, I called the Saintess and Noh Doha as well and handed them a small booklet. The Saintess tilted her head. ¡°Doctor Jang, what is this?¡± ¡°Take your time and read it.¡± The booklet, printed with exquisite precision, contained illustrations along with text. ¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D [Library Society Encyclopedia of Bizarre Creatures] ¡®Ten ns¡¯ Alias: Crawling Cthulhu Spawn, Shadow Lord, Thorn Hell, Lurker Danger Level: City-ss (Polis) Contamination Level: None Habitat: Entire Korean Penins Characteristics: The main feature is the tentacles that resemble human fingers. Contrary to the name ¡®Ten ns,¡¯ they actually have hundreds or thousands of tentacles. Not all tentacles are attached to the main body, and small tentacles grow fromrge ones. The tentacles grow continuously and are repeatedly cut off. These tentacles can rapidly grow to tear apart the opponent¡¯s body (called ¡®Tentacle Assault¡¯) or even shoot the tentacles themselves to pierce through the opponent (called ¡®Tentacle Lance¡¯). In addition to the visible tentacles, there are always at least dozens of tentacles wandering underground. Therefore, one must never becent when fighting the Ten ns, as tentacles can emerge from behind or below at any time. It is necessary to be vignt. Due to these ¡®thorns that rise from the ground,¡¯ it was also widely known among Awakeners by the alias ¡®Lurker¡¯ Compared to the tentacles, the main body is very small. It consists of two hearts, both of which must be struck simultaneously¡ ¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D The Saintess blinked. ¡°The Library Society Encyclopedia of Bizarre Creatures?¡± ¡°Yes. It¡¯s a kind of strategy guide. I n to create these kinds of guides and distribute them under the name of a new Constetion from the next round.¡± ¡°¡.!¡± In other words, the ¡°Constetion in charge of information.¡± Up until now, the Saintess had controlled Constetions based on names from human history. The ¡°Saintess of Salvation¡± was Joan of Arc, and the ¡°Conqueror of the Alps¡± was Hannibal. This methodology had the intuitive advantage of borrowing originality from history, but¡ it was time to add a little more substance to the identities of the Constetions. ¡°By any chance¡ are you nning to establish a Constetion responsible for managing information and strategies about the creatures?¡± ¡°Yes. It wouldn¡¯t be bad for me, as a regressor, to monopolize information, but then too much attention would be drawn to me. Just like Koyori, a mysterious existence, would be overly interested in me.¡± There were many existences in the world whose identities were still unknown, not just Koyori. ¡°We¡¯ll create a separate board on S for the encyclopedia and make it appear as if it¡¯s managed by a new Constetion. Of course.¡± I quietly pointed to Sim Aryeon sitting next to me. ¡°The actual person managing the board will be Sim Aryeon, our guild member.¡± ¡°¡.I see.¡± ¡°It¡¯s quite a responsibility. Seo Gyu doesn¡¯t even participate in activities, but Sim Aryeon¡ she¡¯s quite a famous viin in themunity. It might be a bit rude to say this in front of her, but I wonder if she can handle the position¡¡± ¡°It¡¯s okay. We¡¯ll test it out from the next round.¡± ¡°Oh, sure¡¡± Noh Doha¡¯sughter echoed softly in the meeting room. ¡°I, too, belong to the category of those whose validation is achieved ¡®in that way.¡¯ Hm. Sometimes I can¡¯t keep up with Doctor Jang¡¯s concept of time¡¡± 4 [Trantor ¨C Jjsecus] [Proofreader ¨C Gun] Now, the next round, the 96th. I took Sim Aryeon and traveled all over the country. The purpose? Naturally, it was to supplement the illustrations for the Encyclopedia of Bizarre Creatures. We visited Onyang in Chungcheongnam-do to see the continental-ss creature ¡°Udumbara,¡± and on the Donghae Line subway, we encountered the vige-ss creature ¡°Trolley Dilemma,¡± which is not easy for ordinary people toe across. I listed and showed her various creatures. ¡°Wow, amazing¡!¡± Every time we encountered various creatures, Sim Aryeon busily worked on her drawings. That¡¯s how we collected drawings for half a year. ¨C The yground of the Constetions! ¨C The only safe intemunity! ¨C Come to S! Finally, S opened. It opened slightlyter than usual rounds. However, as it had been prepared for a long time, S underwent significant changes, almost like a ¡°renewal.¡± ¡°Huh? The Library Society Encyclopedia of Bizarre Creatures¡?¡± ¡°What¡¯s this?¡± The full-scale appearance of the ¡°Encyclopedia of Bizarre Creatures¡± that we had nned since thest round. Originally, S had only [Free Board], [Creative Board], [Community Board], [Guild Recruitment Board], and [Chat Room]. But now, at the top, there appeared the words ¡°Library Society Encyclopedia of Bizarre Creatures.¡± Moreover, while all the other boards were disyed in gray, only the Encyclopedia was in red. It was clearly unusual. And the contents were even more unusual. ¡°Why are there descriptions of monsters written here?¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°From the Ten ns to the Gremlins¡ Udumbara? Trolley? Really. I didn¡¯t know there were creatures like these?¡± Along with the visual materials we had carefully collected over the past half year, there was a flood of data umted over dozens of rounds. [The ¡®Grand Librarian¡¯ manages the encyclopedia.] It was the debut of the new Constetion. [The ¡®Grand Librarian¡¯ browses through the information of all things in the world, especially preferring the collection of data on creatures.] [The ¡®Grand Librarian¡¯ wants you to share information with others. Sharing. That is the way to praise and honor the ¡®Grand Librarian.¡¯] [The deeper your faith in the ¡®Grand Librarian,¡¯ the more information you didn¡¯t know before will be unlocked.] As nned by the Saintess, messages were sent to awakened individuals across the country. In the monitoring room, Sim Aryeon nervously chewed her fingernails and fidgeted with her smartphone with an anxious look in her eyes. ¡°Stop staring at it. You¡¯ll wear out the screen.¡± ¡°Y-yeah, but¡ I mean, deceiving so many people like this¡ I-I wonder if I can do it well¡¡± ¡°Oh. You¡¯re gonna do great.¡± ¡°Really?¡± ¡°Aye. You¡¯ve got a natural talent for this.¡± ¡°Me?¡± I know from experience over dozens of rounds that you¡¯re a genius when ites to anonymous role-ying. And sure enough, not long after, chaos erupted among the members of S. ¨C Anonymous: I went to Onyang as mentioned in the Bizarre Creature Encyclopedia and there was a flower tree growing on top of a corpse, just like the illustration. What should I do about this? ©¸ Literature Girl: What do you mean, what should you do? Burn it! It¡¯s a zombie virus! ©¸ Anonymous: But it grants eternal life? ©¸ Officer: Just wait there. I¡¯lle with you to burn down the entire inn. ©¸ Anonymous: Oh. ¨C CookingQueen: Interesting. ¨C Anonymous: Hey, I always thought those green bugs were just goblins, but they¡¯re actually gremlins. I destroyed the machine as instructed in the encyclopedia, and they disappeared on their own. Constant testimonies. People reported seeing creatures exactly as illustrated in the Bizarre Creature Encyclopedia when they visited certain ces, and by following the strategies, they were indeed exterminated. Eventually, the ¡°Grand Librarian¡± quickly gained recognition among awakened individuals. There were also some small incidents where even those who didn¡¯t want to admit it had to acknowledge it. ¨C Anonymous: But if you¡¯re really a Constetion who manages all information, don¡¯t you have to know everyone¡¯s identity, including mine? Hey, whether you¡¯re a librarian or whatever, try guessing who I am. ©¸ [Grand Librarian]: Park Sang-soon. 37 years old. Guild Master of Cheonghae Guild. Currently logged in from Yeongdo, Busan, on the Korean Penins. ©¸ Anonymous: ? ©¸ Literature Girl: ? ©¸ Anonymous: Wait, what? He was the guild master of Cheonghae? ©¸ [Three Thousand Worlds] Witch Judge: Lol ©¸ [Three Thousand Worlds] Officer: Is that one of the guilds representing Busan? Shameful. Identity reveal! It was revealed that anonymous nicknames were useless in front of the ¡°Grand Librarian.¡± Naturally, all non-member identities could be viewed by Seo Gyu, and based on that information, the Saintess could urately identify the identities of the awakened individuals through her irvoyance. But for awakened individuals who didn¡¯t know about this secret, the ¡°Grand Librarian¡± was nothing short of terrifying. After the incident where identities were revealed, voices of doubt or criticism against the ¡°Grand Librarian¡± disappeared from S. ¡°Guild Master¡! This is so fun!¡± Sim Aryeon also humbly acknowledged that the three letters munity management¡± were firmly attached to her soul. Yeah. I knew it would be like this. Unlike Seo Gyu, who somewhat obligatorily managed S, Sim Aryeon was energetically engaged in her ¡°Constetion duties.¡± Naturally, the number of awakened individuals following the ¡°Grand Librarian¡± increased. ¨C Anonymous: Found a way to repel gremlins without destroying machines. ¨C Anonymous: Trolley <<< I''ve already encountered this guy three times, and as long as I act as instructed, there''s no danger of dying. Thanks to this, it became much easier to spread strategies against creatures, and the habit of awakened individuals hoarding valuable information and hiding it diminished significantly. "This should be enough to continue delegating tasks steadily in the next rounds." Truly satisfying results. I watched Sim Aryeon, who was diligently engaged in her work on her smartphone, with a satisfied smile. Of course, although unexpected incidents urred because of this "Bizarre Creature Encyclopedia," let''s save those stories forter. "Ah... Guild Master. S-something big happened." "Hmm? What is it?" "I, I identally left ament under the nickname [Grand Librarian] instead of [Consideration]...." "......" "I deleted it immediately, but several members have already seen it. Eek. M-many eyewitness ounts are popping up in real-time! Screenshots are circting! These... ghostlymunity spirits. Why did they take screenshots in that brief moment... If they had time to be on themunity, they should live their lives... W-what should I do...?" "......" Right. I should remind her to be a little more careful whenmenting from the next round onwards. Ah, there''s no end to the stories. - Record Keeper. ------------------ [Trantor ¨C Jjsecus] [Proofreader ¨C Gun] Chapter 71 â€“ The Plot I [Trantor ¨C Jjsecus] [Proofreader ¨C Gun] Chapter 71 ¨C The Plot I 1 By the way, the group known as the ¡°Library Society¡± has been mentioned several times up to now, but I haven¡¯t really had a chance to exin it properly to you all. Why did this suddenlye to mind? It¡¯s because during the 562nd turn, Oh Dokseo asked me a question. ¡°Mister, mister. How do you join the Library Society?¡± ¡°Hmm? Why the Library Society?¡± ¡°Why, you ask? Because it¡¯s cool.¡± Oh Dokseo sometimes got fixated on random things like this. You could tell just by looking at her¡ªwearing a cap that looked like something a rapper might wear, a jumper, jeans that seemed like they might melt off at any moment plete with three holes), and fake bubble gum being chewed in her mouth¡ªOh Dokseo had a severe case of ¡°eighth-grade syndrome.¡± Oh Dokseo, who proudly dered herself a literary girl, exhibited themon symptoms of this syndrome. She had an almost bizarrely ecstatic reaction to words like ¡°library,¡± ¡°society,¡± and ¡°librarian,¡± as if she were afflicted by some mental, perverse disease. ording to a paper from the Korean Psychiatric Association, this disease, unfortunately, is incurable, and the only treatment is for the patient to actually major in library science at a university. How frightening is that? ¡°You¡¯re a regressor who¡¯s been through hundreds of turns, so you must know the core members of the Library Society, right? Am I right?¡± ¡°Um¡¡± I made a delicate expression. ¡°Well, I do know them, but¡¡± ¡°Then introduce me! No, before that, tell me what the Library Society is like. They post weird stuff on SGNet, but aside from that, it¡¯s a secret organization shrouded in mystery.¡± ¡°¡Do you really want to know?¡± ¡°Yeah? What¡¯s with the sudden reluctance? Tell me everything you can.¡± ¡°You¡¯ll probably regret it¡ But fine.¡± If you really want to know, I have to tell you. -Static, today¡¯s music for you is Mozart¡ Next to our table, a vintage wooden radio was ying music. I took a sip of my caf¨¦ auit, injecting engine fuel into my bright red tongue. And then I opened my mouth toward the small prophet in front of me. 2 The Library Society. Also known as The Great Library. No one knows exactly when it was founded, but it¡¯s a very old organization, and a secret one at that. Naturally, its existence is thoroughly hidden from the public. Even if the organization¡¯s name identally got out, people would likely dismiss it with, ¡°Huh? Sounds like a group that could really exist,¡± and move on without a second thought. It¡¯s not like the Freemasons or the Illuminati, who im to be secret but are actually just attention-seeking posers. ¡°Wow¡ A secret organization.¡± Oh Dokseo¡¯s eyes sparkled with excitement. It seemed that even someone as perpetually cynical and indifferent as Oh Dokseo had a sense of romance in her. Thinking to myself that this could be trouble, I continued my exnation. The exact location of the Society¡¯s headquarters is unknown. However, there are rumors that it is somewhere in North America. The Society¡¯s branches are spread all over the world. The Korean branch¡¯s hideout is somewhere in Cheorwon. ¡°Cheorwon? Why Cheorwon?¡± ¡°Specifically, it¡¯s in Geunnam-myeon, Cheorwon. There are few residents around there. Like any good secret society, they try to avoid attracting attention.¡± ¡°Oh¡¡± The ¡°Library Society¡± was aware of the existence of anomalies long before the Gate incident urred, perhaps even hundreds or thousands of years ago. They collected information on anomalies, wrote strategies and manuals, and secretly trained ¡°librarians.¡± Librarians are specialists in fighting anomalies. They are experts who have sworn to dedicate their lives to exterminating or collecting anomalies, even if it means abandoning humanity and morality. Librarians strictly follow a hierarchical system. The hierarchy is known to consist of [Knight] [Baron] [Viscount] [Count] [Marquis] [Duke]. Among them, there is only one Duke. Known as the Library Duke, or the ¡°ck Book Hall,¡± nothing is known about this individual. It¡¯s uncertain whether they¡¯re even human. ¡°Wait. So how do you refer to librarians along with their rank? Like [Baron-level Librarian]?¡± ¡°Well, more or less. From the Count level, they also get specific titles. For example, a Count specializing in forbidden books would be called ¡®Count of the Forbidden Book Tower.''¡± ¡°That¡¯s so cool¡¡± ¡°Additionally, the suffix of the title changes with each rank. For a Baron, it¡¯s ¡®Gate,¡¯ for a Viscount, it¡¯s ¡®House,¡¯ for a Count, it¡¯s ¡®Tower,¡¯ and for a Marquis, it¡¯s ¡®Pavilion.¡¯ For example, the Marquis in charge of the Forbidden Books Department is called ¡®Marquis of the Sky Sea Pavilion.''¡± ¡°That¡¯s incredibly cool¡¡± Oh Dokseo¡¯s eyes grew more and more dreamy. ording to some, in the deepest depths of the Great Library headquarters, there lies a kind of prophecy book called the ¡°ck Book.¡± The ck Book contains prophecies about future cmities that will befall humanity and the anomalies that will bring about the end of the world, written in very strangenguages and characters. To prevent the eventual day of apocalypse, to preserve humanity, and to continue history, the librarians of the Library Society are working secretly somewhere even now. ¡°¨D¨DAnd all of this is a lie.¡± Blink. Oh Dokseo blinked while holding the espresso I had made. ¡°Huh?¡± Hmm. A pretty good reaction. I smiled gently. ¡°Child. The Library Society doesn¡¯t exist. Sure, you might find groups with simr names if you look hard enough, but there¡¯s no organization that¡¯s been fighting anomalies from the shadows for thousands of years.¡± ¡°Huh? Huh? Why? Why not¡?¡± ¡°Because.¡± I slowly stood up. ¡°I, Doctor Jang, am the master of the Great Library, the founder of the Library Society, the one and only Duke, the Duke of the ck Book Hall.¡± ¡°¡¡± Why are you surprised? I gave a wry smile, like an experienced inn thief, at the eighth-grader syndrome bubble gum girl who was gaping like a fish. Do you think I created only one fake organization in over a thousand years? ying the mastermind is always new and thrilling. I was an SSS-grade regressor ready to im, ¡°Ah, I nned that,¡± ¡°That was me,¡± ¡°That too was me,¡± no matter what incident urred. But even a regressor can¡¯t create something from nothing. That was already proven by the demon Parmenides in 500 BC. Even I had sources of inspiration¡ªor rather, ¡°forced stimtion¡±¡ªwhen I established the Library Society. In other words, there¡¯s an original. The trigger came from a certain radio broadcast that presumably originated from the USA in the 46th turn. [Trantor ¨C Jjsecus] [Proofreader ¨C Gun] 3 Since the copse of civilization, humanity¡¯s cultural level, which had been thriving in the video era, reverted to the radio era. And from early in my regressions, I was very familiar with handling radios. I even had experience setting up a broadcast station to support Idol Tang Surin¡¯s activities. If I may brag for a moment¡ Legendary radio channels like ¡°Nymphcalypse¡± and ¡°Ravenw Busan Branch,¡± which have countless loyal listeners not only on the Korean Penins but also across the sea in the Japanese archipgo, could hardly have started without my help, the Doctor Jang. This isn¡¯t just boasting; it¡¯s an objective fact. The channel hosts often mentioned it casually. ¨C Ah, are you talking about our benefactor? Wow. Our channel¡¯s creation and maintenance owe a lot to our benefactor¡¯s help! I didn¡¯t even know how to run a channel five years ago! ¨C Benefactor? Hmm. I¡¯ve mentioned it a few times on the broadcast already, but we¡¯re really grateful. Sometimes we need rare materials or tools to keep the channel going, and when we ask our benefactor, they miraculously find them for us. The ¡°benefactor¡± they referred to was all me. I contributed significantly to maintaining the cultural level of East Asia after the apocalypse. I even nned an annual event where famous radio channelse together for a 24-hour non-stop ry broadcast on Christmas¡ªcalled the ¡°Radio Festival.¡± So, always be grateful to me, cultural citizens of East Asia. For this reason, one wall of my hideout was always adorned with radios. The lineup was impressive. From Korea¡¯s first vacuum tube radio, the Geumseong A-501, to Sony¡¯s CF-580 and CF-3800, Germany¡¯s Grundig Party-Boy 210, and China¡¯s TECSUN PL-680, among others. Among them was a radio called the Zenith K731. You don¡¯t need to know exactly what it is. Just know it¡¯s an antique made in the 1950s, a vintage product crafted from maple wood. You know how older folks have those wooden wardrobes in their homes? This wooden radio had a simrly smooth texture. -Crackle, this is¡ C-P Foundation. Current situation is¡ crackle. One winter morning, that very antique radio subtly whispered something in English. ¡°Hmm?¡± At the time, I was having my usual morning cup of caf¨¦ auit, savoring a moment of romance. Still half-asleep, I stared nkly at the radio. ¡®Did I leave the radio onst night?¡¯ And here¡¯s where it bes clear why I¡¯m not suited to be a horror movie protagonist. Because I have perfect recall and would never casually brush things off with, ¡®Oh, it¡¯s just my imagination,¡¯ or ¡®Hmm, my memory¡¯s a bit fuzzy.¡¯ ¡®¡I didn¡¯t leave it on.¡¯ My eyes snapped wide open. I immediately turned up the volume. The characteristic static of the radio grew louder. -Crackle, Sector 7 has fallen. Repeat, Sector 7 has fallen. We used nukes as per protocol, but they had no effect. Nukes? Trying to reduce the static and listen more closely, I realized the speaker was probably an old man. He was an American speaking typical Californian English. -Oh, the evil dragon¡ The evil dragon has been released. It¡¯s all over now. Crackle. Can you see? Beyond the mushroom cloud, the huge shadow of the evil dragon is looming. It¡¯s over. The Foundation is finished. The world is finished too. I fiddled with the frequency. But with each adjustment, all I got was more static; the old man¡¯s voice kept crackling. The conclusion was clear. ¡°¡This thing has be an anomaly.¡± I clicked my tongue. Contamination. Since the world started going to hell, electronic devices getting taken over by anomalies had bemon. I called this phenomenon ¡°contamination¡± or ¡°infection.¡± Particrly dangerous were devices like CCTV, phones (the older, the riskier),puters, GPS navigators, radars, and televisions. They were highly likely to go haywire. In fact, the most lethal blow to human civilization wasn¡¯t the physical threats like the Ten ns, but these ¡°contamination¡± phenomena. Early on, when world leaders tried to counter anomalies with nukes, they ended up merging with the all-powerful mushroom clouds, wondering, ¡°Huh? Why are the missilesing back at us?¡± Radios weren¡¯t exempt from contamination either. Though I had put rigorous cleansing measures on the radios I collected, thinking they were rtively safe¡ ¡ª ¨CThis is Sector 7. I am Martin Russell, the Chief Director of Sector 7. As soon as I confirmed the failure of the final barrier protocol in Sector 7, I moved to Bunker 24 and am currently attempting tomunicate with the outside. ¡°Hmm.¡± ¨CFrom the bunker, we can monitor the interior and exterior of the sector via CCTV, but many cameras are broken. I don¡¯t think the remaining ones willst long either. If a rescue team is organized, please deploy them quickly so we can coordinate from the inside. Currently, there are six survivors visible on CCTV, including myself. I am alone in Bunker 24, and the remaining five are scattered. ¨Cording to radar, the entities that escaped containment are not dispersing worldwide but are instead converging in the North American region. Why? What could be causing this? The radio broadcast was quite unusual. Typically, a radio corrupted by an anomaly would just mimic ghostly sounds orunch some nonsensical psychic attack. ¨CFor those affiliated with the Foundation, you should already be aware¡ Sector 7 is located on Molokai Ind, Hawaii. ¨CIn the unlikely event that a civilian hears this transmission, ignore itpletely. Flee as far from North America as possible. Or just enjoy ast meal with your family. However, this particr anomaly, if it was indeed part of a ¡°Foundation¡± as it imed, was remarkably adept at mimicking a human. It really sounded like a human was broadcasting from the other side of the radio. Like someone was genuinely imprisoned somewhere, desperately and urgently sending out a transmission. So, during my 46th regression, I couldn¡¯t help but feel both intrigued and puzzled. ¨CThe entities are indiscriminately destroying the Foundation¡¯s sectors. Chhhh. Oh, God! May humanity be granted mercy¡ If this were true. If the old man really was in Bunker 24, and if a ¡°Foundation¡± actually existed, and if the entities that escaped containment were real. What on earth was happening in North America right now? [Trantor ¨C Jjsecus] [Proofreader ¨C Gun] Chapter 72 â€“ The Plot II [Trantor ¨C Jjsecus] [Proofreader ¨C Gun] Chapter 72 ¨C The Plot II 4 ¡°He said the headquarters were in Hawaii, right? Maybe I should take a casual trip to Hawaii.¡± During my 46th regression, I was too inexperienced to even entertain such a thought. In most run-of-the-mill web novels, if a regressor had gone through 46 turns, people would think, ¡°Wow, they must be really skilled by now! But if they haven¡¯t saved the world after all those turns, maybe they¡¯re just ipetent?¡± But in my story, the 46th turn was just a fresh start, as if I had just taken a vitamin shot. I was still a newbie. Back in my 46th turn, like many South Koreans who imed they had traveled abroad, the farthest I had gone was Japan or China. India? America? Europe? I only knew about them from hearsay and had never actually set foot in those ces. Oh, there was that one time when Old Scho bragged about showing me around his hometown, but promises made between men don¡¯tst more than a thousand years anyway. That old geezer. ¨CThis is Sector 7. Chhhh. I am Martin Russell, the Chief Director. Chhhh, the food supplies in the bunker are slowly depleting. ==Did the series of projects prepared by the Foundation to prevent the end of the world not activate? Or were they activated, and this ce is just a remnant of the world that was left behind? ¨CEither way¡ Chhhh, I will continue recording, hoping that my voice files may someday be of help. Martin Russell, 677 days of survival. The broadcast continued. I named this phenomenon the ¡°Mysterious Foundation Radio Broadcast,¡± or simply ¡°Foundation Broadcast.¡± Over time, I managed to uncover some detailed characteristics of the ¡°Foundation Broadcast.¡± 1. The broadcast would never ur if there was another listener besides me. It was intriguing enough that I called over Sim Aryeon and Seo Gyu to sit with me, but the radio remained silent. Eventually, both of them shook their heads, thinking, ¡°Sigh, the Guild Leader/Bro is ying tricks with the anomalies again¡¡± Didn¡¯t they trust me? Why not? Howe? I even tried having the Saintess use her irvoyance to listen with me, but that also counted as another ¡°listener,¡± so the radio still stayed silent. ¡°Um¡ Doctor Jang, it¡¯s a bit troubling if you joke around with anomalies out of boredom. Please refrain.¡± ¡°¡¡± I felt wronged. 2. The ¡°Foundation Broadcast¡± would ur regardless of the turn, and the ¡°old man¡± always broadcasted from Bunker 7 on Molokai Ind, Hawaii. However, this anomaly only appeared on the Zenith K731 radio, an antique I personally collected. No other radios could pick up the ¡°Foundation Broadcast.¡± Why was that? I have no idea. Anomalies are always shrouded in mystery. ¨CThis is Martin Russell. Uh, um. The escaped entities are still heavily concentrated in the North American region¡ Damn it. It¡¯s already day 1203. Has humanity survived? Am I really thest survivor? The broadcast times were inconsistent but generally between 1 AM and 7 PM. If the broadcaster was indeed in Hawaii, this would be 6 AM to 12 PM Hawaii time. A reasonable time for someone to be awake. And the most important part¡ 3. The broadcast content would subtly change with each turn. In the 46th turn, he mentioned an entity called the ¡°Evil Dragon¡± that destroyed the Foundation in Sector 7. However, in the 49th turn, it went like this: ¨COh, God! The moonlight! Ah, the goddess of Parmenides has finally gone mad! This is an urgent transmission. Whatever you do, do note into contact with the moonlight! Unless you want to melt like wax! ¨CAnnihtion? Has the entire Foundation really been annihted? What about the backup? Oh, my God. Why? Why did it have to be the worst-case scenario? He wailed, iming that ¡°moonlight¡± had wiped out humanity. As the turns progressed, the way the world ended also subtly changed each time. I sipped my caf¨¦ auit and smiled wryly. ¨CIf this is true, North America must be like an inhuman hellscapeparable to the Indian subcontinent. At the time, I assumed it was probably a lie. I had no intention of hunting down the ¡°Foundation Broadcast.¡± It wasn¡¯t causing any harm to humanity aside from whispering through my radio. In fact, the ¡°Foundation Broadcast¡± became a great background noise whenever I wanted to listen to the radio for some entertainment. Again, there wasn¡¯t much to enjoy in this era. Having a radio channel that changed its content every time? It was a real treat. Moreover, each turn, the old man¡¯s subtle hints about the ¡°Foundation¡± provided me with a wealth of inspiration. I learned a lot from it. What exactly did I learn¡? 5 ¡°It¡¯s about standardizing information.¡± Back in the 562nd turn. Oh Dokseo looked puzzled, tilting her head. The radio on the table was leisurely ying a Mozart symphony. ¡°Standardizing¡ information?¡± ¡°The so-called ¡®Foundation¡¯ had very detailed ssifications and rules for entities. For instance, let¡¯s consider a gremlin.¡± A gremlin is an anomaly that attaches to and bizarrely disrupts all electronic devices. At one point, there was a rumor in South Gyeongsang Province that gremlins only infected televisions and radios, leaving cell phones unscathed. In contrast, in North Gyeongsang Province, cell phones were considered the most vulnerable. In Gyeonggi Province, it was widely believed that all electronic devices were safe except for CCTV. Can you believe that? This was the consequence of the copse of information dissemination in human society. ¡°This makes it hard to share information even within the Korean Penins. Back when civilization was intact, we could share visual materials through videos or other means¡¡± With all mass media except radio annihted, even SGNet, which served as a ce for sharing information, was far from perfect. ¡°Anomalies having inconsistent characteristics is one thing, but how do you express how powerful an anomaly is?¡± ¡°Well¡¡± ¡°An S-ss? An A-ss? How different are an S-ss and an A-ss anomaly, and how dangerous are they? Combat power 1000? 2000? Say it has abat power of 1200. Does that number intuitively convey its meaning?¡± ¡°No, it doesn¡¯t.¡± Exactly. Inspired by the ¡°Foundation¡± broadcasts, Iunched a fictional organization called the ¡°Library Society.¡± The concept was simple. It was an ancient group that had been researching anomalies for a long time, thus establishing a ¡°professional ssification system,¡± or ¡°standards.¡± In reality, it was a database infused with the experience and knowledge of me, the regressor. After experiencing numerous regressions and fighting countless anomalies, I crafted this Akashic Record with my blood and sweat. The ¡°standards¡± defined by the Library Society for anomaly danger levels were as follows: Lv.1: Vige This level was assigned to anomalies capable of annihting a vige. ¡°To be considered a ¡®dangerous anomaly,¡¯ it should be at least this level. It helps filter out the smaller anomalies.¡± I jotted down examples in my notebook and showed them. Despite the shock still evident in her eyes, Oh Dokseo, true to her literary nature, seemed intrigued by this ¡°setting book.¡± ¡°A single goblin isn¡¯t worth assigning a danger level. But 30? 40 goblins? That can definitely be ssified as vige-level.¡± ¡°Ah¡ I see.¡± ¡°In other words, even if it¡¯s the lowest grade, if it¡¯s ssified as vige-level, it¡¯s already considered ¡®extremely dangerous.¡¯ Ordinary people must flee, and even awakened ones, unless they specialize inbat, should generally avoid them. Yes, I¡¯m talking about you, Oh Dokseo.¡± ¡°¡¡± In reality, most awakened individuals end up losing their lives when fighting vige-level anomalies one-on-one. In one turn, even Lee Hayul the Puppeteer, brimming with overconfidence, fought a vige-level anomaly and lost an arm. From my perspective, the names of the danger levels used by the ¡®Foundation¡¯ sounded cool, but to the uninitiated, it might prompt the reaction, ¡®So just how dangerous is that exactly?¡¯ I prioritized intuitive terms. ¡°Dangerous enough to wipe out a vige = vige-level.¡± ¡°What do you think? Simple, right?¡± ¡°¡Yeah, it is simple.¡± ¡°From the next danger level onwards, it surpasses merely threatening individual lives.¡± Lv.2: Polis. City-level. Anomalies at this level, if they appear, can devastate an entire city. They are truly formidable creatures. ¡°The Ten ns are a prime example.¡± The anomalies ¡®Chaos¡¯ and ¡®Tam¡¯ mentioned during my trip to the Mount Hua in China also fall into the city-level. The number of casualties they caused together is close to ten million, albeit an estimated figure. The Ten ns may seem trivial now, but at the beginning of my regressions, they single-handedly devastated the Korean Penins. Even city-level anomalies are practically an insurmountable barrier for awakened ones. The main culprits responsible for regressing the timeline of modern states back to the Iron Age are mostly city-level anomalies. ¡°Both ordinary people and awakened ones must flee if they¡¯re not prepared for battle. Though the likelihood of escape is slim.¡± ¡°Wow¡ Seeing you end things with a one-turn kill doesn¡¯t make it feel that real¡¡± ¡°Tsk tsk.¡± That¡¯s why I refrain from soloing during the Ten ns subjugation and leave it to other awakened ones. ¡°Anyway, next.¡± Lv.3: Continent. If city-level anomalies are human despair, continent-level anomalies are the despair of humanity. ¡°At this point, the survival of Homo sapiens as a species is seriously threatened.¡± ¡°¡¡± There¡¯s the World Tree ¡®Udumbara,¡¯ which spread a zombie virus across East Asia under the lure of immortality. The ¡®Meteor Shower,¡¯ which continuously rained down for seven years, eventually turning the whole world into a gray wastnd. These are the ones that make modern humans exim, ¡®This is so unfair, damn it!¡¯ ¡°Wait a minute.¡± ¡°Hmm?¡± ¡°If Meteor Shower is only Level 3, does that mean there¡¯s another level beyond that?¡± I wondered what she meant, but then I realized that Oh Dokseo had only seen about 40 chapters of the serialized work through her [Prophecy]¡ which, by my standards, only covered fewer than 20 turns. So she wouldn¡¯t know. I swiftly moved my pen. ¡°Yes, of course, there is.¡± Lv.4: Five Oceans. Ocean-level. ¡°Ocean-level¡¡± Looking at my notes, Oh Dokseo muttered. ¡°¡It¡¯s a bit disorienting, considering the situation you were in, as seen in the novel. You were portrayed as a hot-blooded character fiercely fighting the Ten ns¡.¡± ¡°Ah, I miss those days. I thought I¡¯d save the world within 30 turns at most.¡± ¡°¡What kind of anomalies are at the ocean level?¡± ¡°I can describe it for you, but you probably won¡¯t grasp it well. There aren¡¯t even any illustrations by Sim Aryeon yet.¡± There¡¯s the ¡®Eight Million Gods¡¯ that will descend upon the Japanese archipgo. The ¡®Asura,¡¯ ¡®Astra,¡¯ and ¡®Hankasa¡¯ that will turn the Indian subcontinent into the most dangerous void on Earth. I often joke about how Korea is either a hot spot or hell on Earth, but honestly, it¡¯s nothingpared to those ces. Once again, I must emphasize, do not travel abroad these days. After hearing my exnation, Oh Dokseo¡¯s face turned pale. ¡°Do I have to fight those kinds of anomalies too?¡± ¡°Don¡¯t be too scared. You in the 561st turn, you in the 560th turn, you in the 559th turn, and you in the 557th turn all managed just fine.¡± ¡°¡¡± ¡°You in this turn will also manage just fine.¡± ¡°¡Wait a minute. Why did you skip the 558th turn? What happened to me then?¡± ¡°¡¡± ¡°Why did you skip it?¡± [Trantor ¨C Jjsecus] [Proofreader ¨C Gun] I averted my gaze. ¡°Well¡ uh¡ Ack! Hey! I only have the [Prophecy] ability! Why drag a nonbatant like me into the battlefield?¡± ¡°Whoa, whoa, calm down. Do you think I¡¯d drag you along without any n? Actually, you¡¯re a multi-ability awakened one. Once you awaken your second ability, you¡¯ll be fine no matter where you end up fighting.¡± ¡°¡Really?¡± ¡°Oh, absolutely. 100% guaranteed survival on the battlefield. You just need to follow the specially designed training curriculum for you, proven over numerous turns. Trust me.¡± ¡°¡I really trust you?¡± ¡°Of course.¡± The training curriculum is grueling enough to be deadly, and indeed, the Oh Dokseo of the 558th turn did die during training. But that was an unfortunate ident, and it won¡¯t happen again. Ahem. ¡°Ugh. How did I end up with this crazy old man? I should never have read that web novel¡¡± ¡°Not all anomalies are just brute physical force. We¡¯ll start with easier and more interesting ones like the ¡®Trolley Dilemma¡¯ or ¡®Hero Syndrome,¡¯ so don¡¯t worry.¡± ¡°How can an anomaly be easy and interesting? Your sense of humor is off¡ By the way, which was the most peculiar anomaly you¡¯ve faced?¡± ¡°I¡¯ll tell you that another time.¡± Leaving the despairing Oh Dokseo alone, I sipped my caf¨¦ auit. The coffee had gone cold while I was talking, but its smooth vor still lingered on my tongue. ¡ªJudging by her expression, I should probably keep it a secret that the danger levels don¡¯t end at Level 4. Lv.5: Alienation. The highest level. These are the ultimate enemies for me, the regressor. They are the ones who forced me into this near-endless turn. Well, there¡¯s no need to exin everything to Oh Dokseo all at once. We still have plenty of time. ¡°Ah.¡± Oh Dokseo stood up from her chair. ¡°Sorry, I need to use the restroom.¡± ¡°You don¡¯t have to announce that. Just go.¡± ¡°Ugh. Spending time with you makes me drink too much coffee¡¡± Grumbling, Oh Dokseo walked away. As soon as she left, the vintage Zenith K731 radio made of maple wood, which had been quietly ying Mozart¡¯s symphony, started emitting static. ¨CCrackle, crackle, this is Section 7 Director Martin Russell. Damn. We¡¯ve confirmed with our instruments that the zombie virus hasnded in California. The nukes are¡ What? What the hell is the Foundation doing? Why is the missile¡ My God! No! Stop! Oh, Lord, have mercy on humanity¡ ¡°¡¡± Once again, I silently offered my condolences for the humanity in North America, which, in this turn too, faced yet another unique apocalypse. 6 There is a postscript to this story. At first nce, it might seem like the episode ends here, and indeed, the conversation I had with Oh Dokseo in the 562nd turn concluded at that point. However, there remained a mystery concerning the ¡®Library Society.¡¯ Since I¡¯ve always tried to be as honest as possible with you, I must take this opportunity to confess this enigma as well. It happened in the 924th turn. That¡¯s a long, long time from now. ¡°Hey, boss.¡± ¡°Huh?¡± ¡°I think you need toe over here and check this out.¡± Responding to Seo Gyu¡¯s call, I walked over to theputer. He was busy managing themunity. ¡°What¡¯s up?¡± ¡°You know, recently you asked me to create the library bulletin board or something, right?¡± ¡°Yeah.¡± ¡°The traffic on that has skyrocketed¡ I mean, really skyrocketed. I thought I should ask if you were the one working on it.¡± ¡°Hmm. That¡¯s probably Aryeon¡¯s doing.¡± ¡°Sim Aryeon? Her?¡± ¡°Yeah. I put her in charge of managing the Library Society board.¡± Even after hearing my answer, Seo Gyu made a peculiar face. ¡°No matter how much of an inte ghost she is, this is¡?¡± ¡°She¡¯s not just any ghost.¡± ¡°Of course, but still. It doesn¡¯t make sense. Look at this, boss.¡± Seo Gyu showed me theputer screen in detail. As he scrolled, posts poured down like a waterfall. It was literally a deluge. ¡°Just today, 400 posts have gone up. Oh, another one just now. Did you see?¡± ¡°¡¡± ¡°And they¡¯re not just junk posts. Most are marked private, but when you check with admin privileges¡ look!¡± I looked. ¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D [Library Society Anomaly Encyclopedia] ¡®Illustrator¡¯ Aliases: Artist, Fan Art Danger Level: None Contamination Level: Unknown Habitat: SGNet (Inte Community) Description: All information from the Library Society, excluding inevitably lost documents, has been safely transferred to the SGNet Library Society Anomaly Encyclopedia board. At some point, these documents started toe with ¡®attachments.¡¯ These attachments are all ¡®illustrations,¡¯ i.e., image files. The illustrations depict the shapes of anomalies, and cross-checking by various librarians confirmed their uracy. Anomalies not only have physical forms but also spread void contamination through reproductions such as photos or videos. These illustrations are extremely dangerous. The Burning Department attempted to destroy these illustrations 501 times but ultimately failed to delete them. It¡¯s officially recognized that all documents of the Library Society have been contaminated by the ¡®Illustrator.¡¯ Below are the rmendations from the librarians of the Burning Department and the orders from the librarians of the Forbidden Books Management Department. [Pyrograph V] Adding a [Show/Hide] function to all documents¡¯ illustrations was the best course of action. It has been confirmed that documents with illustrations had their secrecy unlocked and were made essible to the general public. Librarians are advised not to open illustrations casually for viewing. If confirmation is needed, please formally request approval from the Burning Department. [Thousand Waves M] This is a message from the Forbidden Books Management Department. All librarian activities are logged, including ess to illustrations. In vition of Burning Department guidelines, the private information of ¡®Seohwaga Jajak,¡¯ a member of the Prophecy Department who viewed illustrations unauthorizedly 41 times, as well as theirmunity activity history to the public. This history includes activities under pseudonyms and anonymous participation. Publicly disclosed are the times of ess, content of posts, andments. Furthermore, Seohwaga Jajak is ordered to cohabitate with librarians from the Burning Department in the future. Seohwaga Jajak¡¯s involvement with the LSO is terminated. ¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D ¡°¡.¡± There were posts with content I had never witnessed before. ¡®Pyrograph V? What is this?¡¯ The Library Society was undoubtedly merely a yground of settings I created hundreds of turns ago. Terms like Thousand Waves or ck Book were nothing more than masks I wore, and naturally, I did not leave such writings. Above all, There were no characters like ¡®Pyrograph¡¯ in my setting book. Could V¡ perhaps mean Viscount? Does it signify a title for self-made works? ¡®Is my setting book¡ proliferating without my knowledge?¡¯ Beside me, Seo Gyu said with a spray of saliva. ¡°Right? These posts are all properly written, boss. No matter how crazy Aryeon is, how can she write at this speed?¡± I remained silent. Not only because I had no words to respond but because I was too shocked. ¡®¡This phenomenon is unprecedented.¡¯ I must emphasize that this was the 924th turn. Truly, genuinely, it was as rare in my life as finding a diamond fragment on the banks of the Ganges River. ¡°And there¡¯s even anguage trantion feature, boss. See this [Language Selection] button? Looks like it¡¯s tranted into allnguages worldwide?¡± ¡°¡Is it AI or something, running these posts continuously?¡± ¡°It could be, but¡ how? Unless it¡¯s an Awakener, you can¡¯t ess SGNet. Maybe someone Awakened in skills like ¡®AI Utilization¡¯ or ¡®Auto Post Writing,¡¯ but just doing this is impossible.¡± ¡°¡You¡¯re right.¡± ¡°And I checked the IPs with admin privileges; all these IPs have been properly registered with SGNet. So, if it was an Awakener, they¡¯d need the ability to create SGNet IDs¡ is that possible?¡± ¡°¡If they unified all those abilities into one through a skill like [Inte Community Rampage].¡± ¡°Ah.¡± ¡°But this anomaly is certain. Report the situation to the Saintess immediately to see if she can track their location. Seo Gyu, keep monitoring. You did well to inform me.¡± ¡°Yes, boss.¡± Soon after, a reply came from the Saintess. [Location tracking is not possible.] ¡°What?¡± [With my thousand-mile eyes, I cannot confirm the Awakener of that IP. Doctor Jang, are these really existing people?] ¡°¡.¡± A chill ran down my spine for the first time in a long while. Countless hypotheses crossed my mind. The possibility of skills nullifying the Saintess¡¯s thousand-mile eyes, the possibility of anomalies where different world lines intersect on SGNet, the possibility that even anomalies could gain ess to SGNet¡ I stared at theputer monitor. With each refresh, new documents were popping up on the forum in real-time. ¡°So¡ if they¡¯re not real humans existing in reality, then the creators posting hundreds, thousands, tens of thousands, maybe even millions of posts in real-time on this inte site¡ where do they exist?¡± [¡¡] The Saintess remained silent. ¡Once again. It seemed there were still many unknown mysteries in this world. ¨C The Plot. The End. [Trantor ¨C Jjsecus] [Proofreader ¨C Gun] Chapter 73 â€“ Genetic Factor I [Trantor ¨C Jjsecus] [Proofreader ¨C Gun] Chapter 73 ©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤ Gic Factor I 1 Let¡¯spile my stories once and for all: I was the one who wholeheartedly supported Tang Seorin to be the strongest idol in the Korean Penins, founded the National Road Administration to monopolize and control logistics, created SGNet to wield the power of public opinion and information, debuted the Constetion known as ¡®The Librarian of the Grand Library,¡¯ and established the cover organization called the Library Society ¨C yes, all of that was me. After hearing all this, some readers might start to see me as an ¡®omnipotent mastermind.¡¯ However, that would be a misunderstanding. As I¡¯ve repeatedly mentioned, my story is more about failures than sesses. Naturally, I made a lot of ridiculous mistakes. Shall I introduce one of the more memorable episodes among those countless blunders? -Wheeeeee! Have you ever? This might be a bit random, but do you like ¡®The Lord of the Rings¡¯? By ¡®The Lord of the Rings,¡¯ I mean not Tolkien¡¯s original novels, but the trilogy films directed by Peter Jackson. My favorite among the trilogy is undoubtedly thest part, the finale, ¡®The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King¡¯ (2003). In particr, the scene where the cavalry of the human kingdom charges at the orcs¡monly referred to as the ¡®Rohan Cavalry Charge¡¯ scene, is my absolute favorite. In the movie, before the humans and orcs sh, there¡¯s a moment where both sides brace themselves. -Form ranks, maggots! Form ranks! Pikes to the front! Archers to the back! -Ride now! Ride to ruin and the world¡¯s ending! Arise, arise, Riders of Th¨¦oden! -Death! -Ride now, sons of Eorl! Oh, by the way, the parts marked with ¡®¡ö¡¯ are to respect the fearsome copyright of the Tolkien estate. I, the Doctor Jang, am a man who strictly abides by copyrightws. Anyway, when the human cavalry finally charges, the war horn of Pelennor Fields sounds a mighty st. This¡ really. As with most onomatopoeia, it¡¯s impossible to convey the sound of that horn through text. Even with the crudebination of letters like ¡®wheeeee,¡¯ it captures less than 0.01% of that majestic sound effect. I only got to watch the movie long after its hype had died down. Before I started my life as a regressor, I didn¡¯t have much interest in cultural activities. But. ¡°W-What. Guild Master¡ You¡¯ve never seen The Lord of the Rings movies? I-I don¡¯t understand. What I mean is, why do you even live? What¡¯s the point of prolonging such a useless existence¡?¡± After Sim Aryeon¡¯s relentless nagging, I somehow managed to get my hands on the Blu-ray and watched it at home. -Wheeeeee! And I¡ was hooked. It would be fair to say that I finally grasped what the cavalry obsession was. When the cavalry¡¯s hooves trampled the orcs, my heart was trampled simultaneously. Thus began the 380th turn. It was during another ¡®vacation turn.¡¯ 2 ¡°Cavalry.¡± ¡°¡Pardon?¡± ¡°Let¡¯s raise a cavalry.¡± The meeting room fell silent for a moment. Thud. Just in time, Noh Doha, the head of the National Road Administration (who isn¡¯t picky about the type or origin of coffee and drinks whatever is given), lowered his cup of caf¨¦ mocha. ¡°What nonsense are you talking about¡?¡± ¡°I¡¯m saying we should raise a cavalry. In a world where cars and motorcycles don¡¯t run, how long will we cling to outdated vehicles? Don¡¯t you think it¡¯s about time we needed a new mode of transportation that works just fine on weeds and doesn¡¯t require fuel?¡± ¡°If anything, horses seem far more outdated than cars¡¡± ¡°Eras change ording to their environment.¡± For the record, whenever I argued something within the Regressor Alliance, I never just spoke empty words. I always prepared audiovisual materials and statistical data in advance. ¡°As you can see, thanks to the growth of the National Road Administration, logistics between cities and guilds are bing increasingly active. However, the amount of fuel each city has stored is rapidly depleting. It¡¯s clear that within two years, all reserves will be exhausted. Director Noh Doha, we need to prepare countermeasures starting now.¡± ¡°If my memory serves me right, weren¡¯t you, the Awakener, Doctor Jang, the one who recently suggested using gremlins to power vehicles¡?¡± ¡°Gremlins, despite appearances, are still anomalies. No matter how careful we are, idents can happen at any time. We need a n B that we can switch to whenever necessary.¡± ¡°That sounds reasonable, but why do you look so displeased¡?¡± That¡¯s because only Noh Doha sees Noh Doha in my eyes. ¡°Well. I admit it¡¯s a decent n B, but how do you n on raising horses? We don¡¯t have the luxury to expand pastures¡¡± ¡°No worries. I have no intention of asking Lady Swordmaster, who¡¯s already busy, to trample more weeds.¡± ¡°¡Then how do you n to raise horses?¡± Noh Doha¡¯s puzzled look was justified. In this world covered by the Void, even wild nts that appear normal can be deadly if consumed. If anything consumes them, whether human, animal, or nt, they experience a miraculous gic transformation in real-time. Experiencing white hair gradually growing from your scalp and then suddenly sprouting teeth instead of hair is quite a unique experience. Even Darwin and Lamarck, if they were reborn in this era, would probably say, ¡°I didn¡¯t expect my theories to be this urate¡¡± with a reluctant smile. ¡°Director Noh Doha, we need to break free from the fixed idea of ¡®horses.¡¯¡± ¡°What? Wait a moment. The feeling I get whenever you spout academic nonsense is just creeping up on me again¡¡± ¡°What is a horse? What is the essence, the idea, of a horse? It¡¯s an animal that people ride to gallop.¡± ¡°Oh, hell.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t just want an imitation of a horse. I want a true horse. One that humanity has never seen before ¨C a horse itself. One that doesn¡¯t fear pike formations and their pointed tips, with explosive eleration and long-distance endurance, capable of carrying heavy loads, kind, gentle, but only to me and ruthless to enemies, one that doesn¡¯t defecate much and eats anything. That¡¯s the horse I want.¡± ¡°Oh, hell¡¡± ¡°And to create this horse, I will use the Void. How does my perfect n sound? Doesn¡¯t it just make your heart race?¡± ¡°It does make my heart race, thanks to the angina you¡¯re causing. The Medical Dispute Mediation and Arbitration Agency is bankrupt, so I can¡¯t even sue you¡ Um, Saintess? Can you please try to stop this man¡?¡± The Saintess, who had been quietly sipping her instant coffee, finally spoke up with a nk expression. ¡°Last week, Doctor Jang here consulted with me about creating a moving steampunk fortress like in ¡®Howl¡¯s Moving Castle.¡¯¡± ¡°¡¡± ¡°Compared to a steampunk fortress, the idea of a horse is rtively reasonable. I rmend giving up, Director Noh Doha.¡± A long sigh filled the meeting room. ¡°Oh, hell¡¡± I took that as a sign of, ¡°This project sounds fantastic, let¡¯s start right away.¡± The very next day, I set up a horse ranch in the ins of Daesan-myeon, north of Changwon in South Gyeongsang Province. ¡°Modern people¡¯s trend is returning to farming¡ no, returning to pastoralism.¡± Wearing a straw hat, I looked out over the ins with satisfaction. Thend I chose was perfect. With the nearby Junam Reservoir, the environment was ideal for pastures. The location was excellent, too. It was practically a stone¡¯s throw from the National Road Administration and the headquarters of Samcheon World in Busan. ¡°After traveling all over the country through countless regressions, my eye fornd has be sharp enough to rival Master Muhak.¡± My shoulders naturally lifted with pride. Before the copse of civilization, thisnd was primarily used for agriculture. However, now, with most residents having left, it is overrun by weeds and underbrush. Of course, in this era, gics and biology have advanced to the point where even ¡°anomalies¡± are officially registered among the weeds and underbrush. -GobbleGobble. -SlimeSlime. The anomalies inhabiting the Daesan-myeon area came in two major types. First, there was the ¡°gogoblin,¡± which looked like a goblin but had a body made of liquid slime. Then there was the ¡°Goblime,¡± which resembled a slime but had goblin skin. ording to the Library Association¡¯s ssification system, both were considered less than vige-level threats. How such hybrids came to be, I don¡¯t know, so don¡¯t bother asking. Perhaps one day, Goblin A found a slime¡¯s bottom enticing¡ or maybe Slime B felt a peculiarfort from a goblin¡¯s rear. Either way, the result was equally monstrous. -Gobble! -Slime! Without hesitation, I wiped out both rare species in just two days. Post-apocalypse, the word ¡°biodiversity¡± was removed from dictionaries worldwide, making this act perfectly legal. While I was in Changwon, I also tidied up the underbrush with my aura. -Neigh! Neigh! Next came the perfectly legal and peaceful transportation operation. I went to Jeju Ind, rounded up the grazing horses, and loaded them onto a ship. Then, I rowed back and forth between the maind and Jeju Ind. [Trantor ¨C Jjsecus] [Proofreader ¨C Gun] Fuel? That¡¯s a luxury. ¡°Noh Doha dered, ¡®We can¡¯t spare even a liter of fuel for your Animal Crossing Edition DLC¡¡¯ and handed me exactly 500ml of heavy oil in a beaker. But who am I, Doctor Jang? I managed to transport a total of 200 horses by rowing across the sea with my aura-covered oars over two weeks. Not stopping there, I even went to Japan to negotiate with the Magical Girl Association and brought back four prime racehorses. Since we¡¯d done a few business deals together, they were more than happy to help. Of course, the Magical Girl Association didn¡¯t provide a ship, so I had to row across the East Sea by hand. [Why on earth¡?] I often heard the Saintess muttering, but I ignored her. I respect the Saintess, but after finally convincing her to read *The Romance of the Three Kingdoms*st week through persistent proselytizing, she read it and remarked: ¡°¡In the end, Sima Yi won, so there¡¯s no real moral or lesson, right?¡± What? Neither a Shu (orthodox) nor Wei (heretical) fan, and not even a lunatic Wu fan, but a Jin fan? Is she even the same species, Homo sapiens? The Saintess doesn¡¯t understand the human heart. [I don¡¯t mean I like the Sima family; I just meant the story¡¯s conclusion¡ Never mind. I¡¯m sorry. I was wrong. Keep raising your horses.] Hmph. The horses grew rapidly with the love and support of the regressor, and most importantly, the gic mutations from the Void. If the world were still normal, it would take at least 2-3 years for horses to breed and for foals to grow into adults, but our world isn¡¯t normal. It¡¯s a world where Newton¡¯s concepts of absolute space and time induce seizures and convulsions. Thanks to this global level of insanity, in my ranch (named ¡°The Idea Ranch¡±), foals could grow into adults in just one night. Of course, this was an extreme case; generally, they grew erratically over about half a year. -Neigh! Neigh! -Grumble¡ Under my care, the horses unlocked the mysteries of evolution. I named this entire process ¡°Gic Factor Operation¡±¡ shortened to ¡°GenOp.¡± Towards the ultimate horse! Towards the fastest horse! Towards the supreme horse! In a way, evolution was simr to the life of a regressor, filtering out the optimal paths. Hence, who better to be an expert in GenOp than me, Doctor Jang? And so, after six months of hard work¡ ¡°You mean, there are already results¡?¡± ¡°That¡¯s right, Commander Noh Doha. I officially invite you to my [Idea Ranch] for an inspection and tour.¡± ¡°Wow. I can¡¯t remember thest time I was so reluctant to ept an invitation¡¡± ¡°But this is the official n B submitted in the Alliance meeting. As the meeting¡¯s chair, you should verify it, right? Plus, staying in Busan all the time isn¡¯t good. People need to get out asionally.¡± ¡°¡¡± ¡°You¡¯lle, right?¡± ¡°¡¡± For this day, I even prepared a safari truck. Not only Noh Doha, but I also invited our guild members, Seo Gyu and Sim Aryeon. They tend to feel left out if I do anything fun without them. ¡°Ah! Guildmaster, you always brag about the ranch, so I¡¯ve been dying to see it! Can I draw it and post it on SGNet?¡± ¡°Big brother keeps singing praises about the ranch, calling it Arcadia and Utopia, so I¡¯m curious. From start to finish, it¡¯s your creation, so it must be amazing, right?¡± Aryeon and Seo Gyu chattered excitedly in the backseat of the safari truck. In an era like the apocalypse, entertainment was scarce. Humanity had rediscovered the virtue of being excited about small invitations. Meanwhile, Noh Doha, seated in the passenger seat, had a face that screamed reluctance. The moment he got in the truck, he fastened her seatbelt and quietly whispered to me. ¡°Doctor Jang¡¡± ¡°Hmm?¡± ¡°Why isn¡¯t the Saintess here¡?¡± ¡°Oh, I did invite her, but she¡¯s down with a sore throat. She said she¡¯de next time when she¡¯s feeling better.¡± ¡°¡¡± Noh Doha¡¯s expression grew even paler. I inserted a cassette tape into the quite old safari truck and yed some music. The backseat filled with cheerful chatter, appreciating my excellent taste in music. ¡°Alright, let¡¯s start the first public opening and safari tour of Doctor Jang¡¯s Idea Ranch.¡± ¡°Wow, amazing¡¡± ¡°Ooooooh!¡± Vroom! The safari truck roared, spewing out exhaust fumes. I honked the horn enthusiastically, and the preset bugle sound red triumphantly. -Fuboooooong! It was perfect. As the bugle, once sounded across continents for humanity¡¯sst stand, majestically echoed, Noh Doha¡¯s muttering drifted from the passenger seat, barely audible, just enough for me to hear. ¡°Damn it¡¡± [Trantor ¨C Jjsecus] [Proofreader ¨C Gun] Chapter 74 â€“ Genetic Factor II [Trantor ¨C Jjsecus] [Proofreader ¨C Gun] Chapter 74 ¨C Gic Factor II Noh Doha¡¯s ominous muttering had no impact on our safari adventure. Even the usually reserved Sim Aryeon and Seo Gyu were chattering excitedly in the backseat, likely aided by the factory-made chips and choctes I¡¯d prepared for the asion. ¡°This is the first time I¡¯ve been invited to something like this and had fun with others¡¡± ¡°It¡¯s also the first time my brother has invited us somewhere, so I have high expectations.¡± ¡°Indeed, the Busan n¡ The camaraderie is iparable to that of lesser groups¡!¡± I smiled warmly and turned the wheel. Today, I, Doctor Jang, was not the guild master but a humble guide leading this tour. ¡°From here, we enter the Idea Ranch. Wee, everyone.¡± ¡°Wow! Ah? Aaaah¡?¡± Sim Aryeon¡¯s cheer, which had reached soprano heights while she looked out the window at the ranch, gradually descended. ¡°Uh¡ Guild Master¡?¡± ¡°Yes?¡± ¡°Why is there a ten-meter-tall iron barbed wire and concrete wall around the horse ranch?¡± ¡°Hmm.¡± I nodded. ¡°It¡¯s certainly not the most visually appealing outdoor decoration.¡± ¡°Y-yes, it¡¯s kind of scary. To be honest, it looks almost¡ grotesque¡?¡± ¡°I agree.¡± I pressed a remote control button. With a heavy rumble, the iron gate sealing off the safari theme park slowly opened. ¡°But Aryeon, the appearance of a structure is only a secondary attribute, never its essence.¡± ¡°Uh¡?¡± ¡°Think about it. Ranches always have fences. It¡¯s natural to prevent the animals from running away. Our Idea Ranch just has a more sturdy and robust fence. The essence of the ranch remains unchanged. Do you understand?¡± ¡°Uh¡¡± The tires of my safari truck rolled elegantly through the gap as the gate opened. ¡°Oh, you can leave the windows open, but don¡¯t stick your head out. It can be dangerous while driving.¡± ¡°Yes, okay¡¡± As soon as Sim Aryeon pulled her upper body back inside, I pressed the remote control button again. ng- Iron bars rose from the window frame to protect the windows. ¡°Eek,¡± Sim Aryeon flinched. ¡°Guild Master? Why did the windows suddenly get iron bars?¡± ¡°Oh, I modified the truck for safari use. Isn¡¯t it great? Your guild master is quite handy.¡± ¡°It¡¯s impressive, but¡ why do we need this¡?¡± ¡°¡¡± By now, even Seo Gyu was silent like Noh Doha. In the rearview mirror, I saw beads of cold sweat forming on his otherwise stoic face. ¡°Of course, it¡¯s to thoroughly ensure the safety of our valuable tourists.¡± ¡°Uh, but why is safety a concern just for a quick tour of the ranch¡?¡± ¡°Aryeon.¡± Seo Gyu spoke sternly. ¡°Yes?¡± ¡°Buckle your seatbelt.¡± ¡°Uh, but seatbelts are ufortable and make it hard to breathe¡¡± That¡¯s when it happened. -Kkkiieeeek! ¡°Eeeek!¡± At the same time as the cute neighing from outside, Sim Aryeon¡¯s scream echoed inside the truck. ¡°Ah, everyone, please turn your gaze to 2 o¡¯clock. Do you see it? That is our first horse, Kkinki, proudly presented by Idea Ranch.¡± ¡°A horse¡?¡± Noh Doha looked out through the iron bars with an icy gaze. ¡°Is that a horse¡?¡± Outside, a horse was cautiously watching our safari truck. Its long neck bore a sign with the name ¡°Kkinki,¡± but it had already broken part of it, leaving only ¡°Kk¡öki¡± visible. Truly a troublemaker. Of course, having been raised in the Void, its appearance was somewhat different from ordinary horses, in non-essential, secondary attributes. For instance, Kkinki could walk on two legs, unlike other horses. Not in an upright posture, but hunched over. Nevertheless, it was a horse. Its skin, rather than being brown, ck, or white, had a greenish hue, likely a result of adapting to the weed-filled ins of the Daesan area. And¡ its teeth were sharp. But horses naturally have well-developed teeth. Kkinki had simply undergone a bit of convergent evolution. Nevertheless, it was a horse. Finally, its hooves, that is, its nails and ws, were slightly sharper. But considering hooves are a naturally existing part of a horse, this was a minor change. After observing all these attributes, Noh Doha muttered bleakly. ¡°That¡¯s¡ a dinosaur¡¡± Simultaneously, Kkinki opened its mouth. -Aaaaack! Hmm. Given that I¡¯ve built quite a bond with the horses on this ranch over the past six months, I¡¯d interpret that sound as, ¡°What nonsense, Noh Doha-ya? I am indeed a horse.¡± ¡°Excuse me? A dinosaur? Come on, don¡¯t nder them. How do our horses even remotely resemble dinosaurs? Dinosaurs were covered in feathers, hideous creatures, while our horses have smooth, sleek skin.¡± ¡°Sure, ignoring the fact that horses grow manes, when did horse skin start crossbreeding with reptiles to unt smooth, green scales?¡± ¡°V-velociraptor?¡± Seo Gyu shouted from the back seat. ¡°Raptor! It¡¯s a raptor, boss!¡± ¡°Raptor?¡± ¡°Yep! The ones from Jurassic Park¡ªwait a second. No way, boss, you haven¡¯t seen Jurassic Park?¡± ¡°Of course not. That movie came out before I was even born.¡± ¡°No, that¡¯s the original trilogy from back in the day. My gosh, I can¡¯t believe you¡¯re such a movie novice. There have been so many recent ones too¡¡± ¡°Aaaack!¡± Noh Doha was horrified, Seo Gyu was excited, and Sim Aryeon was cheering. Clearly, everyone was delighted by the cuteness of our precious Kkinki. I continued driving the safari truck. ¡°Alright, alright. Now, please turn your heads to the 9 o¡¯clock direction. You will be able to see our thirty-third gically engineered horse, Pointy. It¡¯s notable for walking on all fours, like a proper horse.¡± ¡°That¡¯s a triceratops!¡± ¡°Please refrain from calling our Pointy such an undignified name, Seo Gyu.¡± ¡°Another dinosaur¡ What on earth have you done to the horses to make them grow a rhinoceros horn on their heads¡?¡± ¡°Now, if you look at the 11 o¡¯clock direction, you¡¯ll see Kongkongi. It has a beautifully shaped head.¡± ¡°Pachycephalosaurus! The head-butting dinosaur!¡± ¡°Oh my, Kongkongi seems pleased to see us, knocking on the truck like that? Haha. Let¡¯s all wave and say hello to Kongkongi!¡± ¡°Eek¡ the truck¡ it¡¯s shaking, eek¡¡± As expected, the safari tour was a great sess. Every time I introduced one of our ranch residents, there were thunderous cheers. In my entire life, including all my past lives, this was one of the most rewarding days as a host. ¡°Alright then, everyone. Just looking at the horses from the safety of this truck through metal bars is a bit boring, don¡¯t you think?¡± ¡°No!¡± ¡°I feel the same! So, let¡¯s take some time to interact directly with the horses under my guidance.¡± ¡°Aaah! Aaaah¡!¡± Sim Aryeon wailed. Well, no need to be that excited. ¡°With that in mind, let me introduce you to the pride of Idea Ranch, my top pick, Kkangkangi.¡± [Trantor ¨C Jjsecus] [Proofreader ¨C Gun] ¡°Kkangkangi¡?¡± ¡°A very gentle and good-natured fellow. Alright, everyone, please get out of the truck. Aeryeon? Please get out nicely. If you don¡¯t, I¡¯ll expose on SG that you¡¯re responsible for leaving the elderly behind.¡± ¡°Eek. Heek, heeeeng¡¡± Leading the group, I got out of the safari truck, followed by the others. ¡°Kkangkang! Come here!¡± Whistle. I pulled out a goat barbecue from the trunk and threw it far into the forest. Momentster. Thud! A goat¡¯s hind leg, torn off, flew out of the forest and hit the truck window, narrowly missing Sim Aryeon¡¯s face. ¡°Ahhhh!¡± ¡°Now, herees Kkangkangi. Everyone, although Kkangkangi is very good-natured, he¡¯s still young andcksposure and calmness, so please try not to provoke him.¡± ¡°We agreed to call it [bad-tempered]¡¡± Thud. Thud. Thud¡ª KkangKangi emerged from between the trees, majestic and imposing. Of all the horses I had seen, this one was by far thergest. Its hind legs were tremendously powerfulpared to its rather spindly front legs. Most importantly, its head was a thing of beauty. Seo Gyu punched the air in excitement. ¡°Yes! It has to be a T-rex! And it¡¯s even the featherless version! Damn, who cares about scientific uracy!¡± ¡°Gulp¡¡± Seo Gyu, who had refrained from swearing for a while, couldn¡¯t contain himself, while Sim Aryeon copsed in a heap beside him, overwhelmed by emotion. It was understandable, given how impressive KkangKangi was. -Roooaaar! It seemed KkangKangi was happy to see me, probably because it recognized its dad. ¡°As you just heard, KkangKangi has a distinctive roar and is the youngest member of our ranch. He loves goat meat the most.¡± ¡°A carnivorous horse¡?¡± ¡°Of course. Why discriminate against our boy just because he enjoys some meat?¡± ¡°Aha. I always wondered why Doctor Jang didn¡¯t have a family or pets. But today, I realize it¡¯s probably for the best that you don¡¯t have children or pets¡¡± Thud! Thud! KkangKangi charged toward me on its powerful hind legs. I summoned my aura and wrapped my arms around its head. ¡°Oh, there, there. Did you miss Daddy a lot?¡± -Roooaaar! ¡°Good boy. Don¡¯t spill your food. Here, eat this goat leg you dropped. Chew it well.¡± -Growl! Roar! ¡°Isn¡¯t our KkangKangi adorable?¡± ¡°¡.¡± Sim Aryeon was still unconscious, so no answer came from her. Seo Gyu was too busy examining KkangKangi closely. That left Noh Doha, who, despite hisck of empathy, had to respond. ¡°You¡¯re just overpowering a T-rex with brute strength¡¡± After this highlight of the safari tour, we headed back to our lodgings. Sim Aryeon remained unconscious the entire time. I smiled broadly. ¡°So, chief Noh Doha, what do you think of the achievements at our ranch?¡± ¡°Hmm¡¡± ¡°I believe KkangKangi would be the most suitable for our cavalry.¡± ¡°Hmmm¡¡± ¡°Raising them isn¡¯t easy, but with time and budget, I will raise 1,000 KkangKangi to create the world¡¯s strongest cavalry. Of course, all the riders will blow horns that I crafted during charges.¡± ¡°Hmm.¡± Noh Doha smiled broadly, a rare sight for him. ¡°Ridiculous.¡± Why? 3 Epilogue 1. In the end, KkangKangi¡¯s cavalry debut was canceled, but not all of Idea Ranch¡¯s achievements were overlooked. ¡°Doctor Jang. That giant dinosaur, Pointy or whatever it¡¯s called, does it eat a lot of feed¡?¡± ¡°No, thanks to the mysteries of void gics, most of its energy needs are absorbed through its skin. And it¡¯s a horse, not a dinosaur.¡± ¡°Whether it¡¯s a dinosaur or a horse, that¡¯s good news. We¡¯ll use Pointy for heavy lifting in the national road maintenance team¡¡± Additionally, instead of KkangKangi, the military horse selected for the awakened riders was KongKong, specialized in headbutting. Naturally, I vehemently opposed this dreadful decision. ¡°No! Cavalry must be stylish! What romance is there in riding KongKong into battle!¡± ¡°But your KkangKangi eats nearly 100kg of meat daily¡? Meanwhile, KongKong needs little feed and is very docile. There¡¯s no reason to hesitate¡¡± ¡°Calm down! Cavalry isn¡¯t about efficiency!¡± ¡°Then call it a mobile unit or a dinosaur unit. Damn. I¡¯m fine with just calling it the national road maintenance team¡¡± ¡°How is this possible? How can a human being possess such sensitivity?¡± Eventually, starting from Episode 380, asionally, awakened individuals on the Korean Penins began riding KongKong around. Although this story is limited to the episodes where I managed Idea Ranch. I returned alone, and KongKong was waiting for me. Beyond the horizon, the crimson sunset was sinking. ¡°I¡¯m sorry, KongKong. It seems I won¡¯t be able to find you a mate¡¡± -Rooooar. ¡°It¡¯s okay. My life doesn¡¯t find its value in romantic rtionships, but in philosophical exploration,¡± KongKong replied. Ah! How poignant. Drenched in sadness, I mounted KongKong¡¯s back and blew the horn. -Hooooooow! -Rooooooar! A horse and a human roared against the backdrop of the fiery sunset. The human romance with the cavalry had finally reached its conclusion. Epilogue 2. ¡°Seo Gyu, I watched the dinosaur movie you rmendedst time. I don¡¯t know, I didn¡¯t really like it.¡± ¡°Really? How many did you watch?¡± ¡°Six. I heard that was the final one, so I watched it first. It was called Dominion. Why would you rmend such movies?¡± ¡°Well, bro, damn¡¡± -Gic Factors. -End [Trantor ¨C Jjsecus] [Proofreader ¨C Gun] Chapter 75 â€“ Invader I [Trantor ¨C Jjsecus] [Proofreader ¨C Gun] Chapter 75 ¨C Invader I 1 Since we¡¯re on the topic of movies, let me rify my preferences. I¡¯m particrly fond of alien movies. To be more specific, I lean towards disaster, invasion, SF, and apocalypse genres. You know, movies like ¡°War of the Worlds¡± (2005) or ¡°Independence Day¡± (1996). Those kinds of films. Some might find my taste a bit unexpected. ¡°Why would anyone enjoy experiencing Earth being invaded by aliens, especially when it feels just like real life? What¡¯s enjoyable about that?¡± But that¡¯s a question from someone who doesn¡¯t understand. It¡¯s because movies and reality are not entirely the same that they¡¯re enjoyable. It¡¯s almost like watching a fantasy unfold. In these movies, awakened individuals are usually absent. That¡¯s where the first ¡°realism error¡± urs. ¡°Wow¡ So these aliens suck human blood for fuel, manipte the environment, but their lower bodies are weak. A single swing with a pickaxe could bring them down¡¡± ¡°Their strategy is bizarre too. They¡¯ve been lurking for thousands, even millions of years, yet they didn¡¯t bother to scout Earth¡¯s ecology beforehand? Why? Even a year of reconnaissance could have revealed all the ws.¡± ¡°Maybe they¡¯re just stupid¡?¡± ¡°Ah. Well, nothing we can do about it.¡± Just by listening to Simaryeong and Seo Gyu¡¯s conversation while watching a movie, you can understand how people in this era perceive SF alien invasion disaster movies. Theck of realism actually makes it more enjoyable, almost like a fantasy. Although I¡¯m sure that wasn¡¯t the director¡¯s intention. If I were to pick a movie with rtively good realism among them, it would be ¡°Sudden Rich: Land of Annihtion¡± (2018). It depicted well how the emptiness is perceived by ordinary people. Anyway. There¡¯s one clich¨¦ that almost always appears in these movies. ¡°The seemingly invincible aliens that plunge humanity into despair actually had one fatal w -¡± I call this the ¡°Achilles clich¨¦.¡± Someone might argue that Achilles wasn¡¯t technically human, but from the perspective of the people of Troy, he might as well have been an alien. In the movies, aliens either die en masse due to Earth¡¯s viruses after joining the anti-vine movement, or their brains explode from the strange waves generated by country music. But in reality, the awakened beings aren¡¯t so kind to humanity. However, asionally, very rarely ¨C truly, like something out of a movie ¨C benevolent beings with an ¡°Achilles gun¡± appear. Among them, the kindest alien I encountered was in Turn 98. 2 Honestly, at first, I didn¡¯t even realize it was an alien. Not because I¡¯m stupid, but because this being truly made people confused. ¡°A meteor!¡± ¡°Over there, over there!¡± ¡°Do you think it¡¯lle this way¡?¡± From a distance, it looked just like a meteor. The timing of its appearance was also curious ¨C exactly 9 yearster. In other words, it happened when the continent-level anomaly, ¡°Meteor Shower,¡± had already devastated Gyeongsangnam-do and was joyfully sprinkling its urine all over the world. Naturally, when something meteor-like falls from the sky at that time¡ ¡°Ah, another meteor shower acting up again.¡± That¡¯s the only way to perceive it. Moreover, this ¡°meteor¡± fell not ind but in the middle of the East Sea. And not near Ulleungdo, but in the Japan Basin, near the Japanese archipgo. I¡¯ve never heard any news about Antis moving from the Antic to the East Sea, so the area was truly uninhabited. So I didn¡¯t pay much attention to it. Being a Regressor, I was too busy taking care of the oceans¡¯ ecosystems to worry about such things. But after the Meteor Shower incident, the stories became a bit strange. ¡°Doctor Regressor, did you see a meteor fall towards the East Seast night¡?¡± ¡°Yes?¡± ¡°I guess not. A shooting star fellst night. Hmm. I thought it might be another Meteor Shower. It became a hot topic on SGNet, but nothing happened in the end¡¡± ¡°Oh, it¡¯s around this time of year that meteors fall into the East Sea. It turns out it was just an ordinary meteor.¡± I heard several eyewitness ounts after that, but I lived quite detached from the matter for a while. After all, around 100 tons of rocks fall from space to Earth every day. It just happened to fall into the East Sea and coincided with the ¡°Meteor Shower¡± event, but it wasn¡¯t a particrly special event. But then, one day. During Turn 98, I happened to be visiting Kanazawa, Japan. I had a meeting with the Magical Girls Association, which boasted thergest influence in the Japanese archipgo, equivalent to the Awakened Beings Federation in Korea. By the way, this group is filled with lunatics simr to us but withpletely different directions in which they¡¯ve evolved their entricities. There mighte a day when I mention them again. It¡¯d be better if that day neveres. Due to the dy in the meeting, I ended up walking along the beach with the dispatched Magical Girl untilte at night. ¡°So, I hope you can assist us in the Inunaki subjugation battle with Doctor Jang¡¯s abilities.¡± ¡°I can help. But as I mentionedst time, hand over the camera.¡± ¡°Come on, even if you say that, the camera¡ You know it¡¯s a rare item, with only three in existence. Instead, provide us with sufficientpensation¡ Oh?¡± ¡°Hmm?¡± Despite the chilly weather, the Magical Girl stubbornly insisted on wearing a gaudy frilly fashion, holding a ck umbre even in the dead of night, pointing towards the East Sea. While her fashion sense might have been a rare sight anywhere on Earth, something even more astonishing was unfolding in the direction of the East Sea. I witnessed it, thanks to my training as an Awakener being several levels higher than others and my greatly enhanced vision. ¡°¡¡.¡± ¡°Wow! It¡¯s a shooting star!¡± The Magical Girl bounced excitedly on the sandy beach. Unfortunately, I couldn¡¯t match her excitement. Because. ¡°¡A saucer?¡± ¡°Huh?¡± ¡°No, that¡ fell in the East Sea. It¡¯s not a meteor, it¡¯s a saucer¡ a disk-shaped aircraft?¡± ¡°Uh, an UFO?¡± The Magical Girl smirked with a tone that made me want to bite my tongue. Fortunately or unfortunately, I had be ustomed to their behavior, so I could nod my head somewhat calmly. Yes, an Unidentified Flying Object (UFO). It was the moment when extraterrestrial beings made their debut on the stage of Earth. 3 As Magical Girls were present at the scene of the sighting, the investigation team was quickly formed. Perhaps due to the power of the word ¡°UFO,¡± the Magical Girl Association took the matter seriously. ¡°We¡¯ll dispatch the aircraft carrier ¡®White Blossom¡¯ for the investigation mission. Doctor Jang, please join us!¡± ¡°Oh, yes. Well¡.¡± By the way, the Magical Girl Association possessed a total of 13 regr aircraft carriers. In terms of the days when civilization thrived, they were considered the strongest maritime group on Earth, along with the U.S. Navy. They were all small fishing boats and cruise ships illegally modified andbeled as aircraft carriers. Why they engaged in this cosy between Magical Girls and aircraft carriers? How could I possibly know? Their headquarters building¡¯s formal name is ¡®5th Shin Tokyo-Nowgong Castle: Unknown Shrine.¡¯ They¡¯replete lunatics, aren¡¯t they? And they always call me ¡°Doctor Jang.¡± I wouldn¡¯t want to visit if it weren¡¯t for work. Anyway. Yeah. This turn is definitely not about these lunatics. And it shouldn¡¯t be. Because they¡ Well, they¡¯re nothing, really. Anyway, we arrived at the suspected area where the meteorite fell and proceeded with the search operation. And then. ¡°We found the craft!¡± Seven hours after starting the operation at sea, we found the UFO. Despite their mental quirks, they werepetent individuals who urately captured the flying saucer floating on the surface. The Magical Girls gathered on the deck and chattered excitedly. ¡°Wow. Doctor Jang was right. It¡¯s not a meteor, it¡¯s a UFO¡¡± [Trantor ¨C Jjsecus] [Proofreader ¨C Gun] ¡°Observation. Fell from the atmosphere and collided with the surface. Judgment. Exterior rtively intact. Conclusion. Product of civilization far beyond human science.¡± ¡°¡¡!¡± ¡°Incredible. Waves are rising on the surface. Should we approach rashly, what if aliens pop out from inside?¡± Buzzing. The UFO dipped momentarily beneath the surface with the waves before resurfacing, repeating the process like an engine room inside a car¡¯s hood, withplex pipes connecting the saucer¡¯s surface. The first encounter with extraterrestrials. Even I, who had experienced countless battles and situations, felt slightly tense. ¡°For now, there¡¯s no response. It seems like we¡¯ll need to enter first to establishmunication or engage inbat.¡± ¡°Meow¡¡± ¡°I¡¯ll be the first to enter. Anyone following?¡± ¡°Meow. We¡¯ve been working hard for seven hours. It would be meaningless to retreat now, so I¡¯ll follow. Lead the way.¡± I nodded and, entrusting the rear guard to the Magical Girls, boldly entered the UFO without hesitation. Despite their entricities, they were professional hunters of the bizarre. Squelch, squelch. The interior of the UFO was dark, with water already reaching ankle-deep due to flooding. As soon as I stepped into the corridor, a pungent smell, reminiscent of gasoline, pierced my nostrils. ¡°Stars ¨C guide humanity¡¯s dawn.¡± Sparkle. As the Magical Girl recited the spell, luminous orbs resemblingnterns began to float around her slowly. Once the area was illuminated, other Magical Girls also initiated their spells one after another. ¡°Presence ¨C detection ¨C visualization.¡± ¡°¡ ¡ ¡ ¡¡± ¡°Even though there was no sound, your footsteps are imprinted on my chest.¡± In an instant, our reconnaissance team armed themselves with sight, radar, telepathy, and stealth magic. This was the driving force behind the Awakeners continuing their resistance against the millions of bizarre beings that had descended upon the archipgo. It was a different kind of magic from the one cultivated by Tang Seorin. Tang Seorin¡¯s magic was a faction developed solely by her, with songs and rhythms as its core, and Latin lyrics merely an addition to her tastes. On the other hand, this type of magic consisted solely of poetry. In fact, for magic-type Awakeners, this ¡°poetic magic¡± was fundamental. Tang Seorin¡¯s ¡°soul chanting¡± was a faction developed solely by her. ¡°It¡¯s strange.¡± Wemunicated via telepathy. ¡°Even if we expand the detection magic range, we can¡¯t sense any presence. Machinery, machinery, machinery everywhere.¡± ¡°Spection. Non-biological extraterrestrials. Hypothesis. Entities whose entire bodies have been reced by machinery.¡± ¡°It¡¯s aplete maze here. There¡¯s a high possibility of ambush, so we mustn¡¯t let our guard down.¡± ¡°I really can¡¯t feel anything strange. Doctor Jang, is there anything unusual?¡± ¡°Nothing. Wait, hold on¨D¡± Pause. The Magical Girls all stopped in unison at my words. It was a well-trained response. They all waited for my further reaction without even questioning ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡± or ¡°Why?¡± It was even moremendable considering that they weren¡¯t using their peculiar tone. If it weren¡¯t for their strange way of speaking, they would have been quite reliable individuals. I swallowed the thought that they would have been trustworthy individuals if not for their peculiar speech patterns and took five steps forward. Tap, tap. I touched the ¡°object¡± lying in the corridor ahead with the tip of my sword. Despite trying to provoke a reaction, there was no response from the object. It justy there, surrounded by the ankle-deep water. ¡°¡They¡¯re dead.¡± Since there was no longer any need tomunicate via telepathy, I muttered under my breath. ¡°Meow?¡± ¡°They¡¯re already dead. All of them.¡± In the dark corridors of the UFO, the bodies of aliens, melted to the point of being unrecognizable,y strewn across the passageway, covering it densely with over 120 corpses. 4 The 98th incident, the ¡°East Sea UFO crash,¡± ultimately remained an unsolved mystery. Why did highly advanced extraterrestrials, far superior to current human civilization, perish inside their own spacecraft? Were they already dead before crashing into the East Sea? I couldn¡¯t hide my curiosity about this new bizarre urrence. After all, it was a mystery rted to aliens. How could I resist it? Thus, in the next turn, the 99th, we were fully prepared. This time, instead of searching after the UFO crash, we decided to preemptively go to the crash site and wait. ¡°Meow? You want to use an aircraft carrier? Oh dear. Even if you¡¯re Doctor Jang, our association only has seven military resources, and we can¡¯t lend them out lightly¡.¡± ¡°Next time you go to tackle the Inunaki Tunnel, I¡¯ll help you without any conditions.¡± ¡°Aircraft Carrier No. 1, White Blossom, setting sail!¡± [Trantor ¨C Jjsecus] [Proofreader ¨C Gun] Chapter 76 â€“ Invader II [Trantor ¨C Asura] [Proofreader ¨C Gun] Chapter 76 ¨C Invaders II The Magical Girl¡¯s Association¡¯s pride and joy, the aircraft carrier (40 tons, equipped with kitchen and rest facilities, previously used as a fishing cleaning vessel before itsmissioning as an aircraft carrier in 1996) arrived at the target sea area in less than two hours. The Magical Girls immediately took their positions and started fishing with the skill of seasoned fishermen. ¡°Wow, I was just thinking it was time to go fishing since our food supplies were running low,¡± one of them remarked. ¡°By the way, Doctor Jang, I¡¯ve heard rumors that there¡¯s an awakened person in Korea with the ability to predict the future. Is that true? You seem so sure a monster would appear at sea this time,¡± another Magical Girl asked. I shrugged. ¡°That¡¯s a secret. But for this incident, at least, it wasn¡¯t a prophet but the constetions who told me.¡± ¡°Constetions? Oh, those gods that only exist on the Korean Penins,¡± the Magical Girl said, nodding in understanding. Interestingly, the Japanese awakened didn¡¯t question why the constetions were so active only in Korea. They seemed to think of them as local deities. Though they are now absorbed in Magical Girl cosy, before the voids opened, they were all highly perceptive individuals¡ªmediums or shrine maidens. ¡°¡!¡± In the middle of our fishing, a usually quiet Magical Girl perked up her ears and pointed to the sky. ¡°Meow? What¡¯s up, Ciel?¡± ¡°Hmm?¡± The people on the aircraft carrier looked up, and their eyes widened. A UFO was falling from the sky. ¡°Meow?! What is that?¡± ¡°My goodness.¡± The UFO tore through Earth¡¯s fragile atmosphere with a deafening roar. But from 600 meters above the sea, its speed dramatically slowed down, as if it were being weed by the ocean¡¯s furious waves. With a thunderous ssh, the UFOnded¡ªor rather, waternded. The tsunami it created rocked our aircraft carrier violently. ¡°Meow! Save me!¡± ¡°Slow down¡ªbnce¡ªdefense.¡± The ship, almost capsizing, regained its bnce thanks to the magic of our group. As the sea spray subsided, the massive body of the UFO gradually emerged on the water¡¯s surface. ¡°My God, Doctor Jang was right. A monster really dide from the sky.¡± ¡°¡! ¡!¡± ¡°Shocking. Evidence that the origin of the monsters might be space. Paper preparation needed.¡± ¡°Even if you prepare a paper, there¡¯s no academic society to review it! Besides, are we even sure it¡¯s a monster? Could it really be aliens?¡± Wiping the seawater from my face, I spoke calmly, ¡°Prepare for battle. Whether they are good aliens or bad ones, we¡¯re about to find out.¡± ¡°Right.¡± ¡°Yeah, makes sense.¡± After a brief moment of shock, we all quickly assumed our defensive positions. ¡°Warning. Detecting presence.¡± The blind Magical Girl, specialized in reconnaissance and detection, muttered as steam hissed from the UFO. Unlike thest turn, where all aliens inside were found dead, this time there was a clear sign of life. ¡°¡¡± ¡°¡¡± Everyone held their breath at the possibility of making first contact with an intelligent life form from outer space. From behind the steam and vapor, shadows loomed. The smell of gasoline suddenly wafted in, clinging to our faces. The blind Magical Girl muttered, ¡°Approaching.¡± Boom! As soon as she finished speaking, the figure beyond the steam leapt into the air andnded on the aircraft carrier. An incredible jump. If the intention had been tomunicate peacefully, it was a poor approach. ¡°It¡¯s an enemy!¡± ¡°A bad alien!¡± The alien-like creature extended its arms, causing the ship to sway violently. ¨C Screech! Perhaps, in its own way, the alien was saying, ¡°Hug me,¡± with its arms wide open. However, it had eight arms instead of two, each ending in a meter-long scythe instead of fingers. Not exactly inviting for an embrace. Given the circumstances, my response was not an overreaction. ¡°Prepare for battle!¡± ng! I carefully parried the alien¡¯s eight scythe swings with my de¡ªor at least tried to. ¡®What kind of strength is this?¡¯ A heavy blow. I had expected the alien to be about as strong as a vige-level monster, but my sword nearly flew from my grip with one strike. It wasn¡¯t just the strength that was surprising. ¨C Screech! The alien¡¯s eight scythes moved in a dazzling, rapid flurry of attacks. It was difficult to discern, but there was undoubtedly a highly developed martial art behind its swings. One strike, two strikes, three. Just as I blocked one, another scythe woulde from the side. I tried to sever its arm with an aura-infused attack, but it had no effect. ¡°Damn it.¡± It¡¯s not easy to make me, with my 99 turns, curse in awe. This alien was clearly stronger than a tenth-level monster. Not just stronger¡ªsix or seven times stronger, maybe even beyond calction. ¡°Uh, Doctor Jang? Are you okay?¡± ¡°Not really! This bastard is strong!¡± ¡°This is serious. Ciel, turn the ship around. We need to retreat and call for reinforcements. I¡¯ll assist Doctor Jang¡ª¡± The Magical Girls¡¯ decisions were sound, but reality doesn¡¯t always follow reason. Boom! Boom, boom! Aliens rained down from the UFO onto the aircraft carrier. The ship shook uncontrobly, waves crashing from all sides. ¨C Screech! Screech! Seven aliens came into my view. Their skin was melting like candle wax, emitting a stench simr to gasoline. ¡°Shit.¡± A cold sweat ran down my neck. Facing just one of them was tough enough, but now there were seven more? Cold sweat alone wasn¡¯t enough to convey the urgency. The image of the corridor inside the UFO from the 98th turn shed through my mind. Corridors filled with corpses. ¡®So, there are at least 120 of these bastards?¡¯ Screams erupted from the Magical Girls. ¡°Aaaaaah!¡± In a quick nce, I saw the Magical Girls being overwhelmed by the aliens¡¯ attacks. A flurry of scythe strikes. The girl who always ended her sentences with ¡°meow¡± had her limbs severed, flying through the air along with her ck umbre. ¡°Damn it.¡± ¡°¡¡!¡± Despite theirrade¡¯s death, the Magical Girls tried to remain calm. Sparks flew, and magic surged everywhere. But every three, five, seven seconds, another body was severed, sttering blood. [Doctor Jang, run¡ª] Thunk! The blind Magical Girl, who was about to send a telepathic message, had a tail protrude from her chest. Blood gushed from the sharp tail of the alien. Total annihtion in just 11 seconds. It wasn¡¯t due to negligence orck of skill. These girls were seasoned veterans who had survived in Japan, one of the most dangerous ces. But they were wiped out in 11 seconds. [Trantor ¨C Asura] [Proofreader ¨C Gun] ¡°Goddamn it¡ª¡± It had been a while since I cursed so profusely. The familiar feeling of anger spread from my capiries, filling my mouth with bitterness. ¡°Bastards!¡± I gathered my aura and swung my sword. With my team wiped out, staying here any longer would lead to being surrounded. I had to at least take down the one in front of me. ¨C Screech! I poured all my aura into my de and struck with all my might. Boom! The alien exploded into chunks of flesh. ¨C Screech? ¨C Screech! Seeing theirrade killed, the numerous aliens on the deck, now numbering in the dozens, all turned to face me. The aliens were clearly on guard. Slowly¡ very slowly, they began to encircle me, as if driving their prey into a corner. I also began to back away, trying to keep the encirclement angle under 180 degrees. Though they screeched and hissed, they didn¡¯t immediately rush me. It was as if they were granting me a moment¡¯s reprieve. -¡.. The sound of the waves echoed quietly. A tense silence fell, with the bodies of four Magical Girls and one alien lying between us. ¡°¡¡¡± I could retreat from here. The aliens were certainly strong and fast. But I doubted they could keep up with my speed. Perhaps the Magical Girls had sensed this difference and told me to ¡°run¡± in their final moments. However. ¡®I can¡¯t let 120 of these monstrous creatures loose in the world.¡¯ I gripped my sword hilt tightly. Adjusted my stance. Only one word repeated in my mind. Mutual destruction. ¡®I¡¯ll gather as much information as possible in this turn and aim for the next.¡¯ Moreover, the decisive reason I couldn¡¯t decide to retreat was the existence of a being capable of ¡°massacring¡± these 120 powerful aliens. ¡®I need to see that being¡¯s face. Identify its features and abilities!¡¯ Whether it was the queen of these aliens or an entirely different entity, I had no information at the moment. Realizing that such a powerful entity existed was a relief. In previous turns, it had crashed into the East Sea and disappeared, lying in wait somewhere unknown to me. This monster must have at least a continent-level, if not a global-level, threat rating. How many civilians and awakened ones had it killed in ces I couldn¡¯t see? The thought was unimaginable. ¡®No matter how many turns it takes, no matter if it takes decades or centuries, I¡¯ll annihte them for sure!¡¯ Just as I steeled myself for a desperate struggle. ¨C Screech¡¡ ¨C Screech, screech. Screech¡? The aliens, who seemed ready to pounce at any moment, hesitated. It wasn¡¯t because they were suddenly scared of my aura¡ or so it seemed. Their eight arms trembled, and their tails swished erratically. They craned their necks upward, screeching ¡°Screech! Screech!¡± while twisting their limbs and scratching at their own melting skin. It was almost as if they were¡ in pain? One of the aliens flipped onto its back and started writhing on the deck like a bear scratching its back against a tree. But unlike a bear, it screamed in agony as it did so. ¨C Screech! ¨C Screech! Screech, screech! Other aliens began to il about. One crashed into the control room, while another sliced its own skin with its scythe-like limbs. ¡°What the hell is this¡?¡± Just moments ago, they were exuding the aura of the strongest lifeforms. Now, why were they acting like this? I lowered my sword in confusion. Approaching one of them, I stabbed its belly, and it simply copsed without resistance. ¡°Ugh¡¡± Upon closer inspection, the aliens¡¯ skin, which had been melting like candle wax, had now evolved into something more like a chocte fountain. Their flesh was oozing. Their skin, muscles, and bones, which seemed four times thicker than a human¡¯s, were all dissolving, revealing their grotesque innards, which also began to melt. ¨C Screech, screech¡! Despite their frantic thrashing, the aliens¡¯ chocte fountain show only elerated. Their muscles and bones, which were thicker than those of humans, wereid bare, along with their bizarre organs. And then, all of it melted away. After just two minutes, all that remained on the aircraft carrier¡¯s deck were ck, slime-like masses. ¡°Ugh¡¡± I ventured into the UFO, but there was no twist to the story. Though the numbers were fewer, the corridors were still littered with alien corpses, just like in the 98th turn. These creatures, potentially the strongest in the universe¡ were all dead. And humanity hadn¡¯t even done anything yet. ¡°¡¡¡± I scooped up some seawater in my hand and poured it on one of the more intact corpses. To my surprise, the alien¡¯s skin dissolved instantly. ¡°Ugh¡¡± I tested it again, this time using fresh water from the aircraft carrier. The result was the same: the alien¡¯s skin, bones, and organs turned into a sticky liquid. ¡°Oh¡¡± I realized why these formidable creatures had perished. Why they hadn¡¯t shown up in any of the previous turns. ¡°These bastards are weak to ¡®water¡¯¡?¡± Then they shouldn¡¯t havee to Earth. Idiots. 5 I named those alien beings the ¡°Warrior Race.¡± After the 99th turn, I stopped paying attention to UFOs and the Warrior Race crashing into the East Sea altogether. No matter how powerful the Warrior Race was, no matter how difficult they were to deal with¡ªeven for a time-rewinder like me¡ªit didn¡¯t matter at all. Their weakness was water. As simple as it sounds, 71% of Earth¡¯s surface is covered in water. And, surprisingly enough for the aliens, Earth has many days when H?O falls from the sky. Sometimes it evensts for days. Oh, aliens, you might not know this, but it¡¯s called ¡°summer monsoon.¡± ¡®How can a creature¡¯s weakness be water?¡¯ It¡¯s quite strange, but considering that water is a rare substance in the vast universe, it might be the lifeforms on Earth that are the odd ones. ¡°Look, Guild Leader! A shooting star¡!¡± ¡°Mm.¡± asionally, in turns when I was near the East Sea, I witnessed meteor showers. I often found myself gazing at the night sky with a sense of unease. The fact that these creatures, who might have been my greatest foes, were diving into the East Sea and getting wiped out every turn was, well, it was strange. ¡®¡But what if the Warrior Race aren¡¯t just monsters, but actual aliens?¡¯ What if the UFO was just a small scout ship and their main force was still out there? What if they realized their weakness was water and developed high-tech suits to cover themselvespletely before invading again? What if humanity and the monsters on Earth were annihted together by the Warrior Race¡¯s invasion? ¡°Quick, make a wish, Guild Leader! If you wish before it falls, it wille true!¡± Faced with Sim Aryeon¡¯s special skill of pestering, I raised my hands in surrender. ¡°Alright, fine. I¡¯ll make a wish.¡± If a full-scale alien invasion happens, what can I do? I¡¯ll just have to rewind time again and fight a space war this time. Hoping that such a disaster wouldn¡¯t ur, I sped my hands together in prayer. ¡®Just give up on Earth, alien friends. I don¡¯t know what your home is like, but I guarantee it¡¯s less messed up than our ce.¡¯ Twinkle¡ª As if acknowledging my wish, a shooting star glittered over the East Sea in my ninth year. ¨C Invaders. End. [Trantor ¨C Asura] [Proofreader ¨C Gun] Chapter 77 â€“ Promotion I [Trantor ¨C Asura] [Proofreader ¨C Gun] Chapter 77 ¨C Promotion I 1 Speaking of wishes, the truth is that I am more ustomed to receiving wishes than making them. [Time Seal] This is my unique awakening ability and the reason behind my moniker as the Doctor Jang. It allows me to trap someone in their ¡°happiest day,¡± making them relive that day endlessly. ¨C ¡°Doctor Jang, it¡¯s too hard. I want to let go of life now.¡± ¨C ¡°Please, Doctor Jang.¡± ¨C ¡°I want to see my family again. When the world was still normal¡ Please.¡± ¨C ¡°No one will remember me in reality? I don¡¯t care. This reality is¡¡± Though they repeat the same day forever, those trapped by [Time Seal] never realize it. Even if someone, like ser yer Kim Joocheol from a previous turn, happens to notice, it doesn¡¯t matter. They forget again quickly. People just need to enjoy the amusement park I set up in their dreams with a free pass ticket for the whole day. To the ruined humanity of this apocalyptic world, I am essentially thest legally sanctioned sedative (with narcotic properties). Naturally, there is no shortage of people waiting in line to get a free pass to this amusement park. Today, let me introduce the craziest psychopath among those in line. 2 ¡°Vice Guild Leader.¡± ¡°Hmm?¡± ¡°I¡¯m so miserable.¡± Swoosh. Silver hair flowed down across from me at the drinking table. Her hair was beautiful. Too white to be called gray and too shiny to be simply white. So, it could only be described as silver. When an awakened individual gains their power, their hair color changes randomly. The person before me had drawn an SR-grade from a limited gacha (for reference, mine was normal ck). ¡°Honestly, I can¡¯t bear it any longer with a sane mind. I want to let go of everything and end it.¡± ¡°¡¡¡± Yoo Jiwon. Such a person exists. Actually, Yoo Jiwon¡¯s name hase up several times in my stories. Some readers might remember, but this was her first appearance. ¨C ¡°Vice Guild Leader, do you have time now? There¡¯s a guest here to see you.¡± ¨C ¡°A guest? Who?¡± ¨C ¡°Well, the name is¡ Emile¡ Schopenhauer? They say he¡¯s German?¡± On the day I first met the old Schopenhauer. The one who first informed me that this historical figure hade was none other than Yoo Jiwon, the SSS-grade beautiful hair, and my secretary and deputy. That¡¯s right. Secretary and deputy. Long ago, when I was still ackey in the Three Thousand Worlds under the Great Witch Tang Seorin, Yoo Jiwon was my subordinate. As theckey of the highest supreme guild leader, she already had quite a high rank. Let me share how she quickly became part of the core of our inner circle. During the 5th turn, Yoo Jiwon once said to me out of the blue: ¡°Vice Guild Leader, do you like the Romance of the Three Kingdoms?¡± ¡°What? You too?¡± ¡°Yes. I got into it through Yokoyama¡¯s Strategic Romance of the Three Kingdoms, the 60-volume series, when I was young.¡± My eyes widened. What a foundation! The cool, expressionless awakened individual with silver hair continued to recite her list with just her lips moving. ¡°After that, I explored Go Yeong¡¯s Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Hwang Seok-young¡¯s Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Lee Mun-yeol¡¯s Romance of the Three Kingdoms, and Jang Jeong-il¡¯s Romance of the Three Kingdoms. I even had a dark history where I was into a demonic work called ¡®Analysis of the Romance of the Three Kingdoms¡¯ butter transitioned to the original ¡®Records of the Three Kingdoms¡¯.¡± [PR/N: All people who had different takes on Romance of the Three Kingdoms, you could check them out if you¡¯re interested.] ¡°I can¡¯t believe this.¡± I was dizzy with a drug-like euphoria. Is this how a martial arts elder feels when seeing a promising young disciple? I couldn¡¯t hide my trembling voice as I asked a test question to see if this child was truly the sessor to my legacy. ¡°Koei¡? Or, Total War¡?¡± ¡°Hmm.¡± Like those who exchange Zen riddles, Yoo Jiwon stroked her chin in contemtion. Finally, she lifted her sses. ¡°My rational mind calls for Total War, but my young heart shouts Koei. And I believe the soul lies more in the heart than the mind.¡± ¡°¡Favorite series?¡± ¡°Romance of the Three Kingdoms III, Romance of the Three Kingdoms V, Romance of the Three Kingdoms XI.¡± ¡°Ugh¡!¡± I had to surrender to the impable integrity of my sessor. From this moment, Yoo Jiwon was immediately promoted to my inner circle. Of course, there was one final hurdle. ¡°Well, isn¡¯t this grand. Look at them, everyone.¡± The Three Thousand Worlds advocated for an autocratic monarchy instead of the globally outdated democratic government. Naturally, personnel decisions were also the exclusive right of the guild leader. Our highest supreme, the Great Witch Tang Seorin, smirked as she nced back and forth between me and Yoo Jiwon. ¡°You¡¯re saying the guild will run smoothly if you hire her as your secretary and deputy just because she¡¯s a Three Kingdoms otaku?¡± ¡°A witch otaku and railfan saying that¡¡± ¡°Hmm? What did you just say, Vice Guild Leader?¡± ¡°It¡¯s nothing.¡± ¡°I get that the Deputy Guild Master likes you, but you can¡¯t just promote guild members willy-nilly without following procedures and protocols. Seriously, why would someone who should know better do that? Do you think Yoo Jiwon will feel at ease with such a promotion? Her peers will be giving him the evil eye and she¡¯ll feel the pressure.¡± ¡°Pardon me, Grand Witch. May I speak?¡± Yoo Jiwon said. As described several times, Yoo Jiwon always wore a stoic expression and spoke with precise formality. No matter how nonsensical her words, once they left her lips, they always sounded usible. ¡°Yes? What is it?¡± ¡°I was not rmended for the Deputy Guild Master¡¯s assistant position simply because I possess knowledge of the Three Kingdoms. Grand Witch, I have other useful skills as well.¡± ¡°What, your awakening ability? Like a minimap? I know that. I do hold you in high regard. But I keep telling you, an organization needs procedures and protocols¡¡± ¡°I majored in Latin and can write fluently in it. Naturally, I can also trante song lyrics into Latin.¡± ¡°Promotion.¡± Yoo Jiwon, promoted to an executive! 3 While Yoo Jiwon¡¯s promotion to the inner circle was indeed due to her knowledge of the Three Kingdoms and her proficiency in Latin, it didn¡¯t mean she wascking as an awakened individual. In fact, she was quitepetent. ¡°Jiwon.¡± ¡°Yes, Deputy Guild Master.¡± ¡°It seems we should start the operation. Could you activate your minimap?¡± ¡°Understood.¡± Minimap This was Yoo Jiwon¡¯s awakening ability. Any Korean who had once sold their soul to the game Starcraft would immediately understand what a ¡®minimap¡¯ is just by hearing its three-syble name. Swish¡ª Yoo Jiwon spread out a map on the operations table. The scale was 1:50,000. She ced chess pieces she had prepared in advance onto the map, which was printed on simple paper. Amazingly, the chess pieces began to move on their own. ¡°Deputy Guild Master, the enemy is gathering in the eastern district as expected. It appears they n to ambush us from behind using boats.¡± ¡°Hm.¡± Each seemingly ordinary chess piece had a red sticker with names like ¡®Kim Sung-woo¡¯ and ¡®Park Hyun-mo¡¯ written on it. These were the names of the enemy leaders we were up against. The chess pieces mimicked the exact locations and movements of the enemies on the map. It wasn¡¯t just the enemies, either. ? ? Yoo Jiwon Tang Seorin The bishop with Yoo Jiwon¡¯s name and the queenbeled Tang Seorin also showed their precise locations on the map. Tang Seorin was impressed. ¡°It really feels like fighting with a minimap on. Isn¡¯t this ability totally broken? Since Jiwon joined our guild, guild wars have be so much easier.¡± ¡°You tter me, Grand Witch.¡± Bowing with perfect social grace, Yoo Jiwon made sure her gesture was neither too exaggerated nor too humble. ¡°My ability has its limitations. Without your leadership, Grand Witch, my ability would be useless.¡± ¡°Come on, that¡¯s too much. Moderate it, or I might just sew your mouth shut.¡± ¡°Yes, ma¡¯am.¡± Yoo Jiwon¡¯s ttery and humility might have been insincere, but the ¡®minimap¡¯ ability did have some ws. 1. The minimap could only disy the locations of individuals whom Yoo Jiwon had met and whose names she knew. For instance, she couldn¡¯t show the location of the ¡®Saintess¡¯ because she had never met her and didn¡¯t know her name. 2. The minimap only worked in cities that Yoo Jiwon had personally visited. For example, in her fifth life, Yoo Jiwon had never been to Gyeongju. Despite her hobby of cross-country cycling in Korea and even touring Japan, she had never set foot there. Therefore, no matter how she used the [minimap], she couldn¡¯t track anyone who escaped to Gyeongju. In such cases, the chess pieces would move up to a point and then fall t once they reached the edge of the map. The phrase ¡®visited a city¡¯ might seem vague, but it had a surprisingly clear criterion: visiting a convenience store in that city. [Trantor ¨C Asura] [Proofreader ¨C Gun] Oddly enough, simply buying something or staying for more than a minute at a convenience store in a city made it count as ¡®visited¡¯. So, cities where convenience stores hadpletely disappeared could never be ¡®visited¡¯. For example, in New York, which had turned into a wastnd due to the arrival of a colossal anomaly, there was no way to find a convenience store. So? ¡°Guild Master, I¡¯ll keep attending various guild leader gatherings with Jiwon and travel around the country.¡± ¡°Sure, I¡¯ll leave it to you.¡± I took Yoo Jiwon around the country under the guise of his secretary, diligently helping her familiarize himself with people¡¯s faces. As a result, the ¡°vastwork¡± that Yoo Jiwon had built through me was fully projected onto the map of the entire Korean penins. ¡°Great job.¡± Looking down at therge map, I popped open a beer bottle. Prominent guild leaders in each city, individuals with special abilities even if they weren¡¯t guild leaders, and those who could potentially influence the power dynamics of the Korean penins. The real-time locations of all prominent figures were being disyed. ¡°Thank you. It¡¯s all thanks to you, Deputy Guild Master.¡± ¡°Well, you were born with good skills. And you made a good choice of major.¡± ¡°To be honest, I never expected my Latin major to shine even more after the world ended. When civilization was intact, I worried about starving to death.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t be so modest, will you?¡± I slowly poured beer for Yoo Jiwon as she casually extended her arm. We celebrated thepletion of the ¡°national map¡± by raising our sses. ¡°Cheers.¡± ¡°Cheers.¡± ng¡ª the ss chimed beautifully. With Tang Seorin¡¯s leadership, my advisory skills, and Yoo Jiwon¡¯s overwhelming information prowess, the Three Thousand Worlds prospered. And so, the invincible triumvirate lived happily ever after¡ It would be nice if the credits rolled, but as you know, this story is a bit far from a happy ending. Not long after rising to power in the Korean penins, the situation began to darken. In rounds without Noh Doha, cities self-destructed individually, in rounds without Sword Maiden, food supplies quickly ran out, in rounds without Seo Gyu, awakened individuals lost the verywork ofmunication between them, and in rounds without Old Scho, we had no way to break through the onught of anomalies. Even the leadership of the Three Thousand Worlds, including us, was not exempt. In fact, we might have been worse off. Tang Seorin was a rarity in the organization of the feudal lord system, more elusive than legendary Pok¨¦mon, known as the ¡®benevolent ruler¡¯. Executives had to set an example on the front lines, and if even one guild member went hungry, the executives had to go hungry too. Tang Seorin endured it. So did I. Yoo Jiwon found it difficult to endure. As a character with a cool, stoic demeanor and the letters ¡®power¡¯ and ¡®sess¡¯ written in bold on her heart, Yoo Jiwon couldn¡¯t help but find the situation horrifying. The more brutal truth was that the Three Thousand Worlds wereparatively better off in the Korean penins. Between the nature of needing to wield power and achieve sess no matter where you were and the era that had no intention of fulfilling such nature, Yoo Jiwon agonized,mented, and despaired. If there had been a guarantee that she could betray Tang Seorin and join another guild to advance, Yoo Jiwon might have followed the example of Yi Wan-yong, the prime minister of the Great Joseon Empire. Indeed, Yoo Jiwon was full of thoughts about continuing the legacy of her ancestors. ¡°Guild Master.¡± ¡°Yeah?¡± ¡°Could you possibly arrange a ferry to Japan for me?¡± I didn¡¯t bother to scold her with something like, ¡°Why run away to Japan? Wouldn¡¯t it be beneath the dignity of someone who¡¯s practically a direct subordinate to the Guild Master?¡± Instead, I sipped my coffee. By this point, I had somewhat grasped the essence of Yoo Jiwon¡¯s nature as well, as my own shell was starting to crack. ¡°If you want, I could arrange it, but I can only get you a one-way ticket.¡± ¡°What do you mean?¡± ¡°Until recently, there were asional ferriesing over to Busan from Japan. They all disappeared about three months ago. What do you think that means?¡± ¡°¡?¡± We fought with anomalies all over the country after founding the Guild Federation. Jiwon, as my direct subordinate, had always been with me, fighting for the survival of humanity. ¡°Guild Master, what about China¡?¡± ¡°Based on the information the Prophet sharedst time, it seems Shandong Penins is already gone.¡± ¡°¡?¡± ¡°Plus, while your skills work in Korea and Japan because we¡¯ve traveled there by bicycle, you¡¯ve never been to China. Your skills might as well be useless there. Are you okay with that?¡± ¡°¡?¡± Yes. In order to betray, there needs to be a ce to receive, and to escape, there needs to be a paradise to flee to. The era was molding her into a loyal servant. Like talented individuals born in the wrong era due to a misfire in the gacha, Yoo Jiwon finally admitted that her desires would never be fulfilled forever. She had nowhere to go. Where could she go, really? The world hadpletely fallen apart. Or rather¡ In fact, there was only one ce left to escape to. ¡°Guild Master.¡± ¡°Oh, really? Hey! Assistant Yoo! What, are you scared? Let¡¯s just die together, pal. Huh? Got anything else going on in life? We¡¯re all doomed anyway, aren¡¯t we?¡± ¡°Please kill me.¡± I turned my head. My expressionless assistant was staring at me intently. ¡°Please hold a funeral for me. Using your abilities, Guild Master. I beg of you.¡± ¡°¡?¡± I sighed. So far, many had asked me for a funeral¡ªmeaning, to ¡®seal time¡¯. Yes, among them were those who were personally important to me. In short, I was a professional funeral director. I had already experienced numerous times the act of sealing away someone close to me like Yoo Jiwon for eternity. And in our straightforward rtionship, I also knew that when a funeral request came, I could provide slightly more detailed customer consultation than usual. To summarize the consultation, it went something like this: -You know, I¡¯m a regressor, and when the wheel of time rolls into the next round, the world gets a little better, but do you really want to be stuck in a real coffin? Upon hearing my secret, Yoo Jiwon was shocked. And Yoo Jiwon¡¯s mental shocksted exactly six hours. Not even a dayter, my assistant with silver hair came back to me. ¡°Your Excellency, you said this round is the fifth turn, did you not?¡± ¡°¡¡± Just by looking at the ¡®Your Excellency¡¯ appended to my title after hearing the talk about me being a regressor, you could tell that this girl was really something else. ¡°Right.¡± ¡°Yes. Then, wouldn¡¯t it be more beneficial to have a bit more hope in this world from the second turnpared to the first, from the fourth turn to the fifth, and from the fifth turn to the sixth, considering it¡¯s more hopeful than ever before?¡± ¡°¡I guess so?¡± The silver-haired lunatic nodded with an infinitely solemn face. And then, wouldn¡¯t she start reciting a line that I had never heard in my entire life throughout my entire regressor existence? ¡°Your Excellency. Then, from my perspective, even if I were to be sealed in time, it would be very detrimental to be sealed in this fifth turn.¡± ? [Trantor ¨C Asura] [Proofreader ¨C Gun] Chapter 78 â€“ Promotion II [Trantor ¨C Asura] [Proofreader ¨C Gun] Chapter 78 ¨C Promotion II ¡°What?¡± ¡°Your Excellency. I realize that I¡¯ve never really enjoyed my life up until now.¡± Yoo Jiwon said. ¡°Even if I were to be sealed in time and repeat ¡®the happiest day of my life,¡¯ that happiness wouldn¡¯t hold much value objectively.¡± Uh¡ What is she talking about? ¡°While ordinary people might spend their sealed time happily with their families or lovers, I¡¯d be stuck endlessly repeating the day I got epted into university or the day I graduated top of my ss. Imagine that, Your Excellency. Is that truly the most valuable happiness? I can¡¯t help but feel it¡¯s unfair.¡± ¡°Wait¡ What are you trying to say to me?¡± ¡°Honorable Vice-Guild Leader, please let me know in advance next time that you are a regressor and a prophet who promises the eternal gospel of a repeating day. If I knew that, this lowlymb would strive to create the happiest day tofortably enjoy in the heaven I will prepare for myself.¡± ¡°¡¡± Silence filled the tent. ¡°So, let me get this straight. You¡¯re saying that I¡¯ll use the time seal on you, but before that, you¡¯ll create a day worth repeating forever?¡± ¡°As expected of Your Excellency. Your understanding is sharp.¡± ¡°Are you out of your mind?¡± ¡°Vice-Guild Leader, I swear to serve you loyally like a dog until the end of this world¡¯s destruction. So please, promise me.¡± ¡°The world is almost destroyed already! No, Jiwon, I¡¯m sorry. This Vice-Guild Leader was wrong. I was lying. Logically, there¡¯s no such thing as a regressor, right?¡± ¡°I have always trusted youpletely, Vice-Guild Leader. The bond we¡¯ve built isn¡¯t something to be taken lightly, is it? Of course, the me in the next turn might be too foolish to recognize you as the savior. If that happens, just tell me, ¡®I know you killed someone when you were 15 and dumped the body in a ditch in Bukhan Mountain.''¡± ¡°What? You killed someone in middle school? No, wait¡ Hey! Let go of my pants! What? Hey, let go! No? Let go, I said! Lieutenant Yoo! You crazy bastard!¡± I¡¯ve encountered many lunatics in my life as a regressor, but Yoo Jiwon, who wanted to use my regression solely for her own pleasure and happiness, was the first of her kind. Even after 1,183 regressions, there was no one like Yoo Jiwon. What¡¯s more astonishing¡ she didn¡¯t just talk big; she actually remained loyal to me until her dying breath. ¨C The?o??g??i??o??w! In my 5th regression, I lost my head two minutes into the fight with the Ten ns. But there were many awakened ones who died before me in that battle, including Yoo Jiwon. ¡°Vice-Guild Leader! Watch out!¡± Yoo Jiwon even took a tentacle attack from the Ten ns for me, jumping out of nowhere to shield me. I was dumbfounded. Because I could have dodged that attack myself. If there were a contest for ¡°Most Pointless Death,¡± this scene would be a top contender. Had she not been my direct subordinate who went through countless battles with me, I would haveughed and pped at the absurdity of it all. ¡°Hey¡ Lieutenant Yoo, no, Jiwon¡ What kind of new nonsense is this¡?¡± ¡°Cough.¡± Yoo Jiwon, with a neat hole in her chest, coughed up blood. Her blue eyes gazed at me with a seriousness that would never exist again in this world. ¡°Next turn¡ Your Excellency, promise¡¡± *Plop* She copsed. And then she died. ¡°¡¡¡± This is driving me crazy. 4 As absurd as it was, I wasn¡¯t cruel enough to ignore thest words of someone who died for me (even a pointless death is still a type of death, right?). I regretted not being a bit more ruthless, but it was toote. I ended up delivering Yoo Jiwon¡¯s final words to her in the next turn. ¡°I see.¡± The cool and chic silver-haired girl nodded. This was a time when the world hadn¡¯tpletely fallen apart yet, so resources were still quite plentiful. Yoo Jiwon raided a convenience store with an axe and turned it into her fortress. ording to her, it was a store she¡¯d owned for a long time, but I didn¡¯t really trust her. She lied more naturally than she breathed. ¡°I understand you¡¯re iming to be a regressor and that you have the power to seal time. But all of this is unproven.¡± ¡°I also know you¡¯re a psychopath.¡± ¡°That¡¯s not surprising. People around me have known that for a long time.¡± -Kyaaaaak! In the middle of our conversation, a monster crashed through the convenience store window. It looked like a giant cockroach. I charged my staff with aura and pierced its mouth. Crash! Yoo Jiwon approached and finished it off by splitting its head with his axe. The monster convulsed and died. Yoo Jiwon always had exceptionalbat sense. Even then, her talent was evident. We resumed our conversation as if nothing had happened. ¡°What more do I need to prove? I know you love the ¡®Romance of the Three Kingdoms¡¯ and that you majored in Latin.¡± ¡°What? Hmm. Indeed. That¡¯s quite interesting, but it¡¯s still unproven.¡± ¡°Dammit, I know you killed someone when you were 15 and dumped the body in a ditch on Bukhan Mountain. Believe me, you psycho!¡± ¡°¡Oh.¡± Yoo Jiwon blinked her eyebrows. ¡°Alright. That statement just gave your im a lot more credibility.¡± ¡°Why? Because it was a truth no one else knew?¡± ¡°More precisely, because it was ¡®incorrect information.¡¯ It wasn¡¯t when I was 15; it was when I was 14, and it wasn¡¯t Bukhan Mountain; it was Dobong Mountain.¡± ¡°¡¡¡± ¡°If your ability were mind reading or extracting secrets, there¡¯d be no reason for you to ept false information. This means you must have received the wrong information from someone else. And I have several reasons to be confident that my crime was never discovered.¡± ¡°¡¡¡± ¡°Hmm, regression. And the fact that my past self used a regressor as a mailman to send me a letter¡ That¡¯s very intriguing. Not many people get to experience something this rare in their lifetime.¡± This is driving me crazy, for real. I grabbed a can of coffee from the convenience store shelf and gulped it down. Yoo Jiwon didn¡¯t stop me. ¡°Consider this can of coffee as payment for the delivery. I¡¯ve delivered thest words, so I¡¯ll be on my way.¡± ¡°Ah. Sorry, but could you wait for just 2 minutes? I¡¯lle with you.¡± ¡°What?¡± I was taken aback. When I turned around, Yoo Jiwon was rolling up the national and city maps she¡¯d spread out on the convenience store counter and stuffing them into her trunk. Just for reference, the most striking piece of decor in this convenience store was the ¡®tutorial fairy¡¯ skin. You heard that right. Yoo Jiwon had skinned a fairy and mounted it on the counter wall like some sort of trophy. I could guarantee that this girl had skinned at least two different types of living creatures. ¡°Hey, why are you following me? You¡¯ve got plenty of supplies here. Just stay and hold out.¡± ¡°That¡¯s a bad n.¡± Yoo Jiwon pushed up her sses. ¡°Didn¡¯t the previous version of me end up leaving this ce to join your guild? Since I¡¯ll leave eventually, it makes more sense to join you now and rise through the ranks faster.¡± ¡°It¡¯s not my guild; it¡¯s Tang Seorin¡¯s guild.¡± ¡°Oh, I see. My apologies. Please correct me whenever I make mistakes in the future.¡± ¡°No, I mean just don¡¯t follow me. Hey. Hey! I don¡¯t want you around anymore! Get lost!¡± But Yoo Jiwon didn¡¯t get lost. Instead, she clung to me like a parasite. And the host shetched onto was Three Thousand Worlds. Yoo Jiwon, more fervently than any other guild member, embraced the role of a witch, proving that she not only had the ¡®Minimap¡¯ skill but also the ¡®Winning Tang Seorin¡¯s Favor¡¯ skill. ¡°Wow, Vice Guild Master. Where did you find such a cute one?¡± [Trantor ¨C Asura] [Proofreader ¨C Gun] ¡°It¡¯s the honor of three lifetimes, Great Witch.¡± ¡°¡¡¡± Selected as an early member of Three Thousand Worlds, Yoo Jiwon rose faster and higher than her fifth turn. You could say she really put on a show. Her official title was Operations Manager, my deputy as Vice Guild Master, and Tang Seorin¡¯s Special Secretary. In short, she solidified her position as the third-inmand in the guild. Being the third-inmand of the toppany in Korea before the apocalypse would be akin to being the third-inmand of the top conglomerate in the pre-apocalyptic world. She had certainly achieved significant sess. However, our silver-haired psychopath, Yoo Jiwon, was someone who didn¡¯t care about others¡¯ evaluations. ¡°Manager Yoo.¡± ¡°Yes, Vice Guild Master.¡± ¡°¡We¡¯ll be fighting the Ten ns soon. Shouldn¡¯t we arrange your funeral first?¡± ¡°Oh.¡± ¡°Anyway, it seems to me that the current version of you is much happier than the previous one. I don¡¯t know what your criteria for happiness are, but wouldn¡¯t this be a satisfactory afterlife?¡± ¡°Hmm.¡± Hmm, she said. This guy. This psychopath just looked at the air with a nk expression and said, ¡°Hmm.¡± To provide some visual context, her lips formed the exact shape of ¡®¦Ø.¡¯ ¡°Vice Guild Master, I had a thought. If I¡¯m happier now in the sixth turn than I was in the fifth, wouldn¡¯t I be even happier in the seventh turn with a pretty good probability?¡± ¡°Jiwon, what are you talking about, Jiwon¡?¡± ¡°Could you please leave a will for the next version of me, urging her to strive for even happier times before holding a funeral¡?¡± ¡°Hey!¡± Now, you can probably see how this episode ends. That¡¯s right. To cut to the chase, without any need for epilogues, this bastard Yoo Jiwon used me as her personal will deliveryman every single time. From the sixth turn to the seventh, to the eighth, to the ninth, to the tenth, and to the eleventh. Whenever I asked her if she was finally happy enough for a funeral, she would always reply, ¡°Hmm. Don¡¯t you think I¡¯d be a bit happier in the next turn?¡± And thus, she endlessly postponed her sealing. What kind of person does that? I¡¯ve read countless web novels and encountered numerous protagonists who are infinite regressors, especially after my 550th turn. But I¡¯ve never seen a character use an infinite regressor like this. And this guy¡ter on, when the Highway Maintenance Corps was established, she sometimes joined under Noh Doha instead of Tang Seorin. ¡°This minimap is exactly what our Highway Maintenance Corps needs. Thanks to it, it¡¯s easy to track the location of our members in real-time. Thanks for introducing such a great talent for free, Regressor Jang.¡± ¡°¡¡¡± A few turnster, Yoo Jiwon smoothly got promoted to the head of the Operations Control Room, just below Noh Doha in the Highway Maintenance Corps. In the long run, spanning hundreds of years, Yoo Jiwon was genuinely ¡®rising through the ranks¡¯ little by little. From an ordinary guild member to my deputy. From my deputy to the third-inmand of Three Thousand Worlds. Then from an executive in Three Thousand Worlds to a significant figure in the Highway Maintenance Corps. It was nothing short of a miracle! The living proof of a sess story! I couldn¡¯t begin to fathom how this phenomenon urred. Was there a power-hungry monster that kept getting promoted with each turn? Isn¡¯t this truly bizarre? The most astonishing fact was that this creature, who would stop at nothing for sess, had never once betrayed me throughout the 1183 turns. When I once asked her during a drinking session why she never betrayed me, her answer was astonishing. ¡°Are you asking if I would ever betray you, Doctor Jang? I would rather die than do that.¡± ¡°Why? You¡¯re a psychopath.¡± ¡°Please stop being prejudiced against psychopaths. You¡¯re a regressor with perfect memory, so you must store and evaluate every action of everyone. Therefore, I must be cautious and avoid displeasing you in any turn. Isn¡¯t thatmon sense?¡± Yoo Jiwon stared at the full moon in the night sky, holding a clear soju ss. Her eyes looked distant. ¡°I find it hard to understand why anyone would be foolish enough to betray you. It¡¯s fascinating. Why are so many people so foolish?¡± ¡°¡¡¡± I truly¡ don¡¯t understand this girl¡ But then again, no one understood Yoo Jiwon as deeply as I did. By the 50th turn, I was certain about one thing regarding Yoo Jiwon. No matter how many people in the world wanted to receive the time seal, Yoo Jiwon would never ept it. I once thought she was born in the wrong era. But I was wrong. This girl would thrive in any era. That remained true even in the apocalypse where civilization had copsed. You could say she was an optimal survivor for this era. At this point, half out of a sense of duty and half as a joke, I couldn¡¯t help but ask Yoo Jiwon politely. ¡°Jiwon.¡± ¡°Yes?¡± ¡°Are you happy now?¡± Just then, a chess piece fell over on the map. Then my silver-haired deputy, my almost only Three Kingdoms enthusiast and the original member of my regression life, my psychopath friend, would ponder for a moment before responding. ¡°I think I could be a little happier next time.¡± ¨C Promotion. The End. [Trantor ¨C Asura] [Proofreader ¨C Gun] Chapter 79 â€“ Questioner I [Trantor ¨C Helga] [Proofreader ¨C Gun] Chapter 79 ¨C Questioner I 1 Let me just say up front that today¡¯s episode will feature a lot of Q&A, question-and-answer format. With that in mind, let me start with a light question for you all. Q) Among all the survivors on the Korean Penins, what do humans despise the most? (Difficulty: Easiest) There was a survey on this topic on SG Net once. Thepetition was fierce, but here are the top 5 contenders: 1. The Lonely Gourmet. ¡°Ten ns.¡± 2. Because of this guy, all electronics andputers stopped working, making life miserable. Commonly known as the ¡°Gremlin.¡± 3. Shows up at every crossroads asking if you¡¯ll save the one on the right or the left. ¡°Trolley Dilemma.¡± 4. Can¡¯t go into detail, but a mysterious being with pink hair whose name starts with ¡°Ko¡± and ends with ¡°ri.¡± (Nominated by coercing Seo Gyu and manipting the votes.) 5. ¡°Tutorial Fairy.¡± After a four-day survey, the results were announced. A) ¡°Tutorial Fairy.¡± ¨C 82.7% Candidate number 5 won by andslide! Supporters hugged each other in joy, praising the winner with one voice and one heart. -Anonymous: Fairies< [Trantor ¨C Asura] [Proofreader ¨C Gun] Depending on the culture or the person, it might be called ¡®Aura,¡¯ ¡®Ki,¡¯ ¡®Yoki,¡¯ etc., but the point was the same: when infused into a kitchen knife, it cut fruit beautifully. This mysterious energy was like excrement; the longer it stayed in the body, the stronger it became. In martial arts genres, there was the term ¡®gapja¡¯¡ª Equivalent to 60 years, a martial artist who umted 60 years¡¯ worth of inner strength was naturally respected as a master. This setting perfectly reflected the desirable trait of East Asians to rank by age. And who am I, Doctor Jang? It¡¯s not exactly something to brag about, but by around the 30th turn, I had been breaking the record for human lifespan every day. Moreover, I even had a skill called [Continue], which allowed my muscles and inner strength to be preserved even through regression. So? ¡°Hey, fairy. I¡¯ve got a gift for you.¡± ¡°Huh? A gift? What is it, gloomy human?¡± ¡°Smash.¡± ¡°What?¡± Wham! Whoosh-! The Tutorial Fairy¡¯s head wasunched into the air at the same tilted angle. Had any missile enthusiast in Pyongyang witnessed this, they would have pped their hands in envy at the power. ¡°Aah.¡± On that day, when I first took down a fairy with a single strike, I couldn¡¯t hold back my tears of joy, behaving immaturely for my age. How long and arduous had those years of humiliation and oppression been! The regressor who evolved from muscle-bound to inner strength-bound was indeed formidable. I became unsatisfied with just Busan Station and wandered around the voids all over the country, harvesting fairy heads. ¡°It¡¯s Doctor Jang! Doctor Jang is here!¡± ¡°Eek? The mad fairy hunter!¡± ¡°Everyone, run! If you get caught by that human, you¡¯ll lose your head too!¡± ¡°Run! Run! Ruuun!¡± Powerfulbat skills? Fancy martial arts? Who needs that? With 5, 10, or 20 turns¡¯ worth of inner strength, there¡¯s not much in this world that you can¡¯t do. (Though it¡¯s not absolutely everything) After all, a highly developed normal attack is indistinguishable from abat skill. Without any special techniques, just relentlessly stabbing with aura, my overwhelming power left the Tutorial Fairies dazed. ¡°W-why are you tormenting us like this? Filthy human! Vile human! What did we ever do to you¡!¡± ¡°Well. It¡¯s true you haven¡¯t done much. Just, you know, discriminatory remarks, gaslighting, threats, confinement, torture, murder, genocide, that sort of thing.¡± ¡°If I sued, I¡¯d win!¡± Which country¡¯s court, I wonder. ¡°Anyway, all of this is nder! Defamation! We were just following the orders of our monarch, helping your inferior humanity adapt to the void as quickly as possible! You should be grateful¡! Yes! You should be thanking us!¡± ¡°Wow. Imperialists always sound the same, no matter their history or species. Hmm? Wait, monarch?¡± I was boiling fairy broth when I tilted my head. This was big news. ¡°Hey, you guys have a monarch?¡± ¡°Of course!¡± The fairy, tightly bound above the boiling pot, raised its head proudly and dered. ¡°In any society, members must naturally relinquish their rights, and this is the collective will of the fairies! Our monarch is the sole legitimate ruler representing our will! Ignorant humans wouldn¡¯t understand!¡± ¡°¡?¡± At the time, I didn¡¯t know, but fairy society was actually divided between republicans and royalists. This fairy was a thorough royalist. But what did it matter? I was always a cultured person who respected others¡¯ political leanings to the utmost. Therefore, Ipletely disregarded the fairy¡¯s political philosophy and pped its face several times. ¡°Eek? Eek! Eek!¡± ¡°Hey. Who are you yelling at? Look, Mr. Fairy. Don¡¯t you see the pot boiling here? I¡¯m going to make broth out of you and serve it to your fellow fairies.¡± ¡°Gyaaak! Gyak! Gyaaak!¡± ¡°Eek? What barbarity! Call the Fairy Rights Committee right now!¡± ¡°Unless you want to take a dip in the River Styx, answer my questions quietly. Now, do you have a leader who ordered you to run this tutorial using humans?¡± ¡°Eek! A leader? Watch your mouth! You should refer to him with respect and reverence as our Monarch, human!¡± ¡°Okay. So that bastard is the one responsible for wrecking this world.¡± ¡°Huh? What are you talking about¡?¡± ¡°How do I meet this so-called Fairy Monarch? I¡¯d like to see his face.¡± ¡°Meet him? Are you saying you want to meet the great Fairy Monarch with that lowly face of yours? Heh heh heh!¡± By the way, that weird sound was the fairy¡¯s distinctiveugh. No, really. Theyugh like ¡°heh heh.¡± ¡°Sorry, but that¡¯s impossible!¡± ¡°Hmm.¡± ¡°The Monarch is a transcendent being! The singr embodiment of our collective will! There¡¯s no reason for him toe down and dirty himself with this miserable world!¡± ¡°Really? So even if I turn you into fairy stew right now?¡± ¡°Heh heh! Even if you kill this individual and ughter all the others stationed in Korea! The Fairy Monarch will never! Ever! Appear before a lowly human!¡± ¡°Is that so? Then I guess I¡¯ll have to test that.¡± ¡°¡?¡± Time passed. I, Doctor Jang, the inner strength-bound survivor of the apocalypse, returned after gaining exactly 10 more turns¡¯ worth of inner strength through repeated regressions. And then, I captured all 101 Tutorial Fairies remaining in Korea. [Trantor ¨C Helga] [Proofreader ¨C Gun] Chapter 80 â€“ Questioner II [Proofreader ¨C Gun] Chapter 80 ¨C Questioner II 2 There¡¯s a saying that goes, ¡°trouble within and trouble without.¡± Usually, it means experiencing extreme suffering both inside and out, like getting food poisoning and then stepping on a Lego with your bare foot. But the true meaning of this old saying lies elsewhere. It¡¯s the wisdom that internal worries can be easily resolved by pointing to an external enemy. This ancient truth was once again proven when I caught 101 Fairy Sians, filmed the scene, and uploaded it to SGNet. ¨C Anonymous: Is Doctor Jang a god? Is Doctor Jang a god? Is Doctor Jang a god? ¨C KoreanVige: Watching those fairies get wrecked feels so satisfying, hahaha. ¨C Anonymous: Mom, I want to be Doctor Jang when I grow up! Mom, I want to be Doctor Jang when I grow up! ¨C Literature Girl: Why do we only get to watch this amazing prank on video? Can¡¯t they sell tickets to watch it live? ©¸ Anonymous: I think I know where this building is. Let¡¯s organize a live support raid party. ¨C [National] Officer: Truly a case of cause and effect. Proof that justice still breathes in this world. Those who act out at the end of the century should watch this and reflect. ¨C dolLHoUse: Concern. ¨C [Yuldo Nation] Sword Maiden: The cinematography is truly excellent! ¡°Hmm.¡± I nodded in satisfaction. The number of likes on the post alone was the highest I¡¯ve ever seen in my 89 lifetimes! While each of us Awakened had vastly different personalities and preferences, we all shared one thing: a mutual disdain for fairies! However, it was too early to rx. No matter how well you deal with external enemies, internal issues don¡¯t just disappear. It¡¯s just a simple distraction. My internal trouble, a cancerous tumor, was right next to me, exuding a fragrant scent. ¡°Wow¡ To think you managed to capture all the tutorial fairies from across the country and gather them in one ce. How did youe up with such an idea, Guild Master? You¡¯re amazing.¡± Pop quiz. Who just smiled brightly at me and praised me? Hint 1: This person calls me ¡°Guild Master,¡± a title not many use. Hint 2: This person has rare pink hair. Hint 3: This is the 89th cycle. ¡°Guild Master, you really are quite unique. I¡¯m d I decided to follow you when you recruited me at Busan Station¡¡± Answer: Koyori! A normal person would start screaming, ¡°Aaaah! Cthulhu destroys!¡± and run away upon hearing the answer. But I was far from normal, and at this point, I had no idea that the 89th cycle would end in total annihtion. Naturally, I didn¡¯t suspect that Koyori was a mind-controlling Hypno (Pokemon) disguised as a human either. ¡°Thanks. It¡¯s because you joined that running the guild has be so much easier. Sometimes I think the guild members like you more than they like me.¡± ¡°Haha, Guild Master, you¡¯re too kind. It¡¯s just because I don¡¯t have any responsibilities or orders to give.¡± Thus, even as I listened to the pink-haired shiny Hypno¡¯sughter, all I thought was, ¡°What a pleasant voice.¡± How foolish of me. Run. ¡°And actually, luck yed a part in this mission.¡± ¡°Luck, you say?¡± ¡°Yeah. Even though I know all the patterns of the fairies left in the Korean Penins, they still got captured without much resistance.¡± ¡°¡.¡± Koyori smiled brightly. ¡°Ultimately, it¡¯s fate that dictates human affairs. In reverse, it was just bad luck for the fairies. Guild Master, you should be pleased,¡± she said. ¡°Hmm. You¡¯re right.¡± No! Doctor Jang. No! Run away now. Run away immediately! ¡But even if I tried to shoot Interster alone, there was no way my voice would reach the me of the 89th turn. If there¡¯s one fortunate point, it¡¯s that Koyori¡¯s mind-controlling Hypno beam didn¡¯t discriminate based on race, affecting not just Homo sapiens but fairies too. Thanks to this, the 101 fairies in custody didn¡¯t cause much trouble even in prison. ¡°Heok¡ Where is this?¡± ¡°It¡¯s an unfamiliar ceiling.¡± The incarceration location was Cheongsong Correctional Facility. Since the apocalypse, the walls had crumbled, causing a continuous poption drain, and now the prison was bustling with new inmates. ¡°Kidnapping? Could it be kidnapping?¡± ¡°Are we creatures created for clich¨¦s, turned into toys of clich¨¦s?¡± ¡°That too is an inevitable clich¨¦.¡± ¡°Heok¡ If I had been born 500 years earlier, I could have dominated world literature. It¡¯s a shame to be born in the wrong era¡¡± ¡°In the Middle Ages, there weren¡¯t even C-vored chips or cup noodles, so even if I had dominated, it would have been useless.¡± ¡°I could have given regrets to all future literati born 500 yearster.¡± ¡°Heokk, a terrifying genius¡¡± Bubbling and bubbling ¨C Having gathered a total of 101 noisy fairies alone, there was truly no market like the Noryangjin fish market. Now it¡¯s time to proceed with the main show. As if prepared in advance, Koyori handed me the microphone with a sly smile (giving me chills). I stepped onto the tform. ¡°Ah- microphone test. Microphone test. Hello, fairies. Nice to meet you.¡± ¡°Erk. Who are you¡?¡± ¡°I am your guide. I think you must have been very surprised to be kidnapped suddenly like this. But don¡¯t worry. From now on, I will kindly guide you from beginning to end.¡± The fairies spread throughout the hall blinked at each other and whispered. ¡°Where have we heard this repertoire before?¡± ¡°For some reason, this line sounds very familiar.¡± ¡°This rope is so tough that we can¡¯t unravel it no matter what it¡¯s made of¡¡± ¡°Busan Station Awakened!¡± With a cry, a fairy shouted in the middle of the hall. ¡°I¡¯ve seen it in the data screen! That human, Number 264, cleared the nightmare-level dungeon Busan Station in less than 20 minutes! It¡¯s definitely him!¡± ¡°Hiekkkk?¡± ¡°20 minutes? He¡¯s the type of protagonist that seniors warned about!¡± Bubbling, bubbling, bubbling! The fairies became noisy all at once. But the speaker who believed in his righteousness wasn¡¯t shaken by the chaos outside the stage. Like Martin Luther King Jr. at the Lincoln Memorial, I continued my speech firmly. ¡°Please calm down and listen to me, fairies. When do you think evil arises in this world?¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°I believe that evil arises when one cannot or deliberately does not consider the position and feelings of others. Not seeing and not knowing. In that sense, ignorance truly can be considered the root of evil, as the old proposition of Socrates rightly evaluates.¡± ¡°¡What nonsense is this human talking about?¡± ¡°I have no idea at all¡¡± ¡°Ah, ah. I¡¯ve arranged this gathering ce to rescue you all from the abyss of evil. The reason you treat humans like toys is simply because you¡¯ve never personally experienced being a toy.¡± Question marks hovered collectively over the fairies¡¯ puzzled heads. My voice rang out boldly in the now quieter hall like a cry for justice. ¡°Did you roughly understand? From now on, kill each other.¡± ¡°¡?¡± The bent question marks didn¡¯t take long to straighten into exmation marks under the hammer. Fairy-exclusive tutorial dungeon, start. ¡°Hi-eeeek! Save the fairies!¡± ¡°Gyak! Rocks! Rocks are rolling! Gyaaaah! Hi-eeeek!¡± Traps overflowing with all sorts of malice, limited resources, stages designed to trap in suspicion and horror, etc., etc. After all, every creation tends to originate from imitation. Even when I built the Cheongsong Correctional Facility dungeon, I drew inspiration entirely from the great seniors in this field. Those seniors were now happily frolicking in the buildings designed by their sessors. ¡°How can you wear the guise of a human and do this? Don¡¯t you have any human heart at all?¡± ¡°No, I don¡¯t. Instead, I¡¯ve equipped myself with a fairy¡¯s heart. Heokk- hoeeeng-¡± ¡°¡?¡± [Proofreader ¨C Gun] ¡°Why? What¡¯s the problem, Number 76. When humans begged for their lives in Yeongwol, did you grant their request?¡± ¡°Heox! W-we just followed orders!¡± ¡°Is that so? The instructor is simr. I am solely my own master and am nowmanding myself. As we are in simr positions, I ask for your understanding, fairies.¡± ¡°Crazy human¡ He¡¯s a crazy human¡¡± The fairies trembled. Ah. By the way, this entire process was wlessly recorded by Koyori¡¯s smartphone. ¡°Ah, Guild Master. Sorry, but you¡¯re not on screen. Pleasee a bit closer.¡± ¡°Like this?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± As days passed in Cheongsong Correctional Facility, Koyori¡¯s smile evolved from a simple grin to a broad, confident smile. As a master of mental maniption, Koyori also had expertise in video editing. Director & Screeny: Jang Uisa, Cinematography & Editing: Koyori, Lead & Supporting Fairies. With ourbined effort, the moving documentary series ¡°Tutorial Reversal of the World¡± sessfully achieved 100% viewership ratings every time it was uploaded on SG Net. ¡°The Guild Master is truly an interesting person.¡± ¡Looking back now. Despite following the wisdom of internal and external affairs, it was difficult to evoke such a consistent reaction in the crazy SG Net overflowing with lunatics. Perhaps Koyori had embedded maniption in the edited videos themselves. They were satisfying enough to be acknowledged by experts in sincerity and post-review. From this point on, Koyori undoubtedly developed genuine interest and obsession with me. 3 Of course, the purpose behind establishing a fairy-exclusive prison wasn¡¯t merely to settle umted racial grievances. (That was only 50% of the reason.) I looked down at the fairies falling 60 meters into the underground in real-time tug-of-war defeats. ¡°I¡¯m capturing all the remaining fairies on the penins and turning them into mere jesters. Aren¡¯t I even hiding my face like this?¡± Fairy Lord. Indeed. It is estimated that Koyori, who manages and dominates not only the Korean Penins but also simultaneous appearances of ¡®Tutorial Dungeons¡¯ and ¡®Fairies¡¯ worldwide, is a special kind of entricity. ording to the future ssification system of the Library Association, she might be judged as Level 5, Alienation, and Outer God grade¡ a dreadful figure. ¡°I¡¯ve invested so much effort into capturing fairies. This time, we must gather as much information about these guys as possible.¡± ¡°Hi-eeeek!,¡± the fairies screamed in terror. Surprisingly, even up to this point, I still knew nothing substantial about the Fairy Lord¡¯s identity. Through a span of up to 89 turns, I hadn¡¯t obtained any meaningful information even once. That very fact spurred my vignce. ¡°He¡¯s not to be underestimated.¡± Unlike fans of other works who are interested in subtly revealing their identities as viins, the Fairy Boss was a true antagonist. The only information I had was the four-syble word ¡®Fairy Lord.¡¯ ¡°Hey. Massacre.¡± ¡°Hoeeek¡¡± I lightly tapped the forehead of the fallen fairy with my finger. ¡°Can you start telling me more about your boss? Do you think I¡¯m only going to end things with a brawl on the Korean Penins? China, Japan, India¡ They might be a stretch, but fairies can be found in almost any neighborhood.¡± ¡°Heox, w-we can¡¯t say¡¡± ¡°Why? Because you only have one mouth? Would having two or three make rational conversation possible?¡± ¡°Hi-eeeek!¡± I heard footsteps. When I nced back, Koyori was standing behind me with a burden. ¡°Are you interrogating, Guild Master?¡± ¡°Yeah. Well, since it¡¯s not a pretty scene, don¡¯t film it.¡± ¡°Not a pretty scene? It¡¯s actually a very beautiful scene, so we should cherish it so others can¡¯t steal a nce.¡± Koyori tilted their head. ¡°Um, if you¡¯re having trouble because the fairies aren¡¯t responding, I¡¯d like to help if there¡¯s anything I can do.¡± ¡°Hmm? If you can help, that¡¯d be great, but these guys aren¡¯t exactly easy to crack. Just grateful for their minds.¡± ¡°¡¡± Koyori smiled broadly. ¡°No need to thank me. What were you asking them just now?¡± ¡°Oh, I was asking about the Fairy Lord¡¯s real name¡¡± ¡°¨D¨DThe Fairy Lord is the Fairy Lord.¡± Murmuring. I stared at the fairy. Our eyes met. Despite interrogating for a fortnight, the lips of the fairy, who consistently refused to talk, were twitching. ¡°But humans misunderstand the true meaning of ¡®lord¡¯.¡± ¡°¡Misunderstand? What misunderstanding?¡± ¡°The lord you think of is ¡®King¡¯ (monarch), meaning someone above whom others serve and pledge loyalty to. But our Fairy Lord is different. Our lord is ¡®Lord¡¯ (group leader). The Fairy Lord is the master of a collective entity.¡± The fairyughed brightly. ¡°We are one. One is us. Therefore, when we say ¡®our Fairy Lord¡¯ in the truest sense, resistance is merely betrayal of oneself. We¨D¨D¡± Boom! The fairy¡¯s lips trembled, then exploded from the inside out. The fairy¡¯s body swelled like a balloon. sh. I immediately summoned a barrier between us and the fairies, causing the red liquid to stter against the ss-like shield. After a moment of explosions subsided, there was nothing left in the spot where the original fairy had been sitting except for chunks of flesh. ¡°No, what in the world¡?¡± ¡°Oh, looks like there was some kind of bomb nted here for secrecy.¡± Koyori murmured from beside me. ¡°Hmm. This is the first time for something like this¡ Still, Guild Master, you won¡¯t be in big trouble, will you?¡± ¡°What are you talking about?¡± ¡°We still have 100 fairies left.¡± Koyori sped their hands together. ¡°So, you can ask questions another 100 times.¡± [Proofreader ¨C Gun] Chapter 81 â€“ Questioner III [Proofreader ¨C Gun] Chapter 81 ¨C Questioner III 4 To get straight to the point, Koyori¡¯s n to ¡°get perfect information by smashing the fairies¡¯ heads 100 more times¡± didn¡¯t work out. It¡¯s not like my soft heart suddenly felt sympathy, thinking that was too cruel. Just looking at my brother, Seo Gyu, who¡¯s struggling with anger management issues, he¡¯s already been on the receiving end of the fairies¡¯ head-bashing express delivery service more than 50 times. Sympathy? What sympathy? I, Doctor Jang, who might oppose racial discrimination but proudly consider myself a thorough species-ist. My emotions are reserved solely for Homo sapiens. The only reason Koyori¡¯s solution failed was simple. ¡°Initiating extermination.¡± ¡°Initiating extermination.¡± The fairies swarmed Koyori as soon as we stepped out of the interrogation room. ¡°What the¡?¡± Dozens of fairies attacked from the hallway, ceiling, and all directions without any warning. They all had the same expressionless faces, making the scene feel like something out of a cosmic horror movie. But my attention was elsewhere. ¡®The fairies aren¡¯t using the [formal speech]?¡¯ My goodness. This was a cultural shock. Is that even legal? Before my tongue could express its shock, my seasoned reflexes as a regressor kicked in. ¡°You little bastards! Where do you think you¡¯re going!¡± Bam! I wrapped my thighs and calves in aura and kicked away the three fairies charging at Koyori head-on. But that wasn¡¯t the end. Though the fairies were knocked away by my kick, they instantly swelled up like red balloons. Their small bodies rapidly filled with red liquid, the sight unfolding in slow motion right before my eyes. A chilling warning surged down my spine. ¡®Suicide bombing!¡¯ Their goal wasn¡¯t to harm us directly but to close the distance. I quickly enveloped my entire body in protective energy and pulled Koyori tightly into my embrace. ¡°Ah¡ª¡± Koyori¡¯s lips moved, but her voice was drowned out by the explosion that followed. BOOM! The explosion was powerful enough to shake the entire Cheongsong Prison. Despite extensive modifications to imprison fairies, even the thick protective walls couldn¡¯t fully contain the st. Of course, they couldn¡¯t prate my shield either. ¡°Damn it¡¡± Everything was demolished. The hallway walls, columns, ceiling¡ªall of it. Chunks of concrete fell and pounded against my aura-covered body. ¡°Whew. Koyori, are you okay? Can you hear me?¡± ¡°Yes, thanks to you, Guild Master. You¡¯re amazing.¡± Though she said that, the coughing that followed as dust rose from the building¡¯s debris suggested otherwise. Gently¡ Through the cloud of dust, the surroundings looked like they¡¯d been hit by red water bombs. It must have been the LCL liquid released when the fairies exploded. In the middle of the chaos, a single fairy, still intact, floated in the air. ¡°Hey, you little¡¡± ¡°I would like to request a conversation.¡± As if nothing had happened, the fairy calmly spoke. ¡°However, there¡¯s a condition. I request a conversation with you alone¨D¨D.¡± BAM! I leapt forward and crushed the fairy¡¯s head in my grip. I wiped the sticky, blood-colored goo from my fingers. ¡°Don¡¯t make meugh. After attempting a suicide bombing, you think you can just talk it out now that we¡¯re still standing? Seriously, these insane mass-murdering bastards have the most twisted logic.¡± -Note. No questions will be epted. Then, an astonishing thing happened. The liquid from the surrounding puddles began to bubble and rapidly formed into fairy shapes. But they were iplete. Only heads, mouths, and fingers emerged from different puddles, each trying to form a body. This was seriously messed up. -No requests will be epted either. There must be no one eavesdropping on our conversation through any means, such as recording, filming, or spying. -You are also forbidden from disclosing our conversation to others in the future. -If we don¡¯t quickly secure a private space, we will destroy this area and all simr entities that encounter you. ¡°¡¡¡± -I¡¯ll give you 30 seconds. I frowned deeply and looked to the side. Koyori had a puzzled yet amused smile on her face, as if she found the situation intriguing. ¡°Hmm. It¡¯s fine. You don¡¯t need to worry about me, Guild Master.¡± ¡°Really? ¡Thanks for understanding.¡± ¡°Haha. In return, could you take me to Busan next time? I¡¯d like to meet your friend Tang Seorin¡ I¡¯m quite interested in her.¡± ¡°Hmm. Sure, let¡¯s do that.¡± In reality, I had no reason to feel indebted to Koyori. Of course, there was no reason to bring Koyori alone to the [Reversed World of the Tutorial], leaving other guild members behind. Besides, it was obvious that Tang Seorin would hate having someone else join our foodie adventures. Despite everything, even though Koyoriughed ¡®haha¡¯ while witnessing this chaos, all I felt was ¡®Oh dear, I¡¯m sorry to leave such a kind person out of the conversation.¡¯ My brain is fried, doctor. Thud. Koyori¡¯s footsteps sounded like a rattlesnake slithering through the debris. Thud- The snake¡¯s tail disappeared behind a reinforced concrete pir, and only then did the fairy speak. -28 seconds have passed. -I have confirmed your willingness to converse. ¡°¡You can speak normally, too.¡± I turned my gaze from where Koyori had disappeared and tried to re at the fairies¡ tried, because damn, there were more than a few fairies bubbling up like pot foam around me. ¡°Were you just pretending to be cute with that ¡®formal speech¡¯ this whole time?¡± -Is that your first question? The liquid fairies stared at me. Despite their emotionless expressions and tone, I could sense a hint of ¡°Are you serious?¡± It was rather fascinating. ¡°Yes.¡± -The speech style of our units is set by configuration. -Location: Korean Penins, Language: Korean, Target: Koreans, Environment: Apocalypse. -We chose the speech style that would lower people¡¯s guard the most. ¡°What? That kind of speech? ¡Hmm, well, yeah. I guess it does sound pretty weak.¡± -Margin of error. -Reactions to our units¡¯ speech vary among individuals due to the average setting. -Suggestion. How about we take turns asking and answering questions? -What do you think? ¡°¡¡¡± I shrugged my shoulders. It was a gesture meant to convey indifference, but more than that, I wanted to test how well ¡°those things¡± could interpret non-verbal cues. ¨C Confirmation received. To prevent any misunderstandings, we want to rify that our objective was not your extermination. ¡°So, what then? Were you trying to kill my teammate? What¡¯s the point of killing someone who¡¯s just bones?¡± ¨C It is our turn to ask a question. ¨C Why are you apanying the pink entity? The liquid masses¡¯ eyes bore into me from all directions. ¡°Pink entity¡ Are you talking about Koyori?¡± ¨C Affirmative and negative. ¨C The entity does not adhere to any proper nouns or specific technical terms. For neutrality, we temporarily refer to the ¡®pink-haired entity that apanied you in Cheongsong Prison¡¯ as the ¡®pink entity.¡¯ ¨C Please answer the question. I furrowed my brows. ¡°Entity this, entity that¡ I don¡¯t understand why you can¡¯t just use names. Koyori is my guild member. She serves me as her Guild Master. Do people need grand reasons to associate with each other?¡± ¨C ¡ ¨C ¡ The distorted shapes of the fairies, the ¡°Fairy Lord,¡± stared intently at me. A brief silence followed. ¨C Understood. ¡°Now it¡¯s my turn to ask. You, who call yourself the Fairy Lord, why did you bring areas like the Void into our world? And why did you force innocent people into the Tutorial, making them y survival games?¡± ¨C ¡ ¡°Was it for fun? Entertainment? Like in so many stories where humans are used as toys?¡± This wasn¡¯t just my question. It was the question of every awakened individual who experienced the Tutorial, and, by extension, all of humanity. I was merely the one voicing it. I waited for the Fairy Lord¡¯s answer, feeling like the first human to question a god. ¨C We will break down your question. ¨C First. There is a misunderstanding on your part. ¡°Misunderstanding? What kind of misunderstanding?¡± ¨C We did not bring the entire Void into this world. We merely controlled the phenomenon known as the ¡®Tutorial.¡¯ Ah. Instead of anger, a sense of disappointment filled my chest. So the entity before me wasn¡¯t the master of all anomalies. In my 89th turn, I was a fool, but unlike the 1183rd turn me, I still believed the world could be restored to its original state. ¨C Second. Our experiments are not for entertainment. Our goal is to observe survival, literally. [Proofreader ¨C Gun] ¡°What?¡± ¨C We would like to ask you instead. ¨C Without any preparation, without undergoing the ¡®Tutorial¡¯ process we provided, what do you think your survival rate would be if you were thrown into the Void? ¡°¡.¡± ¨C Calcting over a span of 365 days, your survival rate would be only 1.76%. ¨C Conversely, the average survival rate for awakened individuals in the Tutorial is nearly 31%. ¨C Once someone survives the Tutorial, their survival rate for the following 365 days rises to 69%. ¡°So, what? Are you saying you organized these death game parades for our sake? That¡¯s really touching. I¡¯m almost moved to tears.¡± ¨C We have no good intentions, nor do we have any malice. ¨C Please judge if our ¡®experiment¡¯ goes against your objectives. At that moment, I sensed movement behind me. Turning quickly, I saw about ten fairies sneaking up on me, having somehow resurrected. Our eyes met. ¨C ¡. ¡°Damn it!¡± I quickly gathered my aura and decapitated the fairies. Their heads burst like strawberry juice. ¡°You ambush me while we¡¯re talking? You¡¯re worse than Nazis!¡± ¨C Operation failed. ¨C Reassessing your threat level. ¡°Hey! Are you seriously nning to go all the way with me? Fine. Bring it on. Let¡¯s see this through to the end!¡± ¨C Correction needed. It was not us who first showed hostility but you. ¨C You kidnapped our entities with abnormal hostility and subjected them to extremely primitive experimental conditions. ¨C Besides the poor environment, the experiment¡¯s purpose was unclear. It was you who kidnapped intelligent beings for ¡®entertainment.¡¯ ¡°What¡ Ha.¡± I almost snapped back that they were the ones tormenting humans from turn 1 to turn 89, but I held back. I didn¡¯t want to reveal that I was a regressor to this bizarre entity. Even a small hint could be dangerous. ¨C Suppressing you by force is highly unlikely. ¨C It would be preferable to establish a rtionship of continuous interaction with you. ¡°As if I¡¯d agree to that.¡± ¨C Instead, we will disclose information you haven¡¯t asked about. It¡¯s directly rted to your survival. The Fairy Lord¡¯s mouth moved slowly, perhaps too slowly. ¨C The? entity?? you???? call???? by?? that? name? is? not? really? that. A static noise echoed in my head like an old radio as the fairy spoke. I furrowed my eyebrows. ¡°What did you just say?¡± ¨C The entity?? you?? call? that? name? is? not? really? that. The noise grew louder, deepening the furrow between my brows. ¡°Stop it. It¡¯s annoying. If this is some sort of joke, quit it now.¡± ¨C ¡. Dozens of Fairy Lords poked their heads out from the building debris, looking at each other. ¨C Failure. The contamination level of the entity exceeds 99%. ¨C Abandoning Operation B. Redirecting anger by antagonizing a specific entity is deemed ineffective. More potent mind control than the subject possesses is impossible. ¨C Initiating Operation C. ¡°¡.¡± I began to think about how topletely obliterate this collective entity called the Fairy Lord. ¡°If you keep disregarding and looking down on humans like this, I¡¯ll¡.¡± ¨C Sharing information. Although we did not bring the entire Void into this world, it is true that we are among the highest-ranking entities you refer to as ¡®monstrosities.¡¯ ¨C There are currently seven confirmed top-tier monstrosities. I blinked. Right. This was the first time I learned about level 5 ¡®Abyssal God-tier¡¯ monstrosities ording to the Library Association ssification system. ¡°The highest-level monstrosities number seven?¡± ¨C Correct. These top-tier monstrosities exert significant influence over humans, leading to contamination without their knowledge¡ ¨C If we liken a monstrosity to a god, it inevitably creates ¡®followers,¡¯ whether they are objects, nts, animals, or humans. This phenomenon urs regardless of whether the subjects actually worship the monstrosity as a god. ¨C Faith is unnecessary. ¨C Among these followers, some be powerful enough to be called ¡®apostles.¡¯ ¨C Naturally, there are human Awakeners who serve as ¡®apostles¡¯ for the entity known as the ¡®Fairy Lord.¡¯ I tilted my head. ¡°That¡¯s interesting information, but¡ why bring this up all of a sudden?¡± ¨C It is likely that you already know the person who serves as this entity¡¯s apostle. ¨C Cheon Yohwa. I froze. Numerous fairies, the collective Fairy Lord, stared at my face from various angles like a spider¡¯s eyes. ¨C Tutorial Dungeon Baekhwa Girls¡¯ High School. ¨C The survivor from there, Cheon Yohwa, is the chosen apostle of this entity, the ¡®Fairy Lord.¡¯ [Proofreader ¨C Gun] Chapter 82 â€“ Questioner IV [Proofreader ¨C Gun] Chapter 82 ¨C Questioner IV 5 For an infinite regressor, the world can be likened to a bag of potato chips. Amongst countless nitrogen, one must unearth the rare resource¡ªthe potato chips. Simrly, a regressor encounters exceptions in the endlessly repeating time, just like the me of the 89th round. ¡°No way, Cheon Yohwa¡¡± I swallowed the name of the potato chip. The president of Baekhwa High School. Alongside Tang Seorin¡¯s Three Thousand Worlds, she was a necromancer, always mentioned when listing the most powerful guilds on the Korean Penins. I never expected to hear her name here. ¨C It¡¯s not just humans. For some miraculous reason, this bag of chips had a higher quantity. ¨C As I mentioned, the influence of the monstrosity extends to objects, nts, and animals alike. ¨C Think of the monstrosity as a form of radiation. ¨C The ¡®Butterfly Effect¡¯ you are presumed to have hunted was also an apostle of this entity, irradiated by us. ¡°Wait a minute. Even the Butterfly Effect?¡± ¨C Correct. That is the truth. ¡°¡¡± My mind fell into chaos. In the 89th round, Cheon Yohwa was a necromancer. A malevolent student council president who asionally brought the [Bad Ending: Academy City ENDING] to the Korean Penins when bored. And the Butterfly Effect was a psychotically unstable morpho butterfly that spread tornadoes everywhere, regardless of its mood. ¡°¡They¡¯re so different. What¡¯s themonality between Cheon Yohwa and the Butterfly Effect that makes them your infected¡ I mean, so-called apostles?¡± ¨C It¡¯s faster to show you directly. ¡°Directly? Show me what?¡± The Fairy Lord extended a hand. ¨C This entity. ¡°¡¡± ¨C I sense your hesitation. Are you afraid? Won¡¯t you grasp it? I sheathed my sword. Being a regressor was convenient at times like this. Even if this turned out to be a monstrosity¡¯s trap and I ended up dead, I could at least carry the information ¡°the Fairy Lord is utterly untrustworthy¡± to the next round. ¡°Fine. If it¡¯s a provocation, I¡¯ll ept. I don¡¯t know where you¡¯re taking me, but go ahead and guide me.¡± As I took the Fairy Lord¡¯s hand, an unpleasant, squishy sensation of the liquid body spread across my palm. And in the next moment, I found myself standing in the middle of a clean, intact prison. ¡°What¡?¡± But it wasn¡¯t Cheongsong Prison. I couldn¡¯t pinpoint where it was. The iron bars and hallways extended endlessly out of sight. No people were around. ¡°What is this¡?¡± Squish. The Fairy Lord gripped my hand tightly as it automatically moved towards my sword hilt. ¨C Do not let go of my hand under any circumstances. ¨C Or you will lose. Lose? What? Before those words fully registered, blink. As I closed and opened my eyelids once, the prison had transformed into a hospital. ¡°¡¡± Despite there being no patients or doctors, the beds in the hallway were bizarrely clean. Transparent IV lines hung from each bed like suspension bridge cables. The corridor seemed infinite. Identical hospital beds, identical IV lines hung at identical angles, the hallway in the same pristine white hue, stretched endlessly¨D¨D. Blink. The school turned into an abandoned wooden building. The name Baekhwa fluttered. The sky was bright red. Shattered windows, birch trees scraping their white bark on the ss shards, poking through the windows into the school¡¯s hallway. The school was impaled on a white spike, its body in shambles. The angles and positions of the broken ss shards repeated every six meters. In each repeating section, old desks and wooden chairs were scattered. Even the moss-covered wood, the sagging spots, and the tilted angles were all identical. Blink. A swimming pool. The intense smell of chlorine. Swimming poolnes stretching to the horizon, the water forming a corridor. Blink. A movie theater. It was dark. But it was odd. A regr movie theater wouldn¡¯t have such worn-out wooden chairs like those from an abandoned school. Nor would it have IV lines dangling from each chair. The theater was showing scenes of a prison. Bars. Hallways. Bars. Hallways. An empty prison. The screen in the theater disyed a prison, a hospital, a school, a swimming pool, and then the theater again. The screen within the screen, the eye within the eye¨D¨D. Blink. The universe moved. The stars¡¯ movements had no pattern. The colors had noplements. The stars danced, stood on their heads,ughed tirelessly, and then grew silent. Asws ceased to function, time let go of the world. Colors caught the drooping fingers. Interlocked hands. Red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet, crimson, scarlet, burgundy. Interlocked hands. Colors danced together in a round. Orange stepped on blue¡¯s foot, red killed orange. The Milky Way turned red. Blink. Thus, stars were born and destroyed immediately, forms created and copsed as soon as they formed. Like bubbles. Everything in the world was bubbles. Soap bubbles in sunlight gleaming with rainbow-colored oil. Existence was bubbles, life was color. Blink. The universe closed and opened its eyelids once. Traffic lights. The moment when the red light turned green, time seemed to hold its breath. A momentary stop signal. The colors of starlight, the bubbles ofs, the orange killed by red, the dancing colors, the movie screen, the smell of chlorine in the pool, the wooden chairs in the school, the birch bark and ss shards poking into the hallway, the white hospital corridor, the prison bars, the white and ck crisscrossing of a pedestrian crossing. The entire universe. Was staring at me. The universe was standing at the crosswalk, looking at me. It opened its mouth wide. ¡®Eye¡¯ ¡®blink¡¯ ¡®open¡¯ ¡®see¡¯. Like a choir that had never practiced. The pitch and timbre varied. Some voices sounded like church bells, others like water flushing in a toilet, some like insects pping their wings. The breathing from those mouths barely ¡®reconstructed¡¯ through the mouth of the Fairy Lord holding my hand. ¨C Do not blink. ¡°¡¡± ¨C You perceive me as the Fairy Lord, the highest monstrosity overseeing all terminals, but this perception is incorrect. It felt like my ears were going to be torn apart. No, my brain. Every word the entire universe whispered was uttered by different vocal organs. ¡®Term¡¯ ¡®inal¡¯ ¡®mon¡¯ ¡®stros¡¯ ¡®ity¡¯. The sound of a wind chime hanging from a temple eave swaying in the breeze. A crow¡¯s scream as it¡¯s killed by a hawk. Sounds that should not formnguage, and noises that did, formednguage. If I hadn¡¯t been a regressor who honed himself over countless times¨D¨D just hearing the ¡®voice¡¯ of that universe would have destroyed my brain, a powerful intuition surged with nausea. It wasn¡¯t even an insult to humanity. The world itself was being vited. ¡°Incorrect, you say¡?¡± ¨C Maintaining your ego in this situation is beyond expected scenarios. ¨C This entity, the ¡®Fairy Lord,¡¯ is an interpreter. ¨C A shrine maiden. ¨C A priest. The Pope. ¨C A terminal entity. Amanding role. The highest priest. ¨C But infinitely lower than a god. ¨C Silencing the speaking god, speaking for the silent god, and seeing for the blind god, I am the prophet. ¨C Gods have neither good nor evil intentions. ¨C There is only randomness. Rejoice. Your existence is equal. ¨C Screeeeeech! ¨C There is no difference between a single drop of foam and the Himyas in the clouds. Laws are not superior to individuals. There is no hierarchy in thedder of forms. ¨C I am merely a terminal born by chance. I am a fortune, not a misfortune, for you. You need not hold hostility towards me. ¨C We merely experiment, just as we were created through an experiment. [Proofreader ¨C Gun] ¡°¡¡¡± So. I looked up at the universe with eyes that felt like they were burning. So, that was a monstrosity. A god of alienation. Alienation Level 5. The most toxic of all voids. One of the seven most powerful monstrosities among all alien gods. The one that¡ humanity must kill. The enemy of this world. ¡°¡It doesn¡¯t even have a name, does it?¡± ¨C Unnecessary. ¨C Whatever we point to is our god, and whatever we don¡¯t point to is also our god. ¡°Endless.¡± The Fairy Lord looked up at my face. ¡°Endless Hell. From now on, its name is Endless.¡± I spoke as if spitting blood. It was the utmost resistance that the me of the 89th round, who felt like he could be crushed by the void at any moment, could muster. ¨C As I said, designations are unnecessary. ¡°No, it is necessary for me. Because I will kill that blind, unseeing god that has vited our world without permission.¡± ¨C ¡¡ ¡°Everything in the world has distinctions and keeps its boundaries, but you mix everything together, leaving no gaps between all things. Objects be impermanent, and existence melts away, making it a hell. Thus, it is Endless Hell. You plunder, steal, and defile thews that clearly exist in the world, making it Endless.¡± The Fairy Lord, the fairies¨D¨Dthe blinking red of the traffic lights, the stars, the colors, the dance, the movie theater screen, the school, the hospital, the prison¨D¨Dall stared intently at me. There was a passage in Laozi¡¯s Tao Te Ching that went ¡°Vast and Empty.¡± [PR/N: ¼ÅÙâÁÈÙâ represents the essence of the Tao] Silent and deste. Before humans distinguished all things, the world existed without separation, so quiet and devoid of noise that it was described as ¡®serene.¡¯ It was said, ¡°I do not know its name.¡± That original world was void, without a name. To that void, I gave a name. I pointed with a human finger. ¨C Endless. ¨C Endless Hell. ¨C It is the correct name. ¨C It is an incorrect name. ¨C This, too, is a form of randomness. ¨C I can specte why the pink entity showed unusual behavior. The sound of ten thousandyers ofughter split. For a moment, the smell of chlorine from the pool wafted. It was the breath of this universe¡¯s backrooms. ¨C I will experiment on you, Doctor Jang. Thud, the Fairy Lord¡ No. ¡®Endless¡¯ let go of my hand. At that moment, the traffic light¡¯s glow also turned a new shade of azure blue, like the wings of a Morpho butterfly, neither green nor yellow, an inexplicable color. The presence of Endless surged towards me. Passing through a freshly painted pedestrian bridge, crossing a swimming pool, echoing down corridors, trampling time and tearing through space. In that instant, I lost consciousness. 6 ¡°Guild Master?¡± A voice reached me. ¡°Are you okay, Guild Master? Are you back with us?¡± ¡°Um¡ hmm, where am I?¡± ¡°Cheongsong Penitentiary. More precisely, where Cheongsong Penitentiary ¡®used to be.¡¯ You mentioned having a conversation with fairies.¡± ¡°Ah.¡± As I regained my senses and looked around, Koyori was gently supporting my head amidst the rubble of a copsed building. She smiled. ¡°Did the conversation conclude well?¡± ¡°Conversation¡ well. I think I saw something, but my memory is¡ vague.¡± ¡°Ah, indeed. Well, this is a bit troubling. Let me think¡¡± Koyori muttered while touching her chin with her index finger, a sign of contemtion. My mind was still fuzzy as I looked up at Koyori. ¡°¡I see. Do you still remember your promise to apany me next time you go down to Busan?¡± ¡°Huh? Oh, yeah. I remember.¡± ¡°Well, since you graciously stepped aside earlier, it¡¯s only fair to reciprocate.¡± ¡°¡?¡± ¡°Rx your body for a moment, Guild Master. Take a deep breath¡ªyes. Exhale. That¡¯s it. Well done! You¡¯ve been through multiple explosions, knowingly or unknowingly tensing up your body and mind.¡± A stroke. Koyori¡¯s touch gently massaged the back of my head. Though it was a simple act of affection, it strangely cleared my mind little by little. Most importantly, memories of ¡®Endless,¡¯ which I had observed just a while ago, returned like a flood. ¡°Ah¡¡± ¡°Yeah. Looks like your condition is improving. That¡¯s a relief.¡± ¡°Condition, you say? Should I call it that? My memory¡ no, it¡¯s nothing. Anyway, thank you for taking care of me while I was out of it, Koyori.¡± Despite being someone who named one of the most powerful monstrosities in this world, I still couldn¡¯t grasp the true nature of the entity before me, who took my hand and gently¡ªlifted me up. And then she grinned. ¡°Guild Master, are you happy right now?¡± ¡°Huh? Um, yeah. At least not unhappy.¡± ¡°Then I¡¯m happy too. Guild Master.¡± As always, her smile was incredibly beautiful. 7 There¡¯s a very short anecdote. ¡°Seo Gyu, I¡¯m actually a regressor, but I¡¯ve had my head blown off by those fairy bosses at least fifty times in tutorials. Butst time, I found a monstrosity that stands against the fairy leaders? Endless, yeah. Just watching it is enough to make most people bite the dust. Anyway, that bastard owes you¡ well, roughly fifty lifetimes of grudges. What do you want to do about it?¡± ¡°What, there¡¯s such a fucking bastard? Hyungnim. Obviously, I have to go and take revenge with my own hands!¡± He brought him over. ¡°Hey, you fucking bastard! Did you blow off my headddddd?¡± Pe-! As soon as we stepped into the emptiness of Endless, our SG¡¯s head exploded like the alien heads in director Tim Burton¡¯s movie ¡°Mars Attacks!¡± ¡°Hmm.¡± ¡It seemed like repaying humanity¡¯s enemy was still a long way off. ¨C Questioner. The End. [Proofreader ¨C Gun] Chapter 83 â€“ Collaborators I [Proofreader ¨C Gun] Chapter 83 ¨C Coborators I 1 I faced ¡®Endless,¡¯ the worst enemy, an Outer God-tier monstrosity, but I didn¡¯t respond immediately. Instead, I waited for the right moment. For an infinite regressor, waiting is on another level. Imagine the frustration and anxiety you feel when your food delivery is dyed by three minutes¡ªmultiply that by about thirteen, and you get the waiting of an infinite regressor. It¡¯s a truly superhuman patience. During this period, I focused on maximizing my power. Did I train in martial arts? Of course not. As Old Scho would say, mybat sense was closer to that of a beaver. Underestimating thebat talents of someone with a support background would be a mistake. But even for someone like me¡ªor rather, because of who I am¡ªthere was still a way to maximize my power. ¡°Noh Doha Workshop Master.¡± ¡°¡¡± Noh Doha¡¯s expression was as usual. This person¡¯s face was normally set in a default state of decay, so making it look even more decayed now would just add to the normality. ¡°Hey, I haven¡¯t said anything yet, so why are you looking at me like I¡¯m a piece of crap?¡± ¡°Because whenever you call me ¡®Noh Doha Workshop Master¡¯ instead of ¡®Noh Doha Teacher,¡¯ it¡¯s highly likely that you¡¯re about to spout some personal nonsense. Your personal pain, anger, venting, goodwill, your act of being human, your signals that you alone recognize my humanity¡ªall of it means nothing more or less than an annoyance to me.¡± ¡°Noh Doha Workshop Master. You¡¯ve been working too hardtely. I have some free time, so how about we go on a vacation? A backpacking trip, just the two of us, like college friends.¡± ¡°You piece of shit¡¡± ¡°I knew you¡¯d like it.¡± And so, Noh Doha and I set off on our trip. If it had been after the 380th turn, after establishing the ¡®Idea Ranch,¡¯ we could have traveled together on dinosaurs (and we actually didter), but unfortunately, it was only the 100th turn now. If it had just been me, I would¡¯ve used some quasi-flight technique to zip around. If it were anyone but Noh Doha, I would¡¯ve carried them to enjoy the speed together. However, Noh Doha shyly refused thetter solution, saying, ¡°Oh, if you wanted to see memit suicide, you should have just said so.¡± What a shy guy. Therefore, our means of transportation were severely limited. Finding the best solution amidst these difficulties proved my worth as a regressor. *Rumbling sound*¡ Noh Doha, riding on our transportation, maintained his usual expression as we moved. ¡°Doctor Jang¡¡± ¡°Yes?¡± ¡°Is this really the best method¡?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± *Rumbling sound*¡ ¡°No matter how precious fuel is, surely there must be better means of transportation¡ªlike a dump truck, or using the National Road Administration¡¯s power, or your miraculous regressor power¡ªsomething more usible than this, right? Even a bicycle would be better¡¡± ¡°Oh, you¡¯re joking. We¡¯re on a personal trip; we can¡¯t waste the Administration¡¯s resources. And bicycles would break down too quickly on rough roads.¡± *Rumbling sound*¡ ¡°Still, what the hell¡ Where did you even find this goddamn yogurt cart?¡± Indeed. We were currently riding on the world¡¯s first and only refrigerated electric cart for a delivery manager, the 3rd generation model CoCo (Cold&Cold) 3.0. Also known as the ¡®yogurtdy cart,¡¯ its apricot-colored exterior was beautiful, and it was an ancient artifact that traversed neighborhoods with the skill of teleportation. I drove while Noh Doha sat on top of the cart. I had even customized it with the finest cushions, so his butt wouldn¡¯t hurt. ¡°Please refrain from such harsh words. This is, after all, a ¡®yogurt cart¡¯ monstrosity.¡± ¡°A monstrosity¡?¡± ¡°Yes. No matter how rough the road, it goes up without a hitch. No matter how remote the neighborhood, it arrives without fail. Have you ever seen a yogurt cart broken down or stranded?¡± ¡°No, but¡¡± ¡°That¡¯s the point. Most Koreans have only observed yogurt carts in ¡®perfectly fine¡¯ condition. Even if it seems physically impossible, this monstrosity somehow always manages to produce the oue of ¡®sessfully arrived.¡¯¡± ¡°What nonsense¡?¡± ¡°Watch this.¡± *Rumbling sound*¡ An asphalt road spread out before us. The cart bravely advanced over the heavily damaged road, which was almost indistinguishable from a crumbled cookie. The cart wheel jolted as it fell into a concrete gap. Noh Doha¡¯s face darkened. ¡°It¡¯s going to¡.¡± But the cart, in a strange twist, clung to the concrete surface and came back onto the normal path unscathed. ¡°¡keep going?¡± It was literally a different level of movement. No matter how broken the concrete, how messed up the tiles, or how bumpy the tree roots, the yogurt cart, with a slight jolt, continued straight ahead ¡®without any issue.¡¯ It traversed roads so damaged that even cars and most people couldn¡¯t pass, wobbling but continuing onward. Truly the pinnacle of Korean engineering. An SSS-ss lost technology artifact. ¡°What¡ is this bullshit¡?¡± ¡°This is the yogurt cart monstrosity. Workshop Master, you may praise me now.¡± ¡°Wait, does this thing move without any fuel or charging?¡± ¡°Yes. And the refrigerator you¡¯re sitting on can keep food or drinks fresh for a long time. Even meat stored in yogurt-shaped containers stays fresh for over a year.¡± ¡°Oh, for fuck¡¯s sake, if you had something this amazing, you should have told the National Road Administration instead of ying backpacking cosy! We should immediately gather all these carts from across the country and assign them to the administration. In this fucked-up era, this could revolutionize logistics and even serve as wheelchairs for the elderly¡¡± ¡°Oh. There¡¯s only one.¡± ¡°¡¡± ¡°I tried to see if mass production was possible by experimenting with other rtively intact carts, but this is the only one that exists as a ¡®monstrosity.¡¯ So, I¡¯m just using it as my beloved car.¡± ¡°Damn¡¡± Anyway, our two-person party, consisting of the shadowy mastermind and the light¡¯s great demon king, traveled without incident. Noh Doha grumbled, but he enjoyed everything. After all, wevishly filled the refrigerated cart with meats, vegetables, and various carbs, cooking delicious meals at every mealtime. ¡°You know, Doctor Jang¡¡± [Proofreader ¨C Gun] ¡°What is it?¡± ¡°You¡¯re utterly useless to my life, but your cooking skills are national treasure-level. If it weren¡¯t for that, I wouldn¡¯t even treat you as human¡¡± ¡°¡?¡± As someone whose DNA had ¡°workaholic¡± etched into it, Noh Doha had likely been experiencing burnout from running the National Road Administration. As our pleasant camping trip extended from one day to two, to three, and even longer, Noh Doha¡¯s face gradually became more serene. The fatigue and grime on his heart were washed away. I was truly excellent atforting and caring for tired hearts. ¡°You damned regressor bastard. How long do you n to wander outside? What if Guild Leader of the Three Thousand Worlds hears about this, do you want to see me die?¡± ¡°¡?¡± Finally, on the sixth day of our trip, our exciting backpacking group reached its destination. The Taebaek Mountains. Jeongseon. Once the most famous mining area among Koreans (now known for something else), stood before us, and Noh Doha had an utterly ordinary expression. ¡°What kind of backwater is this¡?¡± ¡°As you can see, it¡¯s a vige.¡± The mine in Jeongseon had formed a vige. The terrain was quite peculiar. In the middle of a mountain cliff, a massive cave was hollowed out, and within that cave, vige buildings sprouted like mushrooms. It was a mining vige, the essence of feng shui with just the first part, ¡°behind the mountain, before the water.¡± ¡°The houses are made of stone¡?¡± ¡°They used fireproof materials. Not a bad choice of building material.¡± ¡°The vigers seem abnormally short¡?¡± ¡°Considering the times, having arge body just means consuming more nutrients unnecessarily, so it¡¯s a result of convergent evolution.¡± ¡°All the residents have thick beards¡?¡± ¡°It¡¯s a means to maintain a constant body temperature. These vigers have an incredible ability to adapt to their environment.¡± ¡°They¡¯re dwarfs, aren¡¯t they¡?¡± Hmm. I nodded. ¡°You could call them that. But calling them dwarfs sounds a bit racist, don¡¯t you think? Let¡¯s use the term ¡®dwarves¡¯ instead.¡± ¡°You said we were going on a backpacking trip, and you brought me to a level 1 void with a different race? Are you insane¡?¡± Dwarves. A staple race in the fantasy genre. In every story, they¡¯re born with the attribute of ¡®excellent cksmiths¡¯ ingrained in their national spirit. Thus, the masterpieces crafted by dwarves are often regarded as lost technology relics, much like the yogurt cart we were riding. Now you might guess why I went through the trouble ofing to this remote void in the Taebaek Mountains to enhance my power. That¡¯s right. I came to get some gear. 2 I first discovered this ce, known as the ¡®Jeongseon Dwarf Mine,¡¯ during my 54th regression. At that time, I had just established the National Road Administration, and I was traveling all over the country toplete the National Map (upgraded version). Jeongseon Dwarf Mine was a vige that seemed straight out of a fantasy novel. All around, the nging sounds of metal being hammered echoed, and dwarves were tirelessly moving about. Despite the decline of mining in the Taebaek Mountains, the dwarf vige was alive with the constant noise pollution of pickaxes and hammers. However, the voids of this world were never easy. This ce, set to revive as a bustling mining vige, had its own peculiarities that made it hard to simply call it an ordinary vige. ¡°Hello?¡± -¡¡ ¡°Can you understand me? Hello? Can you recognize me?¡± -¡¡ ¡°An inferior racepared to elves. Your beards are extremely ugly.¡± ng! The ¡®dwarves¡¯ continued hammering on their anvils without any reaction. They acted as if I didn¡¯t exist. Upon closer inspection, it was clear that these were not your typical dwarves. Their beards were indeed bushy, but their eyes were hollow pits, and their mouths were mere holes where lips should have been. This was not a figure of speech. They had no eyelids or lips. -¡¡, ¡¡. ng, ng-! Their arms were grotesquely muscr, like the statue of Hercules, creating an oddly unbnced physique. These lumps of flesh exhaled strange breaths from their ¡®mouth holes¡¯ as they ceaselessly hammered. -Oh¡¡. Ohon¡¡. Oh¡ Oh¡¡ The air did note from their lungs, but rather from their entire bodies, which seemed to be made of leather drums, producing a whistling sound from deep within their forms. Not the breath of life, but the whistle of the abyss. ¡°Hm.¡± ¡Even as the greatest linguistic genius in Earth¡¯s history, I found Dwarvish a bit challenging. Of course, that was to be expected. It wasn¡¯t an Earthnguage. I felt a pang of disappointment in my mouth. ¡®If I couldmission a weapon from the dwarves, it would undoubtedly be a legendary sword effective against monsters.¡¯ After exploring the mining vige, I found that there were a total of seven cksmith dwarves, none of whom I couldmunicate with. In the end, during my 54th regression, I only identified the location of the void and returned without any substantial gain. 3 ¡°Wait a minute¡¡± Noh Doha interrupted my story. ¡°Then why did you drag me to this remote ce? You can¡¯tmunicate with them, and they won¡¯t make any equipment for you, right¡?¡± ¡°Oh. It¡¯s fine. I didn¡¯t n to ask the dwarves to make me a weapon anyway.¡± ¡°¡? Then why?¡± ¡°Think about it, Forge Master. Even if we can¡¯tmunicate normally, if these really are monsters imitating dwarves from fiction, wouldn¡¯t their hammering and tanning techniques contain significant mysteries? Just as a protagonist with martial arts talent can learn much from watching a swordmaster, a skilled cksmith could learn a lot from watching these dwarves hammer.¡± ¡°Hah¡?¡± ¡°And those ores the dwarves are hammering, they aren¡¯t found on Earth. They might be called adamantium or something. Naturally, the technique to smelt those ores into weapons would be exclusive to these dwarves, not modern Earthlings. To smelt these minerals, a skilled cksmith would need to learn from the dwarves.¡± ¡°¡?¡± ¡°Wow. What a coincidence. Right before my eyes stands the most talented cksmith in Korean history. Ta-da.¡± ¡°¡¡± ¡°Ta-daaa-¡± ¡°¡¡± ¡°¡¡± ¡°¡¡± ¡°Oh. So, you want to learn by watching these nonmunicative monsters handle some adamantium or whatever, then make yourself an SSS-grade weapon¡?¡± ¡°Exactly.¡± ¡°Please, just die already.¡± ¡°Oh, I heard that in a previous regression too.¡± ¡°¡?¡± ¡°In the previous regression, I just carried you here within a day by force. You strangled me to death for treating you lightly, saying to see if I really would die. I didn¡¯t expect you to actually do it, but anyway. So, this time, instead of carrying you, I brought the yogurt cart monster to make your journey morefortable. Didn¡¯t I do well?¡± ¡°You insane, crazy bastard¨D¨D.¡± He strangled me. This time, I didn¡¯t die. [Proofreader ¨C Gun] Chapter 84 â€“ Collaborators II [Proofreader ¨C Gun] Chapter 84 ¨C Coborators II 3 Aside from discovering Noh Doha¡¯s peculiar affinity for choking, everything was proceeding as nned. The SG was buzzing. -Anonymous: I heard the National Road Administration¡¯s head isn¡¯t around? Is that true? -[NRA] Cadet: It¡¯s true. Our boss is on a long leave. ©¸Anonymous: ? ©¸Anonymous: ? ©¸LiteratureGirl: That machine needed a vacation? -[NRA] Cadet: Yep. Even we were surprised. Since the NRA was established, there¡¯s never been a holiday, let alone a vacation. But this time, the boss took a 21-day leave and just disappeared without a word. ©¸Anonymous: That guy is really unpredictable. Seriously seems like a lunatic. -KoryoElder: ? lol ©¸[NRA] Cadet: What? Why? ©¸KoryoElder: He just took a 21-day leave and left without a trace? lol ©¸[NRA] Cadet: Yeah. Why? ©¸KoryoElder: lolololol ©¸[NRA] Cadet: ? -[Three Thousand Worlds] WitchHunter: Hmm¡ ¡°Hmm¡¡± At that moment, Noh Doha, who had been reading thements beside me, let out a thoughtful hum. I folded my smartphone, returning from the virtual world to reality. ¡°What¡¯s the matter?¡± ¡°¡It¡¯s just this ore. It¡¯s fascinating. It¡¯s light yet sturdy. This really isn¡¯t from Earth. Did you say it was adamantium or something¡?¡± ¡°Adamantium. Make sure you don¡¯t confuse it with mithril by ident. That could cause a lot of trouble.¡± ¡°¡Those two words don¡¯t sound simr at all¡¡± Noh Doha pulled out a monocle and put it on. Though it was partly because his left eye was particrly weak, it was more of a ritual for her, a signal that he was getting down to serious work. Just like how ser yers touch the grass or pray before stepping onto the field. ¡°Hmmm¡¡± Noh Doha wandered around the mining vige, his monocle reflecting the scene of the dwarves crafting weapons. ng, ng! The dwarves mechanically hammered the weapons, and as soon as theypleted one, they started the same process again. However, thepleted items did not remain in reality; they dissolved into the air. Noh Doha reached out to touch the remnants in the air. ¡°Hmmm¡ A vige where items disappear right after being made. But it seems I can learn their cksmithing skills just by watching¡¡± ¡°How is it? Do you understand anything?¡± ¡°Well, not really. You might call me a cksmith, but I¡¯m just a maker of assistive devices¡ If you ask me to make weapons out of the blue, it¡¯s quite difficult¡¡± Muttering, Noh Doha extended his right arm toward me while keeping his gaze fixed on the dwarves. I grabbed a hammer and tongs from another dwarf and handed them to him. His pale fingers silently grasped the tools. ¡°Do you think I¡¯m Doraemon? Making limbs is hard enough, but now you want me to build roads, organize and run the National Road Administration, bnce the power of military guilds, goddamn. Do you think I¡¯m a vending machine that spits out whatever you poke¡?¡± ng. Noh Doha mimicked the dwarf with a sideways nce. ng, the unfamiliar material caused his hammer to slightly miss its mark. ¡°Hmmm¡¡± The corner of Noh Doha¡¯s mouth twitched. He kept his lips tightly shut and imitated the dwarf from start to finish for hours. By that night, Noh Doha was holding a sword. Its form was somewhat clumsy, and its bnce waspletely off, a crude de. But under the moonlight, it undeniably had the outline of a sword. His slender eyes, like the moonlight, traced the de¡¯s curve. His gaze was so sharp that cing the two together seemed like it would cut the de itself. ¡°Hm. I¡¯m not sure yet. I might need to start with something simpler, like a hoe¡¡± From that night onward, Noh Doha practically stopped eating and drinking, relentlessly imitating the dwarves one by one. ng, ng- I followed him like an assistant, carrying tools. We made a great team. ¡°¡¡± The shadows of the dwarves remained in ce of the humans who had left to escape the monsters. The mining vige, long in decline. In a vige where it was just the two of us, the ng of metal endlessly echoed. Naturally, this reminded me of something. Hundreds of years ago. The only time Noh Doha addressed me by a different title rather than ¡®Doctor Jang.¡¯ 4 ¡°I want to work as an assistant in the Forge Master¡¯s workshop. Please hire me.¡± ¡°Hmmm¡¡± It was my 53rd regression. Until then, the National Road Administration had never been established in my regressor life. It existed only as a paper n in the pce of my memories. During this period, I was searching for a suitable candidate for the position of ¡®head of a quasi-governmental organization.¡¯ In other words, the most powerful person in the Korean Penins in the future. 5 Tang Seorin was the first candidate that came to mind, but that was ast resort. While it might have been favoritism on my part, I didn¡¯t want to impose any more constraints on her. I could potentially do it myself, but I needed to be on the front lines, containing the anomalies. It was difficult to be both Xiang Yu and Xiao He. The criteria were fourfold: ¨C Someone not corrupted by the desire for power. In other words, mental strength or character. ¨C Someone who knew how to wield power. In other words,petence or instinct. ¨C Someone who pursued practical benefits as a coborative system rather than individual numerical aggregation. In other words, conviction or philosophy. ¨C Someone who dared to tread untrodden paths. In other words, courage or bravery. These were practically impossible criteria. However, the difference between ¡°impossible¡± and ¡°almost impossible¡± allowed me, with infinite time, to explore the gap between them. Initiate the test. -Hey, Doctor Jang! Aren¡¯t we the top family in Korea now? Let¡¯s show those Incheon guys what we¡¯re made of¡ -What? Build a road to Seoul? Why on earth would we do that? If we waste our energy building roads, it just benefits other guilds¡ -Doctor, sorry, but can you take a break? You¡¯re so outstanding that I¡¯m losing my influence. Take a vacation ande back¡ Eliminated. Put on hold. Eliminated. Countless candidates were considered and dismissed. I spent at least five years, sometimes up to ten, being a friend, colleague, and partner to each candidate. I gave and took away power. I granted and stripped away honor. If that wasn¡¯t enough, I would observe their character from multiple angles, even if it meant skipping to the next turn. The head of the National Road Administration I envisioned required such thorough scrutiny. I swept through the people of the Korean Penins like a massive tidal wave, increasing my scrutiny, until finally, I reached a remote alley. ¡°An assistant? It¡¯s true our workshop is always short-handed, but¡ really? You look like someone who could join another guild and live well¡¡± Noh Doha. A man suited for an ind. If I weren¡¯t a regressor, I would never have met him type in my lifetime. He was already famous for custom-making prosthetics for those who had lost limbs. I had also been indebted to him in several other turns. But this was my first time trying to establish a close rtionship beyond just being a customer and a shopkeeper. I bowed my head. ¡°My father had difficulty walking his whole life. I want a job that can help those with mobility issues.¡± ¡°Oh. Your father¡?¡± ¡°He passed away.¡± [Proofreader ¨C Gun] A lie. ¡°Due to an anomaly.¡± ¡°Hmmm¡¡± Noh Doha¡¯s hum was as resonant now as it was then. It was a vibration that seemed to outline a person by gently touching them with sound. Like a bat using ultrasound to map its surroundings. ¡°Well, then wouldn¡¯t revenge on the anomalies be more fulfilling than helping others¡?¡± ¡°¡¡± ¡°Of course, urging you to give up on revenge would be presumptuous, and pushing you to focus on it would be equally foolish. Fine. If you don¡¯t mind starting as a temporary apprentice, go ahead¡¡± If this world wasn¡¯t an ind, he would create an ind to live on. Noh Doha¡¯swork was not wide but very dense. He would pull in and examine everything to decide what to keep and what to discard. You could tell just by watching him with the other apprentices in his workshop, excluding me. ¡°Don¡¯te in from tomorrow¡¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°I¡¯m firing you. Do I have to repeat myself until your eardrums burst? Should I pull out the iron rod for you¡?¡± ¡°Uh, no. Workshop Master! Please wait!¡± The fired apprentice had murmured derogatoryments about a young customer who had lost a leg after lunch. No one helped the dismissed apprentice. Worker protection? Laborws? Such Western-sounding terms didn¡¯t exist in the Eastern Land of Courtesy. ¡°Oh my, elder! How did you get here with all this snow making the roads treacherous? Here, have a warm coffee.¡± ¡°Oh, how kind of you¡ Thank you¡¡± And I was an ultra-special weapon that even the craziest swordswoman on the penins respected. Naturally, dealing with the elderly, who were the main customers of the workshop, was no problem. To Noh Doha, who seemed to have ¡°Respect for the Elderly¡± inscribed on his skull, I must have appeared to be a very desirable apprentice. ¡°Doctor Jang apprentice.¡± ¡°Doctor Jang employee.¡± ¡°Assistant.¡± ¡°Assistant Doctor Jang.¡± Each time my title changed, Noh Doha¡¯s list of workshop employees underwent a transformation. 6 With Noh Doha realizing he no longer needed to lower his standards, he fully awakened as a true bourgeoisie. He began delegating all the tedious tasks to me¡ªpersonnel management, customer rtions, internal faction management, revenue improvement. ¡°Assistant.¡± Eight years. It took eight years for the six-syble title ¡°Doctor Jang Apprentice¡± to shrink to the two-syble ¡°Assistant.¡± Reducing it by merely one syble every two years¡ªtruly a testament to how difficult it was to get close to her. ¡°Yes, Master.¡± ¡°Are you not evacuating, Assistant? They say those anomalies are consuming the northern cities one by one and heading south.¡± ¡°Master, really? Where would we evacuate to from Busan?¡± ¡°Japan, perhaps. China. Or even further down to Southeast Asia. There are always unlimited ces to run to in the world, aren¡¯t there?¡± ¡°Do you think those ces will be any safer? I¡¯m staying put.¡± It wasn¡¯t just me. Every time we faced annihtion, it was surprising how many people decided not to run until the end. Noh Doha was no exception. ¡°Have you heard? The Three Thousand Realms are forming a final resistance force tounch a counterattack.¡± ¡°Hmm. Do you think they¡¯ll seed?¡± ¡°It¡¯s unlikely. Even if they do, it¡¯s uncertain. The moment the anomalies formed a ¡®monster wave,¡¯ it was already over.¡± ¡°Really?¡± ¡°The anomalies aren¡¯t particrly friendly with each other. Their types and personalities are inherently different. The fact that they have formed a legion means they have excluded any ipatible types and personalities, fusing into one entity. No, calling them an entity is misleading. They are just¡ a mass of cancer cells. Bugs in the world. Even if we manage to defend Busan this time, the anomalies will keep spreading, aimlessly disseminating the bug.¡± ¡°Hmmm.¡± Noh Doha smiled with his eyes. ¡°Why are you smiling?¡± ¡°Oh, nothing. Sometimes¡ I think you know an awful lot, Assistant.¡± ¡°¡.¡± ¡°Well, it doesn¡¯t really matter¡¡± The next day, the final resistance force that the Korean Penins had squeezed out was swallowed by the tidal wave of anomalies. ¡°Assistant.¡± ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°What are you doing? It¡¯s 8 o¡¯clock, and you haven¡¯t opened the shop yet. Do you think you can skip out now because you¡¯re the senior employee? Should I help you fill out your resignation letter?¡± ¡°No, Master. I¡¯m on it.¡± Click. I flipped the sign on the ss door from [Closed] to [Opened]. On the day thest city on the Korean Penins fell. Noh Doha¡¯s workshop opened for business as usual. 7 Despite the impending apocalypse, Noh Doha and I continued our daily routines as if nothing was happening. The anomalies drew closer each day, and the tension in Busan escted. ¡°Assistant, did you finish the custom prosthetic order for Mr. Kim?¡± ¡°Yes, it¡¯s ready for pickup.¡± ¡°Good. Let¡¯s keep our clients satisfied, even if the world is ending.¡± The city¡¯s atmosphere grew more desperate, with more and more people seeking prosthetics, either due to idents or encounters with anomalies. Our workshop became a haven for those who had lost hope, providing them with the means to keep going, if only for a little while longer. ¡°Master, do you ever think about leaving all this behind?¡± ¡°No. This workshop is my world. I¡¯ll stay here until the end.¡± His resolve was unshakeable, and it inspired a simr determination in me. The city¡¯s final stand was near, but within the walls of our workshop, life continued as it always had. ¡°Assistant, I need you to deliver this prosthetic to the hospital. They¡¯re short on staff, and the patients can¡¯t make it here.¡± ¡°Understood. I¡¯ll head out right away.¡± I navigated the war-torn streets, delivering hope in the form of prosthetics to those who needed it most. The gratitude in their eyes was enough to keep me going. Returning to the workshop, I found Noh Doha deeply engrossed in his work, the ng of his tools echoing a defiance against the chaos outside. ¡°Master, the delivery is done.¡± ¡°Good. Now, let¡¯s get back to work. We still have a lot to do.¡± As the final battle for Busan loomed, we continued to serve ourmunity, determined to make a difference no matter how small. The workshop, filled with the sounds of creation and resilience, stood as a beacon of hope in a world on the brink of copse. [Proofreader ¨C Gun] Chapter 85 â€“ Collaborators III [Proofreader ¨C Gun] Chapter 85 ¨C Coborators III The final resistance force wasn¡¯t justprised of awakened individuals; ordinary people also participated inrge numbers. Consequently, immediately after they were swept away, Busan felt eerily deserted, like a ghost town. Even as we hung the [Open for Business] sign and surveyed the streets, not a single passerby could be seen. Noh Doha and I sat on a bench in front of the workshop, quietly taking in the scene. ¡°¡.¡± ¡°¡.¡± ¡°Hmm. Would you like some coffee, Master?¡± ¡°Oh. Yes, please. Anytime, Assistant.¡± The silence of the streets didn¡¯t feel awkward. Instead, amidst the end of the century, the asional familiarity of the days gone by asionally felt strange. Deserted streetlights. Crosswalks with torn white stripes. Deciduous trees. Aurora of sunlight. Sirens as cicadas that hadn¡¯t yet gone extinct searched for their mates. ¡°It¡¯s summer¡¡± Noh Doha¡¯s breath, mingling with the aroma of Caf¨¦ auit, rose like transparent smoke. The world seemed to have finally regained its original calmness. 9 AM, 11 AM, lunchtime. The menu was steaks I cooked myself. Even at 1 PM, 3 PM, 5 PM, not a single customer visited Noh Doha¡¯s usually bustling workshop. The sun set. The eyelids of the night sky were the color of dusk. The world, which should have fallen asleep long ago, had spent the past eight years tossing and turning, finally closing its eyelids. ¡°It wouldn¡¯t be bad to witness the end alone like this.¡± That¡¯s when it happened. Amidst the lying sunset, a familiar sound suddenly reached my ears. My ears perked up. ¡°Well, I guess it¡¯s time to close up shop. Hmm. Today was aplete disaster. You must be enjoying yourself, huh¡ Huh? Why the long face, Assistant?¡± ¡°¡Someone¡¯sing this way?¡± ¡°Oh¡?¡± The sound of footsteps grew louder. But it was strange. Each step seemed to be apanied by something else. Thud, thwack, thud, thwack, as if footsteps were oveid with another sound. It was the sound of a cane. ¡°Oh.¡± I got up from the bench to greet the visitor. Lo and behold, an elderly man, leaning on his cane, was hobbling down the street towards us. I quickly approached and supported the old man. ¡°Oh, young man! So, you¡¯re still in Busan. Why are you still here? Oh? And why is Noh Doha still here? What¡¯s the point of young people like you being here? Huh? What¡¯s the point¡¡± ¡°¡?¡± As I helped the old man into the workshop, I saw Noh Doha inside, wearing his usual whiteb coat, adjusting his sses and holding up a medical chart. ¡°Isn¡¯t this Mr. Ban Songdong? What brings you here?¡± ¡°Oh, it¡¯s nothing much. Just, um, my ankle support has been squeaking sincest week. It¡¯s old, you see¡¡± ¡°Hmm. If it¡¯s squeaking, it means it¡¯s worn out. Didn¡¯t I tell you not to touch it? Seems like my words mean nothing to you¡¡± ¡°No, um, that¡¯s not it-¡± ¡°And if the support seems to be off, you shoulde for repairs right away. Why did you wait a whole week to fuss over it?¡± ¡°Oh, sorry, sir. I¡¯m so sorry. What should I do now? If it¡¯ll take too long, I¡¯ll just leave it.¡± ¡°No, it¡¯ll only take 10 minutes¡¡± Noh Doha took out an extension and began repairing the misaligned part of the device, chatting casually with the patient. Just like usual. ng¡ª the sound of a hammer echoed. ¡°¡.¡± I sneakily went to the entrance of the workshop to check outside. In the night sky descending with the sunset, there was a strange noise mingling. Instead of starlight, red spots flickered like sparks, and instead of the Milky Way, blue veins pulsated like arteries. The voidification of the sky. No, the voidification of celestial bodies beyond the sky. It was evidence that the end of the world was truly near. ¡°¡Not good at all.¡± Even the sunset was being infected in real-time. What was once tinted with crimson and yellow gradually began to take on a sickly hue, as if it were being drenched with ck blood, little by little. If you imagined the sky as an experimental beaker and dropped red liquid into it, would you understand? The air turned into a surface, light into mucus, clouds into des, and the ground into the Milky Way. If powerful anomalies were left unchecked, they would intersect and merge at will, bing one mass. Nut, the goddess of the night. It was an anomaly and void that was difficult to infer the cause of for me at this time. It was an end-of-the-world scenario that asionally appeared. The night of this world was swallowing cities step by step. Soon, the beings on the surface would fall into eternal slumber. Even if it was extended, not even 10 minutes remained. ¡°Master, it¡¯s time to-¡± ¡°Assistant.¡± I turned around. Noh Doha wasing out of the workshop with the patient. Our eyes met. Two ck inds emerged in the middle of a white sea, staring at me. ¡°Take Mr. Sin Subin home.¡± ¡°¡.¡± A brief exchange of nces conveyed more silence than words ever could. ¡°Have you gone deaf, Assistant? Take the patient home ande back. If he falls on the way, who do you think will be responsible?¡± ¡°Yes. Understood.¡± ¡°Good.¡± Noh Doha chuckled faintly. ¡°That¡¯s how my Assistant should be.¡± The old man kept saying he was fine and could go alone, but Noh Doha was adamant. I gently hugged the old man and started walking. ¡°Oh, I¡¯m really fine. Anyway, Noh Doha cares too much about her patients¡ Oh oh oh oh oh!¡± The old man turned soprano towards the end, thanks to my tight grip. He looked around with widened eyes. The scenery of the street passed by in an instant. I supported the patient¡¯s body, avoiding fallen walls or traffic lights. ¡®If I hurry and take the patient to his home in Bansong-dong¡ and then return to the workshop, it¡¯ll be a close call, about five minutes. Hopefully, until the world ends¡ But, the timing of when the Void will reach the location of the workshop is still a variable.¡¯ ¡°Young man.¡± While using aura, the old man suddenly spoke up. ¡°Yes?¡± ¡°Drop me off here.¡± I blinked. I still had four more minutes to take the patient to his home. ¡°No, sir. I¡¯ll take you.¡± ¡°Oh, stop it. It¡¯s fine. Isn¡¯t the way home important? The path to home is important. And the ankle support is fixed now, so I want to walk thest bit home myself.¡± ¡°Ah.¡± ¡°I¡¯ve lived in this neighborhood all my life. My elementary school was around here, and this was the way home. I¡¯ve walked this path back and forth for decades. Today, I walked out of the house because I didn¡¯t want to die alone inside, but there¡¯s no one here. I didn¡¯t know Noh Doha would be in the workshop. She¡¯s really a thoughtful person.¡± ¡°¡.¡± ¡°Thank you, young man. Noh Doha cares about you, right? Then this isn¡¯t your path. Let¡¯s go together.¡± I helped the old man down the slope of the sidewalk. He made grunting sounds and leaned on his cane, tapping the asphalt. It was the onene road that Noh Doha had paved in Busan with his own savings. The old man leaned about thirty percent of his weight on the cane and waved his hand. ¡°I¡¯m fine now. Go back.¡± ¡°¡Thank you.¡± ¡°What¡¯s there to thank? I should be thankful¡¡± With grunting sounds, the old man, like a shadow, descended the hill. The sound of cicadas echoed. But from beyond the concrete forest, the cries of cicadas gradually decreased, one hand, two hands, three hands, until they disappeared. The night of the world was closing in. ¡°Until next time, sir,¡± I nodded, turning in the indicated direction with a slight bow of my head. Moving even faster than when carrying the elderly man. [Proofreader ¨C Gun] The rooftop of the workshop. What was once just a two-story building when I first joined, had undergone reconstruction and renovation over the past eight years, now reaching five stories. At the top, the ¡°Noh Doha Workshop,¡± its rooftop painted with a distinctive Korean waterproof green, an interior sense of style difficult to find elsewhere. ¡°Oh¡¡± Noh Doha stood motionless, holding a wine bottle and opener in hand. With a flick, he tossed the cork over the rooftop¡¯s edge as I settled down on the rooftop like a butterfly, Noh Doha looking at me as if it were entirely natural, despite this being the first time I¡¯d used aura in front of him. ¡°You¡¯re back sooner than I expected. Did you properly escort Mr. Sin Subin home?¡± ¡°The gentleman insisted on walking thest leg himself. I had no choice but to let him.¡± ¡°Ah. Hmm. I didn¡¯t consider that¡¡± Pop- the cork of the wine bottle was removed. With a toss, Noh Doha flung the cork over the rooftop¡¯s edge. ¡°A drink¡?¡± ¡°If it¡¯s from the Workshop Owner¡¯s collection, I¡¯ll indulge.¡± ¡°Hmm.¡± Swish- the red liquid flowed into the ss, mirroring the wine-colored twilight sky. ¡°To whatever¡ for something, anyway¡¡± ¡°Cheers.¡± Clink. The ss chimed crisply. The red wine in the ss resembled a golden flower suspended in mid-air. We stood side by side, peering at the city sky through our wine sses. The sky itself now seemed like transparent ss, creating a feeling of ss looking through ss. Now, only five minutes until annihtion. Maybe six minutes at most. ¡°Assistant.¡± ¡°Yes?¡± ¡°You know, I can make weapons¡¡± I nced at Noh Doha. He wasn¡¯t looking my way. ¡°Pardon?¡± ¡°Weapons, equipment. You know in those games where characters get stronger when they get weapons¡ My ability, as you know, is to make limbs feel like part of the body, even if they¡¯re prosthetics. Well, actually, it applies perfectly to other equipment too¡¡± ¡°¡.!¡± My eyes widened. Indeed. The human arm and leg were the earliest extensions and tools. If Noh Doha were to create swords or spears, the extensions of the arms, using his ability¡ ¡°Sword as One with the Body¡!¡± ¡°¡? What are you talking about?¡± ¡°Ah. Um. Nothing¡ Just means it¡¯s impressive.¡± It was difficult to convey my admiration to someone with no connection to subculture, purely a voluntary nerd (this person hadn¡¯t even watched a Marvel movie). ¡°¡Why did you hide such an ability, Workshop Owner? You must truly be a born cksmith. You could have established a stronghold, avoiding the gaze of the authorities and gangs, and made them all jittery.¡± ¡°Hmm. I just exined the reason¡ If rumors spread that I can make incredible weapons, there will be even more annoying awakened individuals pestering me for favors¡?¡± ¡°Ah.¡± ¡°But if I knew the world would end like this, I would have made weapons for at least one person. Since I wouldn¡¯t have to worry about spreading rumors to others¡¡± ¡°¡.¡± The sky turned red. And then, as if the guillotine¡¯s de had fallen, the pitch-ck night followed, swallowing everything. Veins and arteries spread across the sky, imitating the Milky Way, its color wriggling. ¡°¡Then, please make one next time.¡± ¡°Hmm. Well, it¡¯s a hassle to the point of death. Since we¡¯re going to die anyway, I suppose I can endure the inconvenience now¡¡± ¡°Indeed.¡± ¡°Yes. If you don¡¯t want to make it, I¡¯ll force you to make it¡¡± Crack- From the rooftop across the way, near the traffic light at the intersection, came the sound of something breaking. A metallic crunch. It sounded somewhatical, as if a joke, but the result was not funny. Everything on the other side of the intersection was consumed by the night sky. Crack, crack. Crack- Crosswalks and buildings were gradually devoured by the void of the night. Like a half-eaten apple, the upper parts of the buildings were sliced off. 300 meters, 250 meters, 180 meters, 120 meters. In an instant. From all directions, the pitch-ck night sky surged forth, devouring space as it approached. The world¡¯s embrace had now narrowed to the point where only our breathing could be heard. ¡°Assistant.¡± ¡°Yes?¡± ¡°Thank you¡¡± ng. Thest sound I heard was the wine ss Noh Doha was holding. Perhaps it was the sound of my wine ss shattering against the teeth of the night sky. The ss was fractured. And the world closed its eyes. [Proofreader ¨C Gun] Chapter 86 â€“ Collaborators IV [Proofreader ¨C Gun] Chapter 86 ¨C Coborators IV 5 Crash- The sound of hammering that shattered the world behind the eyelids, which had just sunk like a dream, echoed from nearby. Daydreams. As someone who remembers all the past, such urrences often found their way to me. The eyes that had just closed for the 53rd time opened with a momentarypse, now seeing through the eyes of the 100th time. ¡°Whew¡¡± A sigh escaped. It was Noh Doha. His breath was partly locked in the dazzling midsummer sunlight and partly buried in the cyan shadows of the abandoned mines in Jeongseon. ¡°Well, it seems like I¡¯ve managed toplete a kitchen knife or something. Hm. I think I¡¯ve made it better than this dwarf or whatever¡¡± ¡°¡.¡± The mirage danced slowly. In the exhtion of a person¡¯s breath, waves of sunlight and shadow, and dust, were undting. When the world dances, it seems to require a bnce of light and shadow. Then, the flicker of the eyes, lightly and endlessly swimming between attention and blindness, must be the primal dance of existence. ¡°Now, it¡¯s time to challenge the next level. Hmm, a pair of tongs should be just right. The cksmith awakening. If there¡¯s a dwarf wandering around the vige making something halfway decent¡ cksmith awakened? Hey. Hey, you. Are you even listening to me¡?¡± ¡°Ah, yes. I¡¯m listening.¡± By the way, it took less than three seconds for ¡°hey¡± to be ¡°you¡± on Noh Doha¡¯s tongue. It couldn¡¯t be anything but a magical tongue. Noh Doha pretended to dig his ears with a hoe, muttering. ¡°Did you put a nail in your ear? Since you¡¯re holding on just right, find something a bit more challenging than the hoe I made now¡ Oh?¡± Noh Doha couldn¡¯t finish his sentence. Swoosh- The strange dwarf, who until just now seemed soulless, suddenly reached out towards Noh Doha. A clear anomaly. Instinctively, I hugged Noh Doha and stepped back. Due to the sudden action, he identally let go of the hoe, dropping it. ¡°Be careful, Workshop Owner.¡± ¡°Oh. Well, thank you¡ but I don¡¯t feel any hostility¡¡± ¡°Even creatures without emotions like hostility are abundant in the world. Just as radiation doesn¡¯t attack humans out of malice.¡± -¡¡ For some reason, the dwarf seemed uninterested in us. Instead, it slowly bent at the waist. There, the hoe Noh Doha dropped was rolling around. ¡°Hmm¡?¡± The dwarf picked up the hoe, examining it carefully. It was as if it were moving in slow motion, as if it were a video yed at half speed. -¡¡, ¡¡ Whoosh- Wind blew through the pitch-ck eye sockets and mouth holes. From inside to outside. And something strange happened. The dwarf, as if it were made of wind from the beginning, began to lose its shape more and more as it poured out wind through its holes. ¡°Oh¡?¡± -¡¡, ¡¡. The breath expelled by the dwarf poured all over Noh Doha¡¯s simple hoe like a watercolorist adding the final touches with his breath. ng. The hoe fell again. The dwarf, having exhaled all its breath, shriveled up like a balloon and disappearedpletely. ¡°Fascinating. What kind of phenomenon is this, Doctor Jang¡?¡± ¡°¡I don¡¯t know either. I¡¯ve known about this mining vige for a while, but I¡¯ve never really delved into it.¡± ¡°Ah. You¡¯ve been through over a hundred regressions and still haven¡¯t figured out the identity of a single vige? Isn¡¯t that negligence¡?¡± ¡°I¡¯m sorry. I could have figured it out if someone hadn¡¯t slit my throat and killed me in a past regression.¡± Noh Doha raised an eyebrow, blinking. ¡°They don¡¯t disappear¡¡± ¡°Yes?¡± ¡°In this vige, when a cksmith makes something, it usually disappears soon after. The kitchen knife I made this morning disappeared just like that. But look. Despite the time that has passed, my hoe is still intact, isn¡¯t it¡?¡± ¡°Ah.¡± I stroked my chin. ¡°Indeed. Perhaps the essence of this ¡®Taebaek Mountain Dwarf Mining Vige¡¯ is¡ a training ground for cksmiths.¡± ¡°A training ground¡?¡± ¡°Yes. It could be considered a ce for inheriting traditions. Noh Doha Workshop Owner has just received ¡®recognition¡¯ from that dwarf by making the hoe.¡± ¡°Oh¡¡± ¡°I can roughly guess how to clear this void. There are a total of seven cksmiths in the vige. Now that Noh Doha Workshop Owner has eliminated one, there are six left.¡± ¡°And they¡¯ll be recognized by the other six craftsmen¡?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± I picked up the hoe. Engraved on it was a strange glyph, perhaps a character that had never been seen before in the entire history of creations. A first sight. An iprehensiblenguage. To describe it somewhat simrly, it looked like this. [Dicentra Spectabilis] Noh Doha tilted his head curiously. ¡°Hmm. What¡¯s this again? I¡¯ve never carved these characters before¡¡± ¡°Most likely, the dwarf made these characters with his own breath. Well, how many characters could a cksmith carve into his creations? Probably just one. His own name.¡± ¡°Ah, I see¡¡± Noh Doha took out his notebook. With a furrowed brow, he carefully transcribed [Dicentra Spectabilis] into a memo. ¡°Workshop Owner, why is that?¡± ¡°Hmm¡¡± Noh Doha didn¡¯t respond to my question. From that day on, our routine was set. First, we categorized the remaining six dwarf cksmiths by the difficulty level of their creations. A dwarf making small kitchen knives was Level 1. A dwarf makingrge swords was Level 6. ¡°So, where should we start¡? Please focus and finish quickly so that I can lend you a hand, cksmith¡¡± ¡°Hey, only a workshop owner could handle an infinite regressor like this.¡± ¡°What nonsense is that? The man who¡¯s been tying me up like a country magistrate, only letting me meddle with time¡¡± ¡°I¡¯ve got you. Workshop Owner.¡± ¡°Oh, good¡¡± ng! Noh Doha¡¯s hammer struck the anvil. Noh Doha, who seemed all brawn and no brain, as if he were demonstrating what real musclepression was, unceremoniously wielded his hammer. Underneath the cave, long strands of hair fluttered. The cksmith, whose form was one with the hammer, looked like he was dancing from a distance. mes and shadows. The dance of red and ck. -¡¡ whoosh¡ The breath of the peculiar being, who seemed to havee from another world, allowed the knife to remain in this world. With hisst breath, the being left hisnguage, an unrecognizable name, engraved on the knife before disappearing. ¡°¡¡± How did these creaturese to be? Even after repeating regressions for so long, I could only specte about their elusive secret, never reaching a definitive answer. I cooked, prepared baths, secured beds, remained vignt of anomalies around us, and assisted Noh Doha in his continued ¡®suppression of the anomalies¡¯. That was my role in this void. It wasn¡¯t a difficult role. The ¡®assistant¡¯ from the 53rd regression had already matched skills with the master craftsmen for eight years. Those memories were still etched behind my eyelids. ¡°Hmm¡¡± Next level. And then the next. In just six days, Noh Doha reached the final gate of thest cksmith. The word ¡®prodigy¡¯ must have been coined for him. But strangely, with each level surpassed, Noh Doha¡¯s expression soured. He red at me with his eyebrows furrowed. ¡°Why?¡± ¡°Thinking about it, I feel pretty terrible¡¡± ¡°¡?¡± ¡°No matter how you look at it, aren¡¯t you unnaturally skilled at being an assistant? Just at the right moment, handing over the tongs, holding the hammer in afortable angle for me, like a drone delivery service. Every time, you act like you know everything, like a sly regressor¡¡± ¡°What on earth are you babbling about?¡± I was speechless. Was he really sane? ¡°¡Acting like I know everything. I¡¯ve never talked like that in my life, and sly? Sly? Me?¡± ¡°Hmm. That¡¯s what I mean. Don¡¯t get hung up on a single word. You, even if you¡¯ve eaten a thousand more years of life than me, you¡¯re still narrow-minded, the old of the old, truly ancient, why so narrow-minded¡?¡± ¡°Why are you throwing insults like this one after another?¡± ¡°Okay, enough¡¡± ng. When Noh Doha lightly struck the handle of the knife, the subtle misalignment was perfectly corrected. Level 6. Thepletion of the sword. -¡¡¡¡ [Proofreader ¨C Gun] Swiftly, as if catching the scent of a bakery in a subway station, Noh Doha turned his head. And then he reached out his hand to infuse eternity into the masterpiece of the craftsman¡ª ¡°Ah. Wait¡¡± But his hand only waved through empty air. Because Noh Doha suddenly pushed the sword behind him. -¡? ¡°Hmm.¡± -¡? The dwarf¡¯s pitch-ck eye sockets gazed at Noh Doha like a cat who had just stolen cream. Noh Doha chuckled mischievously. -¡? ¡? Hop, hop. It wasn¡¯t for nothing that I was registered as a dwarf in the lineage, so no matter how hard the dwarf tried to leap, there was no way he could reach the towering greatsword that Noh Doha held high. I, too, had question marks swirling in my mind. What¡¯s going on with this person? Has he finally decided that humanity alone isn¡¯t enough to satisfy him and now he¡¯s casting his quirks onto the anomalies? Noh Doha sighed. ¡°I¡¯m not particrly interested in baptizing you. Not at all. I have no intention of being your mentor either. Now, you¡¯re supposed to carry on our vision, but if you try to ascend on your own, you¡¯ll only get into trouble¡¡± -¡? ¡°To be honest, I don¡¯t need these useless extensions¡¡± Noh Doha had thrown everything he had created so far¡ªhoes, kitchen knives, daggers, sickles, scimitars, longswords, and greatswords¡ªinto the furnace and turned them back into adamantine. In an instant, the adamantine ingots were reshaped by Noh Doha¡¯s hammer into something new. ng! ng! Without pausing for breath, he worked tirelessly, pouring everything into it, regardless of the sweat dripping from him. ¡°Small hammer.¡± ¡°Ah, yes, Workshop Owner.¡± ¡°Tongs.¡± ¡°Here you go.¡± ¡°Sandwich.¡± ¡°Yes.¡± Whenever he demanded, I handed him the tools and adjusted the molds ordingly. -¡ The dwarves watched our duo¡¯s work with empty eye sockets. How much time had passed? Noh Doha, who hadn¡¯t wiped his forehead even once during the forging, quickly wiped the sweat with the back of his hand. Then he picked up his goggles and put them in his front pocket. ¡°Whew, it¡¯s finally done¡¡± I was briefly at a loss for words at the unusual appearance of the finished product. ¡°This is¡¡± It was a staff-sword. Swish¡ªNoh Doha pulled out the gleaming de herself to demonstrate. Zhanjian (Staff Sword). In English, it was called a swordstick. Normally used as a staff, it could be transformed into a weapon for self-defense when necessary. ¡°You asked for a weapon to be made, right¡?¡± ¡°¡Yes.¡± ¡°Hmm. Okay. This is the weapon I¡¯m dedicating to you¡¡± Staff. The simplest assistive device that can be made for people with mobility difficulties. That¡¯s why Noh Doha¡¯s fingerprints were all over it. Sword. The mostmon weapon people use to kill. That¡¯s why my fingerprints would be left on it. Very much in line with Noh Doha and me. ¡°¡¡± ¡°Just wait a moment¡¡± Noh Doha leaned the sword against his shoulder. Sliiiice, the sound of a carving knife slicing through echoed. [Dicentra Spectabilis] It was assumed to be the name of the dwarf cksmith who had once breathed life into the hoe. Noh Doha unfolded his notebook, nced at it, and meticulously carved each letter onto the de of the sword. Seven names in total. The characters from another world writhed like beautiful tattoos. And at the end. Doha. The characters with the same pronunciation as Noh Doha¡¯s name, and the same meaning as the workshop he had run, flowed down the white de like raindrops. ¡°Here you go¡¡± -¡ -¡ -¡, ¡. Looking around, the figure of the dwarf anomaly had disappeared. There was no task of infusing eternity even into the breath. Only the deep sound of the wind, as if sighing, blew through the canyon of the mine. The breath of the mountains, settling from the cliffs, swept past us, past the surroundings and the sword. In the ce where the long sigh of the wind passed by, the vige concealed itself. The adamantine ore, the furnaces, the buildings made of stone, the anvils used by the dwarves¡ªall vanished, swept away by the wind. Only Noh Doha, I, and a single sword remained at the entrance of the giant cave. ¡°¡¡± It was a strange phenomenon. But then again, emptiness is inherently strange. Without even a nce at the disappearance of the dwarf mining vige, Noh Doha simply handed me the sword. As the evening sun zed behind him, the scene before me was imprinted on my retina. The moment I reached out, the moment I tried to grasp the sword, Noh Doha¡¯s lips, which seemed destined to remain silent forever, parted. ¡°Do you really intend to take it¡?¡± ¡°¡¡± ¡°It¡¯s a good sword. A sword that cannot be made again. This sword will surely fulfill its role in the hunts and killings you will undertake in the future. Do you understand what I¡¯m saying¡? Doctor Jang. From now on, a portion of your achievements will owe to this sword. Your aplishments, exploits, sesses and failures, killings¡ªhalf of everything will belong to it. In other words, when you hold this, you are epting this sword as your aplice¡¡± ¡°¡¡± I nodded. I grasped the sword. ¡°I will name the sword Doha.¡± ¡°Hmm.¡± Noh Doha chuckled softly. The sunset cast its crimson light, matching him smile. ¡°The share is fifty-fifty¡¡± Truly. Who could say I wasn¡¯t a viinous employer, with such an insidious profit-sharing ratio? 6 There¡¯s an afterword. Every time the turn changes, everything should be reset and returned to its original state, but for some reason, the sword ¡®Doha¡¯ was an exception. From the 100th turn onwards, Doha was always stuck at the entrance of the cave in the middle of the Taebaek Mountains. Even in subsequent cycles, Noh Doha never made a sword for me. ¡°¡¡± It was truly a phenomenon that could be described as anomalous. However, perhaps emptiness is inherently anomalous. Without a doubt, the disappearance of the dwarf mining vige was strange. But now, there was no chance to find out the true nature of that emptiness. In addition to the silver droplets I had always farmed at Busan Station¡¯s main hall, I now had another ¡®exclusive item¡¯ to add to my collection. ¡°Hmm? Wait, Doctor Jang¡¡± ¡°Why?¡± ¡°Could you show me that staff for a moment¡¡± Almost snatching it away, Noh Doha handed me Doha. ¡°Hmm¡¡± With his goggles on, he examined the sword from all angles, sliding it through the holes, inspecting it inside and out. A sigh escaped from Noh Doha¡¯s lips. ¡°¡Doctor Jang. This. This sword. Where did you get it¡?¡± ¡°Oh. I received it as a gift from the greatest cksmith in Korea.¡± ¡°The greatest in Korea? Hm, well, it looks like it¡ Alright. If you¡¯ve crafted something of this caliber, you can call yourself whatever you want. But a Korean, huh. Who could it be¡?¡± Shadows flickered ominously in Noh Doha¡¯s eyes, heavy with dark circles. ¡°Why? Interested?¡± ¡°Well¡ If someone with this kind of talent, I¡¯d want to either recruit them as an official smith for the country or hire them somewhere, anyway, they¡¯d have to serve as a lifelong unpaid ve¡¡± How could I not burst intoughter at that? With a furrowed brow, Noh Doha oozed a thick aura of suspicion. His pair of ck inds, so they weren¡¯t lonely, red at me. ¡°Huh? Laughing? What¡¯s so funny? Do you want to get beaten¡?¡± ¡°No, absolutely not. I¡¯ll tell you obediently. Workshop Owner. The person who made this sword is my¡ª¡± -Coborator. -End [Proofreader ¨C Gun] Chapter 87 â€“ The Pursuer I [Proofreader ¨C Gun] Chapter 87 ¨C The Pursuer I 1 Despite calling me an old geezer who¡¯s lived for a thousand years, the evaluation of that old coot was not just wrong but way off the mark. Noh Doha is the type who, upon seeing raindrops falling beautifully from the autumn sky, would remark, ¡°Hmm, so H?O molecules aremitting group suicide (actually said it).¡± A critic whose tongue is twisted, not to mention his spine. Why bother paying attention to such human speech and opinions? Terms like old man or geezer, which denote age discrimination like Nokkine or Nokkwae, are definitely not suitable when describing me, a doctor. Curses filled with hatred and contempt for humanity like loser or fossil are not even worth mentioning. Instead, neutral titles like senior or teacher are much more appropriate. A senior generally refers to someone who walks ahead. As a regressor, I always walk one step ahead of others, so I am literally the senior of all humans. Why? Am I wrong? The same goes for teacher. Sure, there are plenty of people older than me biologically. But mentally, is there anyone older than me? I¡¯ve lived well over a thousand years, even more than Noh Doha. So, I am the teacher of all humans. How about that? Am I wrong? ¡°What are you saying, you old fogey¡?¡± ¡°¡.¡± But strangely, very few people address me with titles like senior or teacher. No, rare is fine, but¡ There were even more old folks who insisted on calling him ¡°Teacher Noh Doha¡±! Oh, the irony. How can one not sigh? To think that human trash would call me teacher. It¡¯s like the Three Kingdoms tearing apart and the Five Elements copsing in thisnd once called the Eastern Etiquette Kingdom. But as heroes emerge in troubled times, so do wise men in chaotic times. ¡°Ah, Senior Doctor!¡± A necromancer of the Korean Penins, yet always d not in ck robes but in the pure white sailor uniform, patriotic to the core. One of the few who addresses me as senior, also the 113th Student Council President of Baekhwa Girls¡¯ High School and the Guild Master of the Baekhwa Guild. ¡°Senior!¡± asionally, while walking through the corridors of the National Highway Administration Headquarters, if I hear someone calling out to me, I can¡¯t help but turn around, and every time, the owner of the voicees running energetically,ughing with boundless vitality. Truly a sight to behold. Even in the turn when zombies were rampant on the Korean Penins, in the turn when the ¡°Academy City¡± was created, and finally in the turn that led to the end of the world, if I didn¡¯t know that, then it would be a different story. A smile fixed somewhere. A preserved expression. ¡°Senior Doctor, where are you going?¡± ¡°¡.¡± This is an episode about names. It¡¯s a story about the time it took for the title of senior to change to teacher. The unsung apostle of the Outsider¡¯s Reincarnation. Let¡¯s talk about Dicentra Spectabilis. 2 If I were to list the top two people I least want to get involved with in the Korean Penins, the first ce would undoubtedly go to the old geezer, the head of the Mount Hua Faction, and the second ce would be none other than Cheon Yohwa. Koyori? First of all, we need to determine if she is indeed a ¡°person,¡± so let¡¯s leave that aside for now. If it weren¡¯t for the information I obtained from the Fairy Lord during the 89th turn, I wouldn¡¯t have had any reason to approach Cheon Yohwa. ¨C Tutorial Dungeon: Baekhwa Girls¡¯ High School. ¨C The survivor there, Cheon Yohwa, is the chosen apostle of the entity known as the Fairy Lord. I felt like Sherlock Holmes upon hearing the name James Moriarty for the first time. Title: ¡°Or, Witnessing the Tastes of a Married Woman Unexpectedly ¨C A Commander¡¯s Perspective¡± Perhaps it could be likened to the sentiment of a general who unexpectedly witnesses the preferences of a seductive womanizer like Cao Cao. It was as if suddenly, I woke up to the realization, ¡°Ah, I¡¯ve been living my life all this time just to catch that guy.¡± Moreover, if we were to judge solely based on the dignity of viins, Endless was one or two steps above Moriarty, or even more. Unlike the inspiration tank, who was immediately exposed as a muse due to Sherlock Holmes¡¯ awakening skill, Endless never revealed himself until the 89th turn. He didn¡¯t even have a given name; I had toe up with the title ¡°Endless¡± myself. Cheon Yohwa was the prime suspect among such dark figures, the ultimate viin among viins. My inner little detective couldn¡¯t help but be intrigued. And naturally, my detective skills were superior to any British opium-addicted hedonist. Time can¡¯t be turned back, you know. ¡°Judging by your hair color, you must be Cheon Yohwa, right? Heard a lot about you from the kids.¡± ¡°Uh¡¡± Turn 109. As mentioned earlier, I encountered Cheon Yohwa immediately after unlocking the ¡°Baekhwa Girls¡¯ High School Tutorial Dungeon¡± and six months had passed. ¡°Word went around in our alumniwork about a super smart and quick-witted junior bing the student council president. By the way, I used to work in the student council, and now I¡¯m the alumni association president.¡± ¡°¡.¡± Yohwa, captured! Thanks to this necromancer, an ¡°AI Judge¡± was developed and distributed throughout the Korean Penins, bringing about various positive effects. But¡ there was one small problem. No, it wasn¡¯t exactly small. It was quite serious. ¡°Yohwa.¡± ¡°Yes, Senior Doctor!¡± ¡°Are you perhaps close with the fairies?¡± ¡°Huh?¡± ¡°Why? Because there are fairies in the tutorial. Or maybe you¡¯ve had experiences connecting with some greater beings through those fairies. If so, let me know.¡± ¡°¡.¡± Blink. Cheon Yohwa blinked rapidly. ¡°Fairies, Senior?¡± ¡°Huh?¡± ¡°Is this some kind of code? Or¡ a novel? Oh, Senior,e on. There¡¯s no way fairies exist. You¡¯re kidding too much.¡± ¡°¡No, what are you talking about? There was a tutorial dungeon at Baekhwa Girls¡¯ High School. So naturally, there were fairies in the tutorial. You guys barely managed to clear the tutorial without any contact with the outside world for almost 11 months¡¡± ¡°11 months? Um¡ Ahaha. Sorry, Senior. I have no idea what you¡¯re talking about. Oops. Senior, are you¡ involved with a cult or something?¡± ¡°¡.¡± ¡°Oh no! You shouldn¡¯t! I know a lot about our family getting involved with cults, and no matter what happens, you shouldn¡¯t get involved with them!¡± Even advanced physiognomy couldn¡¯t be distinguished from interest. In my eyes, which had studied physiognomy for over a thousand years, Cheon Yohwa didn¡¯t seem to be lying. My academic achievements were on point. ¡°Squeak! A goblin appeared!¡± ¡°¡.? Senior, why do people call wolves goblins?¡± ¡°Enemies are attacking! Let¡¯s fight!¡± ¡°Aaaah! E-earthquake! Senior, it¡¯s an earthquake! Quickly, get down¨C!¡± ¡°¡.¡± Cheon Yohwa couldn¡¯t recognize goblins as goblins. Goblins appeared as ¡°wolves¡± to her, and the scene of enemies rampaging was understood as a ¡°major earthquake.¡± Other anomalies were the same. Once, I even brought a captured fairy and shoved it in front of her. ¡°Wow! A cat! So cute!¡± She hugged the fairy and patted its cheek. Even when the fairy said, ¡°Let me go!¡± in itsnguage, it sounded like a cat¡¯s purring in Cheon Yohwa¡¯s ears. It was broken. The brain. The perception system. As if only the part of the brain that recognized anomalies had been surgically removed from the head. ¡°¡Indeed. No wonder asking Yohwa or Endless for information didn¡¯t yield meaningful results.¡± ¡°¡.? What did you just say, Senior?¡± ¡°Nothing.¡± Looking at Cheon Yohwa, who suffered from selective auditory impairment like a seasoned light novel protagonist, I furrowed my eyebrows. Perhaps even this ¡°perceptual contamination¡± was just Endless¡¯s deception. Should I be amazed that she was different from those interest-seekersmonly portrayed as viins in works of fiction, who actually cry out, ¡°Recognize me!¡± to everyone? I investigated Cheon Yohwa as much as I could. Her family¡¯s hometown was in Sejong City, and nearby, there was the well-known Toho household, and their mansion was enormous. Traditional tiled-roof houses were built meticulously. Thend area was 14,990 square meters. It was a grand mansion nestled on the slopes of Mount Wonsu, overlooking the government buildings of the Republic of Korea. While the aboveground retained the hanok architecture passed down from the Joseon Dynasty, the underground, not essible to the public, concealed modern buildings. However, there was no significant finding. Although some documents were left in the mansion, there were no survivors or witnesses. The most I could find was that Cheon Yohwa¡¯s father served as the director of Baekhwa Girls¡¯ High School. I inferred that perhaps Baekhwa Girls¡¯ High School itself was built with funds from this family. Then, Cheon Yohwa wasn¡¯t just a simple student or a simple student council president but rather held a position equivalent to a dy¡± in a private school foundation. Other than that, there was a peculiar note that a pile of Confucian texts, including the Book of Changes, and other Taoist-rted books were found in the underground facilities. Still, with only such information and circumstances, I couldn¡¯t break out of the duckweed. ¡°Lastly, I have one more question. Yohwa, I briefly investigated your family. Your father¡¯sst name is Ilcheon Cheon, right? But you use ¡®Cheon¡¯ from Heaven as yourst name. Do you happen to know how your family name changed?¡± ¡°Uh¡ No? I¡¯ve never heard of that before¡ I don¡¯t have any memories of my family at all. Besides, investigating my family feels a bit creepy, Senior¡¡± ¡A strategy adjustment was inevitable. Contacting Cheon Yohwa, who emerged ¡°after¡± breaking the tutorial dungeon on her own, proved to be futile. Too much information was lost. To meet Cheon Yohwa from the previous period, who was still wandering in a dungeon named Baekhwa Girls¡¯ High School, I had to go back to a point in time that couldn¡¯t be reached without time travel. ¡°Got it. Yohwa, see you next time.¡± ¡°Huh? Yes, Senior! See you next time!¡± And fortunately, I had that capability. As I first revealed, the ¡°tutorial dungeon¡± was nothing but a void artificially created by Endless, essentially a humanboratory. Like otherboratories, ess to the tutorial dungeon was tightly controlled. Just the mention of events like virus outbreaks,puter thefts, or data loss could skyrocket a graduate student¡¯s blood pressure. Therefore, the tutorial dungeon remained closed until it was cleared. Even the ¡°irvoyance¡± of the saintess couldn¡¯t inspect this closed space. It was impossible for outsiders to forcibly open theb door. 3 Indeed. ¡°Human beings.¡± ¡°Let¡¯s go, No. 264 fairy.¡± ¡°Hoee! Loyalty! Following the leader¡¯smand¨C!¡± Even if it was aboratory sincerely defending against physical viruses, the story changed when it came to mental viruses. No. 264 fairy, infected with the strongest virus in human history, charged forward with vigor towards Baekhwa Girls¡¯ High School. Squeak! Upon stepping into the school premises. ¡°Heeek?¡± Blink! As if sensing an intruder, a guard suddenly rushed out from inside. Of course, the real guards were lying dead near the school gate, and the newly branded ¡°Baekhwa Girls¡¯ High School Tutorial Dungeon¡± fairy was simply confused. The opposing fairy looked around in bewilderment, eyes widening. ¡°Fai, fairy? Human? Heek? Why humans?¡± ¡°Whoa! How dare you, as the fairy in charge of this tutorial, invade without prior notice! Dere your identity!¡± ¡°I am No. 264! Even my number is revolutionary due to the decree issued to me! Disgustingckeys of the bourgeoisie, offer your heads to the guillotine!¡± ¡°Heeek! Rebellion! It¡¯s a rebellion! Guards! Guards¨C!¡± As soon as No. 16 fairy pulled out her wand to kill us, our No. 264 fairy also wielded it¡¯s wand. ¡°Where are you¨C¡± ¡°Heek!¡± Boom! The fairies exploded simultaneously. There was no margin for error in the explosions. There was a sad truth hidden here. Originally, all fairies were created with exactly the samebat power. If a fairy decided to fight another fairy, the oue was always destined to end in mutual destruction. Although not in a modern fantasy, but in a martial arts novel, they could be considered talents worthy of being on the list of ¡°Top 10 Coolest Supporting Characters¡± even if not the protagonist, or if they were reincarnated into the Three Kingdoms, they could be the brothers who kept the promise of the Peach Garden. ¡°Now. With this, Endless¡¯s eyes monitoring Baekhwa Girls¡¯ High School should temporarily disappear.¡± Speed was now life. First, I stripped the uniform off the guard¡¯s body and stowed it away in a trunk. Then I entered the school building. I had already familiarized myself with the building¡¯s structure through previous turns, but the terrain was twisting and distorting in real-time, just like the void. ¡°Whoa¡¡± ¡°Hee, hee, hee, hee.¡± Look at that. Just stepping into the entrance and all sorts of strange sounds warmly wee the visitor. This was no longer Baekhwa Girls¡¯ High School. ¡°School Ghost Stories.¡± Whether it¡¯s bathroom ghosts or the Seven Mysteries, anyway, all the anomalies associated with the ce called ¡®school¡¯ have been fully realized in this surreal setting. The number of people trapped in the void of ¡°School Ghost Stories¡± amounts to nearly 750. They are all Baekhwa Girls¡¯ High School students. And after 11 months of struggle, only¡ a mere 19 will survive until the end. Moreover, two of them will jump off the rooftop to their deaths not long after. Considering that suicide in ¡°School Ghost Stories¡± is practically murder by ghosts, those two should also be counted as victims. Survival rate: 2.26%. The worst tutorial dungeon in the Korean Penins. However¡ no matter how powerful the anomalies and void are, or rather, the more powerful they are, the more vulnerable spots they have. I call this themon denominator of anomalies and void. It¡¯s called a ¡®weak point¡¯. Depending on whether you know this weak point or not, the difficulty of the void varies greatly. The old saying ¡°Knowledge is Power¡± by Bacon has be even more true as we approach the end of the century. So, here¡¯s the question. What is the most suitable weak point of ¡°School Ghost Stories¡± that an outsider, especially an older manpared to the students of Baekhwa Girls¡¯ High School, can exploit? Can he adopt any disguise to contend with the ¡°ghosts¡± that roam around here to the point of decay, and even force the perception that wandering around incessantly is ¡°normal¡± in this void? ¡°¡Alright. Found it.¡± The answer was written on the document I held in my hand. [List of Baekhwa Girls¡¯ High School Security Guards] With a swift motion, I wrote my name in thest column with the pen I brought from outside. Then I quickly changed into the security guard uniform I brought from the school gate. A cap on my head. And even attached a badge engraved with ¡®Security Guard Sergeant¡¯ to my chest. Disguiseplete. ¡°Ah, this chilly yet solid sensation. It¡¯s been a while.¡± Finally, I held the must-have item of a security guard, a shlight, in my left hand. The reflection in the duty room mirror was absolutely perfect. Ah, this sergeant is getting a job as a school security guard this turn. Now was the moment when the most powerful profession group descended upon ¡°School Ghost Stories.¡± [Proofreader ¨C Gun] Chapter 88 â€“ The Pursuer II [Proofreader ¨C Gun] Chapter 88 ¨C The Pursuer II 4 Once you¡¯ve identified the anomalies¡¯ weakness, namely, their weak point, what¡¯s crucial next? It¡¯s your wit. In refined terms, it¡¯s your ¡®vitality¡¯ and ¡®mental strength,¡¯ but in more colloquial terms, it¡¯s your ¡®guts¡¯ and ¡®swagger.¡¯ By aligning your mental state with that of a seasoned warrior, you must push forward with nothing but grit and bravado. This is absolutely no joke. Let¡¯s briefly revisit an incident from the 90th turn when I briefly managed the Sixth International Convenience Store. Although I didn¡¯t mention it separately earlier, not only human customers but also ¡®non-human customers¡¯ often visited. One night, ding-dong¡ª the doorbell rang. I immediately turned my head. The digital clock on the door indicated 01:59. ¡°Wee, sir¡ª¡± ¨C Eeeeh¡ ¡°¡ªum, please feel free to look around.¡± A foul smell filled the air. A pitch-ck ghost was oozing its shadowy presence toward me. I couldn¡¯t help but wonder how extraordinarily different this ghost was. I even wondered if I hadid out a red carpet for a film festival in the convenience store. ¡®Well, crap.¡¯ A highly rational judgment was made. Do you happen to know about the Pok¨¦mon called Grimer? Or perhaps the Stink Spirit from Spirited Away? A ghost exactly like that was making its way back around the convenience store before reaching the counter. Thanks to that, I regained myposure a bit. The floor, which I had meticulously cleaned just five minutes ago, was now beautifully coated with the ghost¡¯s excrement. ¨C Wizaaaang¡ The fellow said. ¡°Yes?¡± ¨C Wizaaaang, one. Height¡ two. Heart, one¡ lung, one. Fingers¡ three. Eyeballs, one, please. ¡°¡¡¡± I, a self-employed shopkeeper, always ingrained a sense of propriety in my prefrontal cortex. Even when dealing with such bizarre customers, I was the owner of a spirit that never forgot the five letters of ¡°customer service¡± even in the face of adversity. So, I could smile brightly without a single hint of confusion. ¡°Sir, will that be all?¡± -¡¡? ¡°Will that be all? Will that be all?¡± The ghost flinched. I leaned forward and ced the counter up, actually taking a step closer to the ghost. ¡°Do you see the floor here? Yes? Did your eyeballs change? I couldn¡¯t check, so I can¡¯t say anything.¡± ¨C Uwooooo¡? ¡°It¡¯s all ck as if the sewer overflowed. The smell? It¡¯s too strong. It¡¯s so strong that all the groceries in the store have gone bad. Are you going to take responsibility for this? Are you going to take responsibility, sir? Why aren¡¯t you answering? Yes?¡± That¡¯s right. If there¡¯s an anomaly named ¡®problematic customer,¡¯ then there must be a ¡®third-rate shopkeeper¡¯ as well to restore the bnce of the world. ¡°What? Disguise? Height? Heart? Are you kidding me, you bastard? Hey, give it to me. Cleaning fee for making the floor clean again. Mop fee for throwing away the mop after cleaning. Compensation fee for recing all the products in the grocery section. Most importantly, my uniform has absorbed your stench, so dry cleaning fee. Allbined, that¡¯s your worth, you bastard.¡± ¨C Uwooooo¡? ¡°No money? No money? Youe into the store even though you don¡¯t have money and cause trouble? Oh, damn! Hey! Call the police. Call the police! No! From now on, I am the police, you piece of shit!¡± ¨C Uwooooo¡? Swoosh. At that moment, the anomaly vanished. The excrement and stench I had scattered around the store disappeared along with it. The digital clock still showed 01:59. The only lesson to be learned from this incident was that even if the anomaly is powerful enough to momentarily halt time, with knowledge of the weak point and fiery wit, you can ovee anything. I, Doctor Jang. Unlike some regressors who fled on a long vacation because they missed their loved ones, I was always overflowing with the vigor to confront anomalies. Just as powerful as a seasoned veteran, I always had an abundance of humanity. So that someday, you can pioneer your own path. In this episode, let me introduce in more detail the ¡®anomaly Conquest Guide¡¯ of an expert in breaking through the void. 5 I stepped out of the duty room wearing the security guard uniform. shlight in my left hand, trunk in my right. I also equipped myself with earphones and a small microphone. It was the equipment set for tackling anomalies in earnest. Given my current mood, I felt like Liu Bei holding the Green Dragon Crescent de. If the conditions were right, even Lu Bu, the mightiest warrior of all, would tremble with fear and terror upon. ¡°Hmm.¡± *Squelch¡ª* The sole of my shoe squelched as I stepped forward. The reason? The bathroom floor had about 0.5cm of water, creating a slight pool. Looking around, I noticed a faint smell of bleach mixed with a strange odor. It was the smell of freshly cut hair soaked in water. The tap was off. ¡°I don¡¯t even need to look, this is definitely a spiritual hotspot.¡± There was no need to hesitate. The bathroom had four stalls. I immediately knocked politely on the third stall. ¡°Is anyone in there, Hanako?¡± -¡¡ ¡°Hanako?¡± Silence. I tilted my head. ¡°Hmm.¡± -¡¡ It was an incredibly awkward silence. The seasoned anomaly hunter of the 117th turn whispered to himself, ¡°There¡¯s definitely a ghost here.¡± I hastily turned off the tap, but it was already toote as the water had filled the tiled floor. Being a forgiving person who trusted himself, there were only two possible answers. Either the original of the ghost was Japanese and couldn¡¯t understand foreignnguages, or it was intentionally pretending not to understand me. In this global age, the former was impossible. ording to my intuition, it was thetter. ¡°Oh. Right. Let me rify my thoughts. Depending on the version, just knocking might not fulfill the conditions for appearance.¡± -¡¡ ¡°Alright. Shall we start?¡± *Tap.* I locked the bathroom door and began to perform the ritualistic spin inside the stall. ¡°One, two, three, four, five, six, seven.¡± -¡¡ ¡°Eight, nine, ten, eleven, twelve. Finished.¡± I knocked on the door. ¡°Hanako, let¡¯s y together. Hanako, are you there?¡± -Yes. The response came promptly. This was the destiny of anomalies. They had their own ws,¡¯ and through thesews, even the anomalies themselves couldn¡¯t be truly free. Because it was through thesews that anomalies could exist in the world. Like a Tenjo, an anomaly with tremendous ¡®material destructive power¡¯ had the corresponding weakness of being ¡®able to be materially destroyed.¡¯ The convenience store ghost could appear as a customer in any convenience store when it was the Ushi hour. It seemed to transcend the constraints of space, but conversely, it had the weakness of ¡®only being able to exist as a customer.¡¯ [Proofreader ¨C Gun] The Hanako ghost in the bathroom was no different. The Hanako ghost could exist ¡®in the third stall of any empty bathroom.¡¯ It was a kind of residual ghost. Therefore, to people entering the third stall of the bathroom, especially those who recited a chant, Hanako had to ¡®reveal her appearance.¡¯ If she didn¡¯t answer? It meant she acknowledged that she didn¡¯t exist in the third stall. Mission aplished. The bathroom ghost murmured with a trembling voice (though in my perception, it was an extremely eerie ghost voice): -Red toilet paper or¡ blue toilet paper¡? ¡°Ah, a coboration between red and blue toilet paper, huh? Quite rare.¡± -Purple toilet paper¡? ¡°Oh.¡± The ghost was suggesting apromise. ording to some rumors, if you demanded ¡®purple toilet paper,¡¯ Hanako would retreat on her own. It was a kind of strategy, a way to banish her. But just now, the ghost, without me even memorizing the strategy, came forward and proposed a ceasefire. I was almost touched. What a considerate ghost she was. ¡°Purple toilet paper isn¡¯t bad either. But what about this?¡± -¡¡? *Zzzzip!* I opened the zipper of the leather trunk bag I had brought in advance. This trunk bag was also an anomaly, but that¡¯s a story for another time. The important thing to note now was that inside the trunk bag were rolls of ¡®red toilet paper¡¯ and ¡®blue toilet paper.¡¯ ¡°I¡¯ve got both red and blue toilet paper. What do you want?¡± -¡¡ ¡°It¡¯s the post-COVID era, isn¡¯t it? In times like these, personal hygiene is important. Isn¡¯t it reassuring to carry your own toilet paper? Right, Hanako? Do you want one? Red or blue?¡± -Purple toilet paper¡ ¡°There¡¯s no purple, kid!¡± *Kwaang!* I immediately got up and stepped on the emergency button. The toilet bowl shattered into pieces, and shards of white porcin flew everywhere. *Rumble rumble¡ª* The water surged back. But what surged back wasn¡¯t just H?O. A ghost in the form of a girl wearing a red cloak also suddenly emerged. I chuckled. ¡°I¡¯ve found you.¡± -¡¡! The ghost¡¯s form trembled. This was the great thing about ¡®ghosts¡¯ that were based on humans, unlike other anomalies. ¡°Strength Weakness Weakness Strength¡±. Most of these ghosts possessed a very human characteristic, too human in fact, where they became weaker in front of the strong and infinitely stronger against the weak, just like humans. This trait was particrly pronounced in ghosts with distinct human characteristics, such as ¡°Hanako in the Bathroom.¡± Of course, most ghosts also had the annoying trait of being ¡®physically immune,¡¯ but it didn¡¯t matter. With the right approach, physical immunity could be bypassed easily enough. For example, ¡°I¡¯ve got you.¡± -¡¡! ¡! *Whish.* With red toilet paper in my right hand and blue toilet paper in my left, I grabbed Hanako¡¯s ghost head firmly. No matter how free Hanako was from physical force, ¡®Hanako¡¯ caused physical changes to the toilet user through the words ¡®red toilet paper¡¯ and ¡®blue toilet paper.¡¯ In other words, it brought about death. This was how to exploit a weakness. There was no one-way traffic in the world of anomalies. It was all two-way. If interference could ur from one side, then naturally, interference could ur from the other side using the same methods. The result was the scene before me. The ghost of the bathroom, hanging limply in my hands like a puppet, tied up with a vice grip. -¡¡! ¡! ¡! ¡°Red toilet paper or blue toilet paper?¡± -¡¡ ¡°The correct answer was both. It¡¯s a 1+1 sale this month, you know, my dear customer.¡± *Crack!* The ghost¡¯s face turned purple, then burst with a bang. Her entire body turned into red liquid and melted without form. Even if it resembled a human, there was no trace of sympathy. The reason became apparent as soon as the bathroom ghost was exorcised. The water on the tiled floor turned red, revealing corpses underneath, like a dam bursting open to reveal a flooded town. ¡°¡¡¡± In this bathroom alone, there were seven bodies. If you added up all the other bathrooms, it would easily be dozens. The students trapped in the ¡°White-Walled High School Tutorial Dungeon¡± without knowing anything were endlessly appetizing prey for the anomalies. I gathered the bodies in one ce. They probably wouldn¡¯t decay until the void broke apart. ¡°Hmm¡?¡± However, while cleaning up the bodies, I found suspicious items. ¡°¡Amulets?¡± Amulets were hidden all over the bathroom. Behind the toilet where the red and blue toilet paper ghosts emerged, in the cleaning supplies box, under the sink. There were almost three of them. If it were me after the 200th turn, I could have interpreted the meaning of the amulets one by one. But at this time, I hadn¡¯t read the Book of Changes, the Analects, Mencius, and the Doctrine of the Mean, let alone the Zhouyi. Still, I knew how to distinguish between amulets for blessings and amulets for curses. The intention behind the characters written on the amulets was too clear to miss. ËÀ. ËÀ. ËÀ. ËÀ. [PR/N: The phrase ¡°ËÀ¡± (s¨«) repeated 4 times in Chinese trantes to death in english.] Even amidst the water bomb exploding in the bathroom, the characters on the amulets glowed like snake skin, clearly and distinctly. ¡°Hmm.¡± It was quite ominous. Even the shops selling cursed amulets usually only wrote ¡®death¡¯ as a rule. I examined the amulets, scratching off the red characters with my nails and sniffing the scent. ¡°¡It¡¯s real human blood.¡± Amulets made from human blood. Among curses, it was the most dangerous one. Why on earth were these amulets hidden in the school bathroom? I put away my doubts and tucked them into the closet of my mind, then burned all the amulets. Then, I took out paper and tape from my trunk bag and affixed them to the door of the men¡¯s bathroom on the first floor. [Patrol Completed] It was a kind of ¡®safe zone¡¯ marker. I didn¡¯t know how many students wandered around here, but it might provide a hint for survival. ¡°Good.¡± I moved again. There was a reason why I exorcised the bathroom ghost as soon as I entered the ¡®school ghost story.¡¯ From ancient times, the ¡®ce where you urinate¡¯ was considered a kind of threshold for people. w The shrine where rituals were held was the center of sunlight, and the bathroom was the center of shadows. It was a ce that humans inevitably had to deal with, but it was still feared as dirty. In the void, ¡®the ce where you urinate,¡¯ along with ¡®the ce where you eat¡¯ and ¡®the ce where you sleep,¡¯ always held significant magical importance. In other words, it was one of the central axes of the ¡®school ghost story.¡¯ In contrast, ghosts from the scienceb, art room, or music room werepletely unimportant. ¡®I¡¯d like to join Cheon Yohwa or the survivor group right away, but it¡¯s so difficult to pinpoint the exact location in this distorted void¡¡¯ Thud. The beam of my shlight scanned the pitch-ck hallway. The school space, unnaturally elongated and duplicated, twisted grotesquely. The sky outside was dyed bright red, and oak trees protruded from the broken windows with white fingers, sticking out of the hallway. Countless anomalies lurked in those white shadows. I nodded. Then, I adjusted the badge on my front pocket,beled ¡®[Security Guard Sergeant].¡¯ ¡®Until I join Cheon Yohwa, I¡¯ll just defeat every anomaly I encounter along the way.¡¯ Rumble rumble¡¡ Perhaps it was just my imagination, but at that moment, I felt the void of the ¡®school ghost story¡¯ trembling. [Proofreader ¨C Gun] Chapter 89 â€“ The Pursuer III [Proofreader ¨C Gun] Chapter 89 ©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤ The Pursuer III 6 I am, in essence, a storyteller who crafts my experiences into tales to share with all of you. Therefore, unless my brain loses its taste and begins to believe itself to be an all-knowing divine being, my stories inevitably stick to the first-person narrative. However, there are times when I envy the wholesalers of tales, those who speak in the third person or indulge in narrative gymnastics. Just imagine. How enjoyable it would be to mock and ridicule from an omnipotent perspective? Unfortunately, Ick the skills to evolve into a divine being at the end of a story or the ability to possess others. Thus, narrating events from a third-person perspective or immersing myself in someone else¡¯s first-person perspective is simply impossible for me. Nevertheless¡ there are beings upon whom no guilt weighs, no matter what mischief theymit. For instance, wouldn¡¯t it be possible to distort history regarding these anomalies? So, I gave it a try. ¡°Heree the guards! Heree the guards!¡± The anomalies trembled in fear (of course, such conversations likely never happened), shouting from the shadows. ¡°To think we should feel fear from mere humans! Isn¡¯t it shameful for anomalies like us?¡± ¡°Stop! Don¡¯t put on your masks! Those who couldn¡¯t bear it and charged forward never returned!¡± ¡°Hail to the anomalies! For the glory of the underworld!¡± ¡°The Agrippa ghost in the art room, defeated! Lost! No life signs detected!¡± ¡°You fool. Believing in a topic made of marble with no physical immunity!¡± ¡°This is unbelievable. The Beethoven portrait in the music room is unresponsive. With the words ¡®Symphony Tool¡¯ written on Beethoven¡¯s portrait, he died! Blood is flowing from Beethoven¡¯s lips!¡± ¡°The anatomical specimen ghost in the biology room was found with all its organs shattered! There are letters like ¡®Arrhythmia¡¯ in the heart, ¡®Diabetes¡¯ in the kidneys, and¡ ¡®Noh Doha¡¯? Unidentifiable characters are written on the tongue like a curse!¡± ¡°No! This is outrageous! We are the strongest among the tutorial dungeons that have arrived on the Korean Penins, the school ghost story! Yet our aces are perishing without even attempting resistance?¡± ¡°Enemy shadows, approaching! They¡¯reing this way! Ahh! The shlight! That light! Our eyes!¡± ¡°Block them! Protect at all costs!¡± ¡°Heree the guards! Heree the guards!¡± ¡°Aaaahhhh! Help! Help!¡± Thus, ended a delightful session of distorting history. But no matter how much history is distorted, the truth does not disappear. Here, the truth is that all the ghosts from the first to the third floor of the school building have been cleaned up by me. Day 2 of exploration. After exorcising the ghost of the ¡°student left alone in the after-school ssroom¡± on the third floor, I installed a notice board near the staircase for easy identification. [Patrolpleted] With this, the lower floors of the school building have all turned into safe zones. We returned from the void of ¡°school ghost stories¡± to the reality of ¡°Baekhwa Girls¡¯ High School.¡± ¡°What truly matters¡ is the fourth floor, isn¡¯t it?¡± I muttered to myself. When purging the void alone, it was quite useful to constantly engage in such self-talk. ¡°It¡¯s a way to check one¡¯s consciousness.¡± If unintended murmurs emerge or if such murmurs feel like ¡°my words,¡± it¡¯s a sign that a brainwashing anomaly has appeared nearby. Of course, there were drawbacks to talking to oneself. ¡°Venturing to the fourth floor is extremely dangerous. But that¡¯s probably where the most trapped survivors are.¡± ¡°Yeah. They¡¯re probably starting to show up soon.¡± *ng!* Without hesitation, I wielded my staff-sword ¡®Doha¡¯ and stamped my shadow. ¡°Aaaaaahhh!¡± As it is now, excessive self-talk could inadvertently summon anomalies like doppelgangers. However, if precautions were taken in advance, one could deliberately continue murmuring to lure in the doppelgangers. My shadow, imprinted on the staff-sword ¡®Doha¡¯, wriggled and twisted. ¡°How? How? How?¡± ¡°It¡¯s all thanks to the triumph of civilization, anomaly.¡± With a swoosh, I pulled out the earphones from my left ear. A small microphone was attached to thepel of the security guard uniform. I was listening in real-time to my own murmurs through the earphones. Both the microphone and the earphones were connected to a smartphone, and I intentionally reproduced my voice in low quality. If there was a ¡°voiceing from the earphones recorded at apletely different distance or sound quality,¡± it would be evidence of a brainwashing anomaly nearby. And the method to purge the doppelgangers was simple. ¡°Try speaking the name of the Saintess.¡± ¡°¡? ¡¡± ¡°You can¡¯t answer. You¡¯re not me.¡± Bubbling and bubbling, the shadow boiled and then *pop*! The bubbles burst, and after they all burst, my shadow returned to normal. Since hearing the Saintess¡¯s real name for the 36th time, I never spoke to her again. As a doppelganger living only for this session, it could not have known the Saintess¡¯s real name. So, ¡®I¡¯ and ¡®you¡¯ were different. The denial of identity. As a wed anomaly, it could no longer sustain existence and copsed. ¡°You persistent one. If you¡¯re trying to brainwash me, at least bring your A-game.¡± But it wasn¡¯t over yet. I reattached the earphones and microphone. This time, I took out a walkie-talkie from my pocket. ¡°Alright. This is Security Guard Chief. Currently proceeding from the first floor, through the second and third floors, to the fourth floor. Over. Continuing night patrol as usual.¡± ¡°Copy¡¡± ¡°Gotcha.¡± Confirming the presence of a walkie-talkie anomaly that wouldn¡¯t respond. Immediately, I yed the phrase ¡°Continuing night patrol as usual¡± on loop with my phone recorder. But I sped it up tenfold. Naturally, the walkie-talkie¡¯s speed, which had to respond to my words, became urgent. ¡°Copy, copy, copy, copy.¡± ¡°Oh, quite resistant, aren¡¯t you?¡± I increased the speed to twenty times. ¡°Copy, copy, copy, copy, co¡py, copy, copy, copy, copy, copy, copy, copy, copy, copy.¡± Boom! Before 60 seconds had passed, the walkie-talkie exploded on its own. There was no value in a walkie-talkie that couldn¡¯t respond properly. ¡°This is Security Guard Chief. Proceeding to the fourth floor. ¡®Continuing night patrol as usual¡¯ on the stairs. Over.¡± ¡°¡¡± There was no response from anywhere. Just in case, I nced at the school speaker on the wall, but it remained silent too. Exorcismplete. With this, most of the brainwashing anomalies were likely eradicated. ¡°Hmm.¡± In the silence of the stairwell, I nced upwards for a moment. The fourth floor. The death floor. In the void where stairs or elevators existed, along with the ¡¯13th floor¡¯ and ¡®sub-basement 4th floor,¡¯ it was the most dangerous area. One shouldn¡¯tugh at wordy using the pronunciation of ¡®death.¡¯ It could lead to a stream of consciousness flowing through the nostrils like in the case of Egypt¡¯s Mira. ¡°ying jokes with words in the world.¡± That very act ofnguage is the essence of humanity. Wordy using homonyms forms the basis ofedy and poetry. For the human race striving to dominate the world throughnguage, it¡¯s also a cornerstone of sorcery. Wise readers would have already noticed. Yes, that¡¯s right. This is the reason why I insist on calling myself the Chief and never mention the Saintess¡¯s real name. Simply revealing the real name could be exploited for sorcery. Unless one is like Noh Doha or Tang Seorin, active in the underworld. Beings like us, who only be free when we ¡®hide our identities,¡¯ must even conceal our names under pseudonyms. [Proofreader ¨C Gun] ¡°Let¡¯s see.¡± I opened the trunk and took out ¡®money.¡¯ There were two main types of money. One was a pouch full of gold and silver coins. The other was a stack of banknotes from various countries, bundled in bundles of two hundred each. I used the stairs leading to the fourth floor as an altar and arranged gold coins, silver coins, and banknotes side by side. I even bit a silver coin with my teeth. And quietly closed my eyes to chant. ¡°¡¡± Swoosh. A faint breeze brushed against my cheek. When I opened my eyes, the money I had ced on the stairs hadpletely disappeared. ¡°Tsk¡¡± On the other hand, the silver coin I bit remained intact. I spat out the coin and tucked it back into the trunk. ¡°Goodness. The Grim Reaper really knows how to feast on a good stash of cash.¡± To enter the realm of death, or ¡®the underworld,¡¯ unscathed, I had to show some respect in my own way. That was through offering money. Depending on what kind of anomaly ruled the realm of death, the type and amount of money for offerings varied greatly. The money I had just ced on the altar included not only banknotes but also gold and silver coins from ¡®coins issued by various countries around the world.¡¯ There were even silver coins from Greece and gold coins from Venice. But here, in the ¡®school legend,¡¯ the ¡®underworld¡¯ existing didn¡¯t discriminate or bother about nationality; it simply greedily took all the offerings. That was the sound of a greedy anomaly. However, this was not bad news. On the contrary, it was almost a piece of wee news, something to embrace with open arms. ¡°Would you like me to spit out what you¡¯ve taken?¡± It was a simple transaction indeed. The more greedily they devoured the offering, the more ¡®favor¡¯ they had to bestow upon me. Kar¨®n, the ferryman of the underworld, wasn¡¯t foolish enough to set a fixed price of one silver coin for everyone, regardless of their age or gender. There was wisdom in Kar¨®n¡¯s decision to avoid protests demanding resignation due to controversies over fairness. But just now, didn¡¯t the ¡®anomaly of the underworld¡¯ consume an amount that exceeded 100 million, even without considering the historical value of gold and silver coins? And this was from someone who hadn¡¯t even died yet. This was a bribery offense with no room for excuses, no matter the religion or mythological system. Embezzlement. Corruption. Favoritism controversies. As a citizen of a staunch democratic society, all I could do was burst intoughter. I boldly walked towards the most dangerous area of the ¡®school legend.¡¯ Step by step. Step by step. As soon as I reached the fourth floor, true to its reputation as the worst area, fleshy red masses wriggled and rushed towards me from all directions¡ª ¡°¡?¡± ¡ªthey couldn¡¯t move. The crimson tentacles all froze in front of my nose. As if there were an invisible barrier surrounding my body. Drumming¡ The dark corridor. Like the mouth of hell, from the ck corridor on the other side, a gold coin rolled out with a clunk and tapped my foot. I grinned. ¡°Not epting.¡± ¡°¡¡± ¡°No refunds.¡± ¡°¡?¡± Drumming, drumming, drumming. Gold coins and silver coins rolled one after another from the other side of the corridor. As time passed, numerous coins piled up at my feet, but I paid them no mind. ¡°I said I¡¯m not taking money. Besides, if you can¡¯t pay money to humans, you¡¯ll have to pay with limbs or something for their lives, won¡¯t you?¡± ¡°¡¡± ¡°With the current interest rates, I wonder how much this coteral debt will increase. We¡¯ll see in a bit.¡± Ignoring the request for a refund, I walked on, and the illusion of fleshy masses that had surrounded me disappeared all at once. Only a normal school corridor was visible. It wasn¡¯t entirely rid of the ¡®underworld¡¯ yet. As evidence, the windows of the corridor still glowed red, and there were bloody handprints here and there. But at least for a while, my surroundings would be protected from the curse of the ¡®underworld.¡¯ Maybe that¡¯s why. Whoosh, whooo, whooo, whooo, whooo¡ª The wooden corridor echoed with cheerful footsteps. Despite that, they maintained a steady weight. The rhythm of a living organism, with the breath flowing and muscles contracting, unique to a living being. Not an anomaly, but human footsteps. ¡°Hyaaah-!¡± The rhythm of that living being was confirmed even in the foster. From the wooden corridor, a human in a white school uniform jumped over in an instant, jumping up and kicking towards me with their right foot. An excellent jump. A splendid kick. I lowered my head and grabbed the opponent¡¯s shoe. Shake. The ck-and-red Air Jordan basketball shoe paused. Although the weight of theforter was transferred along with the kick, I skillfully managed to control it with the palm of my hand. ¡°Hyaaat?¡± The opponent was perplexed. An orange ponytail swayed in the air. For a moment, our eyes met. ¡°¡ªHuman? Huh? An adult?!¡± Instead of mming the opponent onto the corridor, I gentlynded them on the ground to prevent them from breaking their waist. ¡°Ack! Huuk! Gahak!¡± The opponent staggered, unable to regain their bnce, and eventually fell on the corridor. But since I had slowed down all the momentum, they didn¡¯t seem to have suffered any injuries. ¡°Ow¡ um, wait. An adult? Really an adult?¡± ¡°Mhm.¡± I nodded. ¡°Yeah, I¡¯m human.¡± ¡°Aaah¡! F-finally! You¡¯vee to save me!¡± Their face turned pale. Although their appearance was quite different from when we metter on, the name tag attached to their front pocket proved that the person in front of me was indeed the one I had been searching for. The Awakened one who wouldter be the strongest necromancer in the Korean Penins. Former runner-up in the national high school basketball girls¡¯ division. Her main position was point guard. The 113th student council president of Baekhwa Girls¡¯ High School. A unique witness linked to the cult ¡®Mugan.¡¯ Cheon Yohwa. Heavenly silk, lonely longing, and the potential for transformation. A name imbued with a hint of the transcendent. Finally, the moment hade when I encountered my target in the worst tutorial dungeon. [Proofreader ¨C Gun] Chapter 90 â€“ The Pursuer IV [Proofreader ¨C Gun] Chapter 90 ©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤ The Pursuer IV 7 One thing that needs to be emphasized again at this point is that the path to defeating the anomalies isn¡¯t a one-way street; it¡¯s always a two-way street. ¡°I came to rescue? Kid, what are you talking about? I¡¯m caught too.¡± In short, my response to the child in front of me wasn¡¯t because I¡¯m a bad-tempered sadist, nor was it because I¡¯m the eldest of the Eagle Brothers. ¡°You?¡± ¡°Can¡¯t you see my name tag? I¡¯m a security guard here, a security guard. Oh my. When I came to my senses, the school had bepletely strange.¡± ¡°Oh¡ You¡¯re a security guard, sir¡¡± I felt sorry for the kid, but I had no intention of deviating even 1cm from my security guard role-ying. The reason I could handle the anomalies in the ¡®school legend¡¯ was firstly because of the rice I had umted as a regressor, and secondly because of the role of ¡®security guard.¡¯ If I were a security guard, it wouldn¡¯t be strange for me to ¡®casually wander around the school.¡¯ That was part of a security guard¡¯s job. If I were a security guard, it wouldn¡¯t be strange for me to ¡®know how to deal with strange incidents in the school.¡¯ That was a security guard¡¯s ability. In other words, the moment the mask of ¡®night patrol security guard¡¯ was broken, I would lose all the advantages I had enjoyed so far. I had to help the castaways of the school legend within the limits of my role-ying. And for a seasoned regressor, such restrictions were not even penalties. ¡°Kid, why do you look so pale? Are you eating well? Here, have some.¡± ¡°Eh? ¡Oh, chocte?¡± It wasn¡¯t just ordinary chocte. It was the strongest dessert on earth. It was a beautiful Crunchy chocte wrapped in golden paper. ¡°Can I really eat this?¡± ¡°Of course. I¡¯m giving it to you to eat.¡± A momentter. ¡°Aaaah!¡± The effect of the Crunchy chocte bar was tremendous. ¡°We, we didn¡¯t do anything wrong. We just woke up in the dorm and came to school, and suddenly, ghosts appeared, and all the teachers were gone. The ghosts chased us¡ in the ssrooms, in the bathrooms, on the yground, in the cafeteria, on the rooftop, everywhere¡ my friends, so many of them died¡¡± ¡°That¡¯s right, that¡¯s right.¡± ¡°I¡¯m the student council president, but, sniff. I should be helping the others, but I, I was too busy running away. I¡¯m sorry, I was scared¡¡± The 117th Cheon Yohwa waspletely different from the previous ones, even though she was undoubtedly the same person. She was focused. The intensity of her emotions was high. In other words, shecked experience points. ¡°It¡¯s okay. Whether you¡¯re the student council president or not, you¡¯re all just young students. Just surviving is already remarkable.¡± ¡°Aah¡¡± ¡®Complete Cheon Yohwa¡¯ still needed years of pain and patience to level up. The child in front of me would lead the survivor group until the number of students decreased from 750 to 17. But there were clearly advantages to being ipletepared to beingplete. That¡¯s why I had thrown myself into the school legend. ¡°There¡¯s plenty of chocte, so eat slowly. How did you manage to escape from the ghosts?¡± ¡°¡Sniff. A strange-looking fairy periodically gave us quests? Something like, missions. If wepleted them, we were guaranteed food and a ce to sleep for a short while¡ Originally, I was with the other kids, but as soon as this quest started, we were forced to scatter because of the fairy¡¡± ¡°I see.¡± I replied nonchntly, but my heart skipped a beat. Because the situation described by Cheon Yohwa was exactly what I had been longing for. ¡®¡Indeed. Cheon Yohwa of this era is clearly aware of the anomalies.¡¯ Not only the ghosts in the school legend but also the fairies in the tutorial. Originally, previous Cheon Yohwas couldn¡¯t even recognize fairies. Brainwashing. Or the influence of perception distortion. But the current Cheon Yohwa could detect anomalies after all. She saw the anomalies as anomalies. ¡®This means that in the future, she will change so that she can¡¯t recognize anomalies anymore¡ What could be the trigger for that?¡¯ I had to find out from now on. I smiled kindly. ¡°You¡¯ve been through a lot, kid. You must be hungry too. Would you like to eat this?¡± ¡°Ah¡¡± I turned on myntern and moved. Then Cheon Yohwa hesitated, put down the cup ramen container, and followed. ¡°Wait, security guard. Can¡¯t you take me with you too?¡± ¡°Hmm? The student?¡± ¡°Yes! Um, before the kids were forcibly separated, I was in a sort of leadership position. There were many good kids, but also some who were a bit distracted¡ Um. Seeing the supplies you have, they might get some, well, not-so-good ideas¡¡± I chuckled inwardly. It was a wee sound. After all, my original purpose was to apany Cheon Yohwa. However, there was a difference in voluntariness between proposing here and deciding for oneself over there. I subtly dangled the bait, and she admirably took it. ¡°The student will protect me?¡± ¡°Hahaha¡ That¡¯s too much. I saw you earlier, and you seemed really strong. I¡¯ll just assist you so that nothing bothers you unnecessarily!¡± I chuckled softly too, finding it amusing to y along with her yful punches. ¡°Is the student following me because you want more cup ramen?¡± ¡°Uh, busted¡ But, um. In situations like this, I think it¡¯s important to stick together as a group. I¡¯ll always be by your side to help!¡± ¡°Hmm.¡± Taking the lead from emptiness meant not only taking on the most dangerous role but also entrusting one¡¯s back to this side. It meant standing in a position where betrayal was out of the question. ¡°Yeah, if the student council president says so emphatically, I should trust her. Let¡¯s stick together for the time being.¡± ¡°Yes! Thank you, sir!¡± We walked along the fourth-floor corridor. Suddenly, I noticed Cheon Yohwa¡¯s head. Bandages with bloody scabs. Traces of betrayal. Emotional trauma. ¡°¡.¡± ¡°By the way, security guard, have you heard any news from outside? Except for the information the fairy sporadically gave us, we don¡¯t know anything.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know exactly either. But sometimes, we catch some news from the radio in the security guard¡¯s office, and it¡¯s not much different from here. The country has copsed, the army has been annihted, that kind of talk.¡± ¡°Ugh¡ Then, there won¡¯t be any rescue teamsing for us¡?¡± ¡°I doubt it.¡± ¡°Probably not¡¡± Cheon Yohwa¡¯s shoulders visibly slumped. ¡°It¡¯s probably unlikely, but we should also be prepared for news about our families outside. The world has been greatly damaged.¡± ¡°Oh, well. I¡¯m not really worried about my family. They were just nobles who got caught up in some weird cult and did strange things anyway.¡± ¡°Hmm. A cult.¡± Thud, thud. Apart from our footsteps and voices, the whole school was deste. But there was no time to be bored. ¡°Originally, time flows differently between here and the outside.¡± ¡°Oh, really?¡± ¡°How long do you think has passed since the students got trapped here?¡± ¡°Well¡ There were days I skipped, but overall, based on waking up and going to bed, it¡¯s been at least around 390 days¡¡± ¡°Outside, it hasn¡¯t been three months yet.¡± ¡°That¡¯s impossible! Really?¡± Cheon Yohwa¡¯s reactions were exaggerated and colorful, with each response seeming over the top. Unlike the previous Necromancer Cheon Yohwas who smiled like dolls for some reason. ¡®I guess she was always like this.¡¯ It was surprising. Even though life had reached its 117th turn, there were still wells of people I hadn¡¯t peered into yet. ¡°¡Sir.¡± Cheon Yohwa lowered her voice. Human voices were fascinating, able to convey a lot of information with simple vibrations and casual titles. I immediately focused ahead. nk, nk, nk, thud. [Proofreader ¨C Gun] A ghost wasing out of a ssroom door on the other side of the corridor. But it wasn¡¯t walking; it wasing out headfirst. The ghost didn¡¯t just sway like a willow tree; it moved its headpletely while traveling. With each movement, the ghost¡¯s skull shattered, sttering blood around. Thud, thud, thud, thunk. But the skull fragments and blood spilled on the corridor quickly gathered back together to form the shape of a head again. So, every time the ghost¡¯s head hit the ground, it repeated its death. ¡°Ah¡ the head-banging ghost¡¡± Cheon Yohwa muttered, slightly unsettled. ¡°Do you know that ghost?¡± ¡°Yes, well¡ I¡¯ve bumped into it a few times. It¡¯s not too fast, so it¡¯s easy to run away. But if you get too close, it suddenly teleports to the yground and falls down like rain.¡± ¡°Sounds like you¡¯re speaking from experience.¡± ¡°No. I¡¯ve seen a few who fell from the roof¡ Seventeen of them died falling. So, we just call it the suicide ghost instead of the head-banging ghost.¡± Thud, thud, thud, thunk. The ghost entered ssrooms one by one and came out from the front, gradually getting closer to us. Dealing with the creature here was straightforward. I had at least four exorcism spells that came to mind instantly. But I chose ¡®Wait¡¯ from themands. Cheon Yohwa had just joined my party. Testing her abilities as a neer was customary. ¡°Alright. Please wait a moment.¡± Cheon Yohwa didn¡¯t refuse this implicit test either. The sound of deep inhaling echoed in the dim corridor. ¡°¡No. Fear¡ is¡¡± Muttering. I listened in, enhancing my hearing. ¡°I¡¯m not afraid. Cheon Yohwa is a human who isn¡¯t afraid of ghosts. Cheon Yohwa is brave¡¡± Darkness gathered around Cheon Yohwa¡¯s silhouette, tensing up. It was as if a taut rubber band was about to snap, and she burst forward. Her movements were agile, as I had admired in our first encounter. ¡®Above average movements for a civilian,¡¯ I¡¯d say. But Cheon Yohwa wasn¡¯t just an ordinary civilian; she was an awakened one. And having survived 390 days in a tutorial dungeon of unprecedented difficulty had made her one of the strongest awakened beings in the penins, whether she realized it or not. Her potential had already been verified. ¡®For someone who just awakened, she¡¯s almost on par with the ghost.¡¯ When the distance narrowed to about four meters, Cheon Yohwa slowed down. Then, with a graceful motion like a gymnast, she assumed a handstand. Thud, thud, thud, thunk! Cheon Yohwa¡¯s legs spun like a windmill, maintaining the inverted posture. If a professional breakdancer had seen her, they would have immediately scouted her for their team. The ghost¡¯s body wobbled as Cheon Yohwa kicked it. With each blow, its bnce faltered until it inevitably tilted after being hit from the second, third, fourth ssroom in a row. ¡°Euaahhh!¡± Cheon Yohwa grabbed the ghost¡¯s hair and pulled. Then, with a swift motion, she jumped up from her handstand position. The ghost, with its hair held tightly, had no choice but to be lifted. ¡°Oh, wow.¡± I almost whistled unconsciously. ¡®The ghost that moves with its head flipped upside down now stands straight.¡¯ It was a w in its design. Cheon Yohwa, whether guided by innate intuition or identally stumbled upon the strategy, didn¡¯t matter. In battles against creatures like this, only the results mattered. Thunk! The ghost, with its hair caught by Cheon Yohwa, transformed from top to bottom into a pulp and fell to the ground with a thud. In less than seven seconds, its legs, torso, upper body, and head were all shattered into pieces on the corridor. Even thest remaining strand of hair slipped through Cheon Yohwa¡¯s fingers. Cheon Yohwa recoiled, shaking her hand in disgust. ¡°Ugh, that feels awful¡ Anyway, how was that, Mr. Security Guard? Did I fight well enough?¡± ¡°It¡¯s not just about fighting well. There¡¯s a reason you were chosen as the leader. I¡¯ll rely on you from now on.¡± ¡°Hehe. Sure thing!¡± The oue of this battle wasn¡¯t just about confirming Cheon Yohwa¡¯sbat abilities. After all, that girl had be one of the strongest awakened beings on the penins alongside me, even if left alone. Her potential had already been tested. The true achievementy elsewhere. ¡®That girl. She was brainwashed a little while ago.¡¯ The secret to Cheon Yohwa¡¯s empowerment. Just before she charged at the head-banging ghost, Cheon Yohwa undoubtedly muttered to herself. ¡°I¡¯m not afraid.¡± ¡°Cheon Yohwa isn¡¯t afraid of ghosts.¡± ¡°Cheon Yohwa is brave.¡± It was far from a mere prayer to boost courage. Because Cheon Yohwa¡¯s ability was necromancy, more precisely, the ¡®ability to input the thought processes and behavioral principles of NPCs.¡¯ ¡®She was gradually altering even her own thought processes and behavioral principles, little by little, for survival andbat advantage.¡¯ I checked the ssroom where the head-banging ghost had emerged. Searching discreetly in ces like lockers, under desks, and drawers, I found the same talismans I discovered in the bathroom. All of them bore curses written in human blood. On the attendance book ced on the teacher¡¯s desk, perhaps because this was her ssroom, the name ¡®Cheon Yohwa¡¯ was written. ¡°¡.¡± ¡°Sir, it seems like there¡¯s no one around here! Let¡¯s check the other side this time! There are definitely kids hiding nearby to avoid the head-banging ghost!¡± The window was red. The broken windows spilled out the flesh of white birch trees, dripping blood as they poured onto the corridor. The entire hallway was dyed crimson with the scattered remains. ¡°Alright.¡± I lightly waved back at Cheon Yohwa, who energetically waved her arms towards me. How did that child end up unable to recognize the monsters? Why did she be interested in the ¡®Otherworld¡¯? And why were there so many curse talismans stered all over Baekhwa Girls¡¯ High School? The answers were beginning to form in my mind. [Proofreader ¨C Gun] Chapter 91 â€“ The Pursuer V [Proofreader ¨C Gun] Chapter 91 ©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤ The Pursuer V 8 Following this, the operation to eliminate the school ghost went smoothly. Cheon Yohwa and I continued to patrol the school. Whenever we found survivors, we immediately transported them to the ¡®safe zone.¡¯ The survivors shed tears of joy. ¡°Are the ghosts¡gone?¡± ¡°We can use the bathrooms freely!¡± ¡°Thank you, security officer!¡± ¡°Ah, but there are still corpses¡ Well, we¡¯ve seen plenty of them already.¡± ¡°Damn, this cup ramen is so delicious¡¡± Since the first to third floors were mostly dered ¡®safe zones,¡¯ there was plenty of space for the students to stay. The main concern was providing food and maintaining hygiene for the hundreds of survivors. Fortunately, I had packed my trunk with enough supplies to handle the hygiene part. Food, however, was another story. The trunk I obtained in the 115th turn boasted a capacity akin to a subspace, but it was no more than an ordinary study in size. It wasn¡¯t romantically spacious like the ¡°mysteriouslyrger than a mansion¡± studies often described in fantasy novels. Luckily, the Korean Penins, once one of the world¡¯s poorest regions, had a knack for quickly resolving food shortages (though this applied to only 50% of the area). ¡°Let¡¯s use the cafeteria.¡± ¡°Ew.¡± Yeohwa grimaced. She had a natural talent for expressing words like ¡®disgust¡¯ and ¡®contempt¡¯ using only her facial muscles. ¡°Are you talking about the first-floor cafeteria? That ce is¡ I¡¯ve only been there once, but it¡¯s really full of ghosts.¡± ¡°Of course it is. Didn¡¯t you know? Ghosts typically gather in bathrooms, bedrooms, and kitchens.¡± ¡°No, I didn¡¯t know¡¡± The dominant ghost in Baekhwa Girls¡¯ High School¡¯s cafeteria was the ¡®Human Flesh Restaurant.¡¯ 1. Meals were served in the cafeteria daily. 2. The meat in these meals included human flesh. 3. Those who consumed this flesh quickly became addicted, craving more human flesh until they turned into cannibals. If deprived of human flesh for even a few days, they went mad. Ghosts rted to human flesh weremonly found in the Void. They appeared frequently in areas whererge-scale massacres urred, and this school ghost story was no exception, given that hundreds had already been ughtered. The Void was a more brutal environment than Antarctica. When faced with the choice of ¡°starve tomorrow or go mad in a month or three,¡± even seasoned Awakened beings had no choice but to resort to cannibalism. However, the school ghost story was slightly different. ¡°Did the meals here usually include good portions?¡± ¡°What? Oh, no. Dinner was okay, but breakfast and lunch were terrible. Living in the dorms was tough.¡± ¡°Then there¡¯s nothing to worry about. The meals are served separately in stainless steel trays, right?¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°As long as you stick to the veggie dishes, you¡¯ll be safe. From now on, breakfast and lunch will be the main meals.¡± If eating human flesh would drive you insane, just avoid it and eat everything else! Usually, breaking through the ¡®Human Flesh Restaurant¡¯ in other Voids wasn¡¯t so simple. Korea, harsh on vegans, had Voids that targeted meat lovers with restaurants specializing in stir-fried pork, soups, and pork cutlets. Unless there were menus like Aglio Olio or easily separable dishes like burgers, it was challenging to avoid meat in most Void restaurants. But schools and the military were different. Unlike other areas, these two groups took life very seriously, being true to veganism. In my view, the human flesh-infested cafeteria at Baekhwa Girls¡¯ High School was just an excellent source of nutrients. ¡°You can even use ghosts this way¡¡± Receiving meals from the ghostly cafeteria workers, Yeohwa looked both amazed and disgusted. ¡°There are surprisingly useful ghosts if you get rid of your prejudices.¡± ¡°Maybe¡ Oh. The stir-fried anchovies are good. So good, it¡¯s unsettling! Are you sure this is safe, security officer?¡± I nced at Yeohwa¡¯s profile. The student council president was staring down at her tray with aplicated expression. I remembered our first meeting at the school gate during the 5th turn, recruiting Yeohwa. -Your abilities are potent, Yeohwa. Whether you turn corpses or living people into zombies, I¡¯m not sure. -Corpse? Back then, Yeohwa couldn¡¯t grasp the word ¡®corpse.¡¯ The same probably applied to ¡®human flesh.¡¯ Survival-induced brainwashing. Considering what the 17 survivors ate for four years, it wasn¡¯t hard to guess. Indeed, all members of the Baekhwa High School Guild were addicted to human flesh, going mad if they didn¡¯t consume it every four days. ¡°¡This isn¡¯t a particrly clever idea. If more time had passed, the students would have reached the same conclusion.¡± ¡°Us?¡± ¡°Yes. And this solution isn¡¯t permanent. Eat as much as you can while itsts. I¡¯ll also pack as much longsting food as possible.¡± ¡°¡?¡± My prediction was correct. A weekter, the cafeteria menu began to change. ¡°Hey, security officer. Doesn¡¯t it seem like there¡¯s more meat now?¡± ¡°Hmm.¡± The strange beings moved as if they were alive. In terms of the pace of life, these beings were far more urgent and hastypared to humans. While humans evolved slowly over thousands or millions of years, filtering mutations through the web of time, these beings could transform entirely within a single day. As a result¡ ¡°Ah. Two-thirds of the side dishes are¡ meat.¡± Cheon Yohwa¡¯s stainless steel tray wasvishly filled. There were chicken drumsticks, beef radish soup, mini meat patties, and boiled pork slices. The only non-meat items were vegetable curry, white rice, and sd. In the past, this could have been photographed and posted online with the title [Can you believe this is a high school lunch these days?], drawing both admiration and envy from the older generation. ¡°Throw away everything except the vegetable curry, rice, and sd.¡± ¡°Yes¡ Ugh, what a waste!¡± Yeohwa threw away the side dishes into the waste bin, looking distressed. ¡°Yesterday, someone couldn¡¯t resist and took a bite of the cheese pork cutlet. I scolded them a lot, but I could understand their feelings¡¡± ¡°A bite or two should be fine. But if they keep eating more, it will be the end. At least we still have curry. Soon, there might be nothing but in rice left.¡± ¡°Ugh. The nutritional value is terrible. If only we had protein supplements¡¡± It was obvious that the food situation would deteriorate quickly. But we didn¡¯t just sit around doing nothing. We increased our patrols, exploring the entire Void, and as a result, we secured over 150 survivors. We almostpletely eradicated the school ghost stories. The school building, which had bizarrely expanded to 13 floors, returned to its original 4-story structure. The yground and dormitories were also restored. ¡Though we also found over 500 corpses. Compared to the previous turns where only 17 survived, the 117th turn was significantly better. Thanks to urately locating the victims this time, future turns would improve even more. But let¡¯s focus on the 117th turn for now. ¡°Are the funerals over, sir?¡± On the yground. Wooden desks and chairs were piled up and burning like a campfire. The ck smoke was harsh due to the poor quality of the wood, but the mes were well-contained, rising straight up to the sky. At least it served as a decent rope to guide souls to heaven. ¡°Yes, it just finished.¡± ¡°Hehe. Did our kids cry a lot this time too?¡± ¡°Crying is good. Just asughter knows no borders, neither do tears.¡± Yeohwa stood beside me with her hands behind her back. The sky of Baekhwa Girls¡¯ High School, tainted by the Void, was always blood-red. [Proofreader ¨C Gun] The red spider lilies surrounding the school building were equally red. The only things not red were the white birch trees, which formed a white iron cage, imprisoning the school. No matter how many strange beings we defeated, the spider lilies and birch trees never disappeared. ¡°Indeed. Holding a funeral seems to have eased the kids¡¯ minds a bit. You even gathered all the ashes. Nowadays, they make small pouches of their friends¡¯ ashes to wear around their necks.¡± ¡°To give to their families when they meet them?¡± ¡°Yep. Even if they can¡¯t, it still serves as a charm.¡± ¡°It must be hard for you at your age to take care of the dead. You¡¯re admirable.¡± ¡°Haha¡ Ah, here, have this!¡± Yeohwa handed me a rice ball. White rice with stir-fried anchovies wrapped in seaweed. Now, there were extremely few side dishes without meat. Some students had formed a cooking team to transform the cafeteria food into something edible. ¡°Thank you.¡± Of course, this was still a feast for me. By tomorrow, even the stir-fried anchovies would likely be gone. The day after, even the rice would turn into Bolognese pasta. Though I had stored some longsting food separately, it would onlyst a few days at most. The hourss of the school ghost story was rapidly building a pyramid in the desert. Yeohwa looked up at the blood-red sky. ¡°Sir, when will we ever escape this hell¡?¡± ¡°Tomorrow.¡± Yeohwa¡¯s eyes turned to me. ¡°Tell the other students to wait near the school gate, ready to escape at any time. Yeohwa, youe with me.¡± ¡°¡¡± ¡°By tomorrow, we will carve out the heart of this Void.¡± 9 The upper floors of the school, including the dormitory, academic building, old school building, yground, and auditorium, had been thoroughly searched. Naturally, the strange beings were also exterminated. The total number of beings eradicated by me and some of the remaining students was 99. Of all numbers, it had to be 99. It was an almost miraculous achievement, yet the blood-red sky of the ¡°school ghost story¡± remained intact. This meant there were still hidden beings lurking somewhere. And I had an idea of where the secret hideout might be. ¡°It¡¯s underground.¡± Cheon Yohwa blinked. ¡°Underground? But our school doesn¡¯t really have an underground¡ There are small basement storage rooms here and there, but that¡¯s about it.¡± Indeed, there were no stairs leading down from the first floor in any of the buildings. Yes, stairs. As you might have realized by now, the most prominent mode of transportation in the Void wasn¡¯t stairs. ¡°Yeohwa, we¡¯re going to take the elevator down.¡± ¡°Elevator? Where would an elevator be¡ Oh, no way?¡± Yes, that way. Yeohwa and I gathered our supplies and headed to the old school building. Although it was called the old school building, it was still in use as a club building and wasn¡¯t too dpidated. A service elevator for meals was installed in the old school building. Dumbwaiter, lift¡ªthere were many names for it, but students just called it the meal elevator. It wasn¡¯t designed for people, but it was still a proper ¡®elevator.¡¯ ¡°Alright, you go in first.¡± ¡°No way. I¡¯ve always wondered what it would be like to go inside, but I never thought I actually would¡ Ahh! Sir, no! It¡¯s too cramped! Really cramped¡ Huh? Surprisingly spacious¡¡± ¡°In the Void, physical space has little meaning.¡± Crash. We squeezed into the elevator and turned on a shlight. Surprisingly, there were buttons visible. [B001] [B005] [B009] [B013] [B002] [B006] [B010] [B014] [B003] [B007] [B011] [B015] [B004] [B008] [B012] [B016] Yeohwa shuddered as the shlight revealed the wall of buttons. ¡°Sixteen basement floors? There¡¯s no way our school has sixteen unexplored basement floors! This is crazy! Sir, this won¡¯t be over in a day or two¡¡± ¡°Don¡¯t worry. It¡¯s not the numbers, but the pattern we need to understand.¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°Look at the buttons. Four rows and four columns. It¡¯s just a way to represent the number 4.¡± ¡°Ah¡¡± ¡°Press any button. It doesn¡¯t matter which one.¡± ¡°Uh, okay. Here goes.¡± Yeohwa extended her finger and pressed the button for the 12th floor. Clunk! The elevator jolted. Yeohwa yelped and grabbed my shoulder. Clunk, clunk¡ At that moment, the elevator buttons began to flicker red. [ËÀ444] [ËÀ444] [ËÀ444] [ËÀ444] [ËÀ444] [ËÀ444] [ËÀ444] [ËÀ444] [ËÀ444] [ËÀ444] [ËÀ444] [ËÀ444] [ËÀ444] [ËÀ444] [ËÀ444] [ËÀ444] [PR/N: Death symbol again.] The red light from the buttons bathed the inside of the elevator in a sinister glow. ¡°¡¡± Yeohwa swallowed hard. The red light, though no different from ordinary LED lights, felt viscous, like sticky liquid. The red hue oozed from the buttons, clinging to our bodies. Clunk! The elevator jerked violently like an old boat docking at a pier. Then, the door slowly descended, revealing not the false ground level, but ¡®Basement 4,¡¯ the true ¡®afterlife¡¯ of the school ghost story. ¡°Step out slowly. Follow me exactly, step for step. Don¡¯t walk more or less.¡± ¡°Y-Yes. This ce¡¡± Yeohwa cautiously exited the elevator, looking around. There was no need for a long observation. ¡°A hospital¡?¡± Because the scenery was the same, endlessly repeating. White hospital corridors and ceilings. There were no patients or doctors, just eerily clean beds lined up along the corridors. Transparent IV lines hung over each bed like suspension bridges. The corridor seemed infinite. ¨D¨DI had seen this exact scene, albeit briefly, during the 89th turn. ¡®Endless.¡¯ Yes. The 89th turn was when I witnessed Endless. Prison, school, hospital, swimming pool, movie theater, scenes from a screen chaotically ovepping and merging. A vision. No, a maddening spectacle. ¡®¡So this was the main base.¡¯ The true body of the alien god Endless. It had nested in the infernal Endless of Baekhwa Girls¡¯ High School¡¯s Basement 4. [Proofreader ¨C Gun] Chapter 92 â€“ The Pursuer VI [Proofreader ¨C Gun] Chapter 92 ©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤ The Pursuer VI 10 Baekhwa Girls¡¯ High School. More precisely, there were quite a few signs that the ¡°School Ghost Story¡± was the nest of the Void. First and foremost, the scenery of the school was decisive evidence. In the 89th turn, when my consciousness briefly touched upon the Lord of the Fairies, I saw the Hell of the Void, and its scenery was like this. [The school was an abandoned building made of wood. The name Baekhwa flickered.] [The sky was bright red. Broken windows, and birch trees with white bark extended into the school¡¯s hallways, scratching their way through shards of ss. The school was impaled on a white stake, its body a wreck.] No matter how I looked at it, it was the same as the school ghost story. Of course, there were differences. For example, the school¡¯s name. Originally, the Baekhwa in Baekhwa Girls¡¯ High School meant ¡°white flower.¡± Although ¡®°×¡¯ (white) and ¡®°Ù¡¯ (hundred) looked somewhat simr, they were clearly different characters. [PR/N: Keeping the original characters here so easier to understand.] But as I emphasized before, wordy, or ¡°ying with words,¡± is the basis of sorcery. My theory was as follows. The ¡®white¡¯ in Baekhwa was embodied by birch trees with white bark. Walking through the hallways of any building, whether new or old, you could see white birch trees sticking out through broken windows. These birch trees embodied the concept of ¡®white.¡¯ The space once upied by ¡®white¡¯ was eventually taken over by ¡®hundred¡¯, a homophone. A simple wordy. Then what about the ¡®flower¡¯ in Baekhwa? This was also simple. Despite eradicating 99 strange beings, there were only two things that did not revert to their original state at Baekhwa Girls¡¯ High School. The birch trees, standing like prison bars. And the red spider lilies blooming all around. These bright red spider lilies had taken the ce of the ¡®flower¡¯. In reality, the strange beings had stolen their words, transforming ¡®white flower¡¯ into ¡®red flower,¡¯ and the world had been taken over by the Void. No matter how many strange beings were eradicated, the name ¡°Baekhwa¡± itself¡ the final sorcery of the strange being remained intact. ¡°This is my interpretation.¡± ¡°Wow¡ I never thought of it that way. I always wondered why the birch trees and spider lilies stayed the same while everything else returned to normal¡¡± Step. Step. We were walking through an empty hospital. The ceiling, pirs, and floor were all bleached white, stretching endlessly. Where we were. When we were. Unable to anchor our senses, Yeohwa and I kept our awareness by talking to each other. ¡°The corridor just keeps repeating. Is there no exit¡?¡± ¡°Hang in there a little longer.¡± This was why pairs were important. Even if Yeohwa¡¯sbat ability was much lower than mine, being together in the Void was far more advantageous than being alone. The basic unit of the world formed by humans was not an atom, but ¡®me and the other.¡¯ ¡°Hmm. Oh, right! Sir, how do we get rid of the birch trees and spider lilies? Can we just cut them down?¡± ¡°I tried, but they grew back.¡± ¡°Ugh¡¡± ¡°They may look like trees and flowers, but they are actually strange beings. Most strange beings can be dealt with by force, but some are immune to physical attacks. For those, we need to find their weakness.¡± ¡°Weakness¡¡± This was why we used school desks as firewood for the victims¡¯ funerals instead of birch trees. Burning the body of a strange being seemed ominous. Toxic fumes from the desks were less harmful. ¡°But, considering all that¡ isn¡¯t the weakness of the strange being ¡®Baekhwa¡¯ still unknown? It doesn¡¯t move like other ghosts, and we don¡¯t know what it is. Oh, does it have a weakness hidden on the 4th basement floor?¡± ¡°Close enough.¡± Step. Following my footsteps, Yeohwa¡¯s lighter steps echoed. As I warned when we entered, Yeohwa matched my steps perfectly. ¡°Stop here.¡± ¡°Oh, yes.¡± ¡°You can move freely for the next ten steps. Find afortable position now. Make sure you take exactly ten steps.¡± ¡°¡? What¡¯s the point?¡± ¡°After ten steps, it will be exactly the 4,444th step.¡± ¡°¡¡± I opened the trunk and took out candles, cing them around us. Soon, exactly 100 candles were lined up like a birch forest in the corridor. I sat in the middle of the candles, cing Yeohwa across from me. Snap- With a snap of my fingers, a hundred candles simultaneously ignited. It was an application of aura. ¡°Sir, this is¡¡± ¡°Yeohwa, we¡¯re going to perform a ritual now.¡± ¡°¡¡± ¡°Have youpleted your ten steps?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°You asked earlier about the weaknesses of the birch trees and spider lilies, right? The ritual we¡¯re about to focus on will be that weakness. The ritual is simple. Have you ever told ghost stories with your friends on a summer trip?¡± ¡°Yes, I have.¡± ¡°Good. It¡¯s just like that. You and I will take turns talking about the ghosts we¡¯ve encountered, including the ones the other students have defeated. Altogether, there are ¡®99¡¯ strange beings. We¡¯ll recount each of them.¡± ¡°¡¡± ¡°Then you can start.¡± ¡°Ah, okay. Um, this is a ghost I saw myself. Recently, while walking on the 4th floor of the school, I heard a faint thumping sound in the distance¡¡± Quietly. A ghost story flowed in a low voice. The hundred candles flickered, and the white hospital corridor lights hummed. Between the red mes on the ground and the white mes on the ceiling, Yeohwa looked nkly at me. ¡°¡That¡¯s the end of my story.¡± ¡°Good.¡± Snap. With a snap of my fingers, one candle went out. A thin stream of gray smoke rose towards the ceiling. ¡°Oh¡¡± ¡°Now it¡¯s my turn. This is from my own experience. In the third stall of the men¡¯s restroom at Baekhwa Girls¡¯ High School, there¡¯s a ghost named Hanako. If you enter that stall and spin around thirteen times¡¡± One. Two. Three. Four. The candles went out one by one. Each time, a small puff of smoke was offered to the sky, and the dried-out candle wick emitted a ck, foul odor. Yeohwa¡¯s shoulders trembled. Flicker- Yeohwa noticed something strange around the 40th me. ¡°¡Sir, look. The corridor lights.¡± ¡°I know. Don¡¯t worry.¡± The hospital corridor lights were going out. From a distance. One by one, at one-meter intervals. The 4th basement floor of hell had no exits or windows. The hospital corridor that seemed to repeat endlessly turned pitch ck as the lights went out. ¡°Let¡¯s continue. It¡¯s your turn.¡± ¡°¡Yes.¡± Flicker. The darkness in the corridor was breathing, closing in. From both sides. Like footsteps following footsteps, every time we breathed, their breathing got a bit closer. ¡°This is a story I heard from a friend. It¡¯s about a ghost named Krashu, which has no body but a head with only entrails hanging from it¡¡± Flicker. Flicker. Flicker. Flicker- [Proofreader ¨C Gun] We picked up the pace with our stories. The footsteps of darkness quickened in response. Each time a light went out, Yeohwa flinched. ¡°My story¡ ends here.¡± Before we knew it, the surroundings had turned cold. The hospital corridor that seemed to stretch on endlessly now felt like it was only a narrow strip. ¡°¡¡± ¡°¡¡± Flicker- Only one corridor light remained. Only one candle remained, the other 99 swallowed by the darkness, struggling to emit itsst gasps of light. ¡°Alright. Now it¡¯s my turn¡¡± ¡°Sir.¡± Yeohwa suddenly spoke up. ¡°You¡¯re not really our school security guard, are you?¡± ¡°¡¡± ¡°It seemed a bit strange. I¡¯ve lived in the dormitory for a long time, so I know all the security guards by face. But I¡¯ve never seen your face before. When we first met, I was too distracted, and you were in uniform with a shlight, so I thought you were a newly hired guard¡ But when I asked the others, nobody knew you. Still, you¡¯ve been helping us all along¡¡± I thought for a moment and then nodded. ¡°That¡¯s right. I¡¯m not.¡± After all, the 4th basement floor wasn¡¯t the school. It was shaped like a hospital. There was no need to continue the role-ying as the ¡®school security guard.¡¯ ¡°I see. Then¡ why are you helping us?¡± ¡°To exterminate the void that has settled here. The school ghost story. The hell of the void.¡± ¡°The hell of the void¡¡± ¡°But I¡¯ll tell you about my identity tomorrow. For now, let¡¯s focus on exterminating the strange being that has driven you to death. Can you trust me?¡± ¡°¡¡± Yeohwa¡¯s orange ponytail bobbed like a flickering candle. ¡°Yes. Of course.¡± ¡°Good. Then it¡¯s time for thest story. This is a ghost story from Japan. Have you heard of the ¡®Hundred Stories¡¯?¡± ¡°The Hundred Stories?¡± A collection of Japanese ghost stories known as ¡°Hyakumonogatari¡±. ¡°The method to summon this ghost is simple. People gather and light a hundred candles, taking turns telling ghost stories, one by one, letting them out with fire and smoke.¡± ¡°¡¡± ¡°Yeah. Just like us now.¡± Thest candle flickered. ¡°ording to the legend, when all 100 candles go out, the person who tells the 100th story dies.¡± ¡°Dies¡¡± ¡°Or a ghost appears. We are already on the 4th basement floor of the underworld. Someone in the underworld can¡¯t die again, so a ghost has to appear.¡± ¡°¡¡± ¡°But this is where it gets interesting. In the original legend, the ghost that appears at the end of the 100 stories is called Aoandon, and it appears when a bluentern is lit.¡± Flicker. I pressed the shlight button, and a blue LED light swept through the darkness. ¡°But the ghost that will appear here is not Aoandon.¡± ¡°Then¡?¡± ¡°The name of this school is Baekhwa, which means white flower. But as I mentioned before, the characters of Baekhwa were taken over by the ghost stories.¡± I pulled out a brush pen and began writing on the white floor of the corridor. ¡°Void is an empty ce. It takes over the original world¡¯s ce, making it a void, and then imprints its existence. So, the characters that reced the original Baekhwa are¡¡± One hundred stories. ¡°¡¡± ¡°In different countries, the usage of characters can vary subtly. In Japan, the concept of ¡®story¡¯ is expressed with the two characters (monogatari).¡± I moved the brush pen. ¡°For example, the Arabian Nights, known as ¡®One Thousand and One Nights,¡¯ is tranted in Japan as (Senya Ichiya Monogatari). In Korea, it¡¯s simply tranted as (Cheon Il Ya Hwa). So, the concept expressed with the two characters in Japan corresponds to one character, (hwa), in Korea.¡± ¡°So¡ the ghost story of ¡®100 stories¡¯ in Korean usage is¡¡± ¡°Baekhwa.¡± Literally. The strange being that devoured Baekhwa Girls¡¯ High School. The true name of the ghost we¡¯ve been calling the ¡®school ghost story.¡¯ The other identity of the exclusion god-level ghost I once called Endless. ¡°The leader of a hundred ghostly beings, ruling as the Hyakki Yagyo. The boss and the entirety of the 99 ghosts. The great void that devoured the original name of this school and thus consumed a part of the world. Baekhwa is the final ghost of this hell.¡± Snap- The candle died. The light went out. The darkness chuckled. The overwhelming scent of smoke was the body odoring from the endless maw of the darkness. Flicker. A moment moved within the darkness. The universe was originally dark, so that was the inherent color of time and space. A hundred extinguished candles grew instantly into a white forest. A forest of birch trees. Fire sprouted from the white skin of the trees, turning into spider lilies in full bloom. The bright red mes transformed into the faces of fairies, and a hundred fairiesughed hysterically. Theirughter sounded like this: Story bes Flower, and Flower burns as Fire. [PR/N: Characters for Story, Flower and Fire respectively.] Burn, burn. All things in the world are equally distant. Therefore, why wouldn¡¯t a hundred stories be a hundred flowers and a hundred mes¡ Coordinates. Time. Space distorted as existence warped. ¡°Sir¡ª¡± ¡°It¡¯s okay.¡± I grasped Cheon Yeohwa¡¯s hand firmly. ¡°I¡¯m here.¡± ¡°¡¡± Yeohwa also held my hand tightly. Thus, the coordinates were fixed. At that moment, the multicolored mes of the universe stopped, and the fairies stoppedughing. The Milky Way flowed. Hundreds, thousands, millions, billions, the eyes of the cosmos all turned to look at us. Then, I called out ¡®its¡¯ name. ¡°Endless Hell.¡± All creation trembled. ¨C Unexpected contact. ¨C A possibility we never calcted before. ¨C Endless. ¨C The hell of Endless. ¨C A correct name. ¨C An incorrect name. ¨C This, too, is a kind of random number. Colors breathed. Starlight danced a round dance. ¨C Who are you? ¨C An excessivelyrge variable. ¨C How did you recognize our existence? How did you figure out our identity? How did you pinpoint our location? The exclusion god that regarded this world merely as a vastboratory, creating fairy terminals to send out for tutorial experiments, asked questions. I lifted my chin. ¡°Are you okay, Yeohwa?¡± ¡°Yes. I feel a bit dizzy, but surprisingly fine. No, rather¡¡± Yeohwa untangled her fingers from mine and bent her waist. The shoces of her red and ck basketball shoes tightened tautly. ¡°I feel great. I could sprint for 40 minutes straight. Anyway, that strange Milky Way is the one who killed our schoolmates, right? I¡¯m going to kill it.¡± ¡°Great. Then let me show you thebat strength of a former school security guard.¡± Boss fight. Exclusion god-level threat. Endless. Combat initiated. [Proofreader ¨C Gun] Chapter 93 â€“ The Pursuer VII [Proofreader ¨C Gun] Chapter 93 ©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤ The Pursuer VII 11 ¨D¨DHow should I write the diary of the battle that took ce that day? I think I have managed to carry this episode quite well so far. But now, as I reflect on the moment when I hunted down an exclusion god-level monster for the first time in my life, I suddenly feel the difficulty of describing it. I always wish to be as truthful as possible to you all. If I happen to stammer out a poem, it is not to show off in front of you, but because there are nights in the sky that can only be expressed in poetic words. Starlight poured down. Those stars did not have light but the viscosity of water. Swaaah¨D the red starlight poured down, producing the sound of a waterfall. Like a sudden tsunami crashing onto the beach, the light made of water surged towards us, threatening to drown us. Cheon Yeohwa quickly turned to me. We were still holding hands. ¡°Mister! Give me an order!¡± ¡°Never dissolve into your surroundings. That monster will try to test and experiment on you to eventually turn you into a predetermined object, like ab rat. Various illusions and visions will engulf your life like a tidal wave. Do not be swayed and fix yourself.¡± ¡°Yes!¡± Swaaah. The red water light quickly rose to waist height. I calmly and unwaveringly red at ¡®Endless.¡¯ The distance between us and Endless was both just 10 meters and 100 meters. There was no rule that it couldn¡¯t be 4,444 meters. It was the distance between here and the other shore. It was Endless and Infinite. From that extreme horizon, the monster¡¯s infiniteughter echoed. Kyahahahahahaha ha ha ha ha¨D If, as in ancient India, 13 kilometers were called a yojana, it was one yojana and also 20,000 yojanas. In Buddhism, it is said that the hell of sentient beings is located 20,000 yojanas below the surface. That is, hell is 260,000 kilometers deep. The diameter of the Earth is 12,700 kilometers. The distance from Earth to the Moon is 385,000 kilometers. Since ancient times, the Moon has been the closest otherworldly realm from Earth. Hell was precisely located in the distance sufficient and overflowing to traverse this world but terribly insufficient to reach another world. Ka ha ha ha ha ka ka ka ka¨D The midpoint between this world and the other shore. The realm where beings could no longer stay in this world nor had the strength to reach another world. Therefore, in the territory of samsara, where the wheel of life merely spins in vain, only the endless mockingughter of those sneering at humans resonated. It was the sneer of the monster that alienated humans from the world. ¡°Yeohwa. In that monster¡¯s domain, time and space can deceive you as much as they want. But ¡®the fact that it is deceiving you¡¯ itself does not change.¡± ¡°¡¡± Squeeze. I held Cheon Yeohwa¡¯s hand a little tighter. The distance between us was the smallest unit of distance that humans could have. ¡°¡Yes.¡± ¡°The main culprit, person, or existence mocking you the most is the nail holding the illusion. Got it? Everything else will seem normal, but there will likely be something particrly abnormal. Pull out and eliminate that nail, and the illusion will disappear.¡± ¡°Oh! Ah, I totally get it! It¡¯s like scenes I often see in manga. Okay. Mister, just leave it to me¨D¨D.¡± Flicker. The light reached our chins, and our entire bodies were submerged in water. The sensation of our sped hands almost swallowed by the water¡¯s wavering became faint. ng, a sound echoed. It sounded like an elevator falling or the sound of a worn-out wheel rolling. Perhaps it was the sound of time. The world before my eyes changed. 12 Flicker. ¡°¨D¨DDoctor Jang. Doctor Jang, what¡¯s wrong?¡± It smelled of summer. The scent of freshly fallen rain steeped in the leaves was as rich as the aroma of green tea. It was a cedar forest. The cedars spread their roots in all directions, and atop their stiff legs, the blue hydrangea petals spread and stretched again. Among the blue mature trees and the blue young petals, a yful old railroad track snaked through like a serpent. ¡°Really. Sigh. Be careful. If you get distracted like that, you¡¯ll bite your tongue on this bumpy road.¡± On the railroad was a miniature train, like a toy. It was a three-car mini steam train you might see in an amusement park. Riding on that train, wearing a witch¡¯s hat, Tang Seorin grumbled. ¡°¡¡± ¡°Ah- Ah- the railroad is broken again. Even though the world has ended, aren¡¯t the KORAIL workers being toozy?¡± Uhtcha, Tang Seorin jumped off the train. Tang Seorin stretched out her body, ¡°Uhtaahhh-¡± following the cedars and hydrangeas around. Well, it had already been 4 hours since we boarded the train. I could stay still for 40 hours without any problem, but a frail magician like Tang Seorin would feel all stiff. ¡°¡Understand. Even the KORAIL workers have be unemployed. The world is too harsh to demand passion pay.¡± ¡°Anyway, young people these daysck grit, grit. Sigh. I¡¯ll reconnect the railroad, so you check the wheels. The train has been rattling for a while, and it makes me uneasy.¡± ¡°Alright. Leave it to me.¡± ¡°Okay.¡± I gathered tools from the freight car and examined the wheels of our steam train¡ the ¡®Hogwarts Express.¡¯ Please don¡¯t criticize the name of the train. In this journey, this insane n to travel around the world on a miniature steam train, my authority was significantly insignificant. The nner of this trip, who has loved Harry Potter so much since childhood that she always wore a witch¡¯s hat all year round, twirled her wand. ¡°Separation-Restoration.¡± A two-line song flowed simply from Tang Seorin¡¯s lips. ng- ng, ng- The tracks we had just passed split and floated in the air. Then they moved to the position of the broken tracks ahead. ck! The disconnected tracks were restored in an instant. Of course, the price was that the tracks behind us were now broken, but well. What did it matter? It¡¯s hard to believe there would be other lunatics in the world like us who would undertake such a crazy journey. ¡°Done¨D How are the wheels? Are they broken?¡± ¡°No, just some bolts were a bit loose. I¡¯ve tightened them with all my strength, so there shouldn¡¯t be any problems for a while.¡± ¡°Good. Then let¡¯s move out again!¡± tter. The express train moved. The horn blew a loud ¡°Pwoooo¨D¡± as steam was vigorously released. For the record, that wasn¡¯t real steam from burning coal. It was just an ¡®illusion magic¡¯ set by Tang Seorin. Not only the steam. Our express train was filled with ¡®illusion magic for steam engines,¡¯ which Tang Seorin had meticulously designed for 30 days, detailed down to the smallest details. In a world gone mad, we were slightly more insane than others, and among us, Tang Seorin was outstandingly the most insane. ¡°We¡¯ll be crossing into North Korea soon.¡± Tang Seorin unfolded the map. A map worn with use. Colored here and there with red and yellow markers. It trembled like an autumn leaf in the rattling of the tracks. ¡°From North Korea, we go to Tumen River Station, cross over to Khasan Station, and then it¡¯s Russia. Then we take the Trans-Siberian Railway all the way up.¡± ¡°¡¡.¡± ¡°Oh, I¡¯ve had riding the Trans-Siberian Railway on my bucket list forever!¡± tter, tter. ¡°To think that I¡¯d end up traveling only after the world had ended. Life is really mysterious. Anyway, after Moscow, we head to Brus, Pnd, Germany¡.¡± ¡°Right.¡± ¡°Huh?¡± I muttered softly. ¡°Yes, this is my dream.¡± ¡°¡¡.¡± ¡°To travel the world with you, Tang Seorin. On a strange train remodeled to your taste.¡± ¡°¡¡? What are you suddenly talking about?¡± Tang Seorin tilted her head, still holding the map. ¡°We¡¯re doing that right now.¡± The cedar forest swayed in the wind. I looked up at the sky. The hazy steam was rising along the sky¡¯s breath. ¡°One car of the train is yours, Tang Seorin. Common sense says you wouldn¡¯t give up the first car to anyone else. That one car is also your room. You¡¯ll decorate it as you wish, just like a caravan camper. Skulls, crystal balls, wands, brooms¡ You might even raise an owl.¡± ¡°¡¡.¡± ¡°The second car is my room. Initially, it would be neatly organized, but as the travel days go by, your belongings would gradually invade and encroach on my territory. You collect so many odds and ends that one car won¡¯t be enough space for you.¡± tter, tter. ¡°The third car is the dining and rest area. The fourth car is a storage. With my magical trunk bag, space is surprisingly sufficient. If the tracks break, you can connect them with magic and song, and if monsters attack, I¡¯ll fend them off. We can go anywhere, as far as we want. We can travel forever.¡± ¡°¡¡.¡± ¡°But not yet.¡± tter. ¡°Tang Seorin. The night I revealed I was a regressor after we exterminated the Ten ns and you died. I swore to set this world back to the way it was before traveling with you.¡± ¡°When do you think we can leave?¡± ¡°Sorry. Honestly, it¡¯s still far off.¡± I chuckled softly. ¡°But¡ I always remember. Tang Seorin. And you need to get stronger too.¡± ¡°Me? Why?¡± [Proofreader ¨C Gun] ¡°Because we¡¯ll be crossing the Antic and Pacific by train. You¡¯ll have to use magic to freeze the sea in real-time and create an ice railway. Even if we reach the beach and there¡¯s a lone telegraph pole standing in the sand, our journey won¡¯t end.¡± ¡°Goodness. Are you crazy? Do you have any idea how much mana it would take to freeze the sea continuously in real-time?¡± ¡°Listen. And it¡¯s not just crossing the sea simply; we¡¯ll follow the sea route that the Titanic sailed!¡± ¡°My goodness. Are you crazy? That¡¯s a really great idea.¡± We chuckled softly. ¡°¡I see. Doctor Jang, you have a ¡®perfect memory ability.¡¯ No matter how illusory, you won¡¯t lose your coordinates.¡± ¡°Yes.¡± Tang Seorin looked up at the sky. ¡°Ah- Ah- So, the promise to travel together made centuries ago is postponed again?¡± With her legs draped over the side of the train, she sighed deeply like the lotive exhaling steam. ¡°Centuries? It¡¯s been almost a thousand years. Seriously, what kind of friend schedules a trip a thousand years in advance and then postpones it again?¡± ¡°I¡¯m sorry. It¡¯s mostly Old Man Scho¡¯s fault.¡± ¡°Pfft. Ha- haha! Yeah, it¡¯s definitely his fault. He was a dealer who ran off alone, even though you were supposed to be his supporter.¡± Tang Seorinughed for a while. Then she looked at me. ¡°I¡¯m probably just a mere illusion of the anomaly. Like an AI created to be as close as possible to the entity called ¡®Tang Seorin¡¯ by copying your memories. Yet, why do you still treat me as your friend?¡± ¡°Don¡¯t be silly. Life itself is just a dream. There¡¯s no need to dismiss it as delusion just because we dreamed again within a dream. Rather, I¡¯m grateful that you follow me in every dream.¡± ¡°¡¡.¡± Mypanion was silent for a long time. Then she smiled at me. ¡°¡I¡¯m looking forward to the journey. It makes my heart race.¡± ¡°Me too.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll be waiting. Even if it¡¯s a thousand yearster.¡± tter- The wheels moved. 13 What gets imprinted in childhood leaves a mark throughout one¡¯s life. Just as magic and wizards did for Tang Seorin. The first shape a person witnesses after birth is a circle, a sphere. The human pupil. The eyes of a mother and father. Someone¡¯s eyes. A ck ind floating in a white, boundless sea. That ind wasn¡¯t a lonely ind but a twin ind made of two pairs. The most perfect shape for humans was the circle, and the round shape was always the archetype. The archetype of humans looked at me. ¡°¨D¨DHuff! Ah, sir?¡± ¡°Yes, I¡¯m listening.¡± ¡°Just now¡ Wow, it¡¯s exactly the same¡ Unbelievable. I just spent over five years in elementary school! Wow, really¡ Wow.¡± ¡°It took quite a while.¡± ¡°I¡¯m getting goosebumps. Really, how can such an anomaly exist? How¡?¡± I smiled. ¡°Who was the nail of the illusion?¡± ¡°Ah- um, it was my mother. She passed away when I was in the fifth grade. My family is pretty much filled with all sorts of cults. Only my mother was sane.¡± ¡°I see.¡± Creak. If you look around, it was still a gxy teeming with thousands, millions of colors. Schools, hospitals, prisons, cinemas, cityscapes constantly intersected. Caw, caw, caw¡ª The anomalyughed. But the universe was definitely a bit smaller than before. The size where material was absent was exactly the capacity that could contain the mind. ¡°You swam out well. But it¡¯s not over yet. Until we reach the core of that anomaly, illusions will intrude at every step.¡± ¡°¡¡.¡± ¡°Whether to call it an illusion or not. It¡¯s essentially another life. You could use the term ¡®route¡¯.¡± ¡°Route¡¡± ¡°Embedding a ¡®substitute existence¡¯ for your time, your life, your existence. By doing so, the anomaly takes over your ce. Just like it snatched Baekhwa (White Flower) and turned it into Baekhwa (Hundred Tales).¡± ¡°¡If you can¡¯t swim out of the route.¡± ¡°In this reality, you will disappear, and something else will wander around in your name, ¡®Cheon Yohwa.''¡± ¡°¡¡.¡± Cheon Yohwa nodded. ¡°¡I don¡¯t like that. Yes. I don¡¯t like it.¡± ¡°What a coincidence. Neither do I.¡± ¡°But still¡ That anomaly looks so far away. I definitely feel like it¡¯s closer than before, though.¡± Cheon Yohwa stared into the void. ¡°How much longer¡ I mean, how many more routes do we have to swim through? Honestly, I just snapped out of three years in elementary school, so I¡¯m still feeling dazed.¡± ¡°In this void, distance has no meaning. It¡¯s always about the anomaly¡¯s self-rules, thews of existence. And in this case¡¡± Step. I took Cheon Yohwa¡¯s hand and took a step forward. Then two footsteps, twin ck inds, were imprinted in the world. ¡°Three more steps.¡± Death (Sa). A strategy to turn the anomaly disguised as death (Sa) back into the reality of four steps (Sa). A ritual. Since it was a rite of death, I called it a funeral. I was Doctor Jang. ¡°Let¡¯s go, Yohwa. It¡¯s okay. As long as there are two people who don¡¯t let go of each other¡¯s hands, humans can do anything.¡± ¡°¡Yes! Ah, damn, the nationalpetition finals were way, way tougher! Let¡¯s take it on!¡± Blink. tter. The archetype of man blinked, and the archetype of the universe turned its loop. The wheel of time moved. From the other shore to this shore. Three steps forward. [Proofreader ¨C Gun] Chapter 94 â€“ The Pursuer VIII [Proofreader ¨C Gun] Chapter 94 ©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤ The Pursuer VIII 14 Step. The next footprint was a wanderer¡¯s. Setting up a workshop where one leg isid, leaving people no choice but toe and go on an isted ind. I, too, worked as an assistant. In the wandering life, he didn¡¯t ask for much. Sunlight. Water. A patch ofnd. Sand on the beach. Leaves, a little more. Flowers, a bit less. A hammer. Injuries within a volume that one could bear and tolerate. Warm coffee, regardless of the type of beans. He longed for summer, autumn, winter, and spring. He wished for raindrops falling on the stone pavement of a garden to wake him up rather than the sound of human footsteps. If he were to die someday, he hoped for an old autumn wind to sky-bury him rather than a conventional funeral or cremation. Unlike Tang Seorin, who wanted to leave for anywhere, he, in his wandering, did not wish for visitors from anywhere. Thus, in his wandering life, he would be the one who desired the most. ¡°Assistant¡¡± ¡°Yes?¡± ¡°Pack up for a brief business trip. Hm. There are so many old folks stuck on the shores who can¡¯t evene to the ind¡.¡± ¡°Oh, yes. I understand.¡± As winter ended and thest snow melted, he set out on a departure from his wandering. The bridge had not been repaired for a long time, and the railings were crumbling in ces. Shake. The sea yfully breathed out. ¡°Be careful, workshop owner. The bridge suffered a lot this winter with heavy snow. We¡¯ll need to fix it when we return.¡± ¡°¡¡¡± ¡°Workshop owner?¡± Walking ahead on the bridge, I turned back, but Noh Doha¡¯s palm gently touched my back. It was a pressure that could be ignored if one wanted to. I didn¡¯t ignore it. I stopped in the same posture as I was about to turn around. ¡°Workshop owner?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t hang on¡¡¡± ¡°Yes?¡± ¡°Assistant. I don¡¯t need anything ideal. Ideal ce. Ideal life. Ideal ending. Hm. Living every day with part of it pledged to such things is not how I ept the world¡.¡± ¡°¡¡¡± ¡°I am not someone who takes pride in denying reality. I graduated from that hobby at twelve. Assistant. As you may know, I really, really hate owing someone something¡.¡± Tap. Noh Doha lightly pushed my back. That, too, was a gesture that could be ignored if one wanted to. I didn¡¯t ignore it. The railings, already weakened, creaked under my weight and copsed. Just before falling from the bridge, I looked up at Noh Doha. The shade of the sun obscured his face. Only a shadow-like smile was drawn. ¡°Get lost¡.¡± Noh Doha¡¯s face quickly disappeared. Ssh¡ª Hearing the sound of water sshing, all I could think about was From the ind to the maind. On the way from Pi¡¯an to the car. It was really a Noh Doha-like murder. Blink. tter. The wheel of time moved. Two steps forward. 15 Step. The next footprint was the Saintess. ¡°¡¡¡± ¡°¡¡¡± Surprisingly, the two of us were sitting on the silver moon. Sitting facing each other on chairs carved from stone, with a table between us. The world held its breath. The Earth on the other side of the universe had stopped, and the sun, which illuminated such an Earth from the back, did not move either. White world. End point of time. No, pause. As an awakened being, bearing the name of Saintess, yet as a strange being again, the existence opened its lips, holding the title of ¡®Executor¡¯. ¡°Doctor Jang.¡± Titanic, no. Perhaps another exclusion-grade anomaly. As an awakened being, she bore the name of Saintess, but as an anomaly, she was destined to be called ¡®Executor¡¯. ¡°You already know, but Doctor Jang can face such an ending at any time.¡± ¡°¡Eternal rest?¡± ¡°Yes. It¡¯s not like the vacations Doctor Jang asionally spends as a joke¡ It¡¯s truly letting go of breath, hence rest. The world has stopped, and people no longer move. No sins aremitted. No misfortunes or unhappiness.¡± Like singing a little song, the Saintess added telepathy to her voice, in other words, the premonition of the constetion. [Naturally, also a return.] ¡°¡¡.¡± ¡°All existence floats like inanimate objects, fleeting through eternal and transient moments as mere specks of dust. If this world were to stop at any moment, would there be any reason it shouldn¡¯t be today?¡± ¡°Madam Saintess, you already know that you cannot persuade me.¡± ¡°¡¡.¡± The Saintess sipped her coffee. It was a convenience store product, indistinguishable from thoseden with sugar and cream. As a barista, all I could do was pour from a Maxim coffee bag, stir it vigorously, and yet the Saintess judged that the coffee I stirred had a ¡®different taste¡¯. Does the Saintess really know that I secretly add half a spoon of cinnamon? ¡°Why do you believe that someday we can escape from eternity?¡± ¡°Of course.¡± ¡°Do you know? Emmett Schopenhauer gave up everything in the 23rd turn and fled to a worldposed only of lovers and two people, which is actually normal.¡± ¡°¡¡.¡± ¡°Even 23 turns were already a long time and enough suffering. Doctor, you are too strong in hope.¡± The Saintess¡¯s voice echoed. ¡°This world is hell.¡± There was no room in the universe to ept human breathing sounds, so the voice and breath were entirely the Saintess¡¯s transparent and colorless aura that produced a groan. That was the only noise in this universe. Therefore, it was the only scream in the universe. ¡°No one takes responsibility even though the world is hell. Efforts to change it are either absent or too slow.¡± [If you can¡¯t roll back time, you have to stop.] ¡°Why is there a torture room in a corner of the world? Have you ever seen a child under the age of ten die?¡± [Since childhood, the child was sold to the ¡°factory¡± and was tortured and died on his 10th birthday.] ¡°Why do miners born in rock and swamp mines die in a narrow gap without knowing that there is a wider world?¡± [Why do humans consider it fortunate to be happier than themselves, rather than fortunate that there are less fortunate people?] ¡°Even such a mean tendency is not my decision but something that was forced by the environment and the world around me.¡± [Like.] ¡°Why should I allow the passage of time to continue so that such a world persists?¡± ¡°¡¡¡± [Proofreader ¨C Gun] ¡°To think that the depths of hell lie just beneath 20,000 yojanas. It¡¯s hard to believe.¡± A breath drifted through the cosmos. [Petals.] The starlight of the throne flickered. Pythagoras¡¯ shadow Earth slipped out of harmony, causing a discordant note. ¡°Just beneath the surface of that lies nothing but hell.¡± ¡°¡¡¡± We fell silent. It wasn¡¯t because we had nothing to say to each other. It was because the words we could speak to each other were predetermined. I knew the single phrase that could execute the executioner, the timekeeper, the Saintess. And like a murderer with a final conscience, I slowly wielded my de. ¡°Please help me, Saintess.¡± ¡°¡¡¡± ¡°I want to help others.¡± ¡°¡¡¡± Blood spilled into the cosmos. ording to Pythagorean tradition, the universe consists of ten celestial bodies, one of which is invisible to human eyes. Shadow-Earth. Always moving in sync with Earth, casting its light in the same direction, Shadow-Earth remained perpetually shrouded in darkness, like a perpetual eclipse. As it orbited alongside the other nine celestial bodies, Shadow-Earth emitted a sound. Like a heartbeat. Like harmony. Thus, the Pythagoreans believed the universe was always filled with the songs of celestial bodies. To them, the world was beautiful. Yet humans have always been deaf to the universe¡¯s song from birth. To us, that song became such an ordinary ¡®background¡¯ that humans never truly listened to the universe¡¯s music. Petals. To the Saintess, what the eyshes obscured was not only hell but also the beauty of this world¡ªa fatal curse. ¡°Endless Hell¡¡± Always locked in shadow, turning their gaze in the direction where people averted their eyes, the shadow¡¯s throne spoke. ¡°I arrived at Baekhwa Girls¡¯ High School as the leader of 99 ghosts, known as a wanderer in the realm of the dead. In other words, Endless has fragmented their existence into 99 pieces.¡± ¡°¡¡¡± ¡°My original ability was merely to halt the world. But as my power grew, I gained the ability to move freely in a stopped world. Simr to that¡ Cheon Yohwa¡¯s ability could undoubtedly be stronger than it is now.¡± ¡°What do you mean?¡± ¡°She can imprint behavioral principles on humans, making them act like NPCs. That¡¯s Cheon Yohwa¡¯s awakening ability. However, perhaps¡ if this ability were developed, it might be possible for monsters, not just humans, to use the same power.¡± ¡°Ah.¡± My eyes widened. ¡°You could manipte monsters as you please! In this world! Isn¡¯t that an incredibly powerful ability?¡± ¡°Yes. At least, it would be possible to manipte monsters that appeared in Baekhwa Girls¡¯ High School, or rather, the monsters that appeared in school ghost stories.¡± The Saintess nodded. ¡°Cheon Yohwa is an apostle of Endless. You could interfere to some extent with the monsters led by Endless. As for why Cheon Yohwa was designated as Endless¡¯s apsotle, Doctor Jang would know better than I.¡± ¡°Indeed¡¡± A strategy became apparent. Yet the Saintess warned me. ¡°However, if Cheon Yohwa, who consumed Endless¡¯s wanderings, were to be more powerful than she is now, she would be iparable to anything else. She would be indistinguishable from the monsters, like how Doctor Jang sees her in his fantasies.¡± ¡°¡¡¡± ¡°Just with Endless alone¡ as you suppress the monsters, monsters will increase around Doctor Jang. Eventually, without a doubt¡ Tang Seorin, Sim Aryeon, at some point. ¡It might be good to summarize this with the simple phrase of poisoning the poison, but in the end, we¡¯ll just move the poison of the world to you. If Doctor Jang gives up¡¡± I held the Saintess¡¯s hand. ¡°I know.¡± The Saintess looked at me. ¡°Please drop me into hell like you.¡± ¡°¡¡¡± [Chaos -] The circr shape of the universe, which had been stationary until now, jerked abruptly. The sun, Earth, moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn moved clumsily, aligning in a straight line. Grand Alignment. The most majestic constetion the universe could pronounce. At its final line, a shadow stood. ¡°Yes.¡± The shadow smiled before my eyes. [To wherever.] Blink, the life of a petal closed its eyes. Clunk, the ten constetions yed silent music. Before long, we held hands and were reversed, descending from the moon¡¯s ssy surface to the ground¡ªtowards hell. Endless descent. We held each other tightly. The universe¡¯s song was time. Blink. Clunk¡ª The wheels of time turned. From peace to despair. From the nearest otherworld to the farthest reality. One step forward. 16 ¡°¡ªSir! Sir!¡± I contemte why people are born with two eyes. It¡¯s because the world is alwaysposed of twoyers. Hell spread under that sunlight and beauty locked under shadows. Blindness and direct gaze. Pr opposites. The gap. Existence not as emptiness but between. I slowly opened my eyes. ¡°Yohwa?¡± ¡°Yes, sir! Umm¡ So, are you really¡ sir? I mean, do you remember when we used to wander around school ghost stories?¡± I looked around. Ding-dong-ding-dong. The bell rang. This wasn¡¯t a school ghost story¡ it was Baekhwa Girls¡¯ High School. The bell echoed not under a red sky but a blue one. A perfectly normal school. No eerie groves or fields of red flowers. Now it was lunchtime, and students gathered, crossing the field on the other side. ¡°¡Yeah, I remember. We were taking steps to defeat Endless. Now we¡¯re just one step away.¡± ¡°Oh, right! Um, but why are you and I having the same fantasy this time?¡± ¡°It seems like this is the fourth step.¡± Step. Cheon Yohwa¡¯s and my footsteps ovepped. With no room for monsters, emptiness, or the end, it was a peaceful world. That was our final stop. [Proofreader ¨C Gun] Chapter 95 â€“ The Pursuer IX [Proofreader ¨C Gun] Chapter 95 ©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤ The Pursuer IX 17 After patrolling around the school with Cheon Yohwa, we reached a conclusion. ¡°This ce¡ seems like a peaceful world.¡± A world where humanity has not perished. Void areas, called ¡®Gates¡¯, were appearing sporadically, but they weren¡¯t as serious as in reality. True to their name, these voids looked like gates everywhere. If left alone, monsters would slowly begin to emerge. Conversely, sessfully sealing these Gates minimized the damage. ¨C Remember when the Gate appeared around Sinsa Station in Seoul? Due to the rush hour, there were fears of significant casualties. ¨C This time, the Fourth Expedition finally seeded in clearing the Gate at Sinsa Station. The leader of the expedition, Tang Seorin, who rescued most of the missing, ¡ ¨C Meanwhile, demanding government responsibility for this incident, which updated the historical figure of Gate victims to 212 deaths, ¡ In newspapers, news, YouTube, and SNS, stories rted to Gates have been flooding the media. Civilization did not copse. Since ancient times, humanity has endured disasters such as typhoons, floods, earthquakes, famines, and pandemics, with ¡®Gates¡¯ being a brief addition to the list of cmities. Humanity still proimed itself the ruler of all things. While some feared Gates and monsters as signs of the apocalypse, our experience of returning from the brink of ¡®the end¡¯ was inevitably different. ¡°¡I envy them. If only our world were at this level.¡± ¡°In showing us a world that isn¡¯tpletely peaceful, Endless¡¯s cunning is evident.¡± ¡°Huh? Why?¡± ¡°We already have traumas from creatures in our heads. In an overly peaceful world, we would only be conscious of our abnormality. Captured by the obsession that the world could end at any moment. ¡But here, monsters appear at a manageable level. In this world, you and I can live as ¡®normal¡¯ people.¡± ¡°Ah¡ wow, even that detail?¡± ¡°Yeah. Because they¡¯re overlooked outsiders. Not just anyone.¡± Where else would it be? In apletely peaceful world where no creatures exist, Cheon Yohwa¡¯s awakening ability and mine are like alien tumors. But what if it¡¯s a world where monsters exist? In that case, our umted abilities, knowledge, instincts would all trante directly into achievements. Guilds from all over would flood us with countless requests to recruit us. ¡°A world where you can climb to the top of the pyramid without denying yourself and endlessly affirming positivity. Yet, our sess is not due to the grace of Endless Hell, the outsider, but to our own talents, efforts, and free will. This is a model garden designed solely for the two of us.¡± ¡°¡¡± Cheon Yohwa¡¯s shoulders sagged. ¡°¡It¡¯s scary. These creatures.¡± ¡°It is. But conversely, we¡¯re the ones who have pushed back against Endless Hell to this extent.¡± Four steps. A distance from Pian to Cha. Our footsteps resonated with the infinite moment, never useless. Endless was undoubtedly copsing. Tang Seorin¡¯s journey. Noh Doha¡¯s refuge. The observation of the Saintess. Routes containing each eternity were tread upon. The fantasies selected by Endless were denied by our will to return to reality, no matter how sweet they may have been. ¡°Yohwaaaa!¡± ¡°Let¡¯s y basketball together!¡± Far away, students waved at us from the yground. Pause. Cheon Yohwa held her breath for a moment. After about three seconds, she made a horn and shouted, ¡°Sorry! I¡¯m skipping todayyy-¡± Eh, eh, eh- Wings sprouted on the bark of summer tree trunks, wailing fiercely. Leaves rustled in the wind. Laughter of children and cicadas echoed through the school yground, the makeshift sand dune. ¡°Friends, I guess.¡± ¡°¡Yes. Same ss. Roommates.¡± A sigh drifted downward. It was a faint breath, barely reaching the desert. ¡°They both died in the school ghost story in just a week.¡± Cheon Yohwa tapped the ground with the tip of her shoe. Tock, tock. The weight of a single human knocked on the earth. ¡°Ughhh. Sir. I suddenly thought, well, actually, I¡¯ve been hearing it since before, but I¡¯m asking now.¡± ¡°You can tell me.¡± ¡°Why shouldn¡¯t we stay here? No, it¡¯s not that I want to. I¡¯m really curious, so I¡¯m asking. Just¡ isn¡¯t there nothing special about going back?¡± ¡°¡¡± ¡°Every time I go to the bathroom, I have to check for ghosts. If I don¡¯t want to eat human flesh, I have to pick out each piece of meat. When I sleep and wake up, someone always disappears. ording to you, it¡¯s not just our school that¡¯s ruined, but the whole world is ruined¡ How can I confidently say we need to go back to reality?¡± ¡°Hmm.¡± ¡°For example¡ what if we invited not only us but everyone else to Endless? Then, wouldn¡¯t this ce be reality? Or is it that there¡¯s no value in an unreal world¡?¡± ¡°No. It¡¯s not for that reason.¡± ¡°Then why?¡± ¡°My pseudonym is Undertaker.¡± Cheon Yohwa turned this way. ¡°Just as you have the ability to brainwash targets, I have several abilities myself. Among them is the ability to seal time¡ Personally, it¡¯s an ability I call a funeral.¡± ¡°A funeral.¡± ¡°I can make the day that a person feels happiestst forever.¡± ¡°¡¡± ¡°To be precise, it¡¯s not even repetition. That person doesn¡¯t realize that their day is endlessly reying. The reason I gained the name ¡®Undertaker¡¯ is precisely because of this ability.¡± The sound of cicadas in the trees and the sound of a basketball bouncing on the court, beyond the school wall, a truck honked loudly. ¡°Yohwa, do you think there¡¯s no unhappiness in this world?¡± ¡°¡No.¡± ¡°Yeah. There must be. Just yesterday, during the sealing of the gate, 212 people died. No matter how optimized the settings are by the realm, it¡¯s still far from achieving happiness for all humans.¡± The traffic light in front of the school gate blinked steadily on the crosswalk. ¡°Why doesn¡¯t the realm entrust life? It¡¯s a very simple reason. It¡¯s an issue ofparative advantage. This world, to ept it simply as thest hell,cks persuasiveness.¡± [Proofreader ¨C Gun] ¡°¡¡± If this world were hell, people would eventually live to find as much hell as they can ept. Until then, people can defer their lives. After a long silence, Cheon Yohwa nodded. ¡°¡Yes, I understand. Sir, you are like the terminal station where people can return anytime.¡± ¡°That¡¯s how it turned out.¡± ¡°So eventually, the only question I should ask myself is whether I give up now and just rest¡ Yeah. It¡¯s okay. I¡¯m not tired yet.¡± Our gazes crossed. The sunset enveloped the desert. The orange hue was a mixture of sand and redness. Cheon Yohwa¡¯s hair also carried the scent of the desert and the fragrance of oranges in equal parts. ¡°Please tell me what I should do next, sir.¡± 18 ¡°I faithfully followed the strategy presented by the Saintess on the surface of the moon.¡± ¨D¨D Seize control of the Hundred Ghosts¡¯ Night Journey, consisting of a hundred spirits from the realm, known as the Baekgwi Yahaeng. If I could execute this strategy, undoubtedly, the power of the realm that descended as a hundred ghosts would greatly weaken. ¡°For this operation, Yohwa, you must indoctrinate each and every spirit of the Hundred Ghosts.¡± ¡°Indoctrinate the monsters.¡± ¡°Yes. It doesn¡¯t matter how long it takes. Ultimately, make the spirits follow you rather than the realm.¡± ¡°Yes, I¡¯ll try.¡± I captured and threw a ghost ¡°konkonkon,¡± ensuring it hung from the ceiling with a rope around its neck to prevent it from banging its head on the ground. Cheon Yohwa secluded herself in the student council room, starting to spend time alone with the ghosts, much like closed-door training. It¡¯s not indoctrinating humans, but monsters. Although it had never happened in all the sessions so far, I was confident. If it¡¯s Cheon Yohwa, it might be possible. Days, weeks passed, but Cheon Yohwa couldn¡¯t indoctrinate the ghosts. The stench emanating from the ghosts permeated the student council room. Cup noodles, cans, and trash discarded after Cheon Yohwa¡¯s disappearance piled up in one corner. ¡°It¡¯s okay.¡± Cheon Yohwa¡¯s eyes sparkled like madness. ¡°I think I can do it, sir. It¡¯s summer vacation, and¡ I want to concentrate alone for a while, so you don¡¯t have to clean up.¡± While the Necromancer of the Korean Penins continued her closed-door training, I briefly traveled around the country. In Busan, the pro-nation seller Jung was nonchntly handling affairs. The mayor¡¯s hidden daughter, Lee Hayul, had graduated early and joined arge guild. Tang Seorin led an exploration team with three younger siblings. It was a rare sight to see Tang Seorin¡¯s family face, which had always been talked about in stories. At Hongik University, Sim Aryeon was ordering extra bean sprout ramen alone because she had no friends to eat with. At the rehabilitation hospital¡¯s orthotics center, Noh Doha walked out exactly at quitting time. In Yongsan, the saintess stayed home all the time except for an evening stroll once a day. A German old man who came to Korea to visit his wife¡¯s academic lecture was also well. ¡°Sorry. Do you happen to know where the auditorium listed here is?¡± ¡°Old Scho.¡± A casually dressed old man approached me in English at Seoul National University. It was a long time since I saw a healthy head on top of the beard and mustache, which I wanted to cut off and wanted to hug shoulders. ¡°¡You can ask in German, sir.¡± ¡°Oh? This is really. I didn¡¯t know that you spoke German so fluently as a young man! Did my English show signs of German?¡± ¡°I majored in German studies and have some German friends. I was just heading to this auditorium, so why don¡¯t youe with me?¡± ¡°Oh, thank you. My wife is giving a lecture here today. Do you happen to know Adele Schopenhauer?¡± ¡°Wow. I was actually on my way to attend her lecture.¡± ¡°Wow! This must be fate!¡± That day, I met Adele Schopenhauer¡¯s face at the Cultural Center of Seoul National University. I had seen her several times in photos, but this was my first time seeing her in person. The face of old Scho, who warmly embraced his wife after the lecture, was also, of course, the first thing I saw. Such a person. When creating an illusion, it was good evidence that not only my personal memories but also my umted data about the world were used. ¡°Oh, Adele. I¡¯m wandering around here. A young man kindly guided me¡ Hmm? That¡¯s weird. He was just here with me a minute ago.¡± I left one root there and returned to school without saying a word. No one suspected my entrance and exit. Thanks to Cheon Yohwa¡¯s ¡°settings,¡± a security guard who had worked at Baekhwa Girls¡¯ School for a long time. Thus, as soon as I stepped into the costume of the former teacher, the world was turned upside down without any warning. ¡°¡!¡± Midair. Location, the top of the former teacher¡¯s hallway. Immediately, I spread out in all directions. If another awakened person had seen it, they would have been amazed at what a waste it was, but for a former support specialist withoutbat skills, it was a very reasonable tactic to fill it with an aura. Gray waves struck from midair. Echolocation. My senses were specialized to perceive the contours of objects with echolocation after hundreds of years of experience as an ora. Like a dolphin that detects the topography with ultrasound. Something strange was detected by my senses. In midair, while falling, I met Cheon Yohwa standing by the window of the building. Cheon Yohwa was smiling. ¡°¨D¨D.¡± Cheon Yohwa¡¯s lips moved. ¡®Establish.¡¯ Once again, the sky was turned upside down. Immediately after the sense of floating evaporated, I found myself stepping into the corridor of the former teacher. Cheon Yohwa smiled brightly in front of me. She held an hourss in both hands, and something was inside the ss made of ss. Wiggle- It was a ghost. A tiny ghost was hanging from a rope around its neck, swinging back and forth inside the hourss. An hourss, huh. I secretly admired it. Is there a more appropriate ritual than sealing and imprisoning ghosts as a prison, swirling the whirlpool of time in a vast desert wastnd, andpletely capturing it within one¡¯s control? The sunset shining through the corridor window hit the ss of the hourss. Like showing off a newly introduced pet or abusing it, the student council president of the school ghost story yfully shook the hourss. ¡°How about it? Sir.¡± ¡°The clock is cool. Can I touch it once?¡± ¡°Ahaha- Yes!¡± The first monster¡¯s work in history. By the end of summer vacation, Cheon Yohwa seeded in subduing a total of 43 ghosts. [Proofreader ¨C Gun] Chapter 96 â€“ The Pursuer X [Proofreader ¨C Gun] Chapter 96 ©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤ The Pursuer X 19 The collection of spirit monsters by Cheon Yohwa proceeded rapidly. By the end of summer vacation, the Pok¨¦dexpletion rate had already reached nearly 80%. Victory was already assured. However, the problemy in the fact that with each spirit sealed into the hourss (a substitute for a Pok¨¦ Ball), the world seemed to suffer a slight hup. ¡°Huh? The world is shrinking?¡± ¡°Yeah. It¡¯s quicker to see it for yourself.¡± I boarded the flight with Cheon Yohwa on the airship. Savoyea S-21, a modified rear seat panel. Originally a bizarre vehicle that circtes in Japan, I brought it along whenever I felt bored. ¡°Wow, it has two sets of wings! That¡¯s so cool!¡± ¡°So you do know something.¡± ¡°Hehe, yeah! My mom always taught me to praise enthusiastically whenever someone proudly introduces something that seems kind of meh!¡± ¡°¡.?¡± The airship soared past Jeju Ind and reached the East China Sea. Cheon Yohwa, who had been lively and noisy, pointed to the horizon with a cry of ¡°Ah!¡± ¡°Sir! What¡¯s that?¡± She pointed with her finger at a massive wall of fog. It was as dense as something you¡¯d expect to see in the movie ¡°The Mist¡±, covering the entire horizon between the sea and sky. ¡°That¡¯s the edge of the world.¡± ¡°The, the edge?¡± ¡°I realized it not long ago. My guess is that every time you wrest control of a spirit from the Void, the size of the world itself seems to shrink bit by bit.¡± ¡°Wow¡¡¡± ¡°Let¡¯s get closer.¡± Vroom! The engine sputtered. Our airship approached the ¡°fog wall¡±. ¡°Wow. I can¡¯t see anything at all¡¡¡± ¡°I¡¯ve tried before, but we can¡¯t go into that fog. It feels like an invisible barrier blocking us. A few days ago, we could go further, but sealing one more spirit has reduced our range to here.¡± ¡°Whoa. But how does trade work then? You often order international deliveries, but the news was quiet about this.¡± ¡°That¡¯s the interesting part. Look.¡± Swish- A massive bow of a cargo ship emerged from beyond the fog. It was a container freighter, smoothly gliding out from the path beyond the fog wall as if it were natural. ¡°Whoa?¡± ¡°See that? Everything else in this world, aside from us two, operates perfectly fine. It¡¯s just within this ¡®fog wall¡¯ that this separate world forms.¡± ¡°Um, I¡¯m a bit confused¡ So, in reality, only the world inside the fog wall exists, but outside, it looks like everything is functioning normally?¡± ¡°Probably.¡± The airship skimmed past the fog wall. ¡°This world is akin to an illusion created by the Void.¡± The spirits of the hundred tales sealed by Cheon Yohwa were not just random entities; they were disciples of the Void. Taking them from the Void was akin to stealing a part of existence itself. ¡°Analogous to taking memories from humans or data fromputers. This world, this illusion, requires resources from the Void that are increasingly scarce. Now, there¡¯s hardly anything left beyond the Korean Penins.¡± ¡°I see¡¡¡± ¡°It¡¯s been proven that everything in this world is nothing more than shadows mimicking existence.¡± ¡°¡¡¡± Cheon Yohwa¡¯s words dwindled abruptly. Given the bizarre phenomena witnessed thus far, people were understandably overwhelmed. ¡°Let¡¯s head back, sir. It¡¯s getting cold.¡± ¡°Just wait a moment. There¡¯s one more thing I want to show you. You¡¯ll regret it if you miss this.¡± ¡°¡¡?¡± ¡°Right now.¡± I looked up at the sky. The sun was setting. Crossing over to the west, the sun¡ªperhaps just an illusionary sphere visible only in this narrow world¡ªattempted to pass beyond the fog wall. At that moment, the fog clouds that bridged the sky and the sea were dyed entirely crimson by the sunset glow. A short, soft breath escaped from the back seat. ¡°¡Beautiful.¡± Instead of clouds driftingzily across the sky, the sunset, which used the entire horizon as its own mirror, was magnificent. As the sun died, the fog wall seemed to reluctantly absorb the blood it spilled. The west of the world was filled with the glow of sunset. And in less than five minutes, the sun sankpletely beyond the fog wall. The glow vanished as well. The aftermath of witnessing the quiet suicide of the sun lingered like a cloud. ¡°Why did such a sunset appear? The fog wall isn¡¯t real fog, just an object.¡± ¡°I¡¯m not sure either. Even in this world, which is nothing more than an illusion, that sunset beyond the fog wall is especially fantastical. Still, isn¡¯t it beautiful?¡± ¡°Yes, very much so.¡± ¡°A single fantasy is but a dream within a dream. Yet, dreaming of a fantasy within that illusion is considered beautiful somehow by us humans.¡± The engine hummed. Throughout our return journey to Baekhwa High School, Cheon Yohwa remained quiet as if pondering my words. She only spoke a word when we returned to the dormitory. ¡°¡Thank you. Sir. I think I¡¯ve figured out which spirit to capturest.¡± It was summer. Cicadas fell dead from the trees. Anonymous birds and insects scavenged the corpses lying on the ground. Late summer, a season slowly whispering death, the world was a scene of mass murder. It was autumn. Over the corpses of summer, maple trees cut off their outstretched palms and covered them. Everywhere in the world was a majestic funeral. We promised to call that redmunal grave ¡°autumn.¡± And then. ¡°Delivery¡ª¡± I went out to the gate of Baekhwa High School and received a stic bag of delivery food. The deliveryman, who had priced his day¡¯s earnings himself, adjusted his sky-blue helmet and got on his motorcycle. Vroom- The engine roared as the motorcycle slid onto the road outside the gate. And disappeared. Beyond the fog wall. ¡°¡¡¡± Now the world was the size of the school¡¯s walls. Everywhere I looked, the sky was wrapped in white fog clouds. In the morning, cars gathered by teachers slipped out of the fog wall, and in the evening, the same cars disappeared on the other side of the fog wall. As days passed, the distance from here to there, from inside the car to peace, was only the school yground. The end of space. The silence of time. There was nothing there, but somehow the trio of life emerged silently and sank in the waters. For a moment, the droplets that sprang up from a child¡¯s hand game were soon the weight of existence. The world¡¯s glow was embroidered on each and every rainstorm. I stood still outside the student council room, staring at the white ss separating me and peace. ¡°How many are left now?¡± ¡°Two.¡± It was winter. Snow fell for the first time. Because this world was made in summer, it was the first snowfall. Tock, snowkes hit the ss. The quietest knock. Looking out the window, it was already a white fog right in front of my nose. The world¡¯s area is about 10 square feet of a studio apartment. The size of the universe has been reduced to a student council room where only two people can barely breathe. -¡¡ -Goong¡ Goong¡ Goong¡¡ [Proofreader ¨C Gun] -Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh. Crackle. From time to time, the spirits made a small noise as they wiggled on the shelves. The rest of the area that disappeared behind the fog was trapped in 98 ss hoursses. Thest ghost of one left. Cheon Yohwa watched it quietly. ¡°You must obey me.¡± -Sorry, but that brainwashing won¡¯t work on me. The same voice as Cheon Yohwa. The voice came from a full-body mirror on the opposite side. In the mirror, there was a figure sitting in a chair in a rxed posture with the same hairstyle and uniform as Cheon Yohwa. -¡±You know. No matter how much you try to brainwash me, it eventually turns into amand to obey yourself.¡± Doppelganger. A strange being who could only live as someone¡¯s shadow. That was Cheon Yohwa¡¯s final testament as an eternal disciple left behind. ¡°Why am I you? You¡¯re just a spirit trapped in a mirror. I exist outside. You can¡¯t move around, but I¡¯m free.¡± -¡°Oh, I see. Nowadays, people call twitching around in a 10-square-meter world freedom? Sorry, I¡¯m stupid. I didn¡¯t realize that prison on Earth was the freest ce.¡± ¡°Are you kidding? A 10-square-meter room in prison would be like a luxury hotel.¡± -¡°Yeah, I¡¯d love to stay at a 5-star hotel. Really jealous.¡± ¡°I hate you.¡± -¡°I hate you too. Just as expected.¡± Cheon Yohwa sighed. Was this the right moment to intervene? ¡°Have some coffee and rx.¡± ¡°Oh! Sir¡ You didn¡¯t have it delivered, you brewed it yourself? Wow, thank you.¡± ¡°No problem. It¡¯s my little hobby.¡± I had many hobbies, but being a barista was my favorite. Finding satisfaction in bombarding caffeine to suit the taste buds of others was more rewarding than anything else. After numerous trials and errors, Cheon Yohwa¡¯s pte had found apromise between ¡°coffee is bitter¡± and ¡°coffee is sweet.¡± Espresso? Is this coffee? It¡¯s more like herbal medicine. Mhiato? It¡¯s sugary water. Cheon Yohwa proimed the unification of left and right wings while establishing a new political party. Expected to face criticism from both sides, Cheon Yohwa, like those who advocate for third parties, overflowed with baseless confidence. The party name was ¡®Double Espresso Cream Latte.¡¯ The cream is not mixed, served like ice cream. Chocte is thinly sliced and lightly ced on top. The chocte should be between 70% and 90% cocoa. Drink it yourself, mixing the cream little by little, so include a straw or spoon. There, done. ¡°It¡¯s delicious¡¡± Cheon Yohwa had the happiest expression in the world. ¡°When the coffee is well-made, it feels so fulfilling¡ Sir, could you make this for me every morning? These days, without the coffee you make, my head starts to feel fuzzy around lunchtime.¡± ¡°Thank you for the high praise. But even though I really want to, it¡¯s not easy.¡± ¡°Why?¡± ¡°Here, civilization is intact, so getting coffee beans, cream, and chocte was really easy. But when I return to reality, I can only make it asionally.¡± ¡°Hehe. You¡¯ve added one more reason not to want to go back to reality¡¡± -¡±Heh. How delicious is it? Can I have a cup too, sir?¡± ¡°Shut up.¡± Cheon Yohwa muttered. The temperature in the room dropped by one degree. ¡°Before I really kill you.¡± -¡±¡¡± Clink, clink, clink. The 98 sand clocks on the shelf slightly trembled. In the middle of the table, the stainless steel kettle was rocking as it boiled water. Phew. Cheon Yohwa gently blew the steam heated by the coffee to return the room¡¯s temperature quietly. ¡°Thank you, sir.¡± ¡°Hm? Coffee is my hobby¡¡± ¡°Not just coffee. Everything.¡± ¡°¡¡± ¡°I know you have many secrets. But one thing is certain. No matter what happens to our school, you could have just ignored us.¡± A blizzard blew. ¡°I sometimes imagine what would have happened if you weren¡¯t here. Anyway, time is what¡¯s left, so I often indulge in various fantasies.¡± ¡°I see.¡± ¡°I was scared of ghosts since I was little.¡± White snow appeared from white fog and hit the white window. After hitting, the snowkes were swept away by the wind and disappeared beyond the fog. It existed because it was white, and it disappeared because it was white. Existence¡¯s nching. ¡°My father is like the leader of a cult. Well, just the leader itself.¡± ¡°¡¡± ¡°Do you know? Our house is huge. It even has a church-like facility underground. Every month, hundreds of people gather there, chanting strange incantations¡ My family name is Yeongyang Cheon. But my father insisted that I use the character for heaven as my surname, both at home and at school. Haha, weird, right?¡± ¡°¡¡± ¡°Sir, did you see the strange talismans stuck at our school?¡± ¡°Yeah. I saw them.¡± ¡°This school is also run by our family. The principal just brought in a rtive and seated him, but it¡¯s practically my father¡¯s. Most of the kids here are from the cult family.¡± ¡°¡¡± ¡°So, one day, the sky suddenly turned bright red, and when the ghosts appeared, I just somehow epted it. Ah, of course, it¡¯s divine punishment.: Snowkes stuck to the window. Snowkes endlessly bloomed and faded away. Existence was in bloom. ¡°But we can¡¯t just let the kids die.¡± ¡°¡¡± ¡°Maybe this is our family¡¯s fault. I couldn¡¯t figure out how it came to this, being almost a runaway¡ But still, as the student council president. Because I was always calleddy by the cult. I have to take responsibility.¡± In the 10-square-meter room wrapped in the scent of white flowers, Cheon Yohwa¡¯s story flowed. [Proofreader ¨C Gun] Chapter 97 â€“ The Pursuer XI [Proofreader ¨C Gun] Chapter 97 ©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤ The Pursuer XI Cheon Yohwa. ¨D¨DA long time ago, when I first saw the characters of that name, I might have already sensed an omen. Sky. Deste. To be. Simply put, it means ¡°to be deste.¡± Isn¡¯t it quite strange to give such a name to a beloved child? However, (yo) doesn¡¯t only carry the meaning of ¡®destion.¡¯ It also means ¡¯emptiness,¡¯ ¡®an empty sky,¡¯ ¡®quiet.¡¯ Have you ever seen a writer embellish a passage by using ¡®quiet¡¯ where just ¡®silent¡¯ would suffice? That ¡®yo¡¯ of quietness is the character in this child¡¯s name. If interpreted as ¡®to be quiet¡¯ rather than ¡®to be deste,¡¯ it doesn¡¯t seem so strange. Yes. If interpreted that way. Warning. From here on, this is a secret I haven¡¯t even told Cheon Yohwa, information that only I know in this world, a bit of TMI forter. This is purely my personal spection, so take it with a grain of salt. I¡¯m merely showing the fragments I¡¯ve pieced together from various encounters. First Fragment. I believe everyone knows that I visited China with the Sword Maiden during the 108th turn. While the Sword Maiden was busy nting red flowers on Mount Hua, I took a brief excursion around the area. If I were to directly quote the description I wrote back then, it goes like this: ¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D The scope of my strange hunts gradually expanded. It extended not only to Shaanxi Province but also to Henan Province. The ¡®Tutorial Dungeon¡¯ phenomenon urred worldwide, not just on the Korean Penins. As luck would have it, a top-tier dungeon appeared in a ce called Yingyang Town in Henan Province. It was utter chaos, especially with the involvement of Taoist heretical terrorists. ¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D There is a ce called Dengfeng in Henan Province. It¡¯s famous as the city where the Shaolin Temple is located. If you go a bit further west from there, you reach a vige called Yingyang Town. The Cheon family of Yingyang. This is the origin of Cheon Yohwa¡¯s family. Second Fragment. Originally, the Cheon family of Korea descended from a Ming Dynasty general who was dispatched to Joseon during the Imjin War. The general didn¡¯te alone but with his entire family, and they settled in Joseon. Most of the descendants perfectly adapted to the local culture and lived without any problems. However, ording to my hypothesis, a very small fraction of this family continued to maintain their ¡®traditional beliefs.¡¯ The traditional belief system of China is Taoism. Laozi, who can be considered the founder of Taoism, was from Xunyang in Henan Province, a person of Luoyi County. Laozi is said to have worked in Luoyang, Henan Province, and wrote the Tao Te Ching in Hangu Pass. Yingyang Town, the hometown of the Cheon family, is located along the path from Luoyi County to Hangu Pass. The birthce of Taoism. A region long influenced by religious faith. But at some point, among the Cheon family who migrated to the Korean Penins, only Cheon Yohwa¡¯s family¡¯s beliefs changed. It¡¯s unclear whether this change happened from the beginning or urredter. There¡¯s no data avable. They built arge mansion of 14,990 square meters in Sejong City. A religious facility was hidden underground. They established Baekhwa Girls¡¯ High School and enrolled the children of their faith. Cheon Yohwa¡¯s father, a leader of the cult, changed her surname from Cheon (Ç§) to Cheon (Ìì). To this family, their origin no longer had any meaning. [PR/N: Left the characters so you can understand what it means to say ??.] They summoned their own gods. What kind of god they wished to descend is unknown. Perhaps it was merely a shallow fraud by the cult leader. But in the void of the apocalypse, sorcery was not an illusion but a reality. The sorcery performed by hundreds of people sacrificing their children was especially so. From beyond the void, some being heard their prayers. It responded. Thus, the Endless Hell descended. Third Fragment Solitude, Destion, and Emptiness. In the Tao Te Ching, there is such a passage. Before humans distinguished between all things, before the shapes and names of all things were made, before heaven and earth were even divided, the world existed. Laozi referred to that world as ¡®serene and vast.¡¯ The next line goes something like this: I do not know its name. The serene and vast world, the serenity of the world, was something that existed before all things took shape, so it had no name. Now. Let¡¯s take another look at the name of the student council president, Cheon Yohwa. If we simply interpret the outward meaning as ¡®to be serene,¡¯ we might think, ¡®Oh, her parents must have hoped she¡¯d grow up to be a recluse.¡¯ But her parents, especially her father, were high priests of a sect corrupted from Taoism. He wouldn¡¯t have been ignorant of one of the most famous passages from the Tao Te Ching. So, knowing the origin of (yo), when we interpret the name Cheon Yohwa, it bes¡ very strange. To be deste. To be serene. The sky. To be empty. To lose one¡¯s name. Anonymous. Nameless. To ascend to a serene sky of emptiness, abandoning both self and name, to a world where nothing can be distinguished. The wordy in the name. ¡What a malicious spell it is. Cheon Yohwa. A name with an ominous resonance, not something you¡¯d give to a beloved child. It would be more fitting for a living sacrifice offered to an evil deity. The more sinister fact is that the spell seeded. Far beyond the caster¡¯s expectations. A god of alienation filled with all forms but essentially formless. An Endless Hell and a parade of hundred ghosts. ¡Or, Cheon Yohwa. She was the living sacrifice, and Baekhwa High School was the altar. Baekhwa High School was a sacrifice for her, and she was an altar for the god. This is the answer I¡¯ve deduced so far. Amentary from a time traveler on why the god of alienation, an Endless Hell, descended upon Baekhwa High School. But. This story¡¯s conclusion wasn¡¯t mine. ¡°Thank you, sir.¡± Cheon Yohwa said. ¡°I¡¯m sure I couldn¡¯t have done it alone. Even if I had won, I would have certainly lost myself.¡± Even so, you saved 16 of your friends. Always. From the first turn to the 117th, continuously. Cheon Yohwa said. ¡°Even if it was an illusion, thank you for letting me meet my mother again. I got to say the words I couldn¡¯t before. The flight was fun. Thank you for showing me the sunset. The coffee you made is delicious.¡± The only necromancer in Korea, as she was called. The former student council president of Baekhwa High School. She started ying basketball out of rebellion against her family but genuinely grew to love it. She would forget her original name and past if she escaped the prison of the void, never called by her name from the first to the 117th turn. The living sacrifice and the altar of this Endless Hell. And someone who likes slightly bitter and slightly sweet creamttes. Cheon Yohwa said. ¡°¨D¨DSo, I can¡¯t let a monster like you have me.¡± -¡±¡¡.¡± ¡°You are not me. You don¡¯t know the contrails I¡¯ve passed through. You don¡¯t know the name of the sunset I¡¯ve seen. You don¡¯t even know the texture of the coffee I like. You don¡¯t know me. I¡¯ve gone to ces you can¡¯t reach, am reaching, and will reach.¡± -¡±¡¡.¡± ¡°I am Cheon Yohwa. I will sing a thousand tales. Do you think I would be satisfied with just a hundred stories? I will live with ten times the volume, size, and color. Because¡ªI¡¯m not alone. Yes. There are people who have helped me. There are people I will help. So¨D¨D you, go back to your narrow ss sky. Cheon Yohwa.¡± Blink. Rattle. A snowstorm raged. There were no windows. The table, the electric kettle on the table, and the coffee cup were all engulfed in a white snowstorm. The wheel of time turned. From the other shore to this one. Forward, 0 steps. -Ah¡±. The god of alienation, the Endless Hell. In the white world, Cheon Yohwa smiled. Though her lips did not move, the snowstorm shattered and made a sound. -¡±How, so beautiful¨D¨D.¡± The snowstorm surged towards us like a tidal wave. At the moment I was certain this was the final struggle, I drew my cane-sword. A longsword forged in the now-extinct dwarven furnace. Doha. One sh. My dark wave split the white snowstorm of the Endless Hell. To the god of alienation, who had gathered almost all the data in the world, this ¡®sword¡¯ was the only unpredictable irregrity. Because Doha was a creation the master craftsman had made for me in another turn. A masterpiece crafted by the greatest cksmith in the other world, having learned from the greatest cksmith in Void. A weapon almost as monstrous as the monster itself. [Proofreader ¨C Gun] Even though it was the strongest weapon I possessed, I had not used Doha in this turn. Not even once. I had kept it sheathed. For this moment only. -¡±¨D¨D¨D¨D.¡± The snowstorm split and split again. The being once called Endless Hell was imprisoned in a ss prison without being able to finish what it wanted to say. The world¡¯s whiteness transformed entirely into a snowstorm. The snowstorm then turned into white grains of sand. The desert sands whirled and whirled again, eventually gathering in Cheon Yohwa¡¯s palm. An hourss. A world of ss walls filled only with white sand was now in Cheon Yohwa¡¯s hand. The transparent barrier sparkled. A wheel made of two sections of ss. The Endless Hell was captured by time. ¡°Ah.¡± Cheon Yohwa looked up. There was no mist. No blood-red sky of school ghost stories. No thorny birch forest or the shadowy hill of amaryllis. The sky was red. Not the red of monstrosities, but the red of reality. The color emitted by the sun hitting Earth¡¯s cornea. A sunset. Evidence that this world was still alive and bleeding. In the middle of the yground, surrounded by 98 scattered hoursses like petals, Cheon Yohwa looked up at the sky. This was her parade of a hundred ghosts. (Congrattions) Two epted into Ba¡ökwa! (Congrats) p. A worn banner fluttered at the school gate. Beneath the g that once celebrated civilization, the echo of the wind resounded. ¡°Yohwaaaaa!¡± ¡°Security Guard Misteeeeer!¡± The students of Baekhwa High School. The children saw us and waved. Their gestures sshed in the sunset. Though it seemed a distant scene. It was not as far as the distance from the other shore to this one. ¡°¡Mister.¡± I looked at the side of Cheon Yohwa¡¯s face. The sunset light slipped andbed through her auburn hair. ¡°Now that I think about it, I forgot to ask.¡± ¡°Ask anything.¡± ¡°Why did youe to save us?¡± That was probably the final moment. The moment when I could decisively imprint upon Cheon Yohwa, who had awakened with the power to brainwash others. The moment she received her name. The junction that could determine the direction of her life. It might sound silly, but if I had said here, ¡®I received an oracle to help you,¡¯ Cheon Yohwa would have be a fervent believer. If I had said, ¡®Because the nation will not abandon you,¡¯ she would have be an unparalleled patriot. She was ready to ept any answer and prepared to embrace any direction. I pondered for a brief second, then gave her the answer I had thought of long ago. ¡°Because you are helpful to me.¡± ¡°¡¡¡± ¡°The Endless Hell was a monster I could never defeat alone. I needed the assistance of a human chosen as its apostle. The reason you couldmand a hundred ghosts was that the entity called ¡®Cheon Yohwa¡¯ was somewhat identified with the Endless Hell. Recruiting you and subduing the Endless Hell was the best, and essentially the only strategy given to me.¡± ¡°¡I see.¡± Cheon Yohwa¡¯s expression seemed somewhat relieved. She probably epted my answer as a ¡®setting¡¯ for the course of her life. ¡°Yes, then¨D¨D.¡± ¡°And because I was curious about how the worst tutorial dungeon in Korean history was created.¡± ¡°¡¡?¡± ¡°And because I wanted to finally track down the true nature of the fairies I¡¯ve seen endlessly. I wanted to test if I could truly defeat a god-level monster of alienation. Oh, and of course, I was purely curious about what kind of person a weirdo who had brainwashed herself at Baekhwa High School originally was.¡± ¡°Um, Mister? What are you talking about¡?¡± ¡°Yohwa.¡± I smiled. ¡°Finding a reason to live is good. It¡¯s already admirable in itself. But I want you to live not just for one reason, but for as many reasons as possible.¡± ¡°¡¡¡± ¡°If a person can decide to die over a single raindrop, then equally, a single strand of music can be a reason to live. Even when helping someone, rather than for one reason, create multiple reasons. Benefit. Goal. Curiosity. Self-test. Simple amusement. Curiosity. Those thousand reasons are both the reasons that can kill a person and the reasons that will keep you alive.¡± That was the exact same deration Cheon Yohwa made to the Endless Hell. Even if it¡¯s the truth, for a person to be sure of their own words, they always need someone else to say the same thing, though in a different way. Click. I opened my trunk bag and took out a specially preserved document file. ¡°That is¡¡± ¡°It¡¯s a gift. You could call it a reward for clearing the dungeon. Originally, the fairy of the tutorial was supposed to give it to you, but I got rid of the person in charge here. Here you go.¡± In neat handwriting on high-quality paper, rare in this age, were written words. It was my handwriting. I took out a brush pen and added a few more characters before handing it to Cheon Yohwa. ¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D [Diploma] Name: Cheon Yohwa This person haspleted the entire three-year high school course and demonstrated excellent academic ability, thus this diploma is awarded. ¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D ¡°¡¡¡± Cheon Yohwa held the diploma with both hands and looked down at it. The shadow of her standing still settled on the yground floor. The nk space for the name, just filled in, shone like a bright shade. ¡°Congrattions on your graduation, Yohwa.¡± It would be ungentlemanly to detail her exact reaction there. I just want to note that it is perfectly natural for a high school student to cry at their graduation ceremony. Post-battle. Monster: The Endless Hell Aliases: Eternal Hell, School Ghost Story, Parade of a Hundred Ghosts, (White Flower), 4-Character Taboo, Heraclitus¡¯ Gand, Backroom, Cheon Yohwa Danger Level: Lv.5 Alienation God (Alienation) Subjugationplete. ¡ª There is an epilogue. Actually, there are many epilogues. Stories rted to the Endless Hell are numerous. But those stories can always be toldter. Today, I¡¯ll briefly describe an event that urred shortly after the ¡®graduation ceremony.¡¯ I was walking down the hallway of the National Road Management Headquarters. ¡°Ah! Teacher!¡± A lively voice came from behind, followed by the sound of quick footsteps. Turning around, the former basketball ace quickly closed the distance and then stopped with a screech. She yfully saluted. ¡°Yohwa. What brings you to the Management Headquarters?¡± ¡°Ahaha- I thought it¡¯s time to get our guild¡¯s exclusive dominance recognized in Sejong City. I just had a meeting with the head of management!¡± ¡°I see.¡± For reference, Cheon Yohwa was still wearing her white sailor school uniform. Not just Cheon Yohwa, but the entire Baekhwa Guild¡ a group of Baekhwa High School graduates did the same. Well, uniforms have always been an effective way to foster a sense of unity among members. There¡¯s no reason to give up the strong identity of ¡®Baekhwa High School¡¯ now. Or maybe she just got hooked on uniform cosy like how Tang Seorin is obsessed with witch cosy. Magic users tend to have a strong fetishism. I tilted my head. ¡°But why call me teacher? Why not call me Mister as you used to?¡± ¡°Hehe¡ Because you were born before me and have experienced more than me? So, I decided to call you Teacher out of respect. Why? Don¡¯t you like it?¡± ¡°No, I don¡¯t dislike it. It¡¯s just a bit strange to suddenly change my job from a security guard to a teacher.¡± ¡°Haha, what are you talking about? You even gave me a diploma!¡± Cheon Yohwa sped her hands behind her back and looked up at me obliquely. The smile on her face was distinctly different from the expressions of ¡®Cheon Yohwa¡¯ before the 117th turn. A lively and cheerful smile. ¡°I look forward to working with you in the future!¡± I could not object to Cheon Yohwa¡¯s change of address. Because, as I mentioned at the start of this episode, ¡°¨D¨DMy teacher!¡± This is the story of the time it took for the title of ¡®senior¡¯ to change to ¡®teacher.¡¯ -End of the the Pursuer¡¯s Tale. [Proofreader ¨C Gun] Chapter 98 â€“ The Savior Syndrome I [Proofreader ¨C Gun] Chapter 98 ©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤ The Savior Syndrome I 1 The Endless Hell was subjugated from the 117th turn. This meant that Cheon Yohwa, an awakened one who manded a hundred ghosts,¡¯ ¡®sealed a god-level monster of alienation,¡¯ and led hundreds of guild members, made a dazzling debut. From now on, the awakened ones in Korea would have to make slightly more difficult choices. ¨C KoreanVige: Hmm¡ Honestly, isn¡¯t Baekhwa the strongest guild in Korea now, rather than Three Thousand Worlds¡? The public opinion on SG changed immediately. ¨C KoreanVige: Baekhwa¡¯s unique features) The guild leader is stronger than all the other guild membersbined. The guild members are all high school students, so they wear school uniforms. It¡¯s not cosy. ¨C KoreanVige: Three Thousand Worlds¡¯s unique features) The guild leader is stronger than all the other guild membersbined. The guild members all have to wear witch hats. There¡¯s a mandatory ¡°broom maintenance time¡± every day at 2 PM. It¡¯s cosy. ¨C KoreanVige: Just looking at this, I believe it¡¯s obvious which guild is superior¡ ©¸ Anonymous: As expected, the facts are as they are, lol. ©¸ [Three Thousand Worlds] Witch Judge: You son of a bitch. ©¸ Anonymous: I¡¯m a Three Thousand Worlds guild member, and this is true. ¨C Anonymous: So, are Baekhwa¡¯s guild leader and Doctor Jang dating? ©¸ dolLHoUse: Not easy. ¨C Anonymous: Why do they stick to witch cosy regardless of gender or age? I really don¡¯t get it. ¨C [Yuldo Nation] Sword Maiden: Oh, howmentable! The young ones today are so absorbed in sorcery-like martial arts and neglect the training of mind and body; how can this not be regrettable? ©¸ Anonymous: Please leave. ©¸ Anonymous: (A person who would have died long ago if not for skill¡¯s power actually said this) ¨C [National Road] Officer: Objectivelyparing their power, Baekhwa does seem stronger than Three Thousand Worlds. ¨C CookingQueenBee: Interesting. ¨C Anonymous: So, are Baekhwa¡¯s guild leader and Doctor Jang dating? ©¸ dolLHoUse: Not easy. As you can see, Tang Seorin¡¯s position as the most revered idol in Korea was shaken. Coincidentally, Tang Seorin¡¯s headquarters was in Busan, while Cheon Yohwa¡¯s base was in Sejong. Since the unprecedented plummet in Seoul¡¯s property prices, these two cities had each be representative cities of Korea. ¡°I really don¡¯t understand.¡± Tang Seorin¡¯s stress levels mirrored the consumer price index before the end times. ¡°If she summons spirits, she¡¯s a necromancer. Even if it¡¯s ck magic, she¡¯s still a magician, right? So why doesn¡¯t she wear a magician¡¯s attire and instead wear something like a school uniform?¡± ¡°It¡¯s a sign of belonging. It means, ¡®Even if the world ends, we¡¯re still from the same school.¡¯ Something like that.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t like it.¡± ¡°Hmm. How about thinking of it as a Hogwarts uniform? They¡¯re magicians and wear uniforms too.¡± I thought I had given advice tailored 100% to her taste, but Tang Seorin responded with a very serious look. ¡°Are you crazy, Doctor Jang? The Hogwarts uniform isn¡¯t a sailor suit. Really, not at all. I¡¯m sorry, but please don¡¯t ever make such absurdments in front of me again.¡± ¡°¡¡¡± Even as magic users, Tang Seorin and Cheon Yohwa created a new rivalry of ¡®white mage versus ck mage¡¯¡ Well, I¡¯ll have another chance to talk about thatter. For now, let me recount a story from the 126th turn. 2 One day at the National Road Management Headquarters, Noh Doha said to me, ¡°Doctor Jang, I really don¡¯t want to say this, but¡¡± ¡°Yes?¡± ¡°Don¡¯t you think you two are sticking too close together¡?¡± As she spoke, Noh Doha looked at me with his default expression etched into his facial muscles. It was like he was staring at food waste left out in the summer. Noh Doha had a talent for making people wonder if his species was homo sapiens or a centipede. If he wasn¡¯t better at managing organizations and winning hearts than this, he wouldn¡¯t have lived long. But at this moment, there was no suitable rebuttal to Noh Doha¡¯s ocr violence. ¡°Hehe, teacher¡¡± Because Cheon Yohwa was clinging to my left arm, devolving into a ko. Although Cheon Yohwa was naturally affectionate and often engaged in skinship, this was definitely crossing the line. ¡°No, I¡¯m terribly embarrassed about this too.¡± ¡°Embarrassed, my foot. Actually, you like it but don¡¯t show it, trying to y hard to get with others. Hmph. Even if you deceive the heavens, you can¡¯t deceive my eyes. Your insidious and sordid instincts are clear as day to me¡¡± ¡°Noh Doha, head of management. I¡¯ve repeatedly told you, it¡¯s time for you to change those eyes.¡± ¡°Oh. Just like how your conscience flexibly changes, huh?¡± ¡°Oh, what a pity. Like Liu Bei who couldn¡¯t recognize your talent despite the three visits.¡± ¡°You old bastard, I¡¯ve told you dozens of times not to bring up those damn Three Kingdoms analogies¡¡± ¡°What¡¯s this? You want the Records of the Grand Historian instead?¡± ¡°Do you really want to die¡?¡± ¡°This is a monster. And a mental confusion type monster at that.¡± Blink. Noh Doha looked closely at my face, then at Cheon Yohwa again. ¡°Hehehe, teacher¡ Teacher saved me. Teacher. My light of life, my me of existence, my sin, my soul, my Lolita.¡± ¡°Hmm.¡± Noh Doha took out a sses cloth and meticulously cleaned his sses. He then put them back on and nodded. ¡°Indeed, this is a monster¡¡± ¡°Right?¡± ¡°Yes, I apologize, Doctor Jang. I thought you were the type who helps people, then establishes a mental hierarchy and converts that into romantic feelings. I must have been mistaken, and I inadvertently offended you¡¡± ¡°No problem. You¡¯re already an offense to the world just by existing, so there¡¯s no need to apologize.¡± After exchanging warm pleasantries, we delved into a serious strategy meeting. ¡°When did the Baekhwa guild leader start acting like this¡?¡± ¡°Exactly one week ago. Suddenly, without any guild members, she entered my hideout and clung to me.¡± ¡°Hmm. She handles a hundred ghosts like Pok¨¦mon, right? It¡¯s no surprise her mind is a bit corrupted from dealing with monsters¡¡± ¡°If it were just Yohwa, I¡¯d think that too¡¡± ¡°¡?¡± Noh Doha tilted her head. ¡°You have more than one person clinging to you? Where? I don¡¯t see anyone¡¡± ¡°Ah, you can¡¯t hear it? The [voice] of that person.¡± ¡°Damn. Here he goes again¡¡± ¡°If you¡¯re a mere mortal who can¡¯t hear it, there¡¯s nothing to be done. As the only one who can converse with them, I, the Doctor Jang, must trante.¡± ¡°Why does this lunatic pretend to be normal in front of others but acts like a brat only with me¡?¡± I ignored her and started writing on paper. [Doctor Jang, I can¡¯t imagine a world without you.] [Doctor Jang, ethics are social norms, and society requires at least two people.] [Doctor Jang, in that sense, you have be a bridge for me, who is alone.] The words continued to flow. ¡°Huh? What is this¡?¡± At first, Noh Doha looked at me as if wondering what I was doing. Gradually, his face grew darker. [Doctor Jang, if there were no regressors in this world, countless lives would have been sacrificed by the Ten ns.] [Doctor Jang, even if no one else acknowledges it, I know it.] [Doctor Jang, I¡¯m sorry for always burdening you.] [Doctor Jang, you are saving the world.] [Proofreader ¨C Gun] ¡°¡¡± Noh Doha¡¯s mouth dropped open. If his expression were turned into a gacha game skin, it would at least be UR rarity. ¡°Could this be¡ the Saintess¡?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°Haaaaah¡?¡± ¡°Amazing, right?¡± ¡°I¡¯ve never been more terrified in my life¡¡± ¡°For reference, she sends these messages in real-time like KakaoTalk messages. Once every ten seconds.¡± ¡°¡¡± ¡°This is even after I begged her to reduce it. A week ago, it was once every second. Wow, I never imagined telepathy could be used as infinite KakaoTalk. Thanks to that, my mental state is like melting chocte.¡± ¡°Hmm¡¡± Noh Doha sighed. A silent stillness settled in the meeting room (though it wasn¡¯t very quiet for me, as the Saintess¡¯s messages kepting). Meanwhile, Cheon Yohwa beside me kept giggling, adding to the BGM. ¡°I understand. So¡ do you have any idea what kind of monster this bizarre phenomenon is¡?¡± ¡°I do. It¡¯s a matter of identifying themonalities between the two people showing abnormal symptoms.¡± Cheon Yohwa clung to me, saying I ¡®saved¡¯ her. The Saintess continually praised me, saying I was ¡®saving the world.¡¯ ¡®Savior Syndrome.¡¯ Or ¡®Savior Narrative Syndrome.¡¯ That was the name of this bizarre monster. 3 Salvation. In genre fiction, it¡¯s amon narrative where the protagonist dramatically rescues a character who is unfairly oppressed by the world and everyone participates in this unfair treatment. The protagonist is the only one who swoops in and saves the character. Naturally, the character feels boundless gratitude and affection for the protagonist who saved them. Why is this natural? Well, imagine giving a gambler who has lost everything at Kangwon Land a gift of 1 million won without asking anything in return, and you¡¯ll understand. The difference between a saved character and a Kangwon Land gambler is that while thetter¡¯s life doesn¡¯t change much because it exists in reality, the former, being a fictional character, truly escapes from the depths of despair thanks to the 1 million won worth of help. To highlight the key points of the salvation narrative through a simple example: ¡®Ah! I was originally a noble¡¯s daughter, but my family was ruined by evil conspiracies, and I was sold to a ve trader.¡¯ ¡®If you hadn¡¯t helped me, I would have fallen into despair and hatred for all humanity, bing a minion of the Demon King¡¯s army and bringing about the worst bad ending. (Point 1)¡¯ ¡®But thanks to your help, I avoided the bad ending route and discovered hidden talents within myself, awakening as a much stronger being. (Point 2)¡¯ ¡®You didn¡¯t hesitate to make sacrifices and efforts for a mere ve like me. You were wounded and bled. You could have ignored me like everyone else. Why did you do so much for someone like me? (Point 3)¡¯ ¡®Being with you, I realized that you¡¯re inherently such a person. Someone who saves others even at their own expense. In that case, I¡¯ll support you from behind. I¡¯ll dedicate everything I have. (Point 4)¡¯ Of course, this clich¨¦ has many variations. Just like how sessful restaurants spawn numerous ¡®original¡¯ copycats around them. For instance, Point 4 can change to: ¡®Being with you, I realized that you¡¯re only kind to me. You treat only me specially. In that case, I¡¯ll dedicate everything I have for you.¡¯ The core idea remains the same: for the character, the protagonist holds valueparable to ¡®the world itself¡¯ or bears the ¡®weight of the world¡¯ alone on behalf of others. Thus, the protagonist deserves to be ¡®praised.¡¯ No matter how much the protagonist¡¯s achievements and attitude are praised, it¡¯s still insufficient. Because the misfortunes of the world are endless, and the protagonist continues to bear that infinite misfortune, eternally receiving ¡®wounds.¡¯ (Point 5) ¡°¨D¨Das summarized by one of our National Road Management Team employees who is well-versed in the grammar of genre literature¡¡± ¡°Excellent.¡± If I had encountered Oh Dokseo, I might have figured this out myself, but in the 119th turn, I was quite distant from genre literature. Noh Doha? Needless to say, this person hasn¡¯t even watched movies like [The Lord of the Rings] or [Harry Potter]. As mereymen, we were satisfied reading the perfectlypiled [Analysis of Salvation Narrative] report created by our management team members. In other words, it was like office supervisors who areplete outsiders to a field reading a well-organized report by their subordinates and feeling like ¡®Okay, with my brilliant mind and rich social experience, I¡¯ve perfectly grasped this field I¡¯ve never encountered before in my life.¡¯ ¡°This means the solution is simple.¡± ¡°Oh, what is it¡?¡± ¡°It means the person who saved the characters just needs to be ¡®not a very noble person,¡¯ right? For example, if I secretly harass cute fairies behind people¡¯s backs, or do some pathetic things, then the ¡®Savior Syndrome¡¯ won¡¯t hold up.¡± ¡°Oh¡¡± ¡°Let¡¯s start harassing fairies today. Then the perception of me as something sacred will copse quickly, and the anomaly will lose its effect and disappear.¡± ¡°Indeed, Doctor Jang. Your personality is vile, but when ites to anomalies, you¡¯re a consummate expert¡¡± ¡°Thank you. Although,pared to the head of the management team, I still have a long way to go.¡± ¡°Hmph¡¡± Confident of our victory, we congratted ourselves. I must emphasize again that Noh Doha and I were not experts in genre narrative grammar at all. Nheless, we were the authorities and decision-makers overseeing the yin and yang of the Korean Penins. Usually, the Saintess would perform her role as an inspector appropriately, but she had gone off the deep end this time. History repeats itself. Thebination of ack of professional insight and the copse of oversight over absolute power has been amply demonstrated by humanity over thousands of years. The tragedy was set in motion from this moment onward. [Proofreader ¨C Gun] Chapter 99 â€“ The Savior Syndrome II [Proofreader ¨C Gun] Chapter 99 ©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤ The Savior Syndrome II True to my words to Noh Doha, I began engaging in ¡°pathetic behavior¡± from that day forward. I kicked fairies without any reason and was rude to store clerks. Whenever I had the chance, I would gossip about others. This was just the basics. I even started a series on S titled [Luxury Series in the End Times], where I subtly mocked every awakened being in the Korean Penins. Initially, I did this anonymously but gradually hinted that the posts were from ¡°ZERO_SUGAR.¡± -Anonymous: Breaking news! ZERO_SUGAR = Luxury series author evidence.jpg -ZERO_SUGAR: Oops. Busted. Finally, I made it look like I was identally revealed to be the same person,pleting the deception perfectly. I smiled in satisfaction. Surely, anyone would consider this pathetic enough¡! ¡°Hmmm¡ 6 points.¡± ¡°¡?¡± Sim Aryeon, an expert in this field, nced at my monitor from beside me. ¡°If it were me, I wouldn¡¯t just post anonymously suggesting they were the same person. I¡¯d constantly change IPs and post praise andments about the Luxury Series. And, of course, manipte the upvotes¡¡± ¡°¡!¡± ¡°The peak of clique behavior is when your random posts, even if pointless, get flooded with upvotes and dominate the popr posts on the board¡¡± ¡°¡!¡± ¡°Yes. Guild leader, you need to create your signature pointless posts. The luxury series is honestly too well-crafted to be pointless¡ It¡¯s too enjoyable. That won¡¯t do. They need to be utterly useless, making it clear that the upvotes are manipted by a clique. Post beatboxing, singing attempts, or consistently uninteresting posts¡¡± ¡°¡!¡± A teacher is among any group of three, they say. Indeed, I epted Sim Aryeon as my teacher and reinvented myself as a pathetic figure in the apocalypse. -KoreanVige: ZERO_SUGAR << If you like this guy, give him a thumbs up lol ©¸KoreanVige: I''ll start lol ©¸Anonymous: You little bastard just said thumbs up ©¸Anonymous: You little bastard just said thumbs up KoreanVige¡¯s clique family (surprisingly, there existed a group of followers who idolized Sim Aryeon on S) provided their support. If there is favoritism, there must be hostility to bnce the world. Normal S users began to loathe me. -[Three Thousand Worlds]Witch Trial: What''s wrong with Zero Sugartely? Have they gone mad? -Literature Girl: Damn, why is half the popr posts about cliques? S is dead. I''m out, bye ©¸Anonymous: See you tomorrow! -dolLHoUse: Oppa... -[National Road]Officer: It''s not pleasant to see a handful of people tarnishing the entire board''s atmosphere. -CookingQueenBee: Interesting. A perfect result, truly. Now, it was time for those afflicted with the Savior Syndrome toe to their senses¨D¨D -[Baek Hwa]High School Senior: Thumbs up lol That moment never came. When Cheon Yohwa, the absolute leader of Baekhwa Girls'' High School, pressed the thumbs-up button, hundreds of guild members automatically followed suit. [Doctor Jang. While I have little interest in S activities,] [Considering your desire to be a notable figure, I have captured and publicly revealed the personal information of four awakened beings attempting to nder you.] [Feel free to continue your activities without worry.] Why? I started to evolve from a ko to a sloth and asked Cheon Yohwa. ¡°Yo-hwa, isn''t what I''m doing pathetic?¡± ¡°Huh? No. You overexerted yourself saving us, and it damaged your brain. Don¡¯t worry, teacher! Even if everyone else in the world criticizes you, I never will!¡± ¡°...¡± ¡°We¡¯ll take care of you for the rest of your life!¡± My pupils quivered. Take care? For life? Students taking care of their teacher? This seemed reminiscent of a gacha game before the end times. The tragedy didn¡¯t end here. ¡°Doctor Jang! Did you hear?!¡± Tang Seorin burst through the door of my hideout. ¡°What?¡± ¡°Sorry! I didn¡¯t realize...!¡± She lunged forward like a character from a passionate youth drama and hugged my shoulders tightly. I was bewildered. Tang Seorin wasn¡¯t usually one for physical affection. ¡°Didn¡¯t realize? Suddenly, what...¡± ¡°You injured your brain fighting anomalies! And now you¡¯re infected with a psychological anomaly known as Attention Seeker Syndrome...! Doctor Jang, why do you always neglect yourself and only care for others?¡± ¡°...Shit.¡± ¡°Oh, my god! And now the Rage Disorder anomaly too. I¡¯m sorry, Doctor Jang. Was I toote? Hmm, but don¡¯t worry. Even if you burn the world down, I¡¯ll always be on your side...¡± This is bad. ¡°Wait a minute, Tang Seorin. That¡¯s a misunderstanding. Who told you such fake news?¡± ¡°Huh? The constetions told me?¡± ¡°...That¡¯s a lie. Think logically, between me and the constetions, who¡¯s more trustworthy?¡± "Ha? Of course, it''s the Constetions." "...Actually, there''s no such thing as Constetions. It''s all a masquerade controlled by one person." "Ah." Tang Seorin''s expression softened. She leaned forward and gently stroked my bangs. "I see. Yeah, you''re right. Constetions are all lies... Don''t worry. There''s nothing to worry about." Damn it. I felt a stab in the back. The trio of Cheon Yohwa, Saintess, and Tang Seorin¡ªweren''t they the most powerful awakened beings on the Korean Penins? Now that all three were caught in the Salvation Syndrome simultaneously, it was almost as if half of the penins''s power had fallen into the hands of the anomaly. The rest of us, including me and Noh Doha, hastily entered another emergency meeting. "Chief Commander, we''re screwed." "This is insane..." Noh Doha muttered, then suddenly widened his eyes. "But wait, isn''t it just you who''s screwed? I''m perfectly fine..." "Yeah." "Think rationally, Doctor Jang. Whether it''s salvation or whatever, what damage does this virus do to us? It''s just that the prominent awakened ones have relied on you mentally from the start, hasn''t it? Who''s dying? Are there material losses? Am I getting tired? No. The more you talk about it, the more I feel like I can afford to step away from this problem..." "And then, if you too fall victim to anomaly, you''lle crying to me, saying I was truly the savior of the world, won''t you?" "Damn it..." "You know I have [total memory ability], right? I swear, if you don''t help me here, I''ll eventually hone my art skills to hyper-realistic, almost photographic levels." "Art...?" "Yes. I want to realistically depict you clinging to me. How about titling the artwork ''[Noh Doha, worshipped as the savior]''? I''ll immortalize that painting in ultra-high definition on S. Forever. In every turn." "What the hell...?" Bang! Bang! Bang! The meeting room door shook violently. Despite being designed to withstand a nuclear explosion, voices from people outside vividly prated through the steel door. - Teacher! Please open the door! - Hyung-nim! Are you there, hyung-nim! I''m Seo Gyu! I''ve used my admin authority to promote all your posts to top rank! - What do we do...? Our guild leader seems terrified toe out. Maybe he''s been too hurt, and his mind has gone... - Oppa. It''s me, Lee Hayul. Sorry. I should have noticed when you asked for an absolutely imprable security system from outside. I regret it deeply. - We messed up, Doctor Jang. Sorry. So please, can you smile like you used to once again? Please? Chills ran down my spine. It was pure terror. ------------------ [Proofreader ¨C Gun] I sincerely confess that in recent centuries, I have never been as terrified of an anomaly as I am now. It was more frightening than the underworld itself. I muttered seriously, ¡°Is it a suicide cult?¡± ¡°Oh. That¡¯s a brilliant idea. I¡¯d like to say, ¡®Please go ahead andmit suicide now,¡¯ but can you guarantee that the Salvation Syndrome won¡¯t ur in the next turn? Each time this anomaly appears, would you justmit suicide¡?¡± ¡°Cowardly facing the facts.¡± ¡°Pleasee up with some kind of n. I don¡¯t want the current turns I¡¯m living through to be ruined by such a stupid anomaly. Anyway, aren¡¯t you an expert on anomalies¡?¡± Bam! The steel door shook like a scroll. I urgently asked, ¡°Chief Commander, what about this?¡± ¡°Try anything you damn well please¡¡± ¡°In fact, I¡¯m going to set it up as if I helped those people because I had malicious intentions and ulterior motives. In other words, I approached them with sinister intent. If it bes clear that what they thought was ¡®salvation¡¯ was just a delusion and was actually driven by my selfish desires, the premise of the Salvation Syndrome itself will be destroyed. How about that? It just came to me on the spot, but isn¡¯t it perfect?¡± ¡°Don¡¯t, you asshole¡¡± ¡°¡?¡± ¡°Just, if you¡¯re going to do something, don¡¯t. Damn it. Do you want the Korean Penins to go to hell? You said ¡®try anything,¡¯ and you¡¯re just babbling anything, you crazy bastard¡¡± If this were turn 555, in other words, if this were the turn where I first encountered Web novels and entered the world of novels, I might have been able to analyze the current situation coldly. ¡Originally starting as the ¡®Salvation Syndrome,¡¯ this anomaly made those around me feel guilty by suddenly doing strange things that ¡®he didn¡¯t used to do.¡¯ Taking refuge in Noh Doha¡¯s secret bunker was the worst move. The plot trigger ¡®the protagonist with mental scars stuck in a small room¡¯ intensified the guilt of those around me, and the ¡®salvation¡¯ narrative eventually deteriorated into a genre of ¡®regret, obsession, and degradation.¡¯ If I had chosen ¡®suicide¡¯ at this point, it would have been even worse. Perhaps this anomaly, surpassing even my regression ability, might have developed into a storyline of maximum guilt, where ¡®the protagonist died sacrificing himself for us,¡¯ drifting my life into the genre of degradation, unable to be ovee even with regression¡ In short, the true identity of this anomaly was not the ¡®Salvation Syndrome.¡¯ ¡®Clich¨¦.¡¯ That was the true identity of the anomaly. Genre literature had settled into clich¨¦s, avoiding them and twisting them had be clich¨¦s themselves. Even causing a disturbance to change the Salvation narrative was more difficult than I originally thought. Fortunately, thanks to Noh Doha preventing suicide, I was able to avoid the worst bad ending. ¡®What should I do? Is making me a pathetic person of any use? But that doesn¡¯t mean I can really kill an innocent person ormit evil deeds.¡¯ By the way, I said that the situation would improve even if I really mitted evil deeds.¡± It¡¯s a plot development in a fief. ¡®What should I do now?¡¯ Kwaaang! Finally, the steel door was crushed. Through the gap in the unperceived dimension, faces I knew reached out. ¡°Teacher.¡± ¡°Hyung-nim.¡± ¡°Guild leader¡¡± ¡°Oppa.¡± ¡°Doctor Jang.¡± Noh Doha was terrified. ¡°Please do something quickly. Don¡¯t just talk nonsense about a solution¡¡± ¡°Ah.¡± At that moment, a lightning-fast inspiration struck my brain. It was a stroke of luck. Something that the protagonist of the Salvation narrative would never do. Not only that, but something that had not been established in any work in the world, and therefore could never be considered a clich¨¦. Not even giving the impression of ¡®suddenly changing as a person¡¯ to those around me, inherently disliked¡ One of the characteristics I had cherished for a long time. Like a miracle, that one ¡®strategy¡¯ was given to me alone. Snap! As the steel door crumpledpletely, the exit was wide open. People approached in a movement reminiscent of a zombie horde. Yes. Even thest bastion of the Korean Penins, the underground bunker of the National Highway Administration, had fallen. Even so, I did not retreat. Like Jangpanpa¡¯s equipment, I stood tall before those Salvation zombies. [PR/N: Battle of Jangpanpa from Romance of Three Kingdoms, bro¡¯s a HUGE fan.] And I charged. ¡°Who¡¯s going to talk about [The Romance of the Three Kingdoms] with me?¡± Thud. The salvation zombies hesitated. ¡°If Wei Yan¡¯s strategy of the Jiao Guo was epted by Zhuge Liang? If Ma Su hadn¡¯t climbed the mountain? If Liu Bei hadn¡¯t been defeated at Yiling?¡± ¡°¡¡± ¡°Was Jiang Wei¡¯s Northern Campaign truly justified? Was Liu Shan really a foolish ruler? Surely, no one here is defending Cao Cao, right? The massacre of Xuzhou is an unforgivable crime!¡± ¡°¡¡± Hesitation. Hesitation. The salvation zombies took steps away from me. My eyes widened. It worked! It really worked! I shouted even louder and advanced towards the salvation zombies. ¡°Come on! The Shu Han alone is the Ji Han, the rightful sessor of the Han Dynasty! Wei fans are psychos, and my brother is just a mentally disturbed attention seeker!¡± ¡°¡¡± ¡°Cao Cao killed his father and massacred the people of Xuzhou, but he actually coveted the widow in Wan and caused the death of his own son! What hypocrisy is this! With that, Cao Pi, an unprecedented sociopath, ascended to the throne, bringing tragedy upon us! Cao Cao, he is the enemy of the world and should be struck with a stone! Tang Seorin!¡± ¡°Uh, uh?¡± ¡°Let¡¯s talk about the Romance of the Three Kingdoms!¡± ¡°¡Sorry. Something big came up in our guild. Actually, I came here to see the Chief Commander. But you seem busy. I¡¯lleter.¡± ¡°Yohwa!¡± ¡°Yes, yes?¡± ¡°Do you want to talk about the Romance of the Three Kingdoms?¡± ¡°¨CSorry, Senior! I have a basketball appointment with the kidster! I¡¯ll go first!¡± ¡°Hayul! Seo Gyu! Aryeon! You guys like the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, too, right? This weekend, let¡¯s go to Gisan and find out why Ma Su wanted to climb the mountain, and enjoy a historical exploration of the Romance of the Three Kingdoms!¡± ¡°Kyaaaaaaah!¡± Whoosh. Starting with Sim Aryeon¡¯s scream, famous since turn 1 for its scream-filled vibe, the salvation zombies fled. The anomaly of the Salvation narrative was vanquished. Only Noh Doha and I were left in the meeting room. ¡°¡¡± ¡°¡¡± I looked back at Noh Doha. His expression was, well, what is this? It was a face that defied description in anynguage. Pitiful. Relieved. Contemptuous. Annoyed. Incredulous. Pitying. Annoyed. Pitiable. Hateful. Abination of very subtle and mysterious emotions that could only be conveyed to others if I mastered hyper-realistic painting and drew it for them, Noh Doha looked at me. ¡°¡Chief Commander.¡± ¡°Yes¡¡± ¡°Would you like to talk about the Romance of the Three Kingdoms with me?¡± Silence. Noh Doha chewed on his lips. ¡°¡Alright. Whatever.¡± ¡°¡¡± ¡°I¡¯ll go along with it¡¡± To be honest, that answer hurt more than anything else. The end. Epilogue. ¡°¡ªThat incident happened in turn 126. Chief Commander Noh Doha. So, whenever I get the chance, I bring up the Romance of the Three Kingdoms. It¡¯s not because my taste has aged, but as a preventive measure to protect the peace of the Korean Penins and the safety of the world, I keep bringing up Three Kingdoms bait whenever I get the chance. That¡¯s how we can stop the Salvation Syndrome. What do you think? Will you appreciate this noble spirit of sacrifice of mine?¡± ¡°Bullshit.¡± ¨C Savior A. End. [Proofreader ¨C Gun] Chapter 100 â€“ Collaborator I [Proofreader ¨C Gun] Chapter 100 ©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤ Coborator I Maybe if you¡¯re listening to my tale, you might suddenly find yourself wondering: ¡®Are people all too noble?¡¯ Indeed, even those who could reach a superhuman state like saintly figures (excluding witch cosy like Tang Seorin and personality exceptions like Noh Doha), the people around me (excluding Sim Aryeon) belong to a quite noble category. But such doubts stem from a misunderstanding of cause and effect: ¨C How is it that everyone gathered around this person seems uniformly noble and capable? (X) ¨C Ah, this person must deliberately choose to meet and socialize with noble and capable people! (O) I, too, have endured a history of harsh betrayals. People fixated on inted egos, aiming only for strategic blows, possessing tainted and ineffectual personalities¡ By filtering out and carefully selecting such individuals, I¡¯ve only just managed to reach my current circle of acquaintances. ¡°Hey, Mister.¡± ¡°Hmm?¡± So, on a certain day of the 669th turn, Oh Dokseo asked me a question that left me somewhat bewildered: ¡°Come to think of it, Mister, you hardly hang out with the early members these days, do you? You¡¯re always with people like Tang Seorin or Noh Doha.¡± ¡°Early members? Who are you talking about? If you mean Old Scho¡¡± ¡°No, no. We met Sword Master only in the 6th turn. I mean the real early members. Jung Sohee, Kim Sieun, Uehara Shino, and others like them.¡± ¡°Ah.¡± ¡°In [Omniscient Regressors Viewpoint], those people only appeared in the very early stages and aren¡¯t mentionedter on at all. Why don¡¯t you meet them nowadays?¡± ¡°¡ ¡± I felt truly nostalgic, like hearing the names of long-forgotten elementary school friends for the first time in ages. ¡°I don¡¯t remember.¡± ¡°Huh?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t remember. I gained [Complete Memory Ability] in the 5th turn, but didn¡¯t I primarily interact with them around the 4th turn? From my perspective, that¡¯s already stories spanning thousands of years ago.¡± ¡°Oh¡¡± ¡°In the novel you read, it seems stories from before the 5th turn are also mentioned.¡± ¡°Yeah, well¡ That¡¯s right. In fact, the stories from the 1st and 3rd turns were handled quite importantly. Like when entering Baekhwa High School and encountering Endless Hell, it was emphasized during those moments.¡± ¡°Hmm.¡± So, Oh Dokseo has ¡®read¡¯ my life from the 1st to the 117th turn at this point. Currently, this episode was the 660th turn from my perspective. In contrast, Oh Dokseo has only observed ¡®me up to the 117th turn.¡¯ Thus, Oh Dokseo has been following my life at intervals of approximately 500 turns. ¡°Seems like the longest adaptation to the world.¡± [Omniscient Regressors Viewpoint] was an irregrly serialized work. Simply because my turn moved forward didn¡¯t mean it was regrly serialized like modern web novels. It wasn¡¯t because the author fell into a slump and spent Wednesdays, Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays ying, or if a sried worker heard it, they would have a stress management skill to adjust. It was just that the conditions for serialization were different from other novels. ¡°When major weirdos are defeated, [Omniscient Regressors Viewpoint] especially increases its serialization volume.¡± Ten ns. Udumbara. Meteor Shower. Especially as the suppression of Endless Hell took ce, the serialized volume of [Omniscient Regressors Viewpoint] soared. Naturally, Oh Dokseo, the only ¡®reader¡¯ of [Omniscient Regressors Viewpoint], also gained more and more knowledge. Compared to Oh Dokseo from the 555th turn, who thought that the final boss was Ten ns, Oh Dokseo from the 669th turn had an overwhelming amount of information. Of course, there were still many sloppy partspared to me. But Oh Dokseo possessed knowledge that I didn¡¯t. ¡°Actually, I¡¯d like to ask you about my early acquaintances. What happened between them and me?¡± ¡°Huh?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t remember anything properly, so I don¡¯t know what happened in the 4th turn, even though I have a vague idea of who they were. No one does, including me, unless you tell me.¡± ¡°Um¡ Should I tell you then? I¡¯ve been reading the early parts of the novel for about a month, so I remember bits and pieces¡¡± ¡°It doesn¡¯t matter.¡± ¡°Okay, got it. Wow, it feels really weird to ask the protagonist of a work about their own story. It¡¯s fascinating. I don¡¯t think a scene like this has ever appeared in any other creation.¡± Oh Dokseo cleared his throat. ¡°Alright. Anyway, so what happened was¡¡± ¡°Wait. There¡¯s no need to tell me right now.¡± ¡°Huh?¡± ¡°I¡¯ll ask you in the next turn. There¡¯s a much better way for me to find out than just hearing it as a ¡®story¡¯ from you.¡± ¡°¡?¡± Oh Dokseo tilted his head. ¡°Mister, what kind of nonsense is this?¡± And that was exactly the kind of nonsense it was. 2 ¡°I fucking swear! What the hell are you talking about?¡± ¡°Uh¡ sorry¡¡± Next turn. turn 670. In the main hall of ¡®Busan Station Tutorial Dungeon,¡¯ as usual, SG Nam Seo Gyu¡¯s loud cursing echoed. The face of Fairy No. 264, who received the cursing upfront, remained unimpressed. The expressions of hundreds of civilians weren¡¯t much different. Now, more than my faint memories of my birthce, I missed the infinite regressive homnd that I didn¡¯t long for. Approaching Oh Dokseo, I greeted him ording to thetest trends of the MZ generation. ¡°Hi. What¡¯s up. Yo.¡± ¡°Eek! P-protagonist¡¡± Naturally, MZ was a generation that lumped together Millennials (1980s, 1990s) and Gen Z (2000s, 2010s), so my greeting style was up-to-date. In the past, there had been controversy over lumping together a mere 30 years of time, but personally, I found it all quite ambiguous. I structured my life in intervals of 1,000 years. Honestly, isn¡¯t 30 years just a fleeting moment? But it seemed out of ce for Oh Dokseo. ¡°Um, why are youing to me?¡± ¡°Calm down, Teacher Oh Dokseo. I know you read ¡®Omniscient Regressors Viewpoint¡¯ as if I were the protagonist. However, that¡¯s a lie and merely a means for aliens to brainwash you¡¡± ¡°¡?¡± ¡°My name is Doctor Jang. In the secret society library society, I am known as the ck Book Pce Duke. You must trust mepletely¡¡± ¡°¡¡± The most fun game in the world. That is, I enjoyed teasing Oh Dokseo for about 10 minutes. During that time, SG Nam¡¯s head exploded (sorry, Seo Gyu), and Sim Aryeon proved that she was a scream connoisseur, causing 398 survivors to scatter in all directions. Only Oh Dokseo and I were left. Right now, people haven¡¯t noticed a murder right under their noses, but in fact, the convenience store, souvenir shop, and vending machines ced in the main hall were golden points. I went around the convenience store and shop, picking up items as needed. As always, I didn¡¯t forget to put silver bells from the souvenir shop into my pocket. And I poured out all the money I had into the vending machine¡¯s drinks. ¡°So¡¡± Oh, Oh Dokseo invested all my fortune in vending machines. Having heard all the truths from me, Oh Dokseo looked this way with a nk expression. ¡°A while ago in the previous turn, didn¡¯t I form an alliance with you? Now, in turn 670, are you asking me to cooperate to experience something simr to the 4th turn?¡± ¡°Yeah.¡± ¡°Alright, Mister. It¡¯s confusing in many ways, but let¡¯s start with this. Why did you y such a prank earlier?¡± ¡°Well, it¡¯s about reading. Imagine someone boasting that this world is actually a novel and they know all the developments. Wouldn¡¯t that be intriguing? You¡¯d naturally want to mess around, wouldn¡¯t you?¡± ¡°I still don¡¯t quite get it¡¡± It was a sophisticated sentiment to demand from a severe web novel otaku, Hongdae Byung (Hwang Tae), ate 2nd grade patient. [Proofreader ¨C Gun] ¡°But¡ isn¡¯t it too different from the 4th turn for us to be together like this? In [Omniscient Regressors Viewpoint], I¡¯m just an extra who isn¡¯t even mentioned by name.¡± ¡°Oh, an extra? That¡¯s uneptable. It¡¯s saying that ¡®that novel¡¯ hasn¡¯t even reached turn 555 yet. The 555th turn of the novel is when you¡¯ll appear as a major character from the start.¡± ¡°Oh¡¡± ¡°Anyway, I¡¯m not expecting aplete repetition of the 4th turn. Just being simr is enough. I just want to experience the lost memories.¡± ¡°Well, in that case¡ I see.¡± Oh Dokseo muttered nervously. Footsteps could be heard from across the main hall. There were seven people. At the head of the group was a man in his 20s wearing a Hawaiian shirt and holding an axe. He looked at us and frowned deeply. ¡°Huh? What¡¯s this? There are people here?¡± Turn 200. If left alone, he would be a human who would drop out in thetter half of the tutorial. Awakening ability, Grade E. There was hardly any difference from an ordinary person. That¡¯s all I remembered, but Oh Dokseo seemed to know something else. The kid quickly whispered to me. ¡°That¡¯s Number 200. The guy who leads the biggest and fiercest group at Busan Station. Because of him, you¡¯ve been through a lot since turn 1.¡± ¡°What? Me?¡± ¡°Yeah. He¡¯s always inciting people, creating ranks among themselves¡ He noticed you and caused dissent among the group, leading to betrayals. Anyway, he caused a cancerous development in the early stages. It made me seriously consider quitting.¡± ¡°Oh.¡± I couldn¡¯t imagine being mocked by a Grade E ordinary guy in his 20s. It was so fascinating rather than unpleasant that it was ufortable. ¡°Why are you whispering just to yourselves? Huh?¡± It seemed like Oh Dokseo and I weren¡¯t liked by Number 200. He approached swinging his axe. The other followers apanying Number 200 were equally rough-looking. Perhaps they knew each other even before being summoned to the tutorial dungeon? Mostly from the back alleys. ¡°How did I behave in turn 4?¡± ¡°You were waiting at this vending machine when Number 200 approached and you immediately shed his throat.¡± ¡°What? I just killed someone?¡± ¡°Yeah. It was almost like the first cider scene in [Previous turn]. If that scene hadn¡¯t happened, I would have seriously considered quitting.¡± ¡°I was such a brutal person in turn 4¡¡± ¡°Hey, you there in the T-shirt! And the kid with the hat! Can¡¯t you hear me?¡± As Number 200 stepped five steps forward, I took a step forward and approached him. ¡°Don¡¯t you hear me¡ª?¡± Thump. I struck his throat with the edge of my hand, causing him to faint. He didn¡¯t die. He just felt the sadness of being separated from his vocal cords. ¡°Huh?¡± The rest of his followers widened their eyes, but they didn¡¯t need to suffer from dry eyes by maintaining that posture for a long time. It took just three seconds for all the followers to copse with their vocal cords destroyed. ¡°Wow¡¡± Oh Dokseo sighed btedly. ¡°Are they dead? All of them?¡± ¡°No, just their vocal cords are destroyed. They¡¯ll live as mute for the rest of their lives. It¡¯s penalty enough to seal their voices, as you said, for inciting and politicking.¡± ¡°Wow, really. Wow. Mister, you¡¯ve really gone through hundreds of turns. The genre haspletely changed to somethingpletely different from the early annoying character¡¡± ¡°Oh. The negativity is strong. Anyway, what¡¯s the next development?¡± ¡°Oh. Here, there are seven opponents to deal with. Mister, you get injured in the arm because there¡¯s no healer in Busan Station other than Uehara Shino and Sim Aryeon. But Sim Aryeon¡¯s¡¡± ¡°Her healing ability is at the level of Madecassol. At this point.¡± ¡°Well, it¡¯s much more effective than Madecassol, even if it¡¯spared to Uehara Shino. Anyway, Mister, let¡¯s make Uehara your ally¡¡± I enjoyed a nostalgic journey guided by Oh Dokseo. ¡°Come to think of it, I used to highly rate Uehara Shino more than Sim Aryeon.¡± It was a different experience. A past that had already been forgotten for a long time, chasing after a mirage that remained vaguely as d¨¦j¨¤ vu. Even for me, who remembered everything thanks to [Complete Memory Ability], it felt not so bad to have a past that was still unknown. It must have been a mysterious experience for Oh Dokseo as well. ¡°Hey. Mister, why are you so good at Japanese?¡± ¡°Huh?¡± ¡°We just talked to Uehara Shino in Japanese earlier. I couldn¡¯t speak Japanese before, so I used a smartphone trantor¡ Oh, right. you lived for thousands of years, so handling foreignnguages should be easy¡¡± ¡°¡?¡± Uehara Shino watched our conversation with a puzzled expression. In the distant past, she was considered an S-ss awakener, but in the current turn, she was at best ssified as a B-ss awakener. A past connection that naturally dropped out of my party members. Remnants of time. ¡°¡¡¡± ¡°Jang-san, is something wrong?¡± ¡°No, it¡¯s nothing. Anyway, rest well because we¡¯re challenging the mid-boss tomorrow.¡± ¡°Ah, okay.¡± In order of the fourth session, we continued to clear the tutorial. We rallied the survivors, demanded food and medicine from the fairies as intermediate rewards, and systematically killed seven bosses. To me, who already knew how to forcibly open the ¡®exit,¡¯ it was an utter waste of time, but at the same time, it was a journey through time. Of course, there were points decisively different from the ¡®original¡¯ fourth session. It was a history of the past that could never be repeated, no matter what. ¡°Hmm, normally from today, I should meet the survivors and use [Time Seal] only for those who want it¡¡± Sneakily, Oh Dokseo caught my eye. ¡°¡I can¡¯t follow that. Because, you see, the people you used [Time Seal] on are all probably trapped in the memorial stones.¡± I silently stared at the Busan Station dining area. It was a ce I hadn¡¯t visited in a long time. Gravestones. Rows of crystal tombstones lined the corridor of the dining area, visible only to me. Thanks to them, it looked more like amunal graveyard than a restaurant when I looked at it. With my hands in my pockets, I remained silent. The sensation of silver drops echoed softly. Oh Dokseo cautiously asked, ¡°Um, sir, can you see¡ those tombstones?¡± ¡°Yeah.¡± ¡°Can you tell me how many there are in total?¡± ¡°Well, I could count the ones ced in this restaurant, but I can tell you exactly how many tombstones there are throughout the entire Busan Station dungeon. I memorized that. There are 101.¡± ¡°¡¡¡± Here, there were a total of 101 dreams, 101 afterlives, and 101 tombstones lying dormant. Indeed. The number of civilians originally summoned to the ¡®Busan Station Tutorial Dungeon¡¯ was not vaguely around 399. It was 500. It started with 500 survivors. Among them, 101 people were sealed in time by me. [Proofreader ¨C Gun] Chapter 101 â€“ Collaborator II [Proofreader ¨C Gun] Chapter 101 ©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤ Coborator II 3 The world was an endless hell. Ibeled the first strange entity I encountered as ¡°Endless¡± (Endless Hell) because the word was etched into my subconscious as the proper name for this world. ¡°Hoeee! In this stage, 31 people have died!¡± ¡°¡¡¡± ¡°Not a bad number, but it¡¯s still a poor performancepared to other dungeons. You need to try harder! With results like this, the rewards I can offer you will be utterly pathetic. Hoi!¡± ¡°¡This is¡¡± ¡°It¡¯s Pig Slop! I heard it was amon food for residents during wartime here!¡± Few people immediately realized that the war referred to was the Korean War. None of the survivors knew that Pig Slop was food cooked without separating the food waste and cigarette butts from the trash thrown away by the American soldiers. ¡°The smell is terrible, but I removed the toxins that are fatal to humans. Even though the rules state that I¡¯m not supposed to show such consideration and favoritism, this is my small act of kindness after watching your hard work and struggle¡¡± ¡°¡¡¡± ¡°Anyway, this is your food supply after two days! Please enjoy your meal!¡± The fairy disappeared. In the dining area of Busan Station¡¯s sixth underground floor, which should not have existed, there were 56 survivors and 56 bowls of Pig Slop left. Even those who were initially horrified by the smell began to move their hands slowly. There were no spoons. Since the scent from each of the 56 people was equally wretched, it wasn¡¯t too difficult to consume food with a simr stench. Cries were heard here and there. Eating could not be a sin. If eating were a sin, life would be a divine punishment. An article in the Kyunghyang Shinmun on May 20, 1964, contained such a sentence. The contributor¡¯s name was Shin Young-gak. The column was titled ¡°Starving Masses.¡± The 56 starving masses frantically appeased two days¡¯ worth of hunger. Perhaps due to historical uracy, the bowls were not actually bowls but aluminum cans. The sound of fingers tapping and scraping food from the cheap aluminum surface filled the air. Eating could not be a sin¡ If eating were a sin, life would be a divine punishment¡ Since hell is where sinners condemned by divine punishment live, the world was hell. asionally, gagging sounds briefly echoed in the dining area, but it was more likely due to life itself rather than the food. Something people could neither swallow nor digest slid down their throats. The following cries of ¡°Mom¡± or ¡°Damn it¡± were probably burps. Jingle. The sound of a bell rang out. People who had finished eating turned to look. It was the sound of my bell. I couldn¡¯t remember if I used aura to spread the bell¡¯s sound widely before the fifth round, but¡ This silver bell was an item I always farmed in every round, even in vacation rounds. I could picture the farming location with my eyes closed. The souvenir shop in the waiting room. Turn left at the entrance, the seventh shelf, the fourthpartment from the top. Even after looters ransacked the store, this useless bell, which only made noise and attracted monsters, was always left behind. I needed it. ¡°Doctor Jang¡¡± ¡°Where¡¯s Jung Sohee? He¡¯s alone¡¡± ¡°Shh, don¡¯t look at him.¡± ¡°You¡¯ll be dragged into the abyss.¡± People in the dining area whispered. Among them were faces I still remembered and faces that had disappeared from reality. Ser yer Kim Joocheol, who had been sealed in time in the fourth round, would have been there too. I kept thinking. If this were the third round, the number of survivors in this stage would be 11 instead of 56, and Lee Baek would have been among them. ¡°Hey, Doctor Jang! gue!¡± Then Lee Baek would stand up and shout like this. ¡°Did youe to beg for Pig Slop? Sorry, but we don¡¯t have any food to spare for a gue like you! Everyone! Don¡¯t share your food with that solo yer who thinks he¡¯s so great. We don¡¯t have the luxury to take care of him too!¡± Probably in that voice. Probably those lines. Trying to restore the content of the novel Oh Dokseo had read, as if restoring a newspaper published decades ago, Lee Baek seemed to have said that to me. ording to Oh Dokseo¡¯s interpretation, Lee Baek spoke this way to ¡°consolidate his power over the survivors¡± by ¡°selecting an outsider as a scapegoat,¡± making ¡°eating Pig Slop a privilege,¡± and giving the impression that he was ¡°bearing harsh words on behalf of others.¡± My reaction was simple. ¡°Is there anyone who wants to escape from hell?¡± ¡°¡¡¡± ¡°Anyone who wants eternal peace? Anyone?¡± The dining area fell silent. Even Lee Baek. I looked around lightly, enough not to be intimidating, but thoroughly enough to miss no one¡¯s face. ¡°Shut up and get lost!¡± If it were Lee Baek, he would have swung a club in anger at his momentary hesitation. ¡°Um, I¡¡± In another round, someone might have cautiously raised their hand. ¡°Me too¡¡± The number of hands raised would have been more in the first round than in the third, more in the third than in the fourth, and more in the fourth than in the fifth. These were hands that had scooped Pig Slop, hands that had killed monsters, and hands that had murdered other humans. An elderly woman knew that she had no grandchildren or family to caress with those hands. ¡°Young man. Do it for me. This¡ funeral, you called it?¡± ¡°If you fall into a dream with my ability, everyone will forget about you. No one will remember you.¡± ¡°It doesn¡¯t matter.¡± The old woman muttered. ¡°It doesn¡¯t matter, that kind of thing.¡± A transparent tombstone was erected. Whether I was in Busan Station or outside, there was never ack of tombstones in my path. While I couldn¡¯t remember exactly, I knew at least 500,000 tombstones had been erected. Even when the round restarted, the tombstones never disappeared. Every time a new round began, hundreds of thousands of people would vanish ¡°in an instant.¡± No one knew about their disappearance. Except for one person. The world was hell, and the sound of bells always echoed there. I was a prisoner serving life for killing the most people in this hell. 4 Thousands of yearster. ¡°Hey, mister. I can confidently say I am your one and only true understander.¡± A cheeky little brat dared to say that. Hairstyle? Short red hair. Weapon? A baseball bat. Fashion? A rapper¡¯s cap, a jumper, and jeans with three holes, dripping like candle wax. Her signature pose was blowing an ordinary piece of gum into a balloon until it popped, covering her entire mouth with gum. Oh Dokseo. In short, she was a mess. This girl, who clearly needed psychological therapy, boldly imed, ¡°I¡¯ve read the entire novel [Omniscient Regressors Perspective] which chronicles your life. I¡¯ve read all your inner thoughts and monologues. I know you better than you know yourself.¡± ¡°I see. Should I sue you for invasion of privacy then?¡± ¡°Huh? No¡ I mean, help me. I¡¯m going to die if my shield runs out.¡± Bang bang bang bang! Oh Dokseo crouched down. A transparent barrier formed around her, while three goblins enthusiastically beat against it with clubs. -Ukikik! Kkihik! -Kkiiik, Kkuek! Kkehek! They weremon monsters in the tutorial dungeon. Three against one. In this scene straight out of a gang fight handbook, Uehara Shino, our party member, stomped her feet anxiously. ¡°Um, Jang-san. Shouldn¡¯t we help her, no matter what¡?¡± [Proofreader ¨C Gun] ¡°No. It¡¯s a necessary part of her training.¡± ¡°Ugh. Dokseo-chan! Do your best!¡± ¡°Never mind doing my best, help me! Please!¡± Bang bang bang bang! At first, the goblins found the transparent drum interesting, but now they were treating it like an instrument. Bang! Bang! The rhythm of their Dionysian instincts echoed, turning this ce into a rock festival. Incidentally, Dionysian followers had a tradition of tearing humans apart and sharing the pieces after the festival. Judging by the goblins¡¯ eyes, Oh Dokseo was already marked as the sacrifice for this festival. -Kkihihihik! ¡°Eek?! Hey, mister! Please save me! My shield only has 30 seconds left!¡± Absolute Defense. She called it [AT Field]. A shield that nullifies the enemy¡¯s attacks. This was one of Oh Dokseo¡¯s abilities. In my opinion, it probably reflected her mindset of viewing herself as a ¡®reader who fell into a novel world,¡¯ separating herself entirely from this world, which was directly reflected in her skill. It was a god-tier ability but had a fatal w: it could only be used once a day andsted for only one minute. ¡°Dokseo. I¡¯ve told you many times. No matter how godly your skill is, if you don¡¯t train yourself, it¡¯s useless.¡± ¡°But I¡¯ve already killed 11 today! I¡¯m exhausted! I¡¯m tired! We¡¯ve been walking for six hours since dawn. Please help me now! Eek? It¡¯s cracking, I heard a crack, really, it¡¯s breaking!¡± ¡°Stop whining.¡± With a shattering sound, the shield broke, and the goblins¡¯ clubs rushed in. Oh Dokseo let out a strange scream and swung her baseball bat. ¡°Hyaaaah!¡± The baseball bat was imbued with a red aura. Thud! A goblin¡¯s head exploded. Foul ball. -Kkik? -Kkuik? The goblins, who thought their opponent was a KBO batter, were stunned by the sudden Major League-level swing. Regardless, Oh Dokseo used the staff technique she had been personally trained in by me over the past few days. ¡°Haaah! Die! Die! You monster, just die!¡± -Kkuiehek? Foul. Foul. Two strikes with no pitchers left on the opposing team. Disqualified for not meeting the requirements, Oh Dokseo wins. Oh Dokseo dropped her shoulders and baseball bat, panting heavily. ¡°Huff, huff- huff, huff¡¡± ¡°See? You can do it. Kids these daysck the grit to even try before they startining¡¡± ¡°I¡¯m going to kill you!¡± Oh Dokseo swung her baseball bat at me with all her might, but such a slow strike had no chance of hitting me. A swing and a miss. Out. As punishment for daring to attack her heavenly teacher, I flicked her on the forehead. My dark aura resonated through her skull with just the right amount of pain. ¡®Just the right amount of pain¡¯ meant, well, about the level of getting kicked in the balls for a guy. ¡°Gyaaaah!¡± Oh Dokseo threw her baseball bat down (showing poor sportsmanship for a strikeout) and rolled on the ground. ¡°I¡¯m dying! I¡¯m dying! My head¡¯s cracked open! Aaaah! I¡¯m dying!¡± ¡°You¡¯re not dying. Your head¡¯s not cracked. Get up and eat. Shino-san? Could you spread out the mat? Let¡¯s have lunch.¡± ¡°Oh, okay.¡± Our porter, Uehara Shino, adeptlyid out the mat. This was quite different from the fourth round. We didn¡¯t have the luxury to carry something as extravagant as a mat back then. We cooked up some ready-to-eat food from a convenience store. We didn¡¯t even need fire. I heated, grilled, and boiled the food with my aura. It was undoubtedly the most luxurious cooking method in the world. Uehara twirled her pasta around a fork and took a bite, her face melting into a satisfied expression. ¡°Wow. This is delicious¡¡± ¡°The pasta is cooked perfectly, right? I noticed you seem to like your pasta slightly al dente.¡± ¡°Oh, yes. It¡¯s really my preference. The food you cook is even better than what I¡¯ve had at restaurants!¡± ¡°Thank you.¡± At that moment, a fairy peeked from behind a pir. ¡°Ooh, it smells so good¡¡± ¡°Huh? What¡¯s this? You want some too?¡± ¡°Gasp. I¡¯m a fair and impartial examiner. I cannot ept bribes from participants¡¡± ¡°This isn¡¯t a bribe. It¡¯s a reward. A gift from the people for the vanguard working tirelessly for world revolution.¡± ¡°Ooh! Food made from the blood and sweat of the people¡ It would be bourgeois behavior to refuse this as a dedicated revolutionary.¡± ¡°Here. Try the salmon steak I made.¡± ¡°Oooh! This taste is revolutionary!¡± On the mat, theughter of a Japanese and a fairy bloomed, creating genuine harmony between past enemies and current foes. ¡°Ugh¡¡± Only the chuunibyou otakuy sprawled next to the mat, groaning. ¡°Me too¡ Give me some food. I¡¯m hungry¡¡± ¡°Do you not have hands or feet? There¡¯s food on the mat. Eat it yourself.¡± ¡°Why are you so cold to me?¡± Oh Dokseo whined loudly. ¡°You make me fight the monsters! You make me train my aura! What did I do to you, huh?¡± ¡°I have high expectations for you. That¡¯s why, kiddo.¡± ¡°Sniff. I feel like I¡¯m going to die from sorrow. It¡¯s too upsetting¡ Dammit, why is the pasta so good? This is supposed to be ready-made.¡± ¡°Um, Dokseo-chan. That¡¯s mine¡¡± ¡°Oooh. This BLT rye sandwich is revolutionary too! You deserve a culinary hero medal!¡± The bnce of carbohydrates, proteins, and fats in the menu was perfect. It was an overly luxurious lunch for beginners in a tutorial dungeon. Ultimately, our fourth round exploration had turned into a luxurious trip¡ but it didn¡¯t matter. I hoped these kids could enjoy luxury while they could. After filling our stomachs just enough, we got up. ¡°We just have to go down one more level to reach the boss room. Once we defeat the boss, the tutorial dungeon is over.¡± ¡°Yeah. You¡¯ll defeat it, right?¡± ¡°No? It wouldn¡¯t be fair for an experienced yer to steal the newbies¡¯ experience points. Dokseo, you¡¯ll clear it on your own.¡± ¡°¡?¡± ¡°¡?¡± We continued our cheerful conversation as we stepped onto the stairs to the 13th underground floor when a strong presence was felt from the opposite corridor. ¡°Wait. Everyone, stop.¡± The party, including the fairy number 264, which was funny, looked at me. But my mouth didn¡¯t smile. ¡°People areing.¡± ¡°Coming? How many?¡± ¡°117.¡± ¡°¡¡± ¡°All the other survivors except us. Get ready. Dokseo, stay by my side, Uehara-san, stay behind.¡± I positioned myself in the middle of the corridor. ¡°We¡¯ll prepare here.¡± As I said those words, something strange happened. My right hand moved to my waist without me realizing it. To the empty belt, as if weapons like fire axes should have been hanging there. My fingers groped at the air. ¡°¡¡± A strange sense of d¨¦j¨¤ vu washed over me. D¨¦j¨¤ vu. A long time ago. It felt like I had experienced this exact scene in the distant past, thousands of years ago. [Proofreader ¨C Gun] Chapter 102 â€“ Collaborator III [Proofreader ¨C Gun] Chapter 102 ©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤ Coborator III 5 ¡°We¡¯ll prepare here.¡± A long time ago, I said that. In my hand, I held a fire axe. Party members murmured in the corridor before the final staircase. ¡°Here? Why? The fairy said the final stage is just a little further down.¡± ¡°¡¡± ¡°Don¡¯t doubt him, Jaehee. The Master will guide us to salvation.¡± Lee Jaehee, Uehara Shino, and Jung Sohee. Their professions: Swordsman, Alchemist, and Zealot. Just by their sses, you¡¯d think it was a doomed party. Despite appearances, they were founding members, likely from the third round or possibly even earlier. Dirty and unkempt from days without a proper wash, they looked at me. A mess. But they were the best ¡®Busan Station Tutorial Dungeon¡¯ had to offer. ¡°¡¡± I met each of their eyes in turn. The me in the memory was much more emaciated than now. ¡°For the past three days, a scout has been spying on us.¡± ¡°A scout¡?¡± ¡°It must be sent by Lee Baek. He¡¯s the only other group of survivors who could¡¯ve made it this far.¡± The party members flinched. ¡°He purposely made us clear the path of monsters. But he has to kill the final boss himself to get credit for the achievement. So, he ns to strike when we¡¯re exhausted from the boss fight.¡± ¡°What a total jerk.¡± ¡°If we defeat the boss first, his n is useless. He knows that, so he¡¯s probably rushing here at full speed. Everyone, crouch and hide at the bottom of the stairs. We¡¯ll strike when they¡¯re tired.¡± ¡°¡¡± ¡°I¡¡± 6 ¡°I¡¯ll take the lead.¡± The d¨¦j¨¤ vu disappeared in an instant, like a newborn wave briefly touching the beach of white sand grains left by the old, crumbled shore. At that moment, something stirred beside me. ¡°¡¡± It was Oh Dokseo. A kid barely tall enough to reach my corbone, holding a baseball bat on her shoulder. The bat was smeared with goblin blood. ¡°What are you doing, Oh Dokseo? I said to fall back.¡± ¡°No.¡± Oh Dokseo chewed gum. ¡°I killed 14 monsters today. You? Eight. Isn¡¯t hunting based on skill? I don¡¯t follow orders from someone weaker than me.¡± ¡°¡¡± Sometimes, when you¡¯re utterly bbergasted, you justugh. Before theughter could fade, the sound of footsteps came thundering down the corridor. A group of over a hundred. Not surprisingly, at the forefront of the group was Lee Baek. ¡°You bastards. Missed me?¡± A bit surprising was that Lee Baek spoke. How? His vocal cords had been sliced into eight pieces like a pizza. ¡°Ugh, ugh¡¡± The answery beside him, in Sim Aryeon, who was slumped over like a defeated minion. As a healer, Sim Aryeon was wrapped in bandages (made from cloth) all over her body. Her cheeks and shoulders were bruised. It wasn¡¯t hard to deduce the situation. ¡®She must have refused to heal, got beaten up by Lee Baek, and now has to get permission to heal herself, essentially a ve.¡¯ It was pitiful. Aryeon, Aryeon, a potential S-ss ability user being beaten up by an E-ss, what a sad sight¡ Lee Baek¡¯s followers, who should have been suffering from vocal cord pizza syndrome, were also chattering away. ¡°It¡¯s him! That tall bastard beat us half to death the moment he saw us!¡± ¡°They took all the supplies from the waiting room too!¡± ¡°Damn, look how clean they are. They¡¯re living it up hogging all the supplies with just three people¡ Bastards, they¡¯re not even human. We¡¯re struggling so much, splitting our food¡¡± ¡°It¡¯s a fairy! There¡¯s a fairy with them!¡± While the instigators stirred up the crowd, someone screamed and pointed at the fairy. Lee Baek seized on that. With a sinister smile, he stepped forward five steps. ¡°They¡¯re in cahoots with the fairy!¡± Ate-eh-eate-ea-eaah-. Lee Baek¡¯s voice echoed throughout the corridor, loud enough for the group of over a hundred to hear clearly. That was the man¡¯s awakened ability. [Lion¡¯s Roar]. Or [Loudspeaker]. ¡°They¡¯re not on our side! They¡¯ve betrayed us to the fairies! Look! They¡¯re with a fairy! Traitors! Traitors!¡± Although it was merely an ability to amplify his voice, it was quite useful in a tutorial where everyone¡¯s level was roughly the same. The saying ¡®the loudest wins¡¯ held especially true in emergencies. While other survivors mumbled, Lee Baek alone shouted into his loudspeaker, seizing control and logic be damned. It was a useful skill not only for politics but also inbat. In a marketce fight with dozens of civilians mixed in, even simplemands like ¡®attack!¡¯ or ¡®retreat!¡¯ were often hard to hear. Lee Baek¡¯s [Lion¡¯s Roar] ensured orders were conveyed immediately. A very handy skill, at least for the tutorial. ¡°Traitors¡?¡± The tutorial refugees murmured. ¡°It¡¯s true, the fairy¡¯s over there.¡± ¡°So Lee Baek was right. They stole all the supplies and¡¡± ¡°Bastards. Instead of helping out, they¡¯re just looking out for themselves¡¡± I understood them. People who had just been thrown into an apocalypse¡ªstarving, cut off frommunication with their families, stressed from forming groups with strangers, battling monsters, witnessing people die in front of them¡ªwere bound to be swayed by Lee Baek¡¯s [Loudspeaker]. Well, if Seo Gyu were here, he¡¯d probably have yelled back, ¡°What the hell are you talking about, you bastard!¡± ¡°What! You bastard!¡± Imagining Lee Baek and Seo Gyu hurling curses at each other, raising the tutorial dungeon¡¯s average decibel level, made meugh. It was absurd. I should try thatter. ¡°Hoek. This is bad. If it¡¯s found out that I favored specific yers, I¡¯ll be purged, purged! Strategic retreat¡!¡± Poof. Fairy #264 panicked and disappeared into the air. It wasn¡¯t teleportation. It was just invisibility. But to the people, it looked like the fairy had vanished. To survivors traumatized by fairies, that alone was a signal. Lee Baek bellowed. ¡°The fairy is gone too! Everyone! Now¡¯s our chance! Let¡¯s take them down! We¡¯ll take their supplies, regroup, and get out of this damn dungeon ourselves! Let¡¯s go see our families!¡± ¡°Uooo¡ª¡± Just as people raised a battle cry, boosting their courage, I took a step forward. From my footstep, a dark aura surged like a tidal wave. The wave swept through the group of 117 people in an instant. ¡°¨D¨D¨D!¡± ¡°¡¡? ¡¡!¡± Mute. The people who were about to charge at us looked at each other in confusion. No matter how much they opened their mouths and screamed, no sound came out. The underground corridor fell silent immediately. When aura control reaches its peak, such a trick bes possible. ¡°Oh, protagonist cheat¡¡± muttered Oh Dokseo quietly next to me. I ignored her and spoke. ¡°Sim Aryeon.¡± ¡°¡!¡± ¡°Don¡¯t hide. Come over here. We¡¯re stronger. We¡¯ll keep you safe, and we won¡¯t beat you up for not using your healing ability. We guarantee three meals a day and afortable bed. Switch sides.¡± ¡°¡¡± [Proofreader ¨C Gun] ¡°I¡¯ll give you three seconds.¡± The remarkable thing about Sim Aryeon was that she never hesitated in such situations. Before Lee Baek could even turn around, she darted over to our side. Lee Baek¡¯s and the survivors¡¯ faces twisted in frustration. ¡°Heal yourself.¡± ¡°Y-yes. Oh. My voice¡¡± People started pointing fingers at the traitor and shouted, but all that filled the hallway were silent cries. It was a marvelous rage. To Sim Aryeon, the ¡°Aggro Ma,¡± it must have been delightful leveling-up experience. With a warm smile, I took another step forward. ¡°Lee Baek. I¡¯m sorry.¡± ¡°¡.¡± ¡°I didn¡¯t show enough consideration. It seems I didn¡¯t sufficiently demonstrate the difference in our abilities when I knocked you out too quickly. So I¡¯ll give you a chance.¡± ¡°¡?¡± ¡°Do you see that red-headed kid?¡± I put my hand on Oh Dokseo¡¯s shoulder. ¡°Fight her one-on-one. If you win, we¡¯ll give you all our supplies, and let your group go ahead to the boss fight.¡± ¡°¡!¡± ¡°Don¡¯t worry. No traps. We won¡¯t hit you from behind. But if you refuse the one-on-one, I¡¯ll take your voice away for good. Or perhaps¡ are you too scared to fight a kid?¡± ¡°¡.¡± Voices were strange. Regardless of right or wrong, thest word often felt like the righteous one. Lee Baek, who had long enjoyed the power of voice, could say nothing in response. The survivors, intrigued by my words, looked at Lee Baek. Silently, the pressure of 116 pairs of eyes. ¡°¡¡± Lee Baek scrutinized Oh Dokseo¡¯s appearance. Perhaps he thought it was doable. Gripping a stick with nails embedded in it, he stepped forward. ¡°Hehe.¡± Oh Dokseo nced up at me. ¡°Alright. I¡¯ve thought about smacking that guy¡¯s face over a hundred times while reading novels.¡± She could have asked why I was making her do this, but instead, Oh Dokseo, looking amused, swung her baseball bat and stepped forward. In a one-on-one duel, many people watched from a distance. I nodded. ¡°ept the oue, whatever it may be. If anyoneins afterward, I¡¯ll personally cut off their ankles. Begin.¡± As soon as I finished speaking, Oh Dokseo charged. Flinch. Lee Baek, surprised that a kid much smaller than himself was attacking so fearlessly, had a vicious look on his face. That bastard- his silently mouthing lips articted. Using his far superior reach, Lee Baek swung the stick. The nail embedded in the stick aimed straight for Oh Dokseo¡¯s head. ng-! It only aimed. The stick, instead of hitting, bounced off an invisible, transparent shield around Oh Dokseo. ¡°¡?¡± Absolute Defense. A shield that not only repelled human attacks but also resisted monstrous invasions. Oh Dokseo swung her baseball bat. A faint red aura surrounded the metal bat. For the past few days, Oh Dokseo had been receiving intensive aura training from me. A unique lesson unmatched anywhere else in the world at this point. I snapped my fingers, withdrawing the aura around Lee Baek. Sound restored. So my student could savor his victory. ¡°Die, you starchy bastard!¡± With that shout, Oh Dokseo swung her bat with all his might. ¡°Ph-cough¡?¡± Unfortunately for Lee Baek, he couldn¡¯t even scream properly. The baseball bat had broken his wooden stick and struck him squarely on the jaw. A home run. ¡°Ough, oough? Ughhh¡!¡± Lee Baek fell, clutching his jaw, and a few white teeth scattered around him. Oh Dokseo let out a long burp, as if a decade-long indigestion had finally been cleared. ¡°Wow. When Lee Jaehee died because of him in the third run, I threw the novel across the room. Bastard. Son of a bitch. Piece of shit.¡± ¡°Urgh¡¡± ¡°Shut your mouth, you prick.¡± Oh Dokseo kicked Lee Baek, who was now doing a freestyle crawl on the ground. Lee Baek passed out and went limp. Six of Lee Baek¡¯s followers btedly rushed forward. ¡°Waaah!¡± ¡°Oh, it¡¯s against the rules to gang up on a kid.¡± But this was a rule vition. Without hesitation, I drew my aura and sliced through the ankles of the six men, one by one. ¡°¨D¨D¨D!¡± ¡°¡! ¡!¡± All six of them fell to the ground against their will. Mute screams erupted. Fear mixed into the gazes of the survivor group watching us. Some people in the back row had already started running away. Sim Aryeon looked at the seven defeated men squirming on the floor with a rather peculiar expression. Like a thrush that had just found a worm. ¡°¡Aryeon. Don¡¯t y with them by threatening to heal them even if they beg for it.¡± ¡°Oh, y-yes¡ Huh? W-wait, how did you know what I was thinking? Are you a mind reader?¡± I did have a mind-reading skill, but I rarely used it. It was interesting at first, but it quickly became boring. However, it did help me form some interesting connections. I quietly watched as the red-haired kid, whom I had taken on as an apprentice from the 555th turn, approached. ¡°See? Don¡¯t worry.¡± My reader and apprentice, who had entered my life, fearlessly said, ¡°I¡¯ll make sure you reach a happy ending.¡± ¡°¡¡± ¡°You¡¯re the original protagonist, and I¡¯m the person who got transported into the novel. With two protagonists working together, anything is possible. Well, your image is a bit different from the novel, but you¡¯re still my favorite character!¡± I chuckled. ¡°Alright. I¡¯ll trust you.¡± ¡°Okay!¡± Hurry up and catch up, Dokseo. I¡¯ll always be waiting here. Epilogue ¡°Whaaaat? A-ahn, help! Please! Really, save me! I used my skill on Lee Baek earlier, so I don¡¯t have a shield now! Ughhh? That just grazed me! It really did! I¡¯m gonna die, I¡¯m gonna die to the final boss of the tutorial! Ahhhhh! Save meeeee!¡± ¡°So, Mr. Jang, should we help out little Dokseo?¡± ¡°¡¡± I let out a sigh. It seemed like it would take a long time before I could rely on this middle-school-obsessed otaku kid. The end. ¨C The Coborator. End. [Proofreader ¨C Gun] Chapter 103 â€“ The Pedestrian I [Proofreader ¨C Gun] Chapter 103 ©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤ The Pedestrian I 1 In this world, there is no such skill as [Teleportation]. The tutorial fairies do pop up in mid-air, but as mentioned in a previous episode, that¡¯s merely an invisibility spell. Monstrosities like the ¡®Reincarnation Truck¡¯ suddenly appear from beyond the horizon. But even the trucks aren¡¯t [Teleporting]; they are simply ¡®manifesting¡¯ in blind spots out of human sight. To reiterate, there is no skill like [Teleportation] in this world. However, phenomena quite close to [Teleportation] do exist. [Doctor Jang. You need to head to Busan immediately.] ¡°Yes? What¡¯s happening?¡± [Well, it¡¯s hard to exin¡] The Saintess hesitated. That hesitation alone should have been enough to make me tense. The Saintess had a perfectionist streak bordering on obsessivepulsive disorder. She always ¡®rehearsed¡¯ her lines by pausing time before speaking to me. But I only discovered this secret in the 713th turn, and this was only the 141st turn. So I asked casually. ¡°What¡¯s the matter?¡± [A tunnel has appeared in the sea off Busan.] ¡°What?¡± [Exactly what I said. An underwater tunnel has appeared. You need to see it for yourself.] 2 Have you ever heard of the ¡®Korea-Japan Undersea Tunnel¡¯? It doesn¡¯t matter if you haven¡¯t. It¡¯s a structure that doesn¡¯t exist in reality anyway. The idea of connecting Korea and Japan with an undersea tunnel has been suggested repeatedly over the years, but its astronomical costs have never justified its benefits. The person who first proposed this project was anything but ordinary. Heter became the Prime Minister of Japan, with notable achievements including the Battle of Leyte Gulf, the recapture of the Philippines, the bombing of Tokyo, the Battle of Iwo Jima, and the Battle of Okinawa. It¡¯s a stroke of luck that the ¡®Undersea Tunnel Copse Disaster¡¯ wasn¡¯t added to that illustrious lineup. A far-fetched paper n. So when I arrived in Busan upon receiving the Saintess¡¯s urgent message, I couldn¡¯t help but look dumbfounded. ¡°No way, it¡¯s really an underwater tunnel¡?¡± There were no seagulls over the waters off Busan. Instead, there was a tunnel. More precisely, a tunnel had suddenly appeared on the coast where the former Sinseon-dae Pier used to be. However, there were several differences from the original n. As often happens with grand projects that meet the reality, the tunnel, initially conceived as a ¡®railway tunnel¡¯, was significantly narrower. Honestly, it was very narrow. Barely wide enough for even a truck, let alone a train. ¡°Oh, you¡¯re here¡¡± At the tunnel entrance, yellow caution tape was strung everywhere. Road management staff were bustling about, while Noh Doha greeted me with his morning coffee in hand. ¡°You¡¯ve worked hard. The Saintess contacted me, and I came right away. What¡¯s the situation?¡± ¡°Well, as you can see, a pedestrian tunnel has popped up from the sea. The first report came in at 5 AM today. A crazy road manager who gets up early to jog discovered it first¡¡± ¡°Is it really connected underwater?¡± ¡°We had divers do some snorkeling. They said there are now corals in the waters off Busan. The tunnel slopes down like a damn shaft and then just plunges into the sea floor¡¡± ¡°Is that harassment? I¡¯ll sue.¡± ¡°Hmph. A thousand-year-old old man, really. So, Doctor Jang, what do you think¡?¡± ¡°It¡¯s definitely an anomaly.¡± I looked up at the que above the tunnel entrance. ¡°And also a void.¡± It was dirty with all kinds of graffiti and scribbles, but the name of the tunnel was still legible. Inunaki Tunnel. This wasn¡¯t a Korean anomaly. It was Japanese, from the only foreign country across the sea from Busan. The fact that a domain-type anomaly without wings or legs had ¡®invaded¡¯ across the sea made me tense. Its danger level was continental. It meant an anomalyparable to the World Tree ¡®Udumbara¡¯. ¡°¡You didn¡¯t order the road managers to explore inside, did you?¡± ¡°Hmph. Of course not.¡± Noh Dohaughed brightly. ¡°I sent death row inmates.¡± Behind him, Yoo Jiwon was waiting. A nautical chart titled ¡®The Tsushima Strait and Vicinity¡¯ was spread out on a makeshift folding table. ¡°How is it going, Director Yoo? How far have the death row inmates gone¡?¡± ¡°Amazingly, they¡¯ve already passed Tsushima. Ah, wee, Doctor Jang.¡± Click. Yoo Jiwon, a holder of the [Minimap] ability, head of the Road Management Operations Control Room, and a psychopath, saluted me. She did this right in front of his direct superior, Noh Doha. What a remarkable person. Every time I saw her, I couldn¡¯t help but be impressed. But now, I needed to focus more on the report than Yoo Jiwon¡¯s character. ¡°They¡¯ve passed Tsushima?¡± ¡°Yes, sir. Look.¡± On the nautical chart, chess piecesbeled ¡®Kim Jungrip¡¯ and ¡®Lee Eunjoo¡¯ moved inch by inch. Presumably, these were the names of the death row inmates. Surrounding the chart, dozens of pawns (?) were scattered haphazardly. ¡°Did you only send two people into the tunnel?¡± ¡°No, sir. We grouped the death row inmates into twelve teams of six, making a total of seventy-two inmates sent out as the exploration team. Half of them, thirty-six, were provided with bicycles.¡± ¡°¡It seems you¡¯ve taken this opportunity to thoroughly clean out the road management prison.¡± ¡°It was themand of the Chief. Sir.¡± ¡°It wasn¡¯t criticism. Considering the anomaly¡¯s continental-level threat, it was the right call.¡± ¡°I also believe themand was entirely appropriate. Sir.¡± This bastard¡ In any case, Yoo Jiwon¡¯s character wasn¡¯t the issue now. Excluding the part of his brain responsible for morals and ethics, Yoo Jiwon¡¯s intellect was indeed quite exceptional. ¡°When did you deploy them?¡± ¡°The exploration operation began at 0710 hours today. It¡¯s currently been 3 hours and 16 minutes since the operation started. The two survivors who received bicycles are making fairly good time, considering the void environment.¡± ¡°¡The inmates left in the custody of the road management team are at least somewhat experienced with voids, aren¡¯t they?¡± ¡°Correct. Of the seventy-two death row inmates, sixty-nine have at least one void exploration experience.¡± ¡°And yet, they¡¯ve all been wiped out in just three hours.¡± At that moment. Srrrrk-! The chess piece representing ¡®Kim Jungrip¡¯ suddenly crossed the sea after passing the northern tip of Tsushima. ¡°Huh?¡± ¡°¡?¡± Both Yoo Jiwon, Noh Doha, and I stared at the chart, puzzled by the strange movement. ¡®Kim Jungrip¡¯s chess piece swiftly moved to the vicinity of Fukuoka. Specifically, the center of the mapbeled Hisayamamachi and Miyawaka City. Regardless of the distance from Tsushima to that location, it was clear that the speed was impossible for a human. Thud- While everyone watched with their mouths agape, ¡®Kim Jungrip¡¯s chess piece toppled over powerlessly. ¡°¡¡± ¡°¡¡± Silence ensued. [Proofreader ¨C Gun] There were only two reasons a chess piece would fall over on Yoo Jiwon¡¯s minimap: either the person associated with the piece had moved outside the map¡¯s range or they had died. Noh Doha muttered. ¡°What the hell is this¡?¡± Srrrrk! This time, it was ¡®Lee Eunjoo¡¯s chess piece. It too, abruptly moved from Tsushima to near Fukuoka. As if being pulled by something. Srrrk! Srrrk! The chess piece darted erratically to the northwest and northeast of Fukuoka. Here and there, then south. Like a ping pong ball being batted around, the piece finally dropped¡ªthud¡ª And then fell over. There was a long silence. ¡°¡With all due respect.¡± Yoo Jiwon broke the silence. ¡°There is nothing wrong with my ability, sir.¡± It was indeed with all due respect. ¡°¡Jiwon, didn¡¯t you say you had cycled across Japan?¡± ¡°Yes? Yes, I did.¡± ¡°See if you have arge map of Japan in your trunk.¡± ¡°Understood, sir.¡± Yoo Jiwon opened her ever-present trunk. The trunk, meticulously organized, was either a testament to her obsessivepulsive disorder or her extreme efficiency in organization. Maps of the entire Korean penins, city maps, nautical charts, and world maps were all neatly stored in tiers. Yoo Jiwon retrieved a map of Japan in less than ten seconds. ¡°Spread it out. Match it with the Tsushima Strait chart.¡± ¡°Yes, sir.¡± Despite the difference in scale, the two maps aligned. Then something strange happened. Srrrrk- ¡®Lee Eunjoo¡¯s chess piece began to drag. Not just it. The chess pieces scattered across the table, like dozens of corpses, started to be pulled somewhere as if by a ma. Srrrrk- Srrrrk- Srrrrk- Srrrrk- Srrrrk- ¡°¡¡¡± ¡°¡¡¡± Fukuoka, Kumamoto, Hiroshima, Okayama, Kobe, Osaka, Kyoto, Nagoya, Shizuoka, Tokyo, Sendai¡ The corpses were scattered all over Japan. The 72 bodies were dispersed throughout the entire country. Among them, ¡®Kim Jungrip¡¯s chess piece was particrly strange. tter, tter, tter! The chess piece that had fallen near Fukuoka was trembling uncontrobly. It was an inexplicable phenomenon. Then, all of a sudden, Crack- The chess piece split in two. The pawn¡¯s ¡®head¡¯ remained near Fukuoka, while the ¡®body¡¯ rolled away, finally stopping near Osaka. The silencested even longer this time. Noh Doha spoke up. ¡°Should we get more death row inmates?¡± I shook my head. ¡°I will escte the threat level of the anomaly ¡®Inunaki Tunnel¡¯ to continental level. We should contact the Magical Girl Association in Japan. They are the experts on this matter. A joint investigation team will likely be formed. Prepare for it, Director Noh Doha.¡± 3 ¡°The Inunaki Tunnel, you say? That ce is a real nightmare.¡± As expected, the Japanese Awakened were already well-versed with this anomaly. An ex-shrine maiden turned magical girl who had received divine powers from the cat god by pledging to end every sentence with ¡®nya¡¯ or ¡®nyan¡¯ until she died. The golden-haired Awakened, Manyo Neko, answered our inquiry diligently. ¡°Mountains are prettymon in both your country and ours, right? Unless you¡¯re a pervert who finds bizarre pleasure in mountain climbing, tunnels are convenient.¡± But who would have guessed? Once the lights go out, tunnels, by their very nature, turn into spaces of ¡®perpetual darkness that is damp and feared by people,¡¯ making them hot spots for anomalies. Unfortunately, the officials at the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport, and Tourism did not possess the ability to foresee the future. In fact, their ability to perceive reality might not have been that great either. As a result, tunnels were dug all over Japan like wormholes. Then the void arrived. ¡°Kiyotaki Tunnel. Ikoma Tunnel. Inunaki Tunnel. They were all famous haunted spots back in the day.¡± These were tunnels famously known as the three major haunted spots in Japan. ¡°But after the void arrived, these tunnels started ¡®fighting¡¯ each other.¡± ¡°Fighting? The tunnels?¡± ¡°That¡¯s right, nya. Since you¡¯re Undateikeo, I¡¯ll let you in on a little secret¡¡± The magical girls in Japan referred to me as Undateikeo. It meant the same as Doctor Jang. ¡°There was a perfectly fine tunnel in our area. But one day, we woke up to find the signboard suddenly changed to ¡®Kiyotaki Tunnel.¡¯¡± ¡°¡¡¡± ¡°Kiyotaki Tunnel is far from our area. Then, a yearter, the signboard changed to ¡®Inunaki Tunnel!¡¯¡± It was a territorialpetition among the anomalies. A battle to determine which of the three major haunted spots was the true ¡®tunnel anomaly.¡¯ ¡°It¡¯s not just in our area, nya. All over Japan, every single tunnel, including underpasses, has turned into ¡®Inunaki Tunnel.¡¯¡± ¡°¡It¡¯s an infection. The concept of ¡®tunnel¡¯ has been entirely consumed and eradicated by ¡®Inunaki Tunnel.¡¯¡± ¡°That¡¯s right, nya. It¡¯s a real pain in the ass, nya.¡± The magical girl added, ¡®So now no Japanese person dares to use any tunnel.¡¯ Moreover, Inunaki Tunnel didn¡¯t stop at conquering Japan; it started to invade foreignnds as well. It even consumed the concept of the ¡®Korea-Japan Undersea Tunnel,¡¯ a fictional tunnel that never existed in reality. Manyo Neko sighed. ¡°Originally, the real Inunaki Tunnel was only about 150 meters long at most. But now it has consumed all the tunnels in Japan, and ording to you, it has even devoured a fictional undersea tunnel, making its total length¡¡± The longest anomaly in history. That was the continental-level anomaly I would be dealing with in this 141st turn. [Proofreader ¨C Gun] Chapter 104 â€“ The Pedestrian II [Proofreader ¨C Gun] Chapter 104 ©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤ The Pedestrian II 4 Extermination wasn¡¯t a choice; it was a necessity. If the situation was left unchecked, tunnels worldwide would sequentially be infected like the Inunaki Tunnel. Awakened individuals from both Korea and Japan agreed to unite their efforts. In a world where distributionworks had already copsed, losing the tunnels was unthinkable. But what kind of people are from East Asia? ¡°Since an underwater tunnel has appeared off the coast of Busan, why don¡¯t we start the extermination there?¡± ¡°Nyaa~. Thanks for the suggestion, but adults should clean up their own messes. We¡¯ll lead the Inunaki extermination!¡± In East Asia, it¡¯s customary to list countries in different orders depending on the country: ¡®Korea-China-Japan¡¯ in Korea, ¡®China-Korea-Japan¡¯ in China, and ¡®Japan-China-Korea¡¯ in Japan. Questions about the relevance of national borders were meaningless. Citizense first, and the state follows. Even after a copse, or perhaps because of it, those who imed to represent each region clung to their authority. ¡°Heh. It¡¯s admirable, but I hear your situation isn¡¯t greattely¡ We¡¯ve just cleared an underwater tunnel, but hasn¡¯t your whole country turned into an ant nest? We¡¯re always ready to help¡¡± ¡°Nyahaha. Thanks for the concern! It would¡¯ve been nice to have an extraordinary awakened one like the Doctor Jang! Too bad we¡¯re unluckypared to our neighbors, nya!¡± The cheerful banter continued. The conversation must have been entertaining because even the awakened individuals from China, who hadn¡¯t been infected by Inunaki, subtly hinted, ¡°Hey, what are you doing? Can we join in? Let¡¯s have fun together.¡± As the situation grew increasingly awkward, I stepped in calmly. ¡°The lead for this extermination is not the National Highway Management Corps or the Magical Girl Association. It¡¯s me, the Doctor Jang, as an individual. I want to temporarily gather a party by inviting awakened individuals I know personally. I hope you¡¯ll join me.¡± ¡°Hmm¡¡± ¡°Nyaan.¡± This proposal followed the long-standing Korean tradition of ¡°volunteer soldiers.¡± Respecting tradition, my suggestion was quickly epted. A multinational party was formed under the premise of voluntary individual participation. The party members were as follows: ¨C From Korea: Doctor Jang (party leader), the Saintess (secret participant), and Yoo Jiwon (vice leader). ¨C From Japan: Manyo Neko (vice leader) and Void de. Though it seemed like a grand Korean-Japanese extermination squad was formed, the number was modest, but it was enough. As much as it¡¯s embarrassing to say, I, Doctor Jang, was like a walking army. I only needed people to cover areas I couldn¡¯t handle. The Magical Girl Association even said, ¡°We¡¯re good with two or three people,¡± so they could only send a corresponding number. ¡°Excuse us.¡± ¡°Nya! Make yourselvesfortable!¡± As we were guided to a luxurious ryokan in Japan, Manyo Neko whispered to me. ¡°Doctor Jang, Doctor Jang.¡± ¡°Hmm?¡± ¡°I understand that Ms. Yoo is the director of the National Highway Management Corps, but who is the girl with the light-colored hair? I¡¯ve never seen her before.¡± The person Manyo Neko pointed to was the Saintess. Only Noh Doha and I knew her true identity in Korea, so it was natural that the Magical Girl Association was unaware. ¡°She¡¯s my girlfriend.¡± ¡°¡!¡± ¡°We¡¯ve been dating for two months. She was worried about meing to Japan and insisted on joining. She¡¯ll be staying here until the mission is over, so please take good care of her.¡± ¡°I thought Doctor Jang¡¯s girlfriend was the Songstress of the Three Thousand Worlds!¡± What the hell? How did that rumor spread across the sea? ¡°That¡¯spletely false. She¡¯s my first girlfriend.¡± ¡°Oh, I see. Sorry about that. With a few Valkyries among the magical girls¡ Anyway! Since she¡¯s the Doctor Jang¡¯s girlfriend, we¡¯ll treat her as a VIP!¡± Watching our exchange, the Saintess tilted her head, puzzled. Among our group, she was the only one who didn¡¯t understand Japanese. After settling in, we began the main meeting. ¡°The extermination will be conducted in Japan. However, if the mission is sessful, I expectpensation from the association.¡± ¡°Compensation? What do you want?¡± ¡°A spirit camera.¡± ¡°Ah¡¡± ¡°Specifically, the Proid OneStep. The 1977 model.¡± ¡°Nyahaha, Doctor Jang, you¡¯re really fixated on that item, huh?¡± Manyo Neko scratched her cheek. ¡°I¡¯d love to give it to you, but it¡¯s such a rare item, and the association only has three¡ Anyway, I¡¯ll discuss it with the higher-ups.¡± As the name ¡°Magical Girl Association¡± implies, the awakened individuals in Japan weren¡¯t strictly hierarchical. Each shrine had a magical girl who had received divine possession and managed their own territory. The association¡¯s headquarters was located on the Noto Penins, butpared to the status of the National Highway Management Corps in Korea, it was more of a nominal headquarters. So, saying ¡°the association possesses three spirit cameras¡± was more urately ¡°three magical girls who own spirit cameras are part of the association.¡± Without individual persuasion, they wouldn¡¯t easily give up such precious items. Of course, I was well aware of the association¡¯s situation. Therefore, I made a difficult request first and then backed off subtly. ¡°Then, at least, could you tell me where you originally found the Proid camera?¡± ¡°Nyaa?¡± ¡°I¡¯m a huge fan of that item. Think of me as a collector. Of course, receiving the actual item would be ideal, but if that¡¯s not possible, I¡¯d like to gather as much information as possible.¡± That way, I could swoop in and grab the item during the next turn. Manyo Neko¡¯s face brightened up. ¡°Nyaa! If that¡¯s all, I¡¯ll definitely get that information for you! Leave it to me, nya!¡± Normally, the location of important item drops would be ssified, but since we were offering to exterminate Inunaki in Japan instead of Korea, she obliged. Sure enough, a few dayster, Manyo Neko returned with good news. ¡°I found out the farming location. And¡¡± ¡°And?¡± ¡°Tadaaan~!¡± Manyo Neko revealed the item she had been hiding behind her back with exaggerated ir. ¡°Wow.¡± It was a camera. A Proid OneStep (Land Camera 1000) released in 1977. It was an item I had been eyeing for dozens of turns, now in the hands of the cat magical girl. This was the very camera that wouldtere in handy when I went on a vacation with Shim Ah-ryun at Sauron¡¯s Tower. My eyes widened. ¡°Could it be, Manyo Neko¡?¡± ¡°Nyahaha. Even though Doctor Jang came to our neighborhood with his girlfriend and trusted subordinate, just giving the farming location without anything tangible would be ungrateful. So¡ ahem. The owner agreed to hand over the camera under the condition that we exterminate the Inunaki Tunnel!¡± ¡°Manyo Neko, we are friends from now on.¡± ¡°Yay~! Tomodachi!¡± We high-fived. The morale of the extermination squad was at an all-time high. Leaving the Saintess at the inn, our four-person team¡ªme, Yoo Jiwon, Manyo Neko, and Void de¡ªset off on the first official joint Korea-Japan mission. 5 Upon arrival, the two local magical girls stood on a tform (rock). ¡°Nyaa! Thank you so much for deciding to help with this extermination mission!¡± ¡°¡ ¡¡± Manyo Neko pointed behind her with the tip of her umbre. Therey the Inunaki Tunnel. Its entrance was 90% sealed off by a stone wall, which was covered in various colorful graffiti. ¡°This was originally the Soroji Tunnel. But, as you can see, it got infected by Inunaki!¡± ¡°¡ ¡¡± [Proofreader ¨C Gun] ¡°Since it wasn¡¯t a path frequented by pedestrians, we thought people could just take a detour¡ But nyaa~. The god I serve resides in a nearby shrine, so it kept bothering me.¡± Manyo Neko opened her umbre with a flourish. This umbre was peculiar. The outside was painted gold, but the inside was pitch ck like the night sky, dotted with stars. It wasn¡¯t a fashion item; it was Manyo Neko¡¯s divine artifact. Every magical girl had such a sacred item. ¡°Thanks to the cooperation of Doctor Jang and the awakened ones from Korea, we can attempt this surgery to remove the tumor from ournd once again! Please take good care of us!¡± ¡°¡! ¡!¡± ¡°We also look forward to working with you. Since we haven¡¯t been working together for long, there might be minor mistakes and misunderstandings. I¡¯ll ask for your understanding each time, so I¡¯d like to ask for your understanding in advance.¡± ¡°Of course, nya!¡± ¡°¡! ¡!¡± At that moment, Yoo Jiwon, who had been quietly holding a trunk, raised her hand. By the way, Yoo Jiwon was also fluent in Japanese. ¡°I have a question.¡± ¡°Nya?¡± ¡°Why is the awakened one next to you just moving their lips and not speaking? Are they mute?¡± Our eyes turned to the person beside Manyo Neko. There, a lone figure, unable to join our conversation, was trying to make their presence known. That¡¯s right. The ¡°¡¡± in the dialogue was actually the mute magical girl trying to get attention. This magical girl wasn¡¯t just mute; she also had no arms. If there were a god in heaven, this would be a strong argument that he was a sadist who took pleasure in tormenting humans. ¡°Oops. Void de, did you forget to use your telepathic magic? We can¡¯t hear you.¡± ¡°¡!¡± Upon Manyo Neko¡¯s remark, the mute and armless magical girl jumped up and down. Suddenly, a voice began to echo in our minds. [Oh dear, I apologize for the confusion, Doctor Jang-sensei, Yoo-sensei. I mistakenly thought I was already sending telepathic messages. Haha, I feared you were deliberately ignoring me.] Her archaic speech was at odds with her cute appearance. Void de. Literally, the ¡®armless swordsman.¡¯ I was already familiar with her mannerisms. Attentive readers might recall that during the 99th turn, when I fought against UFO aliens, the magical girls who fought alongside me were Manyo Neko and Void de. Among the Japanese awakened ones, they were the individuals I trusted the most. ¡°Hmm¡¡± On the other hand, Yoo Jiwon seemed to view the magical girls in front of us asplete entrics. Her expression turned peculiar. It was undeniable. Yoo Jiwon whispered in Korean. ¡°Sir, why are all the magic-type awakened ones like this? First, there was the witch cosy Tang Seorin, then the school uniform cosy Cheon Yohwa. Now we have magical girls? And it¡¯s not just our country¡¯s awakened ones, but even the ones from the neighboring country are like this.¡± ¡°Indeed¡ I didn¡¯t realize that the [Mini Map] was a magic-type ability either.¡± ¡°¡?¡± I looked around at everyone. ¡°Alright, even though there are only four of us, each of us is worth a hundred warriors. Today, the most infamous anomaly in Japan will be exterminated. Manyo Neko, are you ready?¡± ¡°Nyaa! From today, the Inunaki Tunnel will be renamed Nekonaki Tunnel!¡± ¡°Void de?¡± [Yes! The Magical Girl Alliance has attempted to exterminate Inunaki four times before, and all the data is stored in my mind. We are fully prepared!] ¡°Yoo Jiwon.¡± ¡°I will follow your orders, sir.¡± I nced up at the sky. Right on cue, the Saintess¡¯s voice resonated. [We¡¯re ready, Doctor Jang.] Perfect. I rarely felt this confident before tackling an anomaly. We advanced, maintaining an extremely positive atmosphere. ¡®I have a good feeling about this.¡¯ We boldly demolished the stone wall at the entrance and entered the tunnel. The cozy darkness of the tunnel embraced our four figures. 66 minutester. The Korea-Japan alliance party was wiped out like dogs. 5 Again. Next, the 142nd turn. ¡°Nyaa! From today, the Inunaki Tunnel will be renamed Nekonaki Tunnel!¡± ¡°That¡¯s a good spirit. Excellent. But before that, there¡¯s something we need to confirm.¡± ¡°¡Nyaa?¡± The outcry to boost morale was met with a stern expression that lowered the surrounding temperature by a degree. Of course, I hadn¡¯t suddenly awakened any temperature control ability. Literally, the temperature around the Inunaki Tunnel entrance was dropping in real-time. ¡°The anomaly has already sensed our approach. Manyo Neko. Did you bring the spirit camera?¡± ¡°Nyaa? I did bring it¡¡± ¡°Take it out and take a picture.¡± ¡°¡Understood, Captain.¡± Sensing the shift in my demeanor, Manyo Neko¡¯s face turned serious as well. She pulled the camera out of her backpack without anyints. Yoo Jiwon remained expressionless, used to my behavior. Void de stayed calm. Manyo Neko carefully lifted the spirit camera, one of only three in Japan, with one hand. ¡°Where should I take the picture?¡± ¡°At the entrance of the tunnel. Include the surrounding scenery in one shot.¡± ¡°Roger that.¡± *Click* The sh went off. The instant camera soon developed the film and spat it out with its thin lips. All five of us¡ªme, Yoo Jiwon, Manyo Neko, Void de, and even the absent Saintess¡ªlooked at the photo together. Void de¡¯s expression hardened. [This is¡] In the spirit photograph, corpses were nailed to the cedar trees lining the tunnel like temple pirs. They were wearing extravagant outfits adorned with frills and decorations, unsuitable for ordinary people. They were the corpses of magical girls. ¡°Are they familiar faces?¡± [Yes. Though the photo quality isn¡¯t great, judging by the costumes, they seem to be ourrades who went missing in previous extermination attempts. Some of them disappeared seven years ago.] As expected. I maintained a calm expression. The leader of an extermination squad must always remain steadfast. The question came from a team member instead of me. ¡°What the heck is this? How¡?¡± ¡°It¡¯s a taunt. As I said, the anomaly already knew we wereing. It¡¯s daring us toe closer.¡± ¡°But still¡ it doesn¡¯t make sense. Both I and Void de aren¡¯t spiritual power weaklings. How could we not notice anything until we took a picture with the camera¡?¡± [Wait a moment.] I turned my head. Void de was staring intently at one corner of the hazy instant photo. [The bodies here. These ones hanging right next to the stone wall.] ¡°Nyaa?¡± [Even though it¡¯s a bit blurry¡ don¡¯t their faces resemble ours?] ¡°¡¡± The sound of cicadas filled the air. The Japanese called it kanakana. But as with allnguages, it was a unique sound that couldn¡¯t be fully captured by words. Perhaps it was ament that couldn¡¯t quite be a cry, just a series of raspy gasps. The sound echoed continuously through the cedar forest surrounding us. ¡°Take another picture, Manyo Neko. This time, focus on the stone wall.¡± ¡°Got it, nya.¡± *Click* The sh went off. At that moment, the cicada sounds in the entire forest stopped. It might sound strange, but it felt as though thousands of insects were all staring at us. Jiiiiiing- The Proid camera slowly developed the picture, making an excessive noise. We looked at the photo once again. ¡°¡¡± The corpses in the picture were now lighter. Everything was the same as the first photo, except now the heads and arms were missing from the bodies hanging on the cedar trees. No, on closer inspection, there was another difference. On the stone wall at the tunnel entrance, covered in various graffiti, there was now a bright red message that hadn¡¯t been there in the previous photo. ¨C Wee back. [Proofreader ¨C Gun] Chapter 105 â€“ The Pedestrian III [Proofreader ¨C Gun] Chapter 105 ©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤ The Pedestrian III 6 The Inunaki Tunnel was cursed in every imaginable way. The inherent fear of tunnels, ghost stories, the vengeful spirits of workers buried during construction, murders, and disappearances that urred in the tunnel¡ We had underestimated the difficulty of the anomaly that extended its ws across the Korea Strait. We retreated from the tunnel entrance to resume our strategy meeting. ¡°Is it impossible to destroy that tunnel from the outside?¡± ¡°Probably impossible, nya.¡± Manyo Neko sighed. ¡°Our alliance also tried to destroy the tunnel physically when we first decided to tackle it. We used old bombs from the Self-Defense Forces to blow up 72 locations of the tunnel simultaneously, nya.¡± ¡°And the result?¡± ¡°It was observed that the Inunaki Tunnel restored itself within 4 minutes at the earliest, and 4 days at thetest, nya. We specte that it can¡¯t be defeated by physical force alone; you have to walk through the tunnel from the entrance to the exit, nya.¡± ¡°I see.¡± There were asionally such anomalies¡ªones that couldn¡¯t be defeated by physical force alone. The isted god ¡®Endless¡¯ was also in that category. To briefly describe how to defeat Endless: 1. Seal the 99th ghost of the Hyakki Yagyo at Baekhwa High School. 2. ce 100 candles at the spot reached by taking 4,444 steps to the 4th basement floor. 3. Exchange the stories of the sealed ghosts, the hundred tales, with at least two people. 4. Walk 4 steps towards the summoned Endless and have the party member performing the role of the priestess seal it. 5. Help the priestess by delivering an unpredictable blow to Endless, possibly using the famous sword ¡®Doha¡¯ crafted by Noh Doha. ¡ A strategy that could drive anyone insane. Any non-regressor would likely exim, ¡®Was this designed to be beatable?¡¯ Even the Saintess, upon seeing this strategyter, frowned and muttered, ¡®¡That¡¯s really something.¡¯ But on the flip side, even an anomaly of the isted god level, which mocks the world¡¯s rules, could be defeated with ¡®that much¡¯ effort. So, for an anomaly like the Inunaki Tunnel, there was no need to even mention it. Even if physical force didn¡¯t work, there was always a vulnerability in any anomaly. ¡°I roughly understand.¡± ¡°¡? Nya, then why are you standing up with your staff sword, Doctor Jang?¡± ¡°I have a habit of questioning whether the anomaly isn¡¯t defeated by physical force because the firepower was insufficient.¡± From that day, the Inunaki Tunnel faced a harsh season of trials. ¡°Special move: Tunnel Destruction.¡± *Rumble* I poured out my aura and copsed the tunnel entrance. It seemed Manyo Neko was right, as the tunnel structure restored itself within 40 seconds (perhaps it had be stronger and its restoration ability had improved since the old days). But my de wasn¡¯t concerned with such trivial tantrums. ¡°Special move: Tunnel Destruction. Continue.¡± *Boom! Crash! Boom!* I continuously bombarded the Inunaki Tunnel each time it restored itself. Not just the entrance, but I even blew away the entire mountain ridge where the tunnel ran through. ¡°Nyaaah! What are you doing! This mountain is dedicated to our god, nya!¡± ¡°Calm down. It¡¯s just coteral damage.¡± ¡°This is our shrine¡¯s property you¡¯re blowing up! How is that coteral damage, nya?¡± Manyo Neko was jumping up and down, but there was a result. After 40 seconds, the tunnel stood alone in the wastnd where the mountain had been blown away. The external structure of the tunnel was exposed as if the scalp hadpletely lost its hair. ¡°As expected.¡± As I had anticipated, the Inunaki Tunnel was an anomaly that parasitized the ¡®tunnel¡¯. The emptiness it managed did not cover the mountain beyond the tunnel. Void de marveled as she looked at the exposed tunnel structure. [Oh, indeed, Doctor Jang, your power is impressive. The tunnel ispletely exposed.] ¡°The fear a tunnel holds is concentrated in its darkness. ¡®The uncertainty of not knowing how far you have to walk to find the exit¡¯ and ¡®the despair of being surrounded by cement on all sides, unable to escape in an emergency.¡¯ But look.¡± I climbed the outer wall of the tunnel and walked to the middle point. Then, I sliced through the tunnel¡¯s midsection as if it were tofu. ¡°If the structure is exposed, even if an explorer gets lost, we can rescue them from the outside like this. Of course, the outer wall will restore itself after 40 seconds, but if we save them within that time, there¡¯s no problem.¡± [Ah¡ Indeed. Thinking like that, it doesn¡¯t seem that scary.] ¡°Anomalies consume not just the void of reality but also the gaps in our hearts. If we can eliminate even a bit of unconscious fear, we should use any means necessary.¡± [Hmm. That¡¯s truly golden advice.] ¡°Of course, it¡¯s golden because it cost a fortune, nya! Oh, dear, oh dear!¡± *Click* I took the spirit camera from Manyo Neko and took another picture of the tunnel entrance. Now, we had responded to the anomaly¡¯s provocation with our own provocation. Let¡¯s see how it reacts. The photo developed shortly. Last time, the bodies were hung on the cedar trees. Since the forest waspletely logged now, the bodies were nailed to the stone wall at the tunnel entrance. But this time, it was just the heads. The severed heads had their lips and eyelids fixed with small nails, forcing the corpses to wear artificial ¡®smiles.¡¯ The words ¡®Wee back¡¯ were still there, now written in the blood flowing from the magical girls¡¯ heads. ¡°¡It seems it¡¯s still confident.¡± But it¡¯s futile. ¡°Nyaa?¡± ¡°I was just talking to myself. You don¡¯t need to look at the photo. It¡¯s just ying with the corpses of your fellow magical girls.¡± ¡°¡¡± Manyo Neko nodded slightly. I picked up the radio. Although this radio had no actual function, I had disguised it as an ¡®anomaly radio¡¯ so that it wouldn¡¯t seem strange to others. ¡°Saintess.¡± [Yes.] ¡°Please contact Commander Noh Doha and tell him to start the operation.¡± [Understood.] A momentter. ¡°Sir, the chess pieces are moving.¡± Yoo Jiwon spoke from the table at the tunnel entrance. ¡°The first group is currently entering the Busan Undersea Tunnel in order.¡± ¡°Good, keep reporting. Saintess? Please monitor the prisoners¡¯ vision consistently. Share their reactions, dialogue, and detailed actions with me. It¡¯s essential for drafting the strategy.¡± [Yes.] *Shh, shh* The 72 chess pieces on the table were slowly moving. The prisoners we lost in the previous round. I, Noh Doha, the Saintess, and Yoo Jiwon¡ªthe strongest support team¡ªstarted manipting numerous chess pieces. This time, the prisoners¡¯ lives would be used more valuably. 7 A real tunnel is a ¡®passage you can walk through from the entrance to the exit.¡¯ On the other hand, a void tunnel is a byrinth where you can never exit once you enter.¡¯ Therefore, to defeat the anomaly of the tunnel, one simply has to enter and emerge unscathed. By doing so, it proves that ¡®this ce is no longer void but reality.¡¯ Now, I¡¯ll include themunication records of our team while we established the guidelines for safely navigating through the Inunaki Tunnel. These records are almost identical to the strategy that willter be registered in the SG Net¡¯s [Library Society¡¯s Anomaly Encyclopedia]. Although the survival rate of humans entering the tunnel is never high, if you keep your mind straight and follow the ¡®strategy¡¯ steadfastly, you can definitely return safely. On the record. [Doctor Jang, all the exploration teams have been given radios. I introduced myself as the team leader of the National Highway Management Team, ensuring the explorers follow my instructions.] [The first team has entered.] [It was judged that breaking the stone wall would attract undue attention from the ¡®Inunaki Tunnel.¡¯ The explorers climbed over the stone wall instead.] [Proofreader ¨C Gun] 1. Once the convicts climb over the stone wall, they will immediately smell a severe ¡®garbage stench.¡¯ It is akin to the rotting smell of leaves that have decayed throughout the season after a summer rain. The damp cave¡¯s breath will cling to their entire body like mites, but they must not panic. Rather, the ce where that smell is felt is the ¡®safe zone.¡¯ [Two of the explorers reported an unbearable stench.] [Prisoner number 6 reported that it was not just a cave smell but the stench of dposing corpses. What should we do?] ¡°Instruct them to look for the corpses.¡± [Yes.] 1-1. If, instead of the garbage smell or moss smell, they smell ¡®blood¡¯ or ¡®decaying flesh,¡¯ they must immediately turn back and climb over the stone wall to return. However, if they have taken ¡®more than 7 steps¡¯ after entering the tunnel, they must not return. In this case, their waist will be cut as soon as they climb over the stone wall. Attempting to confirm where the corpse smell ising from is also strictly forbidden. Ultimately, they will realize that the smell ising from inside their own body. Five convicts were needed to establish Strategy 1. [An explorer has died.] [The remaining members were somewhat confused but continued with the operation without issue.] [I will request Commander Noh Doha to send in the next group as nned.] [Over.] [Advance.] 2. Never walk past the center of the tunnel to the right side. Always and only use the left side to move. [Doctor Jang, I have conveyed this instruction to all explorers, but why must they use only the left side of the passage?] ¡°Ah, in the previous turn, the four of us walked side by side in the passage. Suddenly, Void de, who was walking on the far right, and Yoo Jiwon, who was walking in the center, died suddenly.¡± [What?] ¡°Ah, Jiwon, you don¡¯t need to look at this. Just focus on the minimap. Anyway¡ they suddenly choked as if they werepletely submerged in deep water and copsed shortly after.¡± [¡] ¡°Upon checking their bodies, we found their esophagi and lungs filled with filthy water. The cause of death was drowning.¡± 2-1. If you smell ¡®water¡¯ or ¡®sewer¡¯ while walking, it means you are leaning too far to the right. Immediately move a bit more to the left. If you feel strangely breathless or find it difficult to walk, also move to the left. In this case, take ¡®swimming motions¡¯ instead of ¡®walking motions.¡¯ To be prepared for emergencies, wear a life jacket from the moment you enter the tunnel. No convicts were needed to establish Strategy 2. [Over. I will instruct them to continue advancing.] ¡°Yes, please.¡± 3. The Inunaki Tunnel is covered with various graffiti and scribbles in a myriad of colors. The walls on both sides of the passage are painted entirely. The graffiti is as dense as shell fragments clinging to coastal rock faces. Although the scribbles may appear to be in Latin characters, they resemble nonguage on Earth. If you feel like the scribbles are wriggling or if you smell ¡®blood¡¯ from the red parts of the graffiti, immediately look away. The deeper you go into the tunnel, the denser and moreplex the graffiti bes. As long as the graffiti still looks like ¡®scribbles,¡¯ the area is safe. However, if the graffiti starts to look like beautiful ¡®artworks,¡¯ especially ¡®beautiful living beings,¡¯ immediately avert your gaze. This phenomenon is thought to result from the void effect confusing the tunnel¡¯s ¡®corridor¡¯ with an art gallery¡¯s ¡®hallway.¡¯ [Doctor Jang, some explorers are showing excessive interest in the graffiti.] ¡°Have any unusual behaviors been detected?¡± [Yes. They are approaching and moving away from the graffiti as if admiring artworks in a museum, murmuring phrases like ¡®beautiful,¡¯ ¡®pretty,¡¯ ¡®stunning.¡¯] [Ah.] [Prisoner 14 has shown abnormal behavior, repeatedly muttering, ¡®If only this color were a bit darker.¡¯] [Although other explorers are trying to restrain him, it seems ineffective.] [We confirm self-harm from Prisoner 14. He is cutting his abdomen and painting the graffiti with his blood.] ¡°Indeed. Saintess, please be careful not to look at the scribbles.¡± [Yes, I am periodically shifting my gaze. Prisoner 14 has gouged out his own eyes and smeared them onto the tunnel wall¡¯s graffiti.] [Confirmed dead.] 3-1. If someone is standing in the middle of the tunnel, admiring the graffiti without any reaction, immediately kill them. If you notice a ¡®tattoo¡¯ clearly appearing on their arms or neck, it is toote to kill them. Try to get as far away from that person as possible. Infected individuals in this manner will henceforth be referred to as ¡®spectators.¡¯ You will know you have entered a safe zone when the smell of blood dissipates and you smell moss, basement, or cave odors. 3-2. If you feel that a spectator is pursuing you, use a knife to sever a finger or toe, draw a tattoo-like pattern on your face, and hold the severed part in your mouth. Stick to the tunnel wall as closely as possible and make no noise. Even if you hear footsteps, do not look in the direction of the tunnel passage. Do not make any sound. Remain pressed against the tunnel wall until the footstepspletely fade away. Holding your breath for at least 30 seconds is rmended. Eleven convicts were needed to establish Strategy 3. [An explorer has died.] [Over.] [Advance.] [Proofreader ¨C Gun] Chapter 106 â€“ The Pedestrian IV [Proofreader ¨C Gun] Chapter 106 ©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤ The Pedestrian IV The ¡°strategy¡± continued to unfold. It was like a chaotic chess game on a board. ck represented the anomalies. White represented humans. Unlike a typical chess game with a set number of pieces, the Inunaki Tunnel had an innumerable number of pieces. The tunnel had devoured tunnels across Japan. This meant it had consumed all the fear and legends associated with those ces. There were more than enough chess pieces to ce on the board, as numerous as the ghost stories. On the other hand, we humans had only 72 pawns. Yet, I did not act hastily. After all, my chess pieces were replenished with each turn. Even if I failed this time, I could simply press the ¡°continue¡± button to keep the game going. With more knowledge and richer strategies. [An explorer has died.] [Over.] [Advance.] Turn 141, 142, 143, 144, 145. Over five turns, I strategized against the Inunaki Tunnel. However, I didn¡¯t invest all my time solely in the tunnel. Leisurely. While hunting other anomalies, I merely expended the 72 convicts. As the turns umted, the game of tactics increasingly favored me. No more convicts died at the tunnel entrance. Fewer were mesmerized by the graffiti. The records of the battle between the anomaly and me, the chess game, remained intact as strategies. Thus. [Exit sighted visually.] [Doctor Jang, Convict 66 has died approximately 20 meters from the exit. Right before dying, he looked back.] I gripped the radio. ¡°He just looked back and showed no other unusual behavior?¡± [Yes.] ¡°Then it seems the myth of Orpheus has been mixed in. In the myth, Orpheus¡¯s lover was dragged to death because he looked back when the exit was in sight¡ Such strange adaptations of myths into anomalies happen often.¡± [Ah.] ¡°I¡¯ll add a note to the strategy that one must never look back once the exit is in sight. Saintess, was that convict thest of the expedition team?¡± [Yes. There are no more avable convicts. Will you postpone it to the next turn?] I shook my head. ¡°No. With just 20 meters left, we¡¯ll finish it this time. It¡¯s best if the operation¡¯s managersplete the final stretch. To verify our strategy¡¡± I nced back. ¡°And for the reputation of the Association.¡± Yoo Jiwon, Manyo Neko, and Void de, three awakened ones, were looking at me. ¡°Jiwon, stay here and keep monitoring the map. Just keep your eyes on the map.¡± ¡°Yes, sir. I will watch the operations map without blinking.¡± ¡°That¡¯s unnecessary. Anyway¡¡± I met the eyes of the two magical girls. Their gazes held various emotions. Nervousness. Wondering if they had left the extermination almost entirely to the Korean Penins¡¯s awakened ones. Excitement. Perhaps the chance to deliver the final blow to the anomaly that had gued the Japanese archipgo for so long had finally arrived. Sadness and guilt. This emotion needed no exnation. It wasn¡¯t directed at us or the living humans. ¡°Let¡¯s go. Manyo Neko, Void de.¡± ¡°¡¡± ¡°Let¡¯s avenge yourrades.¡± Their eyes turned icy. Soon, the final expedition team set off. 8 ¡°We were careless in the first extermination operation.¡± Plop. Plop. The sound of human footsteps echoed down the pitch-ck tunnel walls like rainwater. Mud sshed onto the shoes of the magical girls. ¡°Well, it seemed tame since it didn¡¯t spew out anomalies or cause any disturbances like other creatures that wreak havoc on towns and cities. It felt rtively weak inparison, didn¡¯t it?¡± [Five shrines around Nagoya and Kyotobined forces to form the first extermination squad. At the time, no one imagined it would be the ¡®first.¡¯] ¡°My childhood friend was in that extermination squad.¡± [He was a friend of mine too.] Plop. Outside, the cicada cries from the distant hills were deafening, but inside the tunnel, there was an ominous silence. As their footsteps reverberated off the walls, the strange graffiti seemed to squirm like bioluminescent worms. However, no one nced at the patterns. ¡°The star-leads-the-dawn.¡± As the darkness deepened, Manyo Neko lightly shook her umbre. The outside of the umbre glowed faintly blue. It was magic. Before the unparalleled witch Tang Seorin single-handedly developed the Song Spell, Word Segment Magic was known as the only way to cast spells in this world. This magic assembled words to materialize the caster¡¯s mental image, and the rank of a wizard was determined by how many words they could weave together simultaneously. ¡°Even after the second, third, and fourth extermination squads were organized, the oues were simr. Ah, look at this.¡± Manyo Neko pointed the tip of her umbre to the ground. On the rtively undisturbed concrete floor, there were Japanese characters inscribed. Most were damaged, but some were still legible. ¨C Die. ¨C I hate it. I don¡¯t want to be here anymore. Where did everyone go? Why am I left alone? Die. LCNA. 1199. ¨C I leave this for future explorers or Association members. First, do not walk in the center. Do not listen to the sounds from the center, and if you sense someone¡¯s presence. ¨C Please save me. When Manyo Neko lifted the umbre, the characters on the ground were once again swallowed by the eternal darkness. ¡°These are all traces of the previous extermination squads.¡± [This was the Gamma Point, wasn¡¯t it?] ¡°Yes. We decided to leave markers in the rtively safe zones within the Inunaki Tunnel.¡± They, too, attempted to create strategies. Just like I did. ¡°But the ¡®rtively safe zones¡¯ are not pletely safe zones.¡¯ The fourth extermination squad was annihted following these guidelines.¡± ¡°¡Document contamination urred.¡± ¡°Exactly. This bastard didn¡¯t do anything during the third extermination squad, but started messing with things when the fourth squad came along.¡± It wasn¡¯t rare for anomalies to mimic humannguage from the void. Not justnguage, but voices, behaviors, and appearances were often imitated. Just like now. ¨C Manyo Neko! ¨C Void de? It¡¯s really you, right? ¨C I knew you¡¯de to save us! ¨C My disciple, you¡¯ve always made me proud. I knew I could count on you. Void de gave a cold smile. Although her mute mouth emitted no sound of mockery, the coldness of her smile was all the more apparent. [What a load of crap.] ¡°Do you know them?¡± [Aah, they were myrades and my mentor. The leader of the fourth extermination squad, whose lower half was found at Gamma Point, but at least his voice is intact.] Plop. The magical girls walked without looking back. Suddenly, the sound of our footsteps felt like muted screams. The anomaly pulled out all sorts of traps, but none of us were deceived. The ¡°Inunaki Tunnel Strategy,¡± recorded from 1 to 77, guided us to the exit. The moment we saw the light in the distance. ¨C Manyo Neko. Out of nowhere, an arm shot out from behind us, as if to embrace us. A cute bracelet adorned the wrist, and frills decorated the sleeve. [Proofreader ¨C Gun] ¨C What¡¯s wrong? Grab my hand. ¨C Didn¡¯t youe to save us? What about the Association? Did headquarters abandon us? ¨C Let¡¯s go back together, Manyo Neko. No, Rika. The faces of the always-calm magical girls slightly cracked. ¨C We promised to gather again when the first snow fell this year at Mount Yahiko, remember? ¡°¡¡¡± ¨C I still remember our promise, Rika. Manyo Neko stopped walking. Both she and I knew that looking back here would end everything. However, instead of reminding her of this, I remained silent. Void de also refrained from using her telepathy magic. ¡°¡This really sucks.¡± Her murmur echoed in the tunnel. ¡°That promise was from seven years ago. Damn it, you left for the extermination squad without even defining what counts as the first snow. Is it the first snow in Hokkaido? Or does it have to snow in the vige where we were? It was a terrible promise.¡± ¨C ¡¡ ¡°So, when it snowed in Hokkaido, when it snowed in the vige, when it snowed in your hometown, I went up to Mount Yahiko three times. It was a hell of a journey each time. And you weren¡¯t there. It was so cold, I thought I would die.¡± ¨C ¡¡ ¡°Yo, where and how did you die that not even a piece of your body was found? And now you¡¯re luring innocent people in this damned tunnel? What happened to your promise to serve the gods and protect people? You¡¯re a real piece of work.¡± The sight I saw then is still vivid. The hand that had reached out from behind us, merely stirring the air, gently sped Manyo Neko¡¯s hand. Fingers intertwined. ¨C I¡¯m sorry. Let¡¯s go back together. ¡°¡¡¡± ¨C Rika. The sound of human voices trickled down the pitch-ck tunnel walls like rainwater. It was raining heavily. Plop. We walked. The light came closer. The mossy and corpse-like smells that had tormented our noses gradually gave way to the scent of leaves. As the muted screams turned into the sound of cicadas, [We¡¯ve arrived. Doctor Jang.] We emerged from the tunnel. Without exchanging many words, and almost simultaneously, we all looked back. The tunnel¡¯s entrance, once inscribed with ¡°Inunaki,¡± now bore a different name. Soroji Tunnel. [PR/N: It literally trantes to ¡®back alley¡¯ or ¡®narrowne¡¯ tunnel.] This was the original name of the tunnel before it was consumed and hollowed out by the anomaly. Beneath this name, hundreds, perhaps thousands, of corpsesy scattered beyond the tunnel. ¡°¡¡¡± ¡°¡¡¡± Most of the corpses wore the mboyant outfits of magical girls. However, their dresses were rotting, ckened by the muddy toxin and worn down by time. Manyo Neko knelt before a corpse missing one arm. Iter learned that Manyo Neko had also been part of the first extermination squad but survived because she was assigned to wait outside the tunnel. The anomaly: Inunaki Tunnel. Alias: Sanzu River, Hell Gallery, Orpheus¡¯ Path to the Underworld. Danger Level: Lv.3 Continent-ss. Exterminationpleted. 9 Epilogue, First While all tunnels across the Japanese archipgo returned to normal, the undersea tunnel crossing the Korea Strait inexplicably remained. Of course, ¡°remained¡± only in the sense that it could be used if one strictly adhered to the strategy guidelines. All the dangers that once belonged to the Inunaki Tunnel now resided in the undersea tunnel. Noh Doha furrowed his brow. ¡°It¡¯s strange. The undersea tunnel was a fictional structure, so it should have disappeared¡¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know. Even as an anomaly expert, I don¡¯t know everything.¡± ¡°Hmmm¡¡± Noh Doha frowned at the undersea tunnel peeking out from the waters off Busan. ¡°Well, if worsees to worst, it could be seen as an additional means to interact with that side¡¡± The story rted to this undersea tunnel will be told in the next episode. 10 Epilogue, Second From the 145th turn onward, I made a point to visit the Japanese archipgo early on each time. The purpose was simple. To preemptively exterminate the Inunaki Tunnel and prevent numerous casualties from the Association. Of course, another goal was to farm my precious spirit camera. So, in the 146th turn, after obtaining the camera and arriving at the Inunaki Tunnel, I sensed a familiar presence approaching from afar. ¡°Huh? A visitor?¡± It was Manyo Neko. Her face was slightly younger and more inexperienced than in the previous turn. So, in her hand, instead of an umbre, there was something else. ¡°What should we do, Yo? The high priestess ordered us to seal off the tunnel entrance.¡± ¡°Shouldn¡¯t we just warn them to back off?¡± ¡°Yes, but they seem very powerful¡ Ah. They seem to have noticed us too.¡± ¡°It¡¯s dangerous, so step back, Rika.¡± I raised both hands to show I meant no harm and approached. A magical girl with ck hair, contrasting with Manyo Neko¡¯s golden locks, was staring at me. ¡°Who are you? I haven¡¯t seen you before. You¡¯re not from the vige, are you? This area is off-limits to civilians starting today. A missing person report came in.¡± ¡°I¡¯m an awakened one from Korea.¡± ¡°Korea¡? Why would someone from Koreae here?¡± Hmm. Her eyes were filled with suspicion and vignce. But as Doctor Jang, I was adept at making friends. About four minutes and four bags of snacks passed between us. ¡°Delicious!¡± ¡°Chocte after so many days¡ The genuine taste of cacao, the distinct quality¡¡± ¡°Ah, I¡¯m melting¡¡± ¡°So, are we friends now?¡± ¡°Yay! We¡¯re friends!¡± The magical girls diligently strung golden ropes around the tunnel entrance. After repeatedly emphasizing that I must never enter, they leisurely departed. The sun was setting. I watched the two holding hands and walking away for quite some time. ¡°¡Should I capture this moment?¡± Click. Lifting the spirit camera, I snapped a photo of the Inunaki Tunnel purely on a whim. I wanted tomemorate this moment. With a buzzing sound, the photo developed. Since the Inunaki Tunnel hadn¡¯t yet devoured all the tunnels in Japan, the photo was much calmer than before. There were no corpses of magical girls or dismembered limbs grotesquely disyed. Just a stone wall blocking the tunnel entrance. There, in bright red letters, it was written: ¨C Come back soon. It¡¯s already the 7th time. My body froze for a moment with the camera still raised. Cicadas chirped in the cedar forest. ¡It wasn¡¯t just the eerie pretense that the anomaly seemed to know about my repeated regressions that startled me. Such a pretense could easily be achieved by an illusion capable of showing one¡¯s deepest fears. An anomaly with advanced illusionary abilities like the Inunaki Tunnel could certainly do that. The real issuey elsewhere. The first time I encountered the Inunaki Tunnel was in the 141st turn. Then the 142nd, 143rd, 144th, 145th¡ Finally, I returned here in the 146th turn. In total, six times. But the Inunaki Tunnel greeted me, iming it was the ¡°7th time¡± we met. Where had the other encounter gone? ¨C Pedestrian. The End. [Proofreader ¨C Gun] Chapter 107 â€“ The Resident I [Proofreader ¨C Gun] Chapter 107 ©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤ The Resident I 1 For a very long time, I¡¯ve been troubled by one question. ¡°How should I build my hideout to be considered well-built?¡± A hideout. My secret base. As everyone knows, I have a trauma. It stems from the incident during the 89th turn when my base waspletely ransacked in one go by an alien with pink hair named Koyori. Since then, a corner of my skull has always echoed with Koyori¡¯s ASMR full voice, taunting me: ¡°Pathetic? You, an infinite regressor, got wiped out by a single brainwash beam? Your hideout is some?¡± Of course, there¡¯s no way Koyori actually spoke like that. If she found out about my trauma, she¡¯d tilt her head in confusion. It was just a sign of how severe my mental scars were. I needed a solution. Thus, today¡¯s story is about my sweet home. 2 Although I¡¯ve never directly mentioned it to you all, I¡¯ve actually explored my personal El Dorado across numerous turns. The types of utopias varied. I tried living on a luxury yacht and even setting up a mobile sea fortress. I also set up a house on an uninhabited ind. Skyscrapers, underground bunkers, subway tracks, rail cannons¡ªI experienced all the forms of ¡°hideouts¡± people typically imagine. But for some reason, no hideout ever fully satisfied my aesthetic sense. 2%. There was always 2% missing. ¡°Your standards are too high, oppa.¡± The puppeteer Lee Hayul grumbled. Of course, her own lips remained firmly shut. She spoke through her ever-present maid marite. Lee Hayul, the daughter of a notorious traitor (the former mayor of Busan), had the skill to pull puppet strings from under her nails. Lee Hayul¡¯s puppet strings were virtually superconductors of aura, capable of transmitting aura to the tips with minimal loss. This miraculous superconductor was extremely useful for hideout security. In constructing an impregnable hideout, Lee Hayul¡¯s cooperation was not optional but essential. Not only I but also Noh Doha and Cheon Yohwa always hired Lee Hayul when renovating their base buildings. Even such an expert showed reluctance at my requests as the building owner. ¡°Tell me honestly. What is your ideal guild building, oppa?¡± ¡°First, it must be able to withstand any physical shock from outside for a long time.¡± ¡°Like an underground bunker?¡± Lee Hayul nodded. ¡°Possible. Every guild master desires that. Next?¡± ¡°It should also be able to handle intruders who use non-physical means to infiltrate.¡± ¡°Possible. Make entry difficult, like abyrinth.¡± ¡°But at the same time, guild members must be able to deploy quickly. There should be many secret passages.¡± ¡°¡?¡± ¡°And I don¡¯t want to impose harsh living conditions on my guild members. They should always be able to live morefortably than other guilds. For example, if they want to take a walk by the Han River, they should be able to do so immediately, and the view should be nice if possible.¡± ¡°¡¡± Lee Hayul closed her notebook. Then she looked up at me with her golden eyes. ¡°Oppa. Where is your conscience?¡± Admittedly, it was a conscienceless demand. Topletely block Koyori¡¯s alien invasion, wless security was necessary. But security and convenience are difficult to coexist beyond a certain level. You can¡¯t expect five-star hotel room service on a nuclear submarine. Yet dismissing Koyori as nonexistent¡ªAhh! In my head! The pink voice in my head! I?! I?! Let¡¯s be one, guild master! So, my days of suffering from an echo akin to the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra continued. Then, one day during the 196th turn. I was sitting by the Han River, lost in thought, staring nkly at the water. Then, from afar, a man I had never seen before approached, pushing a mountain bike. Two pistols at his waist, a backpack, and a rifle on his back¡ªthetest fashion trend in the apocalypse. ¡°Huh¡? Is this not the ce?¡± The bike man stopped about 600 meters away and looked around. ¡°Strange. SGNet clearly said it was here¡¡± The word SGNet piqued my interest. At this time, I hadpletely given up on security and built my hideout under the Han River, near the convenience store where I first met the Saint. And there were no other buildings around except my hideout. The so-called ¡°Summer of Seoul¡± incident, where most of Gangnam was engulfed by the void, left nothing but my hideout and a few buildings around the Han River¡¯s south side. In other words, the ce the bike man was looking for was likely my guild hideout. As the owner, I had to inquire about his intentions. ¡°What¡¯s your business here?¡± ¡°Whoa!¡± The bike man was startled. I had approached him silently and spoke from behind. He reflexively reached for his rifle but quickly let go, realizing it would only provoke me. ¡°Ah, well, I heard a rumor that there¡¯s a caf¨¦ with amazing coffee around here¡¡± ¡°A rumor?¡± ¡°Yes. Do you know SGNet? I¡¯m an awakened one. SGNet said if you follow the Han River, you¡¯d find a caf¨¦. But there¡¯s no building here except this one.¡± ¡°A caf¨¦ with amazing coffee?¡± I tilted my head. ¡It wasn¡¯t until I searched SGNet myselfter that I learned the truth, but the main instigators of this incident were none other than Tang Seorin and Cheon Yohwa. They initiated what¡¯s known as ¡°biting¡± on the bulletin board. -[Baekhwa] High School Senior : Hehe ><)! Creamtte, the most delicious thing in the world when you drink it while looking at the Han River ><)!! (Verification photo. No face, just holding a creamtte with the left hand and toasting towards the Han River) -[Three Thousand Worlds] Witch Judge: In these times, the preciousness of being able to taste a more vorful coffee before the world falls apart. Magical autumn. (Verification photo. Only a witch hat and a coffee cup on the table, with the Han River in the background) asionally, when Tang Seorin or Cheon Yohwa visited my hideout, I, who has a hobby as a barista, naturally served them coffee. Because of theirpetitive posting of verification posts on SGNet, rumors spread like "There''s an incredibly delicious cafe in Gangnam!" -KoreanVige: Morning Coffee.jpeg What sealed the deal was my direct guild member ''Drinking Aggro''. -KoreanVige: My brother has no power unless he wakes up and supplements caffeine in the morning. -KoreanVige: Today''s cafe mocha.png -KoreanVige: Do you think that I''m too chewed up to drink coffee? If I have it, it''s because of you that the board''s quality is low, so I shouldmit suicide. -KoreanVige: This gentleman''s personal barista skills.jpg When Sim Aryeon uploaded verification photos every day, the structure ovepped mysteriously with Tang Seorin and Cheon Yohwa''s verification shots, and the credibility of ''Gangnam Cafe'' among SGNet users rose. Our bicycle man was here to lure us from Gangwon Province to Seoul. "There''s no cafe nearby. You know that all the stores properly operating in Gangnam are extinct. But that''s empty where the Sauron tower is." "Oh... I see." The cyclist''s face darkened. Was it just the early 20s? I smiled. "However, I know how to make coffee a little bit. Is this fate? How about a cup of coffee before you leave?" "Yes?" At first, the bicycle man refused, but he couldn''t hide his joy when I insisted again. As a result, "Wow, really... It''s delicious. Wow, boss. This seems much tastier than that Gangnam cafe..." "Thank you." "Wow, I really enjoyed it! Teacher! Thank you!" "Oh, no. If you ever need to buy coffee beans,e see me anytime. I''ll brew it for you then." "Wow, thank you so much...!" The bicycle man tried to give me bullets or emergency supplies as a thank you, but I politely turned them down. Actually, from my point of view, it was a useless item. The cyclist couldn''t help it, even riding his bicycle several times, bowing his head and leaving. The road slid into the asphalt, where the stuff is slowly starting toe up. Looking after the cyclist from a distance, I realized that today''s unexpected meeting was quite enjoyable. "Oh." The moment I realized. What form I wanted from a hideout, why I was always dissatisfied with the hideouts I tried so hard. ''Cafe. It''s a cafe!'' That''s right. I''ve always wanted to run a cafe. The passion of a return to the heart, which has been going on for a long time, was burning up. 2 "Brother. So, do you mean running a cafe in the guild''s hideout building?" "Yeah. It''s called a cafe-type hideout." "What''s that, a little girl?" Lee Hayul didn''t understand my idea at all. But I wasn''t disappointed. After all, a pioneer is always being despised by the ignorant masses. The cafe I was trying to create was a type that had never existed in the history of the world so far. From the beginning to the end, it could only be born from my fingertips. "The view is unpleasant. A cafe is a store. essibility is everything. Do you agree?" "Um." "What you want is physical power. Plus, unbreakable security, even for the brainwashed group of ghosts. I have to be skeptical. How? A cafe and a hideout at the same time? Operating?" "That''s right. Hey, Hayul. You''re too caught up in old-fashioned ways. This is a world where you shouldn''t be stubborn about an era of emptiness." "... Let me tell you a secret. Sometimes, when I drink alcohol, I call my sister, and I''ve beenining about my brother for three hours." "...?" "I''mzy. Buttely, I think I understand my sister''s feelings." "...?" Ignoring the meaningless resentment, I took out the solution. ¡°We can achieve a two-for-one with an anomaly.¡± ¡°An anomaly?¡± Lee Hayul blinked. "Using him? ...How?" Just like this. I immediately took Hayul down to Busan that day. The waters in front of Busan still held traces of thest remaining evidence of the Korea-Japan underwater tunnel, or in other words, the Inunaki Tunnel. The Inunaki Tunnel. This ce was truly the master key that provided both a caf¨¦-like atmosphere and security. Click. I immediately took a picture of the entrance of the underwater tunnel with a spirit camera. "Come back soon. Already the 57th time?" It had been a while since I took a picture, but the Inunaki Tunnel continued to update the number of times we met. I didn''t quite understand the principle, but anyway, it could be judged that a ''continuous rtionship'' was being established. In that case, couldmunication also be possible? "Can you understand my conversation?" Click. After throwing the question through psychic transmission, I took another picture. "Come back soon. Already the 57th time?" Unfortunately, there was no change in the spirit photo. I attemptedmunication again. "Inunaki, if you understand my conversation, leave another mark at the tunnel entrance. I will make an interesting proposal there." Click. "Come back soon. Already the 57th time?" "Hmm." Normalmunication failed. No matter how much some monsters seemed to usenguage like humans, they did not think like humans. But who am I? Wasn''t I the infinite regressor who sessfully bred dinosaurs from words in the void on the 380th iteration? "...Oppa. I''m really curious, so I''ll ask. Why are you suddenly making mandu dumplings?" "Wait and see. It''s a highly designed operation." From that day on, I set out to find a way tomunicate with the Inunaki Tunnel. Day 1. Judging by the way it killed magical girls, it seemed it abnormally preferred human skulls, like Zhuge Liang did in the southernnds, so I stuffed meat tightly into mandu skins and offered them in front of the tunnel. (No response) Day 3. Wondering if it didn''t like human skulls but had a secret hobby of tearing apart human bodies, I prepared human dolls and handed them over. (ced them deep in the tunnel, only to find them vomited outside the entrance the next day. Effect confirmed.) Day 5. Perhaps it liked magical girls, I realized. So I collected pre-millennial magical girl figures and decorated the middle of the tunnel with them. (Torn apart and spewed out to the entrance of the tunnel. Communication sess.) "Look! There''s a response! Hayul! Monsters have their own ways ofmunicating, and we humans can find them!" "...No, it just seems angry." Day 10. As the ''magical girl figure strategy'' took hold, this time I brought in arge number of posters from the ancient magical girl series. The Magical Girl Association cooperated actively. I stered posters all over the tunnel walls. (The graffiti came alive and tore the posters apart. Real-timemunication sessful. The Saintess who witnessed the process protested against me.) Day 17. Requested cooperation from the National Highway Management to ster the tunnel with magical girl posters using death row inmates. After recording the magical girl animation OST, it was yed through radios installed at the entrance, middle point, and exit of the tunnel, 13 locations in total. (The graffiti on the entire tunnel wriggled. Noh Doha didn''t like it.) Day 25. While continuing previous work, I requested cooperation from Baekhwa Guild Leader Cheon Yohwa. Released the hundred ghosts into the tunnel. (Confirmed flooding in various ces in the underwater tunnel. The graffiti moved fiercely as if screaming beyond wiggling. Cheon Yohwa didn''t like it.) Day 30. The change was observed from the writtennguage on the stone wall at the entrance to the tunnel. Don''te. Please go back. I was thrilled. Of course, it was difficult to assume that the monster understood the meaning ofnguage in a semiotic manner. But I knew how humans would react to any words. The reason why the mostmon sound from the void is "Please save me!" I learned that the word is effective in tempting humans. Click. In the spiritual photo, there were manynguages implemented in addition to "Don''te" and "Go back." ''Bad guy,'' ''noise pollution,'' ''why?,'' ''die,'' ''trouble,'' ''iprehensible,'' ''curse,'' ''stop,'' ''noisy,'' ''I hate'' and so on. How dazzling a discovery is it? There was a rewarding attempt tomunicate with Inunaki Tunnel, even though I received a lot of contemptuous looks. So, canmunication methods be developed further from here? Inunaki Tunnel was a monster native to Japan. And just like Korean, there was a culture of honorifics in Japanese. In friendship, we will never forget one letter of courtesy as a virtue of Northeast Asia. Day 60. The number of posters attached to the tunnel walls increased 15 times, and the anime song was extended to 24 hours for unlimited viewing. The Magical Girl Association objected to theck of posters that could be exported, but I never underestimated the potential of the Japanese archipgo. Since silver fell from the Iwami mine, Japan''s main export product has been otaku culture. In addition to death row prisoners, all other prisoners were mobilized to cover the tunnel. No matter how hard Inunaki tried to tear the poster, it was useless. The human speed of putting up posters was faster. It was the very underwater tunnel connecting Japan and South Korea that showed off the ability to cook at aic market. (Hayul, Noh Doha, Saintess, and Cheon Yohwa came together and requested a stop to this operation.) Day 70. Anime song radios ced throughout the tunnel were destroyed. Once again, I requested cooperation from the Magical Girl Association and held a magical girl concert in the middle of the tunnel. The live music that was different from the recorded sound echoed grandly from the bottom. (Hated Evenyo and Fearsword.) Day 77. The sentence at the entrance changed. Please don''te. Please go back. Whatever it is, I''ll do it. Please. I shivered. Finally, even monsters had learned the customs of Northeast Asia. I was convinced that there was value in having a serious exchange with the other person. "Hayul. You waited a long time. I finally seeded in persuading Inunaki Tunnel. Now we can create a perfect secure hideout." "Sorry. Can I work tomorrow? I have a dinner appointment with Noh Doha tonight. A drinking appointment." "Well, of course. Have a good time!" "......" Next episode. Instead of chaotic graffiti, a neat sign was hung on the stone wall at the entrance of Inunaki Tunnel. [Cafe hideout] [New entry scheduled!] Chapter 108 â€“ The Resident II [Proofreader ¨C Gun] Chapter 108 ©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤ The Resident II 3 As everyone knows, walking through the Inunaki Tunnel is exceedingly difficult. Even I, a regressor, only managed to conquer it after five turns and sacrificing hundreds of lives. I pondered this: ¡®¡Isn¡¯t this the ultimate security facility?¡¯ Aplete change in perspective. From an intruder¡¯s viewpoint, the Inunaki Tunnel boasted an immensely challenging difficulty level. However, from a defender¡¯s perspective, there was no stronger fortress. Moreover, this imprable security only applied to intruders. For those already familiar with the (strategies), the Inunaki Tunnel was merely a tricky path. Hence, from the 197th turn, I no longer publicly shared the tunnel¡¯s strategies on SGNet. Instead, I put up warnings like ¡®Certain death for those who enter carelessly,¡¯ ¡®No entry,¡¯ and ¡®Even the most skilled void explorers can¡¯t escape instant death.¡¯ Was this deceit? Not at all. It wasn¡¯t a lie. After soloing the Inunaki Tunnel, I set up my guild hideout in the undersea tunnel. Only trustworthy friends received ¡®invitations.¡¯ The invitations kindly detailed the strategies for the Inunaki Tunnel. Without an invitation, no one could visit my caf¨¦ hideout. ¡°A shop that only epts customers by invitation? What, is it some kind of VIP golf club¡?¡± Noh Doha examined the invitation with a displeased look. ¡°It¡¯s not surprising, considering the insane idea of using a supernatural phenomenon for private use came from your mind¡ But this means you¡¯re not doing business with the general public, right?¡± Noh Doha waved the invitation. ¡°Now, I see our Doctor Jang has be quite the noble. Will you be a king soon? Shall I hand over the position of National Road Chief to you? Excellent. I¡¯ve been wanting to quit this crappy job. Congrattions in advance, Your Majesty¡¡± ¡°Oh. Don¡¯t worry about that part, Chief. Do you see the number at the top of the invitation?¡± ¡°Hmm¡?¡± Noh Doha looked at the invitation again. [Invitation ¨C Caf¨¦ Hideout] [Depth 1200m] Noh Doha tilted his head. ¡°Depth? 1200 meters? What does this mean¡?¡± ¡°It¡¯s the grade of the invitation.¡± ¡°Grade¡?¡± ¡°Yes. There are invitations for different levels: 100 meters, 200 meters, 300 meters, and so on. For example, the 100-meter invitation only contains strategies for safely navigating the first 100 meters of the Inunaki Tunnel.¡± ¡°Hmm¡?¡± ¡°1200 meters is the highest grade. It contains theplete strategy for the Inunaki Tunnel. 100 meters is the lowest. And I n to make the 100-meter strategies public on SGNet.¡± I took Noh Doha into the Inunaki Tunnel and showed him an example. ¡°Here we are at the 100-meter mark.¡± ¡°Oh¡?¡± Noh Doha looked around. ¡°This is¡ a caf¨¦.¡± He was right. From here on, please imagine all my descriptions delivered in the gentle voice of a home shopping host. The small artificial waterfall installed where damp mold used to grow from the trickling water through the wall cracks was now a highlight of the interior. Where moss once thrived, colorful aquatic nts took their ce. These nts, altered by the void, thrived without sunlight. Antique-style sofas and chairs were arranged among the waterfall and pots. The chairs were designed forfort. Tables were at the perfect height for seated guests. Smallmps on the tables added a cozy touch. The Victorian-style tables were kept to a minimum, while the rest were designed to showcase the natural beauty of the wood. Of course, the lighting was indirect. The overall space was warmly dark, but the faintly revealed outlines of the tables and chairs added an edge to the darkness. True spaces start with visuals and end with acoustics. The sound of the artificial waterfall flowed from one end of the darkness to the other. If sunlight is the mirror for the eyes, darkness is the mirror for the ears. The sound of water flowing beyond the darknesspleted this space with Baroque aesthetics. If you ventured closer to the tunnel wall, you¡¯d find an unexpected sight. Graffiti spread across the concrete surface, adding a unique charm without the clich¨¦d framed pictures. The tactilefort of the chairs, the softness of the wooden tables, the auditory Baroque space, and the hidden visual art. If the aroma of ssic coffee could be added to this, satisfying the sense of smell and taste¨D¨D voil¨¤, an all-sensory caf¨¦. The fact that this was in the middle of an undersea tunnel stimted customers¡¯ imaginations. I, Doctor Jang, was confident that even if it weren¡¯t the end times, this caf¨¦ could be the best in South Korea. Home shopping broadcast ends. ¡°¡Although there¡¯s no natural light, it doesn¡¯t feel cramped.¡± Noh Doha touched the table. He seemed quite shocked. ¡°This really was a supernatural phenomenon that devoured hundreds of people¡?¡± ¡°Hehe.¡± ¡°Even your idiotic regressor¡¯sugh sounds different now. I¡¯m surprised. I didn¡¯t expect you to have such talent, Doctor Jang.¡± Considering Noh Doha¡¯s usual demeanor, this was high praise. But the real surprise was yet toe. ¡°Chief Noh Doha.¡± ¡°Yes¡?¡± ¡°Look at the thin strings next to the bookshelf. They are puppet strings connected to the deepest part of the tunnel. I had them installed by Hayul. Just give them a slight pull¡¡± The string twanged pleasantly, like a cello string. ¡°If you infuse some aura, the vibration will be transmitted to my private room in the deepest part of the tunnel.¡± ¡°Oh¡¡± ¡°This way, I¡¯ll know a guest has arrived and can respond immediately. Even though the distance is considerable, I can cover it in no time.¡± ¡°I see. This is certainly¡¡± ¡°The 100-meter and 200-meter tiers are treated differently. The deeper you go, the more borate the interior and the richer the menu. In other words¡¡± ¡°Yes. It might be a small incentive, but it could motivate the awakeners. There¡¯s not much to enjoy these days¡ Hmm. Being cut off from the outside might actually be a good thing. If one can momentarily forget the screwed-up outside world and enjoy a cup of coffee¡¡± ¡°Exactly. So, Chief Noh Doha, I have a proposal.¡± ¡°Hmm? What is it?¡± ¡°As you can see, running the caf¨¦ will require a significant amount of coffee beans. My reserves will run out quickly. So, I n to ask the Sword Maiden to create a coffee ntation. But¡¡± ¡°¡¡¡± ¡°Can¡¯t we make it work?¡± Noh Doha¡¯s face filled with concern. The Sword Maiden was essential for current farming efforts. He was busy cultivating necessary crops. Allocating preciousnd for luxury items like coffee was a tough sell for the practical-minded Noh Doha. I could persuade the Sword Maiden to grow coffee without Noh Doha¡¯s consent, but that would likely lead to his resignation. ¡°But we don¡¯t have the luxury to nt coffee trees in already scarce farnd¡¡± ¡°Luxury goods are essential too.¡± I whispered. ¡°Think about it. Adding another attraction to Busan would elevate the National Road Management¡¯s standingpared to other major guilds¡¡± ¡°But isn¡¯t the Korean Penins unsuitable for coffee farming? It seems inefficient¡¡± ¡°Don¡¯t worry. I¡¯ll nt different types of coffee trees in the void and eventually create a variety suited for our climate. I¡¯m an expert in the void, remember?¡± ¡°Hmm¡¡± ¡°There¡¯s also a security issue. Wouldn¡¯t it be safer if I managed the undersea tunnel rather than leaving it unattended?¡± ¡°Hmm¡¡± ¡°Most importantly, Chief Noh Doha, you¡¯ll be able to wake up with a cup of coffee every morning. The Management Office is just a short walk from here. Imagine taking a 30-minute walk each morning.¡± ¡°¡¡¡± ¡°It will boost morale and improve welfare for the management staff.¡± ¡°¡¡¡± Contemtion. Deliberation. Agony. Anguish. Finally, Noh Doha mumbled like an ant crawling. ¡°¡If it¡¯s just a small garden¡¡± ¡°You¡¯ve made a wise decision, Chief! I knew we could understand each other. Since you¡¯ve agreed, I¡¯ll start building the caf¨¦ in the next turn.¡± ¡°¡¡¡± ¡°Don¡¯t worry. You won¡¯t regret this choice. Honestly, Chief, you grumble a lot, but you always help when I truly need it. Your dedication doesn¡¯t go unnoticed¡¡± ¡°Shut up.¡± ¡°Yes.¡± Caf¨¦ hideout, grand opening sess! 4 As expected, the caf¨¦ hideout received overwhelming support. Despite the unease of entering the mouth of a continental-level anomaly, adventurers flocked for a delicious cup of caffeine. Moreover, the ess levels distinguished by 100-meter and 200-meter increments sparked a strange sense ofpetition among the awakeners. ¨C Anonymous: (300m) At 100 meters, you can only get espresso and Americano, but here, you can have a caf¨¦tte too, lol. ¨C Anonymous: (400m) Ice coffee lovers muste at least this far. I heard the Manager only offers iced coffee starting from 400 meters. ©¸ Anonymous: I¡¯m fine with espresso. ©¸ Anonymous: (400m) You must be a 100-meter newbie, lol. ©¸ Anonymous: Originally, espresso is for refined tastes, kid. ©¸ ChefB: (100m) Everyone, let¡¯s not argue over this. We should be happy that the caf¨¦ exists at all, right? ¨C dolLHoUse: Pathetic. ¨C Anonymous: (100m) But I heard the Baekhwa High School guild members start at 200 meters. If true, isn¡¯t that unfair? ©¸ HighSchoolSenior: (1200m) ?? >_<);; ------------------ [Proofreader ¨C Gun] In various subculture settings, awakeners are often given grades like A or S, but in reality, such distinctions didn¡¯t exist on the Korean Penins. I found it hard to agree with the terms S-ss and A-ss. How much stronger is S-sspared to A-ss? Rather than those alphabetical games, a precise evaluation based on concrete numbers seemed much more intuitive. The invitations I issued were easily perceived as a kind of ¡°rank¡± or ¡°level¡± among the awakeners. ¨C [Three Thousand Worlds] Witch Judge: The depths of 1,200 meters. The sound of waves transmitted through the tunnel walls. In an era where nature has turned into mere danger, it is a time to appreciate the preciousness of ¡®scenic nature¡¯. (Certification shot. A photo of a coffee cup ced on a table with an invitation marked ¡®Depth 1200m¡¯ subtly shown) Most awakeners received a ¡®100-meter depth¡¯ invitation, and only those proven in both skill and character gradually advanced their depth. The grading criteria were entirely my prerogative. But even unteral decisions, umted over hundreds of turns and thousands of years, can be objective data. I prided myself that this ¡®depth¡¯ system was more reliable than any other grading method. ¨C KoreanVige: (1000m) Watching these lowlifes measuring each other is cute, lol. ¨C KoreanVige: (1000m) I tried affogato for the first time. Why would anyone put ice cream in coffee? You guys enjoy your kiddie snacks, lol. ¨C KoreanVige: (1000m) Those 100-meter newbies can only visit the caf¨¦ once a week. Honestly, I respect them. They seem like they could survive even the harshest world, wriggling like worms. Without daily coffee, I¡¯d rather just die, lol. Hmm. Let¡¯s ignore some exceptions. Sim Aryeon periodically whined to raise her grade from 1000 meters to 1200 meters, or at least 1100 meters, but I firmly refused. It wasn¡¯t discrimination; her mountaineer¡¯s spirit made her climb indefinitely if given an inch. The story rted to these ¡®awakener grades¡¯ will be dealt with in another episode. Anyway, just as the caf¨¦ business seemed to stabilize, I sent an invitation message to the Saintess through Starchat. [An invitation¡?] ¡°Yes, Saintess. Remember I asked you not to observe the scenery at 1200 meters depth with your ¡®irvoyance¡¯ under any circumstances?¡± [Oh, yes. So, I haven¡¯t essed any information rted to that ce.] ¡°I kept it a secret because I wanted to show it to you personally. You always stay at your home in Yongsan, right? Think of this as a brief outing.¡± The Saintess was silent for a moment. The INTJ waves of a chronic shut-in were strongly felt in that silence. [But, isn¡¯t it too far from my house to Busan? It would be quick if I rode on your back, Doctor Jang, but that¡¯s a bit¡] ¡°Oh. It¡¯s okay. I¡¯ve dug a tunnel there too.¡± [What?] This was another change in thinking. Though the Korea-Japan undersea tunnel was only a virtual construction, it waspletely absorbed by Inunaki. So, why not create an ¡®artificial¡¯ virtual tunnel and infect it with Inunaki? The result of my idea was located at the south end of the Han River submerged bridge. I took the Saintess there. ¡°¡My goodness.¡± The Saintess, wrapped in a white coat, slightly opened her mouth. ¡°Why is there a tunnel here¡?¡± Indeed. At the ruins of the convenience store where we first met, a small tunnel led down into the Han River. This was the so-called ¡®Han River Underwater Tunnel.¡¯ ¡°I¡¯ll lead the way. Follow me.¡± ¡°¡Wait, Doctor Jang. Did you create an anomaly?¡± ¡°No. There were already tunnels in the Han River. Some were nned but neverpleted. Iyered several of these and ¡®asked¡¯ Inunaki to infect them.¡± ¡°Asked¡¡± ¡°My friendmunicates well. However, because this is a sort of workaround, we can¡¯t create these ¡®portals¡¯ indiscriminately. Creating emergency exits in only three locations is the limit.¡± One was in Gangnam, right here. Another was at a coffee farm in Kyushu, Japan. Thest location will be mentioned in another episode. Listening to me, the Saintess seemed dumbfounded. ¡°A limit, you say. Isn¡¯t that still quite impressive?¡± We entered the underwater tunnel. All Inunaki tunnels were interconnected. However, to move from the ¡®Han River Underwater Tunnel¡¯ to the ¡®Korea-Japan Undersea Tunnel,¡¯ specific procedures needed to be followed precisely. For security reasons, I won¡¯t detail the procedures, but from the Saintess¡¯s perspective, it was a simple 5-minute stroll. After walking through the tunnel, we arrived. ¡°¡¡.¡± The Saintess stopped in her tracks. ¡°¡This is.¡± ¡°The 1200-meter depth. My hideout and the deepest part of the caf¨¦. Wee, Saintess.¡± Therey an underwater tunnel. Not with concrete walls, but ss. The tunnel stretched for 400 meters. From 1200 meters to 1600 meters deep, it was an aquarium-style underwater tunnel. Fish of various colors swam in the blue sea. ¡°¡¡.¡± The Saintess¡¯s eyes widened. She gazed at the ss tunnel in a daze. The light reflecting off the water gently caressed her hair. Her hobby had always been raising fish in aquariums. To her, this ce must seem like El Dorado. ¡°Doctor Jang, how did you¡?¡± ¡°The Inunaki tunnels are also connected to the Samdocheon. It¡¯s the concept of water flowing in the underworld or the underground world. That¡¯s why people can drown if they walk incorrectly. Thepatibility with underwater and subterranean tunnels is the same. It was a bit tricky, but as you can see, manifesting it in the form of an aquarium tunnel was possible.¡± ¡°¡¡.¡± In the 117th turn. When I subdued the quasi-divine anomaly Endless Hell, I encountered the Saintess. Although it was merely an illusion. On the silver moon in the night sky, the Saintess looked down at the Earth. She said this: ¨C Just beneath the surface of that, it¡¯s all turned into hell. Her words had always lingered in a corner of my heart like a sooty stain. And now, in the 197th turn¨D¨D. The Saintess was looking up at the ocean from the deep sea, beneath the surface of the Earth. Outside the tunnel, bioluminescent jellyfish floated. They were creatures from the void, making the deep sea resemble the Milky Way. An inverted universe. ¡°What do you think?¡± I asked her opinion on the hellish scenery. ¡°Do you like it?¡± ¡°¡¡.¡± The Saintess was silent. All aquariums are lonely structures. But a ss tunnel crossing an entire sea might be the only aquarium that doesn¡¯t imprison fish while allowing them to be observed. A house in the world that still allows freedom. Well. I wondered if my metaphor silently resonated with the Saintess. But when she finally nodded after a long silence, I wanted to believe that the meaning of this aquarium-tunnel had fully reached her. ¡°¡Yes. Very much so.¡± ¡°I¡¯m d.¡± ¡°Thank you, Doctor Jang. ¡I probably won¡¯t forget this view for the rest of my life.¡± I smiled. ¡°Nor will I.¡± There are many episodes rted to this ¡®caf¨¦ hideout.¡¯ But today, I¡¯ll conclude the story without any further afterword. I¡¯ll just add that, from this day on, one more stop was added to the Saintess¡¯s morning stroll route. ¨C Resident. The End. [Proofreader ¨C Gun] Chapter 109 â€“ A Companion of Past Journeys I [Proofreader ¨C Gun] Chapter 109 ©¤ A Companion of Past Journeys I 1 If I were to pick the most fundamental power I¡¯ve awakened, it would be [Time Seal]. Not only did ity the foundation for my alias as the Doctor Jang, but it was also the first skill I awakened. However, the skill I use most routinely, almost as naturally as breathing, is undoubtedly [Complete Memory]. Without this skill, how could I possibly share stories spanning thousands of years with you all? But the truth is, [Complete Memory] doesn¡¯t mean I remember everything with absolute perfection. In my long life as a regressor, there is a single spot, like a forcibly deleted data file, that remains a 0.01% nk. Today, I¡¯ll talk about the ¡®iplete Memory¡¯ of my ability. This is the story of the 173rd turn. 2 One day, the Saintess said, ¡°Doctor Jang.¡± ¡°Yes?¡± ¡°Perhaps I¡¯ve been working with preconceived notions about the Constetions all this time. Don¡¯t you think we should refresh their image to be more familiar and kind?¡± ¡°Oh, sure. Whatever you wish.¡± ¡°Last night, I suddenly came up with a great idea.¡± Some of you with exceptional memories might find this dialogue familiar. ¡°Hello, hello! Greetings to all the Awakened in Korea! Nice to meet you, meow!¡± ¡°From now on, I¡¯ll be constantly watching over you as the Constetion, the Saintess of Salvation, meow!¡± ¡°Meow! I look forward to working with you, meow!¡± ¡°¡¡.¡± Yes, that¡¯s right. The 173rd turn was when I deliberately chose not to subdue the ¡®Butterfly Effect.¡¯ The pping wings in Beijing didn¡¯t travel to the US or Brazil but instead moved next door to Korea, greatly impacting the mental world of the Saintess, a staple figure in the region. ¡°Saintess.¡± ¡°Meow?¡± ¡°That¡¯s not it. Please stop¡¡.¡± ¡°Yes.¡± The Saintess¡¯s deviation left countless ¡®?¡¯s on the SG Network before it was suppressed. Anyway, the Butterfly Effect caused random anomalies that could never be seen in previous turns. By creating an ¡®unpredictable future for the regressor,¡¯ the Butterfly Effect might actually be my greatest adversary. But conversely, in creating ¡®new events that I couldn¡¯t get bored of,¡¯ it was quite a beneficial anomaly. After all, it¡¯s not every day you can hear the Saintess talking like a cat, right? I formed a folderbeled ¡®173rd turn Saintess ¨C Cat Constetion Transformation¡¯ on the desktop of my mind and saved the recording file before returning to my daily routine. A regressor has a strictly set schedule to follow. Since this was only the seventh month of the turn, I had a lot to do. After subduing the World Tree Udumbara in Onyang, Asan, I headed to the rehabilitation hospital where I was supposed to meet Noh Doha for the first time to propose the creation of the National Road Management Corps. Noh Doha was dead. ¡°¡¡.¡± The location was a national hospital, which also served as a rehabilitation center. Hospitals, pharmacies, and supermarkets were the most prone to raids in the apocalypse. Being a public institution with weak security, rehabilitation hospitals were seen as good prey by looters. While the service at national hospitals may not be superior to that of private hospitals, government subsidies allowed them to provide reasonably good treatment to patients. The ratings were high. Part of that high rating was thanks to the craftsmanship of Noh Doha, a prosthetic device technician working at the assistive device center. Noh Doha¡¯s corpse was sprawled at the entrance of the inpatient ward, far from his usual workce at the assistive device center. If it had only been a looter¡¯s raid, the damage wouldn¡¯t have been this severe. This was still early in the apocalypse; even looters weren¡¯tpletely unhesitant tomit murder. The looter¡¯s raid coincided with the rampage of anomalies. When the hospital began to be destroyed, Noh Doha left his original workce and ran to the inpatient ward. And he died. The raid seemed to have urred just a day earlier. The blood on the white coat Noh Doha liked to wear hadn¡¯t entirely lost its red color. ¡°Why¡¡.¡± I muttered and then swallowed the rest of my words. This was a first. Never before had Noh Doha died so early in a turn. Therefore, I immediately understood what had caused this oue. The Butterfly Effect. When left unaddressed, this anomaly deviated from the existing causality and produced random anomalies. One of those anomalies had triggered a looter raid and an anomaly attack. As a result, Noh Doha died. If the Butterfly Effect was left alone, such routes could also be observed. ¡°¡The gift is useless now. Master Artisan.¡± I sat down next to Noh Doha¡¯s corpse, leaning against the wall. I also set down the gift box I had brought from China beside me. Puer tea. Bingdao Lao Zhai, first harvest. A luxury item worth about 20 million won (approximately $20,000). It wasn¡¯t a fake. Using my knowledge and connections as a regressor, I had obtained the genuine article. Noh Doha, who preferred tea slightly more than coffee, received this gift at the start of each turn. Noh Doha was extremely reluctant to open up to others. But when he received this gift, he would furrow his eyebrows and say, ¡®¡Well, shall we have a talk?¡¯ allowing for a conversation to begin. Just like that. ¡°Huh? A Regressor? Excuse me, but are you seriously asking me to believe such nonsense?¡± ¡°Proof? I have plenty. We¡¯ve already had this conversation countless times. That¡¯s why there¡¯s a set of questions you personally devised: [100 Questions You Must Know to Prove You¡¯re a Regressor ¨C ¡®I Believe, You Must Be a Regressor¡¯ Guide].¡± ¡°What kind of bullshit is this¡?¡± ¡°I¡¯m not a prophet, nor am I from the national intelligence agency. Let me start with what the Noh Doha from previous turns wanted to convey to the current Noh Doha.¡± ¡°What is it¡?¡± ¡°Are you enjoying the easy life?¡± ¡°What¡?¡± ¡°The material I just gave you contains not only the question guide but also records of failures from previous turns. In other words, the current Noh Doha is standing on a much more advantageous groundpared to the previous turns¡¯ Noh Doha. And about that, the Noh Doha from previous turns is pointing out: Are you enjoying the easy life?¡± ¡°¡.¡± ¡°By the way, this sentence is followed by an expletive: ¡®You piece of shit.¡¯¡± ¡°Fuck.¡± After talking through the night, Noh Doha would ept the duty of bing the chief of the National Road Management Corps. But today, that conversation didn¡¯t happen. ¡°Regressor Doctor Jang¡.¡± ¡°Yes?¡± ¡°Your specialty is funeral services, right? If I die, please don¡¯t hold a funeral for me. Ah, this isn¡¯t just a request for this turn, but for all future times as well.¡± ¡°That¡¯s not difficult, but why don¡¯t you want a funeral?¡± ¡°Hah, because I don¡¯t want to be embalmed by you¡ Just leave my body where it is and move on. Don¡¯t look at it, don¡¯t check on it, and don¡¯t see me off. Got it¡?¡± ¡°Hmm.¡± ¡°We¡¯ll meet again anyway. When we do, just tell me how I died¡.¡± Sitting beside the corpse, without looking at Noh Doha¡¯s dead face, I stared up at the hospital corridor. For a while. ¡°¡See you next time, Master Artisan.¡± There was no response. But I would take this scene and memory intact to the next turn. At that time, Noh Doha would surely react with his characteristicughter, saying, ¡®Hmph.¡¯ Imagining that scene made me smile a bit. I left the gift behind and exited the hospital. Afterward, with the Saintess¡¯s help, I tracked and killed the looters who had raided the national hospital. It might not be crucial, but the looters operated in awork simr to the 72 Green Forest Strongholds in martial arts novels, and one of the groups involved Yi Bai. [Proofreader ¨C Gun] People don¡¯t change easily, it seems. After wiping out therge looter group trying to take root in the country, I crossed over to Beijing and subdued the Butterfly Effect as well. [It seems that person was important to you, Doctor Jang.] ¡°Yes. Although he probably found me quite repulsive.¡± [¡¡] From then on, the Saintess and I never mentioned Noh Doha again. We continued the 173rd turn as if nothing had happened. To add a note, the idea of starting a new turn bymitting suicide never crossed my mind. Even with Noh Doha gone, living diligently was my way of holding a funeral and paying respects to his death. Instead, I would seize this variable as an opportunity to gather data even in areas that couldn¡¯t be collected normally. So I could deliver it to the next turn¡¯s Noh Doha, to elicit the sentiment, ¡®Hmm, well, at least my death wasn¡¯t in vain¡.¡¯ That¡¯s why. I pursued a slightly more radical route in the 173rd turn. 3 ¡°National Road Management Corps?¡± Tang Seorin tilted her head. ¡°I don¡¯t know much about it, but are you saying you want to create such an organization and make me its leader?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± Noh Doha was the top candidate to lead the National Road Management Corps. And where there is a first choice, there is always a second choice. Naturally, Tang Seorin was always my second choice. ¡°Hmm¡ I have many questions, but let¡¯s start with this.¡± ¡°Feel free to ask.¡± ¡°Why me?¡± It was a simple question. There were many reasons why Tang Seorin was suitable to lead the National Road Management Corps. ¡°I knew you¡¯d ask that, so I prepared some materials.¡± ¡°Materials?¡± ¡°Yes. Please take a look at this PPT.¡± ¡°¡Wait, suddenly I have a bad feeling that I asked something I shouldn¡¯t have.¡± (1) Leadership. Tang Seorin had already made Three Thousand Worlds the strongest guild in the Korean Penins in numerous turns. Not only that, she managed therge city of Busan excellently, which had be practically the capital since the fall of Seoul. Even when other guild leaders relied on AI judges, Tang Seorin governed Busan¡¯s judiciary using her ¡°Equivalent Exchange¡± magic in her own way. Both the guild members of Three Thousand Worlds and the citizens of Busan epted this governance style. In terms of leadership, no one could match Tang Seorin. (2) Noblesse Oblige. While some guild leaders focused on building their own kingdoms in upied cities, Tang Seorin threw herself into the battlefield without hesitation, fighting on the front lines against the anomalies. She sang the songs of magic on the battlefield, literally at the cost of her own lifespan, each time powerful anomalies like the Ten ns, Udumbara, and Meteor Shower swept through Korea. Dedication to the public. The skill to turn dedication into results. The charisma to package those results, attract supporters, and establish authority. These rare and precious qualities were all possessed by Tang Seorin. In this post-apocalyptic world, there was a peculiar notion of ¡°Awakened Supremacy.¡± I, like Noh Doha, always referred to the Awakened simply as ¡°Awakened.¡± However, many people called them ¡°Transcendents¡± or ¡°Ascendants.¡± Tang Seorin never let such wordy define her identity. She bore endless responsibilities proportional to her immense power. In the role of the head of the National Road Management Corps, who needed to unify not just the Awakened but all humans on the Korean Penins, it was hard to find a more suitable candidate than Tang Seorin. (3) Personal Charm. Not only did she have the charisma needed to lead a group, but even on a one-on-one basis, Tang Seorin was¡ ¡°Wait, wait, stop! Stop!¡± ¡°Hm?¡± As I was passionately exining ¡°101 Reasons Why You Should Lead the National Road Management Corps,¡± Tang Seorin waved her hands. ¡°Doctor Jang, enough! That¡¯s enough! Please stop!¡± ¡°Why? I haven¡¯t finished yet.¡± ¡°I told you to stop, didn¡¯t I?! Are you trying to embarrass me to death? Huh? Do you want me to die of shame? Seriously, you¡¯re crazy!¡± Given her habit of carrying a pointy hat and a witch¡¯s broom, one might guess that the part of Tang Seorin¡¯s brain that governs feelings of embarrassment and shame was underdeveloped. Nheless, bombarding her withpliments in areas unrted to magic, witches, and songs caused her brain to go into panic mode, much like atrophied thigh muscles trembling after a strenuous squat. And at times like these, unreasonable requests often worked remarkably well. ¡°Alright. So can I understand that you¡¯ll take on the role of head of the National Road Management Corps?¡± ¡°Yes! I¡¯ll do it. I¡¯ll take the position, so please shut up before anyone hears!¡± See? This is the technique of a former Tang Seorin manager. Thus, Tang Seorin¡¯s Three Thousand Worlds Guild merged with the National Road Management Corps. Or rather, it would be more urate to say that Three Thousand Worlds evolved into the National Road Management Corps. This whole process went smoothly. Few worried that too much power was being concentrated in what was just a guild. Tang Seorin¡¯s reputation had the power to turn concerns into expectations. If you ask why I hadn¡¯t entrusted the National Road Management Corps to Tang Seorin in previous turns despite its simplicity¡ªbesides various trivial excuses¡ªthere was one core reason. -If possible, don¡¯t reveal to the next turn¡¯s me that you are a regressor. I couldn¡¯t tell Tang Seorin that I was a regressor. Because of Tang Seorin¡¯s own dying wish. In the turn where we first sessfully exterminated the Ten ns, the 10th turn when I revealed I was a regressor, Tang Seorin made me swear an eternal oath. -I¡¯m a greedy and impulsive person. I can never think like, ¡°I¡¯ll sacrifice this turn for the next one.¡± -If I know I have hundreds of years of lifespan left, I¡¯ll definitely use it up for the current turn. -Until the real final crisises, guide me to umte lifespan. I kept that promise. From the 10th turn to the 173rd, I never revealed my secret to Tang Seorin. And this meant that unlike Noh Doha or the Saintess, Tang Seorin could never join our regressor alliance. While I could share the information I gained from regression with Noh Doha freely, I always had to wrap it up with a bit of acting and lying for Tang Seorin. Lies. Something I would never do to Tang Seorin under normal circumstances. But the 173rd turn, shaken by the early departure of Noh Doha, prompted me to experiment with the ¡°What if Tang Seorin leads the National Road Management Corps?¡± route. As expected. In this newly explored route, Tang Seorin showcased her talents without reservation. ¡°Doctor Jang. You know the Equivalent Exchange magic you helped me developst time? After thinking about it, I realized this magic has endless potential.¡± ¡°Yes. When sending National Road Management Corps members to patrol other regions, always include someone who participated in the Ten ns extermination. That way, if any disputes arise with other guilds, we can settle it by reminding them that we wererades-in-arms.¡± ¡°The AI judge provided by the Baekhwa Guild leader is convenient, but people sometimes reject its rulings. So, the final judgment should be made here at the National Road Management Corps headquarters in Busan¡.¡± My judgment was correct. Although supported by the data umted by Noh Doha and my advice, Tang Seorin led the National Road Management Corps quickly and naturally. Before long, Tang Seorin even came up with ideas that neither Noh Doha nor I had ever considered. ¡°Hey, Doctor Jang.¡± ¡°Hm?¡± ¡°Can¡¯t we record the songs I perform with Spiritual Singing and y them softly throughout the city? For example¡ developing a magic that makes people feel a bit happier.¡± That was the beginning. [Proofreader ¨C Gun] Chapter 110 â€“ A Companion of Past Journeys II [Proofreader ¨C Gun] Chapter 110 ¨C A Companion of Past Journeys II 4 Let¡¯s elerate Time. ¡°Hello, Teacher!¡± ¡°Oh, Yohwa.¡± ¡°Yes! Hehe, long time no see!¡± One day, Cheon Yohwa came down to Busan with a few of her close aides. True to Baekhwa Girls¡¯ High School¡¯s peculiarities, they were all wearing white sailor uniforms. By now, Cheon Yohwa should be around the equivalent of a high school senior, more like a ninth-year high schooler, so it was about time she graduated. The head of the most powerful guild in the Korean Penins dressed as a witch, and the second inmand in a school uniform¡ªthisnd¡¯s future looked grim. ¡°Have you been well?¡± ¡°Of course. I¡¯m always doing well.¡± ¡°Haha. Well, you seem like the type who could be dropped in the middle of the Sahara Desert and still make it back just fine. Anyway-¡± While we were talking, the rest of the Baekhwa Girls¡¯ High School guild members had moved away. In the square where only the two of us remained, Cheon Yohwa nced around. ¡°Busan. It¡¯s changed a lot.¡± ¡°Hmm.¡± Cheon Yohwa was right. The Busan of the 173rd turn boasted a cityscape that couldn¡¯t be found in previous turns. The previous Busan, although thergest city on the Korean Penins, wasn¡¯t very morous due to the apocalyptic circumstances. The entertainment districts, though adorned with yellow and pink lights using expensive electricity, mostly had buildings that didn¡¯t exceed two stories. The high-rise buildings were abandoned because maintaining elevators and sewer systems was impossible. But now it was different. Most buildings were four to five stories high, and there were even a few over ten stories. Civilization hadn¡¯t been fully restored. The most expensive housing was still on the first floor. People had to climb stairs to use the restroom, epting the leg workout if they wanted to live in Busan that badly. ¡°How fancy.¡± ¡°How¡¯s Sejong these days?¡± ¡°Ah, well, the same as always. Since we¡¯ve got a firm hold on Sejong, it¡¯s somewhat popted, but other cities are struggling, right? They say all the professionals are being snatched away by Busan. Whenever guild leaders gather, they always grumble about it.¡± Cheon Yohwa¡¯s eyes narrowed as she gazed at the new capital of the Korean Penins. ¡°But it¡¯s hard for all thoseints to focus on one point, right? There isn¡¯t a guild leader strong enough to challenge the Road Manager.¡± ¡°Well, there¡¯s you, Yohwa.¡± ¡°Haha. The guild leaders always say that.¡± Cheon Yohwa waved her hand dismissively, as if embarrassed. ¡°Why would I have a power struggle with the Road Manager? I¡¯m content feeding my guild, hunting monsters, and asionally traveling to see you!¡± ¡°That sounds like you.¡± ¡°Hehe¡¡± However, for someone with a humble lifestyle, the aura of the guild members apanying her in Busan was impressive. She probably assembled the top elite members of Baekhwa Girls¡¯ High School for this delegation. I nced at Cheon Yohwa¡¯s waist. Like a Pok¨¦mon trainer carrying Pok¨¦ Balls, monster master Cheon Yohwa had a special belt with an hourss attached. A ss bottle with uniquely white sand. Despite its appearance, it was an indestructible monster seal. Endless Hell. Cheon Yohwa¡¯s strongest weapon. Even within the hourss, her doppelg?nger, ¡®Cheon Yohwa,¡¯ seemed to recognize me, stirring the sand with a rustling sound. Sensing the vibration from the belt, Cheon Yohwa¡¯s expression turned icy. The vibrant smile she had been radiating vanished instantly. ¡°Shut up.¡± The hourss trembled briefly and then quieted down. It might have been my imagination, but the vibration felt like mockingughter to me. At that moment, -Ah, ahh, ahhh¨D¨D. A soft singing voice began to flow from speakers that rose like utility poles throughout downtown Busan. It was an acape recording by Tang Seorin. -Ah¡ Ahhh¡ Ahhh¡ The melody resembled a luby but was bright enough not to irritate the nerves. As the soft song swept between us, Cheon Yohwa¡¯s eyebrows rxed. ¡°Ah, this is it. The famous Busan specialty?¡± ¡°Yes, it¡¯s the Road Manager¡¯s song.¡± ¡°Heh¡ Just listening to it makes me feel at ease. Or should I say it makes me happy? Is this not a drug?¡± It actually had effects simr to a drug. The ¡®Road Manager¡¯s Song¡¯ was broadcast every hour from 7 AM to 10 PM. The effects of the song varied subtly depending on the time. For example, at 7 AM, the song had the effect of waking you up and sharpening your mind. At 10 PM, it made you pleasantly drowsy, ensuring a good night¡¯s sleep as soon as youy down. ¡°Thanks to this, you won¡¯t find people with better sleep health than Busan citizens anywhere in the world. Not a single case of insomnia.¡± ¡°Wow¡¡± ¡°And during work hours, the song is energizing and uplifting. When it¡¯s time to have dinner, it¡¯s rxing and slightly exciting, just enough to make social interactions enjoyable. Productivity and overall life satisfaction are at their peak.¡± ¡°A happy city indeed.¡± Even now, dozens of citizens were gathered under the speakers. When the song ended, they dispersed with refreshed expressions, heading back to their respective workces. ¡®City Made of Songs¡¯ That was present-day Busan. ¡°People from other cities keep flocking to Busan.¡± For the past six years, I¡¯ve been researching day and night with Tang Seorin to create this system. We developed five types of magic suitable for each situation and utilized Guai spirits to ensure the magical effects aren¡¯t lost even when recorded. ¡°Well then, Teacher. I have a meeting scheduled with the protagonist of that song. I¡¯ll take my leave now!¡± ¡°Ah, okay.¡± ¡°Yes! See you again soon!¡± Tang Seorin and Cheon Yohwa, leaders of the White and ck Guilds, rulers of Busan and Sejong, leaders of the National Highway Authority and the Baekhwa Girls¡¯ High School Student Council. The secret meeting of these two rival awakeners was held ndestinely. Thanks to the irvoyance of the Saintess, I could eavesdrop on the key details of the secret meeting. The details of the negotiation were not disclosed, for some reason, by the Saintess. The result of the meeting. [Proofreader ¨C Gun] ¡°Hehe. Now we¡¯re neighbors. I look forward to working with you, Teacher!¡± ¡°¡.¡± It was decided to relocate Baekhwa Girls¡¯ High School from Sejong to Busan. The entire Yeongdo District was allocated as the Baekhwa Girls¡¯ domain, and Sejong citizens were allowed to move freely. Cheon Yohwa remained the Student Council President of Baekhwa Girls¡¯ High School, but also received the title of Deputy Chief of the National Highway Authority. To anyone who saw it, it seemed that Cheon Yohwa had taken over the guilds and defected to Tang Seorin. That was the decisive blow. elerate. Four yearster, there was only one city left in the Korean Penins: Busan. In the end, the world of a witch who wanted to wander around here and there more than anyone else narrowed down more than any other episode. The average floor of buildings in downtown Busan has risen a bit more. At this rate, it would be fair to call it thest metropolis of humanity. Even the Saintess, who always wanted to wander around various ces in the world, moved her residence to Busan. There was no longer any need to stay there and observe the awakeners of the Korean Penins. Surprisingly, in the heart of expensivend in Busan, there was a wide-open square where no buildings were set. A square designed to amodate tens of thousands of people. The hollow in the center was dug deep enough for every citizen to witness what was happening below. Like a colosseum. That was Tang Seorin¡¯s ¡°courtroom.¡± Tang Seorin sat on the judge¡¯s seat. Next to her was Cheon Yohwa¨Dthe girl who, at some point, had dyed her white sailor suit ck. The judges looked down. A defendant was kneeling in the vast courtroom. ¡°I¡ assaulted a passerby.¡± The defendant¡¯s subdued confession echoed throughout the vast courtroom. A spectacle created by Tang Seorin¡¯s ¡°Amplify Magic.¡± ¡°I sometimes can¡¯t control my body. I get angry¡ and then it just boils up¡ By the time Ie to my senses, it¡¯s always like that. And this time, if others hadn¡¯t stopped me, I would have beaten someone to death.¡± Boooooo- Booing erupted from the tens of thousands gathered in the audience seats. But when Tang Seorin lightly tapped the judge¡¯s gavel, the entire city fell silent as if to say, ¡°When did that happen?¡± ¡°Continue speaking.¡± ¡°¡Yes. I no longer like myself like this. I apologize and express regret to everyone I have harmed¡ Above all, I humbly request, Your Honor, that you help me mend this aspect of my personality¡¡± The defendant lowered their head. Tang Seorin raised a cold finger. At that moment, a golden scale glimmered in the air. The magic of equivalent exchange. ¡°Sinner, do you repent for your wrongdoing?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°As you wish, [from now on, your inner propensity for violence will intensify]. Under this condition, the victim has generously proposed to forgive the violence you have caused.¡± The victim who made this generous proposal had received a judgment here a year ago for [being able to forgive even those who have wronged them]. ¡°Do you agree to the victim¡¯s proposal?¡± ¡°Yes, of course. Thank you, Grand Witch. Thank you¡¡± ¡°Executioner, proceed.¡± The ck-robed Cheon Yohwa stood up. She approached the defendant and touched their head. Cheon Yohwa¡¯s murmuring voice was subtly muted, not echoing through the courtroom, but I could surmise that she was ¡®brainwashing¡¯ the defendant. Personality modification. Indoctrination. Distortion. That was Cheon Yohwa¡¯s ability. ¡°Ah¡¡± Finally, the golden scale twinkled. On the left scale was the victim¡¯s forgiveness, and on the right was the defendant¡¯s propensity for violence. The scale, agreed upon by both parties, bnced out¡ªgranting each their wish. The defendant sprang to their feet. ¡°I don¡¯t feel it¡ I don¡¯t feel it! The emotion that has tormented me all my life, it no longer exists! Thank you! Thank you! Your Honor, Grand Witch! Thank you!¡± Thousands of spectators pped in unison. Voices cheering for the defendant¡¯s sess, praising the powers of Tang Seorin and Cheon Yohwa, echoed through the courtroom. They too were citizens who had received [exchanges] in this courtroom due to trivial or significant events. ¡°Oh, Guardian.¡± Suddenly, a voice came from beside me. I turned my head to see Yoo Jiwon standing there. ¡°Jiwon?¡± ¡°Yes. Why are you attending the trial in such a remote ce? Your Excellency, you could have watched from closer.¡± By the way, ¡®Guardian¡¯ was a title for me. The Guardian of the city, so to speak. Tang Seorin¡¯s heavily vored naming conventions weren¡¯t personally preferred. I rather missed the title ¡®Your Excellency¡¯ that Jiwon exaggeratedly used. ¡°I was just passing by. Anyway, I have to go and stop another monster wave.¡± ¡°Ah¡ as expected. You¡¯re really busy.¡± Jiwon smiled. It was the original Jiwon, a smile so natural, warm, and thereforepletely un-Jiwon-like. ¡°But thanks to your efforts, Your Excellency, the citizens of the city can live without worry, right? I¡¯m always rooting for you. If you need my guidance, please feel free to ask.¡± ¡°¡¡± I felt sincerity in all those words. In a situation where finding truth from sincerity was perplexing, I was momentarily speechless. Jiwon, too, had recently undergone a transformation into a psychopathic-like personality due to Tang Seorin¡¯s [equivalent exchange] and Cheon Yohwa¡¯s [brainwashing]. For a long time, Jiwon had a habit akin to an incurable disease. Hunting down small animals on the streets, whether cats, dogs, or birds, secretly. But the scene of Jiwon¡¯s hunting, uncharacteristic, was exposed, and eventually referred to Tang Seorin¡¯s ¡®witch trial¡¯. ¡°Jiwon.¡± ¡°Yes?¡± ¡°Are you satisfied with your life these days?¡± Jiwon blinked. ¡°Of course. In fact, I¡¯ve never spent such fulfilling time as now. Since the day of the trial, I¡¯ve finally felt like living as a human being.¡± ¡°¡¡± Indeed, was that so? I had a slightly different interpretation. I had never heard of Jiwon enjoying stress relief by hunting small animals. Even if it was a newly acquired hobby in this session, it was hard to believe that someone like Jiwon would expose a scene of cat hunting as a ¡®mistake¡¯. Perhaps it was an intentionally disguised hobby and the act was not intentionally exposed. The figure in front was acting out a ¡®gesture that looks like a psychopath no matter who sees it¡¯. And corrected her personality through the witch trial of Tang Seorin. In order to survive here, and to continue living as a city¡¯s power, it was judged that it was advantageous to be ¡®like this¡¯. Jiwon thought of the world as a map andbyrinth with defined entrances and exits. To her, her personality and way of thinking were just a means to reach the ¡®right answer¡¯. ¡°¡Well. Good for you. Then keep up the good work, Director Yoo.¡± ¡°Yes, Your Excellency.¡± I walked through the corridor without an exit. Wow-! Far away, cheers erupted from the audience seats. It was an immense cheer. Tang Seorin! Tang Seorin! The entire courtroom was buzzing like it had been hit by a running train. Led by that sound, just before leaving the courtroom, I suddenly looked down again. At that moment, another part of the defendant¡¯s personality was being exchanged in the golden scales. Tang Seorin whispered something to Cheon Yohwa, who nodded. That¡¯s when Tang Seorin¡¯s and my eyes met. ¡°¡¡± ¡°¡¡± But it was just for a moment. Tang Seorin turned her head to continue her work as the ruler of the city and the judge of this space. And so did I. Even as I walked away from the corridor, the cheers did not cease behind me. Tang Seorin! Tang Seorin! Tang Seorin¡ In the courtroom, the cheers never ended, and outside the city¡¯s speakers, the songs never stopped. I walked with two melodies shadowing my footsteps. [Proofreader ¨C Gun] Chapter 111 â€“ A Companion of Past Journeys III [Proofreader ¨C Gun] Chapter 111 ¨C A Companion of Past Journeys III 6 Fifteen years had passed since the beginning of the 173rd turn. ¡°Guild Leadeeeer¡¡± Even after over a decade, Sim Aryeon, our guild member and notorious KoreanVige viin, still showed no signs of personal growth. ¡°Why the long face this time?¡± ¡°Please, don¡¯t shut it down¡¡± ¡°¡? Shut what down? Are you smoking?¡± ¡°¡Ugh, this is why normies¡ Anyway, SG-Net is dead¡¡± Aryeon sniffled. SG-Net was a website built with cutting-edge technology, with its servers located within Seo Gyu¡¯s brain and heart. Unless our macho guy, Mr. Bullshit McBullshitface, got into a fatal fight, SG-Net going offline was unlikely. While the odds were high, it hadn¡¯t happened yet, so Aryeon¡¯s ¡°dead¡± remark was merely figurative. ¡°Look at this¡¡± Aryeon showed me SG-Net on her smartphone. ¨C KoreanVige: Today¡¯s Caf¨¦ Mocha.jpeg ¨C Anonymous: Wrote a story, any feedback? ¨C KoreanVige: Today¡¯s Caf¨¦ Mocha.png ¨C Anonymous: Do you believe in God? ¨C Anonymous: Anyone up for an onsen trip? ¨C Anonymous: Why is this ce full of idiots? lol ¨C KoreanVige: Today¡¯s Caf¨¦ Mocha.jpg I tilted my head. There was only one odd thing after looking it over a few times. ¡°Aryeon, why do you drink so much coffee?¡± ¡°Aaagh! There are¡ only two posts on SG-Net today! Just two! The posts about coffee are today¡¯s, yesterday¡¯s, and the day before¡¯s!¡± ¡°Ah¡¡± ¡°Do you know how many posts SG-Net gets on average per day now? Four! Four posts! Unbelievable! Guild Leader, I can¡¯t live like this! I can¡¯t even troll anyone. Out of the four posts, one is mine, and the other is one I posted anonymously!¡± ¡°Hmm.¡± Indeed, SG-Net was dead. The only active section was the [Library Society Weirdness Encyclopedia] run by Aryeon and me. The restless spirits that haunted themunity had been exorcised. Every result has a cause. The demise of SG-Net had a very clear reason. ¡°Well, when everyone was scattered across the country, it was different. But now, everyone lives here. This city has plenty of squares and rest areas. There¡¯s no need for an onlinemunity like before.¡± ¡°Still, this is too weird¡ I bet even ancient Vatican had onlinemunities. It makes no sense that just because we all moved to Busan, the onlinemunity died. Guild Leader! This might be an ult phenomenon! It¡¯s weird! Wow! You love weird stuff! Please, exorcise it!¡± This kid¡ She¡¯s sharp. ¡°Aryeon, do you really want me to exin the rest?¡± ¡°Huh? What do you mean¡?¡± ¡°Look. There are no unemployed or homeless people here. Everyone has a job and leads a healthy life. After work, people throw small parties or join clubs and enjoy real-lifemunity activities. They de-stress there, so there¡¯s no need to go online. Seo Gyu went to a TRPG meeting tonight, didn¡¯t he? But you, Aryeon, are always cooped up in the guild building¡¡± ¡°Aaah! I don¡¯t want to hear it! I don¡¯t want to hear it!¡± Aryeon covered her ears and squirmed. Or rather, she was rubbing her back against the floor, iling around as if swimming on her back. If Gregor Samsa saw this, he¡¯d probably be disgusted, thinking it degraded the dignity of insects. ¡°Re-real life? Enjoying it? People are happy now and don¡¯t need the inte? Are you stupid, Guild Leader? Are you really stupid? The reality, the truth, is inside this smartphone screen! Humans giving up the inte? That¡¯s inhuman! In this world, on this earth, in this universe! How could that actually happen?¡± ¡°But it did.¡± ¡°Eeeek¡!¡± The KoreanVige viin sank. Even if the world ended tomorrow, Aryeon would be the kind to post nonsense on the inte today. Regardless of her character, her ability, [Spirit Bomb], had to decline. It was harder to get attention from people now. Modern Busan was bing more and more of an ideal city. Everyone wanted to be a better version of themselves. And in Busan, there were ways to make people¡¯s wishese true. ¨C I¡¯m tired after work but have a habit of staying upte doing other things. It ruins my daily life. Great Witch, can you remove this habit? ¨C Of course. As long as you provide one month¡¯s sry. It wasn¡¯t a deal with the devil, but it was a deal with a witch. Tang Seorin¡¯sw of equivalent exchange. Cheon Yohwa¡¯s mind control magic. With these two powersbined, people could conveniently excise unwanted parts of their personality. It wasn¡¯t just personality. ¨C I was abused by my family as a child. The trauma surfaces now and then, making me miserable. This personality trait bothers those around me. Great Witch, can you erase my childhood memories of abuse? ¨C Certainly. In exchange, you must also give up your negative feelings towards your family. Memories. Emotions. Personality. The great witch acknowledged anything as a bargaining chip and epted it all as payment. Busan¡¯s crime rate plummeted. With all the criminals¡¯ personalities altered, it was inevitable. Tang Seorin¡¯s Witch Trials gradually became open to the general public. Once a week, a golden scale would rise in the grand za, and each time, dozens of people would transform into better versions of themselves. Tolstoy once said that happy families are all alike, but every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way. While there are many paths back to misery, the road to happiness is always singr. This city was no different. As people began to eradicate their miseries one by one, interestingly, their auras became increasingly simr. Healthy. Early to bed and early to rise. Regr exercise. Valuing the people around them. Polite. Kind. Honest with themselves. Avoiding harm both given and received. Utopia. ¡°What should I do, Guild Leadeeer¡ Hnnngh, if your arm gets cut off or your legs get broken, I won¡¯t be able to heal you¡ I¡¯m so sorry. If another monster wave attacks, I won¡¯t be able to heal you anymore¡¡± ¡°Ah, don¡¯t worry about that. You were going to be fired soon anyway.¡± ¡°¡Huh?¡± ¡°The monster wave is about to end.¡± 7 The detailed exnation of the ¡°Monster Wave¡± will be covered in another episode. For now, it¡¯s enough to imagine it as the name suggests. A tsunami of anomalies. Endless waves of monsters surging from the horizon. Monsters that would normally never coexist due to ovepping territories, banding together in one massive army. Why this happens is unknown. But when it happens is clear. When the void bes too vast. For instance, if the entire area of North Korea bes engulfed by the void, a ¡°Monster Wave¡± will inevitably appear. The tsunamists about 20 hours. Thousands, tens of thousands of anomalies form waves and surge towards the remaining human-inhabitednd. This phenomenon forced me to create the National Highway Defense Force. We didn¡¯t abandon various cities across the Korean Penins, maintaining highways to preserve our territories. Otherwise, we¡¯d be swept away by an almost infinite tide of monsters. Tang Seorin chose a path opposite to mine. ¡°Doctor Jang! Doctor Jang! Doctor Jang!¡± ¡°Woohooo!¡± And today. Since the concentration of resources and manpower in Busan, the monster wave threat that had always loomed over the city finally ended. ¡°Everyone! Please wee with apuse! Our hero! The protector of Busan, no, the Korean Penins, and even the world! The city¡¯s guardian, Doctor Jang Ascendant!¡± ¡°Long live the Doctor Jang! Long live Busan!¡± A parade was held in the city. It was a kind of festival. Just as a victorious general in Rome would pass through the triumphal arch to show off their achievements, I too, marched slowly, escorted by awakened ones. [Proofreader ¨C Gun] I rode in an open car, while high above, members of the Three Thousand Worlds Guild (now part of the National Highway Defense Force) formed a neat formation on their brooms. Speakers installed throughout the city yed victory songs non-stop, tunes that stirred and moved the listeners. Luxuries like alcohol were distributed without limit for today. Five years¡¯ worth of stock would be consumed in just one day. ¡°Our city has always been threatened by those detestable waves of anomalies! But thanks to the Doctor Jang Ascendant and the valiant warriors! The monster wave has finally been vanquished! Rejoice, citizens! Our city is free!¡± ¡°Wooooo!¡± The climax of the festival was when the parade reached the National Highway Defense Force headquarters after crossing the city. In the za where the weekly Witch Trials were held, the headquarters towered like the Tower of Babel. At the grand staircase that one must climb to enter the headquarters, the ruler of the city, the master of the Korean Penins, Tang Seorin in her ck pointed hat, was waiting. ¡°Wee, Doctor Jang.¡± Tang Seorin smiled. Her smile and voice were broadcasted throughout the city via magic designed specifically for this day. ¡°You finally did it.¡± ¡°¡¡± ¡°You once warned me that countless anomalies would block our chosen path. But I said that with your power and my magic, we could ovee it.¡± Tang Seorin yfully pouted. ¡°Can we now say that one of us was right?¡± ¡°You can have the credit for being right. I¡¯ll take the blood and sweat I invested to make your wordse true.¡± ¡°Show-off.¡± Laughter rippled through the crowd surrounding the za. Though their conversation and manner of speaking seemed too informal for the city¡¯s ruler, it didn¡¯t matter. In this city, maintaining power and authority no longer required grand political rhetoric or embellishment. Every citizen was nowplete. ¡°Anyway, a fitting reward should be given to the hero who defeated our greatest enemy. I swear on my golden scale that whatever you desire, I will grant it. So, our brave hero, tell me your wish.¡± ¡°Thanks. Then¡ I noticed that Yoo Jiwon is in charge of today¡¯s event. Change that. Despite her changed personality, she still overacts. I was mortified getting here.¡± -Doctor Jang Guardian? The za erupted inughter once more. Tang Seorin also chuckled and took a step closer to me. Strangely, her footsteps weren¡¯t broadcasted through the city speakers but reached only my ears. I realized that Tang Seorin had momentarily cut off the broadcasting magic. ¡°Is that really enough? Are you sure? I was sincere about granting any wish.¡± ¡°My wish is to stay by your side until the end, and that wish is already being fulfilled.¡± ¡°¡¡± ¡°So just fire Yoo Jiwon. Hurry up.¡± Tang Seorin snickered. ¡°Really¡¡± What she said next, even I don¡¯t know. She extended her right hand, and ording to her custom, I kissed her ring. Then, the city¡¯s cheers drowned out all other sounds. Night fell. Fireworks exploded in the sky. Various witches flew through the city¡¯s night sky. The National Highway Defense Force members, who had been given a three-day leave starting today, soared on their brooms, casting fireworks spells at will. Tang Seorin and I sat on the high terrace of the National Highway Defense Force headquarters, watching the night sky festival together. On the table were a few pieces of bread from the famous Haeundae bakery and two empty wine bottles. ¡°So then.¡± Tang Seorin¡¯s long fingers glided over the rim of her wine ss. ¡°Are all the anomalies that threatened us gone?¡± ¡°Well. We can say the greatest threat is gone. There might still be some god-tier anomalies I haven¡¯t identified, but at least the monster wave will never target this ce again.¡± ¡°That¡¯s good. We don¡¯t have to see those dreadful waves of anomalies anymore. Really, that¡¯s good.¡± Another firework exploded. The sound of the firework ascending, rendered magically, echoed pleasantly in the sky. Red and yellow backlight illuminated Tang Seorin¡¯s profile as she watched the night sky. ¡°Ah- I feel great. Hey, Doctor Jang, make me a cup of coffee. I feel like drinking one.¡± ¡°You won¡¯t sleep if you drink caffeine at night.¡± ¡°What does it matter?¡± Tang Seorin propped her chin with her left hand and grinned. Her right hand was petting Kkamangi, who was coiled on herp. ¡°I¡¯m not nning to sleep tonight anyway. I¡¯m going to ck off work tomorrow. You¡¯re going to have more free time starting today, right?¡± ¡°¡True. One cup, then.¡± The rooftop terrace, practically Tang Seorin¡¯s private bar, was equipped with all the tools for a barista. The aroma of the beans indicated they were freshly ground today. There was even ice cream in the icebox. I smirked and made an affogato, handing it to Tang Seorin. ¡°Here. Coffee to sober up.¡± ¡°Oh, thank you! Mm, this is the best. Coffee made by you always tastes the best.¡± Fireworks exploded. Meow¡ªKkamangi meowed from Tang Seorin¡¯sp. ¡°But¡ how did you subdue the monster wave? You said it yourself, it¡¯s something that can¡¯t be subdued, more a phenomenon than an anomaly.¡± ¡°I didn¡¯t subdue it.¡± ¡°Huh?¡± ¡°I didn¡¯t subdue it. Near Seoul, the monster wave still appears, thousands of anomalies forming waves, then disappearing after 20 hours, only to reappear endlessly.¡± ¡°¡¡± I had seen it with my own eyes. Tang Seorin¡¯s hand, which was enjoying the affogato, froze. ¡°¡Wait. Seriously? No joke? Then that¡¯s a big problem!¡± ¡°No, I¡¯ve never lied to you, Tang Seorin. The monster wave will never, ever push down here again. Your city is safe.¡± ¡°Uh¡ Doctor Jang?¡± Tang Seorin looked confused. ¡°Sorry. I can¡¯t follow the conversation right now. Isn¡¯t the monster wave a phenomenon that pushes from the void into human territories? You said that long ago.¡± ¡°That¡¯s right.¡± ¡°And the monster wave is still appearing near Seoul?¡± ¡°Correct.¡± ¡°Then how can you be sure it won¡¯te to Busan again? What makes you so confident?¡± ¡°Because this ce is the void now.¡± Fireworks exploded. ¡°This ce is no longer human territory but anomaly territory. Busan, or rather, Utopia. Literally a ¡®nowhere ce,¡¯ a void.¡± ¡°¡¡± ¡°So the monster wave has no reason to target this ce. As long as you, the anomaly, dominate this area, Tang Seorin.¡± Fireworks exploded. [Proofreader ¨C Gun] Chapter 112 â€“ A Companion of Past Journeys IV [Proofreader ¨C Gun] Chapter 112 ¨C A Companion of Past Journeys IV How much time had passed? In the night sky devoid of the ticking of clocks, the only measure of silence was the periodic and splendid explosions of the fireworks. ¡°An anomaly¡ Me? Me, Tang Seorin?¡± Only after the fourth burst of fireworks dyed the sky red did Tang Seorin open her lips. ¡°That can¡¯t be. What are you saying, Doctor Jang? I¡¯m the same. I haven¡¯t changed at all. I can¡¯t be an anomaly¡¡± ¡°Right. Nothing has changed. But our abilities themselves are a form of anomaly. Awakening, transcending, ascending¡ªno matter how you dress it up with fancy words, it remains something utterly alien in the real world. You must have had some inkling.¡± ¡°¡¡± I took a sip of my coffee. While handing Tang Seorin the affogato, I made myself a caf¨¦ auit. ¡°I don¡¯t particrly like the habit of likening a person to a microcosm, but it¡¯s true that a person is also a small space. Awakening one¡¯s abilities doesn¡¯t turn one into aplete anomaly immediately. Slowly, like the void eroding the earth, the process of bing an anomaly urs through various procedures and stages.¡± ¡°¡What kind of freezing cold procedures and stages?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t im to know everything. But for you, Tang Seorin, it¡¯s clear. Your rapid transformation into an anomaly elerated when your golden scale started to govern other people¡¯s personalities.¡± ¡°So, what does that mean¡¡± ¡°Let¡¯s talk in a bit more abstract terms.¡± Imagine an anomaly as a force. Just as water falls downwards, a coffee can spills on the floor, and a ball drops from the Leaning Tower of Pisa¡ªall these events are attributed to the force of gravity. Anomalies or the void are simr. ¡®Why does one drown when walking to the right in the Inunaki Tunnel?¡¯ ¡®Why does an area turn into a gray zone when a meteor shower urs there?¡¯ ¡®Why do all objects and spaces lose their boundaries and degrade into mere qualia in the Abyss?¡¯ The answers are simple. ¡®Because it¡¯s the Inunaki Tunnel.¡¯ ¡®Because it¡¯s a meteor shower.¡¯ ¡®Because it¡¯s the Abyss.¡¯ Each anomaly has the power to create its own events. Just as objects are drawn to gravity, a meteor shower has the property of turning its surroundings to ashes. Anomalies are causes that bring about strange results in this world. We can only say, ¡®This strange event happened because of that anomaly.¡¯ Conversely¡ªsubduing an anomaly follows this kind of analysis. ¡®The reason part of the Inunaki Tunnel is submerged is because it is mixed with the myth of Sanzu River.¡¯ ¡®The myth of a river in the afterlife is found not only in the Sanzu River but also in the River Styx.¡¯ ¡®Therefore, carrying coins to pay the ferryman of the underworld should prevent drowning in the Inunaki Tunnel.¡¯ Analyze the anomaly. Disassemble the anomaly, which was identified as the ultimate cause of the event, to interpret it as ¡®an anomaly is also merely the result of other causes.¡¯ This is how anomalies are brought back into the causal rtionships of reality. This is the method of dealing with anomalies that I dered certain around the 100th turn. To restore this world to the correct chain of causality. Thus, eliminating the voids punctured throughout the world. This is the essence of my method of fighting anomalies. ¡°Tang Seorin, is there a single person living in this city, on thisnd, who does not owe you?¡± ¡°¡¡± ¡°A young man named Yoo Cheolwon lives on the top floor of that four-story vi. He used to suffer from insomnia. Five years ago, he was tried by you and has since enjoyed every night, every morning, and thus every day¡¯s life. The cause of ¡®Yoo Cheolwon¡¯s daily life¡¯ is you, Tang Seorin.¡± ¡°¡¡± ¡°What¡¯s the reason Yoo Jiwon, a psychopath, can genuinely care for others, enjoy theirpany, and hold small parties with friends every week? Tang Seorin, it¡¯s you.¡± ¡°¡¡± ¡°Every person in this city wakes up happy in the morning, works diligently throughout the day, spends fulfilling evenings with loved ones, and goes to bed without a care at night¡ªnot just a few, but the entire poption. This is solely because of you, Tang Seorin.¡± ¡°¡¡± ¡°Simply ruling a city doesn¡¯t turn one into an anomaly. But this city is now inseparable from you, Tang Seorin.¡± Why is this city so happy? Why do such and such events happen in this city? The answer to these questions. ¨D¨DBecause it¡¯s Tang Seorin. ¡°This ce is Utopia.¡± ¡°¡¡± ¡°And ruled by a witch who can deliver perfect judgments in any trial and forever send beautiful songs through the city. The void most friendly to humans in the world. If my words aren¡¯t convincing enough¡ you can test it. Yourw of equivalent exchange magic will now apply to anomalies too.¡± ¡°Such¡¡± ¡°You can grant anomalies self-awareness, a past, and the form of humans. Of course, it will take many trials and even more time¡ But with some luck, you could turn the whole world into your domain, the void called Utopia.¡± ¡°¡¡± Silence settled. The fireworks had stopped. It became as silent as if the entire city held its breath. The pleasant hum of drunken revelers and the cacklingughter of witches faded into the distance. Each time Tang Seorin breathed, the lights throughout the city flickered. When the yellow lights blinked off simultaneously, she smiled a peculiar smile. ¡°So, now¡ am I to be subdued by you?¡± ¡°¡¡± ¡°It sounds like such amon story. The hero defeats the demon king, only to find out that the true mastermind was the king who supported him all along, leading the hero to the final stage¡ The greatest ally turns out to be the ultimate final boss. Isn¡¯t that a worn-out clich¨¦?¡± ¡°¡¡± ¡°You¡¯re right, Doctor Jang. Come to think of it, I can¡¯t remember thest time you properly called this ce Busan. You¡¯ve always referred to it as ¡®this city¡¯ or ¡®here.¡¯ You¡¯ve known for a while, haven¡¯t you? That I would be an anomaly and Busan would turn into a void.¡± ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°You really are a bad guy. But- well. You did warn me. You said you couldn¡¯t predict what would happen. This situation is my doing.¡± Tang Seorin stood up. Kkamangi leaped down to the floor. Thud¡ªa broom flew from the terrace andnded in her grip. Tang Seorin donned the pointed hat she had set on the table. ¡°How perfect. If news spread that the monster wave had been subdued, the whole city would naturally celebrate. Even if I took a break, I¡¯d drink with you. My personal guards have scattered, most of them probably drunk. It¡¯s the perfect timing, isn¡¯t it? Perhaps you¡¯ve already recruited Tian Yuhua to your side? ¡Ah. That exins why she left the meeting so quietly today.¡± ¡°¡¡± ¡°But, Doctor Jang, I cannot abandon my city. It¡¯s an oasis in this wretched world. No matter what, my citizens are human. Or, from now on, they will be the only true humans. So if you n to subdue me and this ce¡ªbe prepared for death.¡± I stood up as well. ¡°No.¡± Unlike Tang Seorin, I held no weapon. The sword cane made by a cksmith who no longer existed remained leaning against my side. Because this story doesn¡¯t end that way. ¡°I won¡¯t subdue you.¡± ¡°¡What?¡± I lightly grasped Tang Seorin¡¯s hand. There was a slight tremor, but I ignored it and pulled her closer. In the opposite direction from a thousand years ago. 8 -Your eyes are full of venom. -¡ -You¡¯re that person, aren¡¯t you? The one who survived almost alone at Busan Station. The one who goes around asking strange questions. A long time ago. The fourth turn. I first met Tang Seorin before I gained the [Complete Memory Ability]. I can¡¯t guarantee that our meeting was exactly like that, whether it was raining around us, or whether we actually had that conversation. -Your name? -¡Undertaker. It¡¯s a nickname. -Someone who buries people? Not bad. The depth of a person depends on how many corpses they have buried in their heart. But one thing I remember with certainty, even if the light fades, is an undeniable truth. -How about it? Back then, Tang Seorin extended her hand to me. It might have been intuition built up as a regressor. A ck-haired witch holding a broom and wearing a pointed hat. The moment I looked up at her, I already knew that a continuous line had intertwined with my endless life. -Why not join our guild? I took that hand. Just like now. Only the direction had changed. ¡°No matter what, I will never harm you.¡± ¡°¡¡± ¡°It doesn¡¯t matter if you be an anomaly. Even if you turn this city, and beyond, the entire world into a void. Even if you burn everything to the ground, Tang Seorin. I will always be on your side.¡± ¡°¡Ah.¡± We were simr. My ability as the Doctor Jang, [Time Seal], ultimately only handed people eternally happy days. Even if they were counterfeit and forgeries, as long as no one noticed, they were no different from the real thing. The utopia Tang Seorin had created was the same. Even if people¡¯s happiness was obtained through a deal with a witch, perhaps it was the best happy ending this world could achieve. [Proofreader ¨C Gun] This route was never a bad ending. A world where Tang Seorin lived until the end, a city where her dream came true, could never be recorded as a bad ending for me. ¡°If you ever get tired of ruling the city and want to leave, we can leave together anytime.¡± ¡°¡¡± ¡°If you want to turn the entire world into your utopia, I¡¯ll dly be your sword and lead the way.¡± Her hand trembled. Tang Seorin. My guild leader. ¡°You allowed me to stay by your side even as you became an anomaly. Whether that was a conscious decision or not doesn¡¯t matter. It¡¯s a trivial issue. You are my reason for living.¡± You are the cause of my existence. To pass on each other¡¯s ces and still be together¡ªthat is the only difference between an anomaly and a human. No matter how deep into the void we fall, it will not turn into hell. ¡°So, don¡¯t worry.¡± ¡°¡¡± ¡°We can go anywhere.¡± Tang Seorin leaned into my arms. The city lights came on. Witches flew across the night sky. The noise of drunkards and the songs from speakers mingled together. Fireworks exploded. ¡°I want to travel.¡± ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°Maybe I shouldn¡¯t have given up on the national road. No, the railroad. I should have created something like a train fortress, like Snowpiercer, traveling all over the country instead of being stuck in Busan. It would have been much more fun.¡± ¡°Yes.¡± I hugged Tang Seorin¡¯s shoulders and patted her back. ¡°Tang Seorin.¡± ¡°¡?¡± ¡°The truth is, I¡¯m a regressor.¡± Tang Seorin looked up at me. ¡°A regressor¡?¡± ¡°Yes. I¡¯ve been repeating the world endlessly. My life has already met its end more than a hundred times. When I open my eyes, it¡¯s always the Busan Station tutorial dungeon.¡± ¡°¡¡± I told her. The spell called ¡°Song of Eternal Youth¡± burns one¡¯s life to spread the song, but in truth, that lifespan is umted with each turn. ¡°But in my tenth life, you told me. Never to tell you the secret that I am a returnee. You said you were greedy and if you knew such a secret, you¡¯d use up all your remaining lifespan to create a happy ending in the current turn.¡± ¡°Ah¡ I see. That makes sense.¡± Even knowing that I was a regressor, Tang Seorin quickly epted it. She must have had her own thoughts about my identity. Soon, Tang Seorin smiled. ¡°You¡¯re foolish.¡± ¡°Who? You in the tenth turn?¡± ¡°No, you.¡± She looked at me with a slightly puzzled expression, and her smile deepened. ¡°Why didn¡¯t you kill me as soon as the turn started?¡± ¡°What¡?¡± ¡°Idiot. The sooner I die, the longer my ¡®original lifespan¡¯ would be passed on to the next turn. If my original lifespan was 60 years, you could have transferred those 60 years to the next turn each time¡ Why didn¡¯t you kill me?¡± ¡°Wait, what. How can you say that now¡ª.¡± I couldn¡¯t continue my rebuttal. Tang Seorin¡¯s face was right in front of me. A slight breath. The scent of ice cream from the coffee I made earlier. The smell of grass freshly beaten by summer rain. Tang Seorin slowly pulled away. ¡°¡¡± ¡°Was that your first kiss?¡± ¡°Well¡¡± ¡°Ah. No. Don¡¯t answer that.¡± Tang Seorin opened her lips and sang. A small golden scale appeared above us. Tang Seorin whispered yfully. ¡°Doctor Jang, put all your memories of kissing on the scale. Whether you have such memories or not. Not just from this turn, but from all of them.¡± ¡°¡¡± ¡°Hurry.¡± I did so. What Tang Seorin put on the right side of the scale in exchange for my memories on the left, I could not know. Nor could I mention what memories I had lost. The golden scale judged it bnced, glowing brightly in the air. ¡°Yes. Now close your eyes.¡± In the old night sky, as the golden light embroidered it like fireworks, Tang Seorin pulled my arm. ¡°¡ªThis is now our first kiss.¡± Our shadows ovepped. As fireworks scattered in the distance, a thought urred to me. Just as Tang Seorin is the cause of my existence, perhaps I had be the cause of Tang Seorin¡¯s existence. If so, tonight would be the moment when the most gentle ¡®strategy¡¯ against anomalies existed briefly. And though I would never remember it again, the memory that Tang Seorin erased with the golden scale must have been just like the person now before my eyes. 9 There is an epilogue. When I opened my eyes, I wasn¡¯t on the terrace of Utopia but staring at the ceiling of the Busan Station tutorial dungeon. The 173rd turn had ended. ¡°¡¡± Why? What led to my death? I hypothesize the reasons for my death as follows: The first hypothesis is that, upon hearing that her lifespan umtes across turns, Tang Seorin resolved to die with me. ¡®Utopia¡¯ Busan didn¡¯te without a cost. The songs from the speakers, the equivalent exchange of the golden scales, everything stemmed from Tang Seorin¡¯s ¡®Song of Eternal Youth.¡¯ The price of the Song of Eternal Youth is lifespan. No matter how small, the magic of Utopia was fueled by Tang Seorin¡¯s life. Of course, she had secured resources for thousands of years. But it was also certain that an end woulde someday. Perhaps Tang Seorin decided to conserve that fuel. For none other than me. For an ultimate true ending, a destination we had yet to reach. ¡But there is a second hypothesis, entirely different from the first. In truth, Tang Seorin might not have died with me the moment we finished our kiss. We might have lived through the 173rd turn as if nothing had happened, spreading ¡®Utopia¡¯ not only in Busan but across the entire Korean Penins and the world. After experiencing countless moments of happiness and misfortune, luck and misfortune,pleting a grand epic, Tang Seorin¡¯s lifespan might have finally burned out. For a reason I cannot imagine now, Tang Seorin might have asked me to forget everything from the moment of our kiss until now. As a result, I returned only with the memory up to the moment of the kiss with Tang Seorin. Both interpretations can be true simultaneously. I have no intention of digging to find out which hypothesis is correct. After all, neither oue is a bad ending for me. I choose to leave that moment¡¯s nk space, the ¡®iplete memory,¡¯ the night sky of the fireworks, as a cherished void within me for Tang Seorin. Forever. ¨C The One Who Was a Companion. End. [Proofreader ¨C Gun] Chapter 113 â€“ Non-Player I [Proofreader ¨C Gun] Chapter 113 ¨C Non-yer I 1 Let me start by telling you not to expect a clean ending in today¡¯s story. This time, it¡¯s undoubtedly a bad ending. Let¡¯s talk about the crap game called reality. 2 Endless Hell. Ever since we exterminated that god of istion, many things in the world have changed. I realizedter that each of the isted gods actually had a kind of domain. You could call it a divine realm. If the term ¡°divine realm¡± feels unfamiliar, think of it as a temple. For Endless Hell, the ¡®tutorial dungeon¡¯ was the representative divine realm and temple. Baekhwa Girls¡¯ High School was its headquarters. Just as when the power of one religion wanes, other religions rush in to fill the void, the anomalies dered Earth their religious war Monopoly board to spread their doctrines ording to their instincts. In the midst of this holy crusade, whether humans died or not was of no concern to the anomalies. The tradition of not considering civilians if their faith was different had long been an earthly custom. The crucial point is that the bnce of power, which had been precariously maintained like a house of cards, copsed the moment Endless Hell was defeated. From the defeat of Endless Hell, the previously suppressed anomalies began to run amok. ¡°Where is this¡?¡± ¡°I¡¯m not Kim Joonyoung of Anyang! I¡¯m Namgung Mooncheong, the first disciple of Namgung!¡± ¡°Please take me back to that world¡ Why are there tears in my eyes?¡± A prime example was the ¡®Hero Syndrome.¡¯ As I mentioned before, the first time I witnessed Hero Syndrome was in the 118th turn. And Endless Hell was defeated in the 117th turn. I¡¯m not trying to test your memory. I can detail this only because of my [Complete Memory Ability]. What I want to point out is¡ªdoesn¡¯t the timing seem rather coincidental? Doesn¡¯t it seem as if they were waiting for Endless Hell to be defeated? Let me recap. In this period, the anomalies that started appearing in the Korean Penins with higher gacha pickup rates were not only the Hero Syndrome. -Honk! Honk! Honk! -Honk! Honk! Honk! -Honk! Honk! The primary enemy of all writers and readers, the ¡®Reincarnation Truck,¡¯ also made its debut in the 119th turn. Looking further afield, there were plenty of other anomalies. The ¡®Salvation Narrative Syndrome¡¯ appeared in the 126th turn, and the fictional structure ¡®Korea-Japan Undersea Tunnel¡¯ appeared in the 141st turn. Hero Syndrome, Reincarnation Truck, Salvation Narrative Syndrome, fictional buildings¡ Don¡¯t you feel a certainmonality? That¡¯s right. All of these were hints and omens of some enormous trend. Every oven dish needs preheating. Before providing the answer to that question today, let me first talk about one of the most absurd and simultaneously the most impressive omens. A virtual reality MMORPG. So-called ¡®online games¡¯ will be the main character of this episode. 3 Sometimes, there¡¯s a recurring post on SG Net, a periodic topic. -Anonymous: Status window! Status window! Status window! -Anonymous: I shouted ¡®Status open¡¯ as soon as I woke up today. Did it appear? (Day 31) -Anonymous: Guys, am I the only one who sees the status window?? -Anonymous: I shouted ¡®Status window,¡¯ and it really appeared, seriously. -LiteratureGirl: Honestly, if you¡¯ve secretly shouted ¡®Status window¡¯ once seeing the world going to hell, like this post. It¡¯s the status window topic. Of course, as a mature adult, I¡¯ve never once mumbled ¡®Status window¡¯ to myself. Did I shout it in the first or second turn? Anyway, my memory starts from the fifth turn, so anything before that is ancient history. There¡¯s no irrationality in holding modern states ountable for crimesmitted in ancient times. Does Greece get treated as a war criminal by Turkey for the Trojan War? In any case, this world didn¡¯t have a status screen with kindly listed ¡®ability stats¡¯ and ¡®skill descriptions.¡¯ Awakeners had to go through countless trials and errors to find out the true nature of their abilities. For instance, Sim Aryeon had no idea that her healing ability was [Spirit Bomb], meaning it gets stronger as she draws more aggro, before SG Net existed. This is why in the early turns, Awakeners with ¡®simple abilities¡¯ had an advantage. For example, an ability like Lee Baek¡¯s [Lion¡¯s Roar], which just made his voice louder, was easy to recognize due to its simplicity. A world endlessly unfriendly to Awakeners. And this unfriendliness was precisely why I, Doctor Jang, garnered overwhelming trust and reputation among Awakeners. ¡°Seo Gyu, your ability is [Ubiquitous]. You can create an intemunity that can be essed as long as there¡¯s a smartphone. The more users join, the more your ability develops, and you can add various systems to the board.¡± ¡°Pardon?¡± ¡°Aryeon, your ability is [Spirit Bomb]. When Seo Gyu creates SG Net, you¡¯ll be one of the original members and the most famous viin, drinking up all the human aggro and growing stronger.¡± ¡°Yes?¡± Monopoly of information. The true nature of abilities that even Awakeners themselves didn¡¯t know, their strengths and weaknesses, and even ¡®training methods¡¯ on how to develop their abilities further. I could release all this information to whoever I wanted, whenever I wanted, and in whatever amount I wanted. Actually, there was no need for me to even step forward. [¡®Saintess of Salvation¡¯ bestows you with a power.] With just a bit of ¡®distortion,¡¯ I could make it seem as if these abilities were being awakened and developed by the constetions. [¡®Saintess of Salvation¡¯ grants you the ability ¡®Minor Healing.¡¯] [¡®Conqueror of the Alps¡¯ grants you the ability ¡®Hammer Mastery.¡¯] [¡®Chancellor in Red¡¯ grants you the ability ¡®Pain Control to the extent that you won¡¯t feel pain if you stub your little toe.¡¯] The performance of the Constetion Talk was solid. From the awakened ones¡¯ perspective, abilities they weren¡¯t even aware of seemed to be given to them as fortuitous gifts by the constetions. [¡®Chancellor in Red¡¯ suggests that intentionally stubbing your toe against the edge of a desk or doorframe 999 times will enhance your ¡®Pain Control¡¯ ability.] Sometimes directly by me. Sometimes by the Saintess masquerading as a constetion. The regressor spun plots front and back. Those who awakened (or learned) their abilities through me followed me as an individual, and those who did so through a constetion worshipped the constetions. Either way, they were in the palm of my hand. By revealing information that could have been realized by the awakened ones themselves in 2 years, 6 years, or 10 years a bit earlier, we gained absolute support. One reason the guilds in the Korean Penins remained quieterpared to other areas was this. The military and civil services were unified. All those people were essentially my indebted disciples. Look at Tang Seorin¡ªdidn¡¯t she quickly master the ¡®Equivalent Exchange¡¯ magic thanks to me? Therefore¡ -Anonymous: I shouted ¡®Status open¡¯ as soon as I woke up today. Did the status window appear? (Day 191) -Anonymous: It appeared, that¡¯s why I posted it, lol (Day 191) A certain post that suddenly appeared in the 133rd turn not only threatened my position but also the security of the Korean Penins. At first, I thought it was just a nonsense post and passed it by. But about 30 minutester, it became clear that mycency was a mistake. [Doctor Jang, there¡¯s a big problem.] ¡°Yes? What¡¯s the matter?¡± [Status windows are appearing sequentially in front of the awakened ones in the Korean Penins.] ¡°What?¡± I immediately logged into SG Net. -Anonymous: What the heck? A status screen really appears like a hologram in front of my eyes? -LiteratureGirl: Please evaluate your status window. -Anonymous: Are these guys collectively trolling now? Did SG Net fall? Block this boring bait. [Proofreader ¨C Gun] -Anonymous: Did you get an S-grade power stat? -Anonymous: Guys, my status window says my charm stat is A-grade. Is that good? Themunity was in chaos. ¡°What is this¡?¡± ¡°Guild Masteeeeer!¡± Bang! Someone barged into my room. The statement just made was noteworthy for two reasons. First, the person had no concept of etiquette as they opened the door to my private room without any notice. Second, the way they ¡®rolled¡¯ in rather than walked or ran suggested that the person mightck even the ability to walk on two legs. A being unfit to be recognized as Homo sapiens both mentally and physically. This unidentified cryptid¡¯s identification name was Sim Aryeon. ¡°Guild Masteeeer! It, it, it appeared! It appeared!¡± ¡°¡¡± ¡°S, S, S-grade appeared¡!¡± From the dialogue, you can tell I didn¡¯t specifically ask Aryeon ¡®What appeared?¡¯ or ¡®What do you mean it appeared?¡¯. And I didn¡¯t ask what on earth S-grade was either. However, the cryptid couldn¡¯t understand human conversational methods. The being before me opened a sketchbook and scribbled with a sign pen furiously. ¡°L, l, look at this!¡± I didn¡¯t want to see it. But the refined senses of a regressor brought me countless advantages and one disadvantage. That one disadvantage was that even with a quick nce at the sketchbook Sim Aryeon opened, I could grasp all the letters and content at once. ¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D [Status] Name: Sim Aryeon Title: ¡®Bird That Drinks Poison¡¯ upation: Healer, Pharmacist, Painter, Saintess (Potential), Novelist (Potential) Attributes: ¨C [Health: E] ¨C [Strength: E] ¨C [Intuition: S-] ¨C [Agility: E] ¨C [Intelligence: B] ¨C [Charm: F] Personality Traits: [Single-minded] [Anthropophobia] [Carelessness] [Arrogance] Unique Skill: [Bird That Drinks Poison (SSS)] Bird That Drinks Poison (SSS): Ability to convert poison overflowing in this world into medicine. The more resentment and curses you receive from others, the stronger your healing abilities be. The more people¡¯s resentment and deeper the curses, the stronger the healing. Turning evil into good. Turning resentment into opportunity. You were born with the destiny to be the savior and Saintess of thisnd. May luck be with you. ¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D ¡°Y-you saw it, right? You saw it, right? Guild Master¡ hehe. Hehe, I¡¯m an SSS-grade ability user¡!¡± ¡°¡¡¡± ¡°A Poison Bird¡ hehe, a Poison Bird¡! And a savior and Saintess¡!¡± It was then that I realized ¡®SSS-grade¡¯ was what she meant by ¡®S-S-S-grade.¡¯ I could only admit my ignorance about why Sim Aryeon pronounced ¡®SSS-grade¡¯ that way. My ignorance didn¡¯t end there. I became interested in web novels and genre fiction from the 555th turn onwards. Therefore, I couldn¡¯t get angry or condemn the sight of this cryptid creature calling itself a Poison Bird, an insult to this world, and a disgrace to the universe. I simply stayed silent. As Wittgenstein said, we must remain silent about what we do not know. ¡°Guild Master, you should try shouting it too.¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°Status. Shouting ¡®Status Open,¡¯ it appears¡ Even if you just think about it, it appears, but you must say it the first time. Oh! When you say it, you must press the desire to see your stats into the words¡!¡± Then what about those who are mute? This status window or whatever it is¡ªit must be the work of a cryptid since only a cryptid would do something like this¡ªso is this creature discriminating against people with speech impairments? (Incidentally, pronounced quickly, cryptid bes ¡®crip-s**t¡¯). ¡°Come on, Guild Master! Hurry!¡± ¡°¡Aryeon, it¡¯s never a good idea to hastily give in to a cryptid.¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°You¡¯ve learned a lot about cryptids since joining our guild. Just as it¡¯s agreed not to cross the street when the light is red, saying your name to this status window cryptid is likely the ¡®trigger condition.¡¯ You can¡¯t say it carelessly.¡± ¡°¡Ah.¡± Sim Aryeon showed an expression of realization. ¡°G-Guild Master¡ Are you reluctant to shout because you¡¯re afraid your stats will be lower than mine¡?¡± ¡°¡¡¡± ¡°S-sorry. As you know, I¡¯m oftencking in consideration¡ Hehe. I won¡¯t brag about my stats in front of you anymore.¡± Sim Aryeon left my room, saying she would go brag to Seo Gyu instead. More precisely, she left the room and then peeked back in. ¡°Oh, um¡! Even if you don¡¯t have an S-S-S-grade ability or even just an S-grade or A-grade one, I won¡¯t look down on you¡!¡± ¡°¡¡¡± ¡°It¡¯s not right to look down on people because of abilities, right? Yes? Hehe. So¡ Guild Master! Fighting¡!¡± Bang. The cryptid closed the door and left. The room was silent. ¡°Saintess.¡± [Yes.] ¡°Gather all the information on this cryptid as soon as possible.¡± [Understood.] I could sense reluctance in the Saintess¡¯s tone, but I had no doubts. In fact, looking back from the perspective of future generations, this was a historical event tied to the reformation of genre novel conventions. Thus, I dered war on the ¡®status window.¡¯ [Proofreader ¨C Gun] Chapter 114 â€“ Non-Player II [Proofreader ¨C Gun] Chapter 114 ¨C Non-yer II 4 Since we¡¯re on the subject of stories, the author of the novel ¡°Bird That Drinks Poison¡± (as confirmed in turn 766) once said the following: ¡°The setting of the novel is like the roots of a tree¡ªvast and robust¡ªbut if exposed and revealed, the tree will wither and die. This applies not only to the world-building but to every situation.¡± The protagonist isn¡¯t omnipotent. They should always leave room at the edges of their vision like ¡®white fog.¡¯ The barren white wastnd left behind by their ignorance is, in fact, a honeyed ground continuously nourishing the sentences and descriptions. Naturally, information about characters¡ individuals should also be shrouded in mist to some extent. How could anyone instantly know the extent of this person¡¯s intelligence or what skills they possess? Therefore, the status window is detrimental. Metaphorically speaking, the status window is no different from the heinous act of indiscriminately removing minerals from the earth and nitrogen from the air. It¡¯s not because of my irritation with Sim Aryeon that I say this. There is a logical and legitimate justification. Even though I developed an interest in web novels and genre fiction starting from Turn 555, and now it¡¯s Turn 133, in reality, I had absolutely no knowledge about the status window. The current discourse is clearly a historical distortion by future generations. This proves not a contradiction but rather prophetic insight on my part from Turn 133. Even during my ignorant days in web novels and genre fiction, I instinctively felt that the status window was a ¡®harmful¡¯ entity. ¡°Relying on the status window weakens people.¡± I immediately took action. Not only did I wage a public opinion war on SGNet, but I also meticulously emphasized how bad the status window was whenever I encountered awakeners privately. ¡°Yes? Hyung-nim?¡± ¡°In my day, I tested my strength against anomalies bit by bit to estimate my capabilities. That process of exploration, testing enemies in life and death, simultaneously testing myself, is an invaluable treasure. Yet these days, with my strength being B, they casually boast that I can easily defeat slimes.¡± ¡°Uh¡¡± ¡°How ignorant can one be? Slimes aren¡¯t creatures you can simply defeat with strength alone, and their danger varies drastically depending on whether you encounter them in a swamp or a narrow dungeon where unexpected dangers like falling from an unseen ceiling lurk. Void. That ce is a space that cannot be quantified in numbers from the start, so it is empty.¡± ¡°¡¡± ¡°How can you gauge your own abilities, your opponent¡¯s capabilities, and even the depth of the void just by trusting the alphabet soup disyed on the status window? The status window is itself an anomaly, polluting the minds of awakeners, undoubtedly a ¡®fool¡¯s box¡¯ that lowers humanity¡¯s standards! Why do you fail to see the malicious machinations of anomalies, slowly but surely destroying awakeners who have be ustomed to the convenience of the status window and neglected their own training!¡± ¡°Um¡¡± Seo Gyu raised his hand. ¡°Can I ask one thing, Hyung-nim?¡± ¡°What is it?¡± ¡°Why is your tone like that?¡± ¡°This is a draft manifesto to awaken the consciousness of awakeners. I¡¯m thinking of posting it on SGNet like this. What do you think, Seo Gyu? Doesn¡¯t it make your heart swell and make you feel anew about the essence of awakening?¡± ¡°Uh, um¡¡± ¡°Surely you didn¡¯t shout at the status window too, Seo Gyu? From Busan Station¡¯s main hall, I¡¯ve put you through one-on-one education. I believe you wouldn¡¯t entrust your judgment to such a vulgar anomaly.¡± Seo Gyu¡¯s expression became subtle. ording to physiognomy, it was a facial muscle state that could be interpreted as ¡®Why is Hyung-nim like this again?¡¯ Beside him, Sim Aryeon (she still existed) whispered to Seo Gyu. ¡°Oh, um¡! It seems the status window appeared but you don¡¯t have the SSS ability. Gacha failure¡¡± ¡°Oh, so that¡¯s why you¡¯re like this.¡± ¡°Yes, yes¡ Oh? Suddenly, there¡¯s a tremendous aggro energying from somewhere? Ah! Even though I haven¡¯t done anything, aggro is piling up in my heart! I can feel my abilities being enhanced in real time! It¡¯s delicious! So delicious! Such a delicacy I¡¯ve never tasted in my life¡! W-who could have resented me so much¡!¡± ¡°For the next 6 months, no coffee for you guys.¡± Seo Gyu and Sim Aryeon screamed in dismay, but I ignored them smoothly. These guys had to learn more about the value of difort. -ZERO_SUGAR: [Long Article] Current Manifesto on a Ghost ¡®Status Window¡¯ Appearing on the Korean Penins ~Awakeners of the World, Awaken!~ I rang the rm with blood vomiting in my heart. However, awakeners who had already sumbed to the false convenience of anomalies did not respond at all. Instead, theyughed. -Anonymous: What¡¯s this? -Anonymous: Is this aedy? -Anonymous: No, damn it, it¡¯s a legend lol -[Baekhwa] High School 10th Grade: ??;;;;; -Anonymous: I saw this when I was in elementary school! It¡¯s like the story of nobles smashing up the burrows because the serfs said they werefortable, asking where the nobleman was going to find a ce to escape the winter wind. ©¸[National Road] Officer: This is an anecdote of the schr Yi Gyu-bo during the Goryeo period. In the original text, it says, ¡®Summer is hot and winter is cold, this is the natural order of the four seasons. If it is contrary to this, then it is strange and unusual.¡¯ It means, ¡®It is normal for it to be hot in summer and cold in winter. To oppose this is strange.¡¯ Interestingly, even in the original text, the word ¡®strange¡¯ is used. ©¸Anonymous: Who are you to be so smart? ©¸Literature Girl: Oh. -dolLHoUse: Oppa¡¡ -KoreanVige: ????? -KoreanVige: ? -KoreanVige: -KoreanVige: This guy¡¯s status window shows strength, intelligence, and skills all as F. Lol, what am I seeing? ©¸Anonymous: Oh, I see! ©¸Anonymous: We didn¡¯t even know that! ¡°¡¡.¡± There was no public opinion defending me anywhere on S. Is this the pain of a righteous person with clear vision in a city of the blind? ¡No, strictly speaking, there was one defense. -[Yuldo Nation] Sword Maiden: Ah, this child¡¯s words are indeed correct! Seeing something only in one¡¯s own eyes is a hallucination, diagnosing it as a sign of madness from the beginning. The martial artists of the martial world all falling into hallucinations can indeed be considered a collective madness. Ohho Tongjae! Inevitable madness is a tragedy, but what can one say when they choose to go mad willingly? ©¸Anonymous: Ttoktakduo,e quickly. ©¸Anonymous: Three Kingdoms Ttoktak vs Wuxia Ttoktak¡. My heart swells. It was rather a feeble defense, to say the least. On S, there were often malicious individuals who lumped me and Sword Maiden together, tarnishing us with prejudice. Sword Maiden¡¯s vocal defense only added fuel to such preconceptions. ¡°¡Very well.¡± I admitted defeat willingly. ¡°Anomaly, your victory.¡± This was not just a soliloquy. Since the ¡®Status Window¡¯ was clearly a type of mental disorder, it was neither here nor there. ¡°But don¡¯t think your victory is assured here. Next time, and the time after that, I will reappear and ultimately undo you.¡± [¡¡.] ¡°Saintess, even if you say nothing, your breathing can be heard when you watch over me.¡± [Oh. Yes. I¡¯ll be careful.] And so, we ascended to a slightly higher stage¨D¨D To put it bluntly, we moved on to the 134th turn. ¡°Hiik? Why is such aggro being generated on its own when I haven¡¯t done anything yet¡? Well, it¡¯s tasty. Scary! Guild leader! Someone unknown is hating me for reasons I can¡¯t understand! In real time! Every day! Help!¡± ¡°¡.¡± For some reason, the intensity of the 134th turn awakened my skills to an unprecedented level. Of course, such minor incidents were not of great importance. I instructed the Saintess. ¡°Saintess, starting three days from now, the anomaly known as the Status Window will begin to be observed nationwide.¡± ¡°Oh. Yes.¡± ¡°Since I exined what the Status Window anomaly wasst time, do you remember?¡± [Proofreader ¨C Gun] ¡°Yes, very much so. Mr. Noh Doha spent three hours vomiting in front of me.¡± ¡°Good. Now, aim for the timing and hijack the Status Window.¡± The Saintess blinked. ¡°¡Yes?¡± ¡°I mean to say, decorate the act of disying the Status Window as if it were a privilege of the Constetion. Then, every time you proim the Status Window, the gratitude and, well, emotions of the awakened will all be directed towards the Constetions. People will sing the greatness of the Constetions, and they will never know the truth that it was actually an anomaly.¡± ¡°¡I¡¯m sorry. If I understood Mr. Jang¡¯s proposal correctly, that is, um¡ taking away the credit of the anomaly and making it ours?¡± ¡°The expression is a bit extreme, but yes, that¡¯s right.¡± ¡°Oh¡¡± The Saintess sighed. Having admired even the ideology that challenges the greatest anomaly hunters of all, Doctor Jang and I, for its challenges, were in order. Noh Doha, who had been listening to the conversation, put down his coffee cup. ¡°Well done. Now, not even a person, but now you¡¯re plundering the anomaly¡¯s achievements. Evenst time, didn¡¯t you just talk about how being addicted to the convenience of the status window makes youzy? Why are you hijacking it now? Could this be a step for the regressor¡¡± ¡°Hmm.¡± ¡°Not apliment, you fool¡¡± My n was wless. I remembered every second of the first certification post of the Status Window on S as a matter of course, thanks to myplete memory ability. Since even the smallest failure was not allowed in this n, I went up to Yongsan and proceeded with themand from the Saintess¡¯s home. The Saintess and I sat side by side in gaming chairs and looked at the monitor. ¡°Standby.¡± ¡°¡.¡± ¡°Standby, standby. 3 seconds, 2 seconds, 1 second¡ªnow! Saintess! Now!¡± The Saintess pped her hands together. [¡°The National Saint¡± confers a new power upon you all.] [From now on, you can confirm your abilities by muttering ¡®Status Window¡¯ or ¡®Status Open.¡¯] At that moment. -Anonymous: Did you shout ¡®Status Open¡¯ as soon as you opened your eyes today? (191st day) -Anonymous: Since it opened, let¡¯s post it???? (191st day) The certification post appeared on S with amazing timing. Not only the first witness, but also the Constetion talks were sent to the awakened across the Korean Penins at the same time. On S, posts such as ¡®What?¡¯ and ¡®Heck, received a Constetion message just now¡¯ appeared, followed by certification posts like ¡®Is the Status Window really appearing?¡¯ and ¡®Why is this real?¡¯ flooded in. I clenched my fist. ¡°Sess! Saintess! We did it! You did really well!¡± ¡°¡Yes.¡± At that precise moment. To execute the optimal ambush that could humble the anomaly, the Saintess paused time and sent a message to all awakened individuals across the Korean Penins. Isn¡¯t this satisfying? Ordering a lunch box only to find the delivery person has eaten all the side dishes would have elicited a lesser surprise than this. -Anonymous: National Saint >> GOAT among all previous Constetions, lol -Anonymous: Seriously, this kid is the correct answer lol ©¸Anonymous: Kid? ©¸Anonymous: Call him by his name, how dare you -Literature Girl: Telling us what the skill is, telling us the development method, now even giving us the Status Window. How far are you willing to generously distribute, GOAT-sei¡ Naturally, the faith that originally would have gone to the anomaly all turned towards the Constetion. In other words, they gathered around the Saintess. Talent is controlled by the anomaly, but money is earned by humans. This is the ultimate way of the regressor. ¡°How is it? This is a general, outer protrusion.¡± ¡°¡.¡± The anomaly of the Status Window was neutralized. What I did not anticipate at that time was that the aftermath of the vacuum created by the subjugation of the istion god Endless was ¡®Status Window.¡¯ Just as aftershocks of an earthquake ur several times, aftershocks of void also ur many times. Kuwong! I¡¯m satisfied that I¡¯ve overwhelmed the ¡®Status Window.¡¯ Boom! Not long after I had triumphantly subdued the Status Window, Sim Aryeon burst into my room, kicking open the door. ¡°G-Guild Master!¡± ¡°¡It¡¯s sad. I¡¯ve been saying this time and time again, but you shouldn¡¯t be obsessed with such superficial things, whether it¡¯s S-ss or anything else¡.¡± ¡°I¡¯m serious! Please don¡¯t be mistaken again!¡± ¡°Oh.¡± ¡°Ah! Ah, anyway! That¡¯s not important right now¡ªwell, it is important, but! B-Big trouble! H-Hurry up ande outside!¡± Sim Aryeon grabbed my sleeve and pulled me along. Instinctively, the thought, ¡°I¡¯m not moving because this E-Rank Strength is pulling me,¡± crossed my mind, even reaching my lips. But I managed to hold it back just in time. I hadn¡¯t fallen that low yet. Anyway, we emerged onto the guild¡¯s vacant lot (at this point, I hadn¡¯t yete up with the idea of using the undersea tunnel as my hideout), and there, a slime was lying half-dead, groaning in pain. ¡°Oh no! It¡¯s already running away! Stop! Stop! Where did a slime like that¡¡± Perhaps Sim Aryeon was the one who had defeated this slime, as it was clearly wary of us, wriggling around. Sim Aryeon picked up a club. ¡°L-Look, Guild Master! You have to open your eyes wide and see¡¡± What did she mean by ¡°opening wide¡±? I was getting the impression that thenguage of Cryptid creatures was bing increasingly difficult to understand with each passing day. With that, Sim Aryeon swung her club. And I opened my eyes wide. ¡°¡Huh?¡± ¡°L-Look. Hehe. You saw it, right¡?¡± The reason I was surprised wasn¡¯t because Sim Aryeon¡¯s club strike contained such profound wisdom, nor was it because a chemical reaction I had never seen before urred in the slime. More precisely, the reaction was observed in the ¡®void¡¯ above the slime¡¯s torso, where abyrinth of nk space was supposed to remain. [DAMAGE!] [91!] It was floating there. The word ¡®DAMAGE¡¯ in English, floating above the slime¡¯s torso. And the ¡®value¡¯ of that damage. The bold red letters floated there for a moment before disappearing. An even more astonishing event unfolded immediately afterward. Ping? A ridiculous sound effect rang out once. Then, Sim Aryeon muttered, ¡°Ugh,¡± and fiddled with the Status Window in the void as if manipting it. ¡°I, I got experience points and leveled up¡¡± ¡°Experience points? Level?¡± ¡°Ah, yes. I was beating up slimes to relieve stress every day, and suddenly, damage numbers and stuff started appearing. And experience points and levels were newly added to the Status Window¡¡± ¡°¡¡± ¡°I-I¡¯m level 13! Oh. I just leveled up to 14¡ Guild Master, what level are you at? Huh? Ehehe. Are you just going to level up to 99 on your own?¡± Sim Aryeon¡¯s eyes sparkled, but I could only remain silent. It seemed like I could hear a strange hallucinationing from somewhere far away. -Outsider? No, you idiot. -What are you looking at? That¡¯s my afterimage. The Status Window was just the tip of the iceberg. Experience points. Level up system. The true identity of the strange entity that freely manipted all of these elements was none other than¡ an RPG, a ¡®role-ying game¡¯. [Proofreader ¨C Gun] Chapter 115 â€“ Non-Player III [Proofreader ¨C Gun] Chapter 115 ¨C Non-yer III 5 This world is contaminated. It wasn¡¯t just that the physical space was tainted. The mental world, the minds of the Awakened, were entirely drenched in corruption. -Anonymous: (Rmended) ¡î¡î¡î Level 5 ~ Level 10 ¡î¡î¡î Experience Farming Sweet Spot Dungeon List. Must-read for newbies!! -Anonymous: I got up early today and farmed 10,000 XP, then settled ounts and cracked open a beer. Not bad, right? -Goryeojang: Today¡¯s Caf¨¦ Mocha.png -Anonymous: Looking for a Level 10 party!! No NPC porters, sorry?? -[Samcheon] Witch Judge: Hey guys, I found ck Orb Messiah (S) gear while hunting monsters today. Is this good? Behold. This rotten mentalndscape. It didn¡¯t take long after the arrival of the ¡®online RPG¡¯ for SG Net to degenerate into this mess. True to the self-proimed gaming nation of Korea, adaptation was incredibly swift. Common clich¨¦s in subcultures, such as: ¡®What? The world¡ has turned into a game?¡¯ ¡®This is absolutely bizarre¡¡¯ ¡®How does that cheater know all the game mechanics we don¡¯t?¡¯ Were all skipped. Even elementary school kids epted the situation with the seasoned expressions of veteran yers, saying, ¡®What? We¡¯ve be game yers? The time hase.¡¯ Soon, SG Net was flooded with all sorts of strategy guides. There was no need for me to wear the mask of the ¡®Great Library Society¡¯ and diligently post guides. Everyone voluntarily, enthusiastically, and passionately tackled the anomalies. This was utterly strange. ¡°Why the long face¡? Hoo. Isn¡¯t this betterpared to the days when everyone would tremble at the sight of anomalies? Now, they willingly dive into the void to level up¡¡± ¡°The problem is that they¡¯re exploring the void with a game mentality. They should be understanding the world through their intuition and hard-earned experience, but instead, they¡¯re seeing the world through the lens provided by these anomalies.¡± ¡°Hmmm¡¡± ¡°This ¡®online game¡¯ itself is a massive void. Those who call themselves yers are practically turning into anomalies themselves!¡± ¡°Well, there is some logic to that¡ But, might it just be my imagination that you seem more angry about losing your monopoly on fame and aplishments to the anomalies¡?¡± There was no need to respect the opinion of someone who saw everything through a twisted lens: the Poison Pok¨¦mon. I had traveled to Japan, China, and even further to Mongolia and India. Everywhere, I found the same infection of ¡®online RPG.¡¯ ¡®¡This is no ordinary matter.¡¯ It wasn¡¯t just people¡¯s perceptions that had changed. The anomalies themselves were gradually changing. ¡°Hehehe. There are so many slimes by the river these days that it¡¯s really easy to catch them¡!¡± For example, the slimes that Sim Aryeon brought every day to beat to a pulp with her club for stress relief. Originally, slimes were not suchmon anomalies. They rarely appeared in sewers and hardly ever came out into the open. Unless one went underground, it was almost impossible for ordinary Awakened to encounter a slime in daily life. The poption of slimes was rapidly increasing. Now, they were bouncing around the riverbanks quite frequently. Pyo-ro-ro? Pyo-ro-ro-rong? As a result, the sound of Sim Aryeon beating slimes echoed incessantly in front of our guild¡¯s headquarters. Because of this noise pollution, I seriously considered relocating the guild base. Moreover, the development of a precise, academically verified, and objective standard, ¡®Depth,¡¯ recing the nonsensical S-rank, SSS-rank, EX-rank system ranging from 100 meters to 1200 meters, was also part of this resolution. ¡°Fast leveling¡ Yeah, I can really feel my Poison Mastery skill leveling up quickly when I bash slimes in the front yard! This is like finding out the basement stairs lead to a hidden elixir mine only I know about, or discovering a secret spot where only the protagonist can rake in the rewards¡!¡± Sim Aryeon¡¯s healing ability had gradually reached the point where she could perfectly heal a patient even if they were brought in with all their limbs torn apart as long as they still had their head attached. More and more Awakened on SG Net began to refer to Sim Aryeon as ¡°the Saintess.¡± This was utterly strange. In any case, it wasn¡¯t just the slimes that were increasing in this rotting world. Goblins, orcs, ogres, and trolls¡ªthe ssic monsters found in games¡ªwere filling the void more and more. There was only one way to exin this phenomenon. ¡®The online game is invading not only the Awakened but also the anomalies¡?¡¯ A chill ran down my spine. An anomaly that didn¡¯t discriminate between humans and monsters, that didn¡¯t stay confined to a particr ce, that wasn¡¯t bound by time or space, and that endlessly expanded its influence. The Isted God. Indeed, just as if waiting for Endless to be defeated, another mysterious Isted God was extending its ws. Disguised in the guise of a ¡®game,¡¯ something humans found hard to resist. -Anonymous: (Screenshot) Broke my damage record while fighting an orc lol -Anonymous: This game is seriously so fun. -Anonymous: Looking for a Level 20 party!! Already have one NPC porter secured!! -Anonymous: Anyone want to trade troll eyes at the Kimhae dungeon entrance? SG Net increasingly became indistinguishable from a ¡®game forum.¡¯ Gradually, the term ¡®monster¡¯ became moremon than ¡®anomaly,¡¯ and ordinary people who hadn¡¯t awakened any skills were referred to as NPCs. When you killed a monster, ¡®items¡¯ dropped. Slime cores, goblin teeth, orc hearts, etc. All these materials had specific effects, and you could see what those effects were in your ¡®inventory.¡¯ Everything was a game. ¡I shared my spection with the Regressor Alliance. Both Noh Doha and the Saintess¡¯s expressions turned grave. ¡°Noh Doha, as the Head of Administration, formally dere the ¡®online game¡¯ as an anomaly. We must raise awareness among people, even if it¡¯s a bitte.¡± ¡°Understood. Although I doubt how effective it will be now. Everyone¡¯s showing symptoms of game addiction¡¡± Game addiction. This too was a symptom of the Isted God infecting the Awakened. It was on a different level from the game addiction the media talked about before the apocalypse. Now, the Awakened believed that a ¡®game-shaped world¡¯ was much more real and desirable. Posts continued to flood SG Net every three seconds. ¡°Saintess, continue to y the role of the ¡®online game¡¯ operator as convincingly as possible. Even if we can¡¯t defeat the anomaly right away, we can at least prevent some of the faith from spreading to it.¡± ¡°Yes, I understand.¡± By taking such measures, we managed to hold things together up to the 134th regression. But I had already resigned myself to the possibility of another regression. After intercepting the ¡®status window,¡¯ strange phenomena like ¡®experience points,¡¯ ¡®levels,¡¯ and ¡®damage¡¯ started appearing. What kind of anomaly would await us next? Already, the Awakened not just in Korea, but around the world, were heavily addicted to the ¡®online game.¡¯ The stats and levels it measured were concrete, and the void, once full of terror, had turned into an experience-filled hunting ground. Humanity was pushing back the void more decisively than ever before, winning battle after battle. By following the anomalies themselves. I suddenly recalled the protagonist¡¯s soliloquy from [The Catcher in the Rye]. ¡Sure, if you¡¯re on the team with all the best yers, life is a game. I¡¯ll grant you that. But if you¡¯re on the other team, the one with nobody decent on it, what kind of game is that? Nothing. It¡¯s not a game at all¡ As long as the Awakened seemed to be winning, at least on the surface, the ¡®online game¡¯ was indeed a game. But how long would that victoryst? Despite the warnings from the National Highway Administration, the Awakened didn¡¯t stop ying the online game. They were endlessly immersed in the joy of leveling up. And then one day. Just as there are always signs before a great earthquake, a message arrived for me. [¡®The Operator of the Grand y¡¯ announces the beginning of a new event.] 6 shback. ¡°Ah, now that I think about it, why did you suddenly pretend to be a strange Constetion a few days ago?¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°A week ago. You sent a message under the name of ¡®The Operator of the Grand y.¡¯ I was a bit surprised, thinking even the Saintessess makes mistakes. Did you send a message meant for another Awakened to me by mistake?¡± ¡°¡¡?¡± Anyone with a good memory would quickly recall this. This was an anecdote I mentioned at the end of the story about my first meeting with the Saintessess. ¡°I¡¯ve never sent such a message.¡± [Proofreader ¨C Gun] ¡°What?¡± ¡°I¡¯ve never created a Constetion called ¡®The Operator of the Grand y.¡¯ Perhaps you saw it wrong?¡± ¡°¡¡.¡± The story of a ¡®mysterious Constetion¡¯ that the Saintessess never created, sending a message. Though I tend to share episodes as theye to mind without much regard for chronology, here¡¯s the sequence of events: * 117th regression: Defeated the Isted God ¡®Endless Hell.¡¯ * 118th regression: First witnessed ¡®Hero Syndrome.¡¯ * 119th regression: First witnessed ¡®Reincarnation Truck.¡¯ * 126th regression: Defeated ¡®Salvation Narrative Syndrome.¡¯ * 133rd regression: First witnessed the ¡®Status Window.¡¯ * 134th regression: First witnessed the presumed Isted God ¡®Online Game.¡¯ And the message from the mysterious Constetion¡ªor entity that might not even be a Constetion¡ªalso came during the 134th regression. My instinct, honed sharply over many regressions, rang like a seismograph¡¯s needle. My intuition was correct. The 134th regression was merely a foreshock. The next regression, the 135th, brought the actual earthquake. -Anonymous: These guys y games all day lol. Turn off the game and go outside lol. The 135th regression was fundamentally simr to the 134th. Except that strange posts began to appear at some point. -Anonymous: For us, the game is reality? For us, the game is reality? For us, the game is reality? ©¸Anonymous: Lmao, right. ©¸Anonymous: I¡¯ve been ying ¡®reality¡¯ continuously for 50,783 hours. ©¸Anonymous: Shut up. -Anonymous: This guy posts nonsense even in the middle of the night, and now again¡ ©¸Anonymous: What? At first nce, it seemed like the usual banter of an ordinarymunity. But the void always disguises itself as something not much different from nature. A school, a tunnel, the sea. Eventually. -Anonymous: Damn, my whole body is sore from gaming too long. I¡¯m logging off. The void arrived abruptly. -Anonymous: Sorry, guys, I¡¯m too sleepy to stay logged in; logging off now. -Anonymous: I¡¯m logging out to live my real life. -Anonymous: Looking for a Level 30 party! Already secured three NPC porters!! -Anonymous: Ugh, nothing to do in this game. Quitting it. Bye. Members of SG Net began to post about logging out or quitting the game. But as everyone knew, the ¡®online game¡¯ was oveid on reality. How on earth could they ¡®log out¡¯ or quit this game? [Doctor Jang.] The answer was delivered to me immediately, whether I wanted it or not. [The Awakened aren¡¯t moving.] ¡°¡Are you saying they¡¯re dead?¡± [Yes, mostly. But it¡¯s strange. Some Awakened remainpletely still as if in aa, then resume activity after a while as if nothing happened.] ¡°¡¡¡± [As if they logged into the game.] They resembled zombies. Monsters that be active at night but stop functioning as soon as the sun rises, the Awakened showed no movement during ¡®log out.¡¯ [Even with my irvoyance, I see nothing in the Awakened in aatose state. Darkness. Just pitch-ck darkness.] Awakened in the logged-out state didn¡¯t react even if I attacked them. It was as if they didn¡¯t exist in this world; my de passed through them. Sim Aryeon, the one in our guild who enjoyed the ¡®online game¡¯ the most, was not exempt from this phenomenon. ¡°¨D¨DAh, Guild Leader!¡± Sim Aryeon ran to me with bright eyes. ¡It was hard to believe that this person, who had been standingpletely still for the past three days, was now moving so naturally. ¡°Were you waiting for me?¡± ¡°¡Yes.¡± ¡°Wow! Thank you! Hehe. See? Even an NPC¡¯s response changes when you raise their affinity!¡± ¡°¡¡¡± ¡°I tried toe back quickly, but real life kept holding me back¡ But I resolved it this time!¡± Originally, among the ¡®addicts,¡¯ the term NPC referred to ordinary people who hadn¡¯t awakened any skills. That was no longer the case. As time passed, even ordinary people gained minor abilities. They eagerly joined the game and became yers. Now, NPCs were those like Noh Doha and me who didn¡¯t log into the game at all. Ironically, those who could exist in the ¡®game world¡¯ 24/7 were called NPCs by the addicts. To them, the work Noh Doha did in constructing national highways across the Korean Penins was a true ¡®quest.¡¯ I, too, was treated as a ¡®hidden NPC,¡¯ responsible for teaching yers various professions, skills, and training methods. Who was the real NPC? From my perspective, those consumed by the void and reduced to part of it were the NPCs. But they saw me as the NPC. I thought. If this were a case of the Butterfly Dream, it would be an excruciatingly nightmarish one. [Proofreader ¨C Gun] Chapter 116 â€“ Non-Player IV [Proofreader ¨C Gun] Chapter 116 ¨C Non-yer IV 7 Let¡¯s talk about something else for a moment. The phenomenon where humans be influenced by the presence of anomalies is often described as ¡°gaining faith,¡± but there¡¯s a much better term for it. To be enchanted. To be fascinated. To be captivated. If you look at the Chinese character for enchantment, it contains the character for ghost. Spirit. An irresistible attraction. Impulse. The ancients detected ghosts¡ªi.e., anomalies¡ªwithin that irresistible pull. They also issued countless warnings. Every anomaly is different. Naturally, the words to describe the attraction of anomalies are numerous. Each of these characters means enchantment. The reason why the ancients did not stick to one term and instead used various terms like ÷È, is because even characters can be haunted by anomalies, and haunted characters turn into spells. [PR/N: ¡®÷È¡¯ has different meanings ording to the context, charm, enchant, allure, bewitch, fascinate, depending on context, which is what the author is trying to say here, they didn¡¯t use a ¡®single¡¯ word but many. Next few lines will exin it better I guess.] It¡¯s the same reason I use countless aliases when referring to anomalies. If an anomaly were to upy a single character or name entirely, it would be akin to providing the anomaly with a home. Thus, calling an anomaly by its name is essentially: ¡°Hey, ghost. Anomaly. This is your home. Come here.¡± To reiterate, an anomaly¡¯s name should never be fixed. If you must call it, use a different name each time, and if youck the knowledge or experience to do so, it¡¯s better not to call it at all. As the founder of the ¡®Library Society,¡¯ I deliberately created multiple methods to call anomalies. For instance, even for the Ten ns. ¡®The Crawling Chaos Cthulhu,¡¯ ¡®The Shadow Lord,¡¯ ¡®The Thorn Hell,¡¯ ¡®The Lurker.¡¯ I used various aliases. Considering that the Ten ns is not a mental-type anomaly but merely a physical one, the precautions might seem excessive. Imagine then, how much more cautious one must be with the isted god Endless. ¡®The Celestial Transform,¡¯ ¡®School Ghost Story,¡¯ ¡®Night Parade of One Hundred Demons,¡¯ ¡®The Hundred Stories,¡¯ ¡®The Four-Letter Taboo,¡¯ ¡®The Hundred Tales,¡¯ ¡®The White Tales,¡¯ and going further, though not often mentioned in stories, ¡®Heraclitus¡¯ Fire Ring,¡¯ ¡®The Backrooms,¡¯ and so on¡ I provided humans with more than enough options for calling them. Only by doing so can anomalies be prevented from nesting, pushed away by the barrage of characters. Today¡¯s episode is no different. At the start of the story, I named the anomaly ¡®Online Game.¡¯ But by now, you¡¯ve probably guessed a more fitting name. ¡®Logout Game.¡¯ The fate of those captivated by this anomaly was an exit from reality. -Anonymous: Crap game, no content. -Anonymous: These days, I rarely log into the game. Even daily quests are a hassle¡ -Anonymous: When does this game end? -Anonymous: Looking for a Level 40 party!! No NPC porters, unfortunately. -Anonymous: All the die-hard fans are gone, not many people left here. -Anonymous: Wow, why is this dead game¡¯s board still alive? The periods during which yers logged out grew longer, and the number of users logging into SG Net dwindled. Themunity became increasingly deste. Throughout it all, there was one well-known member who persistently posted nonsense from start to finish. -KoreanVige: Today¡¯s cafe mocha made by the Guild Leader NPC.png ©¸Anonymous: You still haven¡¯t quit? What level are you? ©¸KoreanVige: This great one has been max level for a while, now this one is just decorating the guild house instead of running dungeons. ©¸Anonymous: Max level, damn. ©¸Anonymous: But how does an NPC act as a Guild Leader? Is it a bug? ©¸KoreanVige: The gamepany hasn¡¯t patched it, so it¡¯s probably not a bug? Sim Aryeon. Even as others quit the ¡®game¡¯ one by one, she continued. What she did after logging into the game wasn¡¯t much. ¡°Ah, what a crap game¡ It¡¯s been two years without an update, no wonder yers keep leaving, sigh¡¡± Comining about the game. ¡°Guild Leader! Look at this! [Coffee Beans]! Hehe. Guild Leader, your affinity goes up if you get this item, right? Haha. It¡¯s a rare drop from the Necromancer Lich, and I gathered them all for you! Come on, increase! Affinity, hurry up and increase¡!¡± Obsessing over an affinity system I couldn¡¯tprehend, bombarding me with gifts. ¡°Hehehe, hihi. Hihihi¡¡± Catching slimes at the Han River and beating them in every conceivable way. Her gamey pattern was so monotonous that even I couldn¡¯t help but think, ¡°Doesn¡¯t she ever get bored?¡± Perhaps she did get tired, as her daily logins gradually stretched to 1 day, 3 days, and 7 days. Even that was more consistentpared to other yers. In fact, not only yers, but NPCs were also dwindling. At best, there were only Noh Doha and the Saintess left. If I looked hard enough, Koyori might still be around, but there was no reason to risk seeking her out. Eventually, I¡ªNoh Doha¡ªthe Saintess, members of the regression alliance, decided to live together by the Han River. Maintaining the National Road Management Headquarters no longer made sense, nor could we sustain ourselves solely in the aquarium mansion in Yongsan. Most importantly, in this world, the warmth of life had be too scarce. It was inevitable for thest NPCs, or rather survivors, to band together. ¡°Hmm. It¡¯s quiet¡¡± Noh Doha sipped his coffee, exhaling softly. ¡°The anomalies are quiet, holed up in their dungeons. The Awakened are motionless, like they¡¯ve turned to stone. When I heard that Doctor Jang had gone through countless turns, I wondered what it would feel like to witness the end of the world firsthand¡ Is this what it looks like?¡± ¡°It¡¯s rare for it to be this quiet.¡± We watched the sunlight shimmering on the river for a while. ¡°I¡¯ll volunteer for the experiment.¡± The saintess spoke up. ¡°What?¡± ¡°To find out where the people who logged out have gone. Whether they¡¯ve truly entered a death-like state or, as the Doctor Jang suspects, been dragged into the isted god¡¯s ¡®divine realm.¡¯ I¡¯ll log into the game and find out.¡± ¡°It will be dangerous. Other Awakened only had the sensation of returning to reality without any significant impact. If you dive in consciously aware of the isted god, who knows what kind of reaction you might provoke?¡± ¡°But we need information. You¡¯re thinking about the next turn anyway, aren¡¯t you? It¡¯s better to take some risks and gain a bit more information.¡± ¡°¡¡± ¡°Throwing oneself into the isted god¡¯s realm recklessly isn¡¯t wise, as you pointed out. It might expose your abilities. So, I¡¯ll handle the reconnaissance.¡± She wasn¡¯t wrong. Normally, we wouldn¡¯t use a card like the saintess just to perform a scout¡¯s task. In the chess game, the saintess yed the role of the king. She was a vital piece that must never be captured or revealed. However, there were no more Awakened left for her to monitor, and no need to act out the roles of the constetions. We took a gamble. In the guild¡¯s basement, the saintess muttered softly. ¡°Status window.¡± ¡°¡¡± ¡°¡¡± Noh Doha and I looked at the saintess. ¡°How is it?¡± ¡°¡I can see my abilities. And my level. But the terminology for the awakening abilities is quite different.¡± The saintess wasn¡¯t looking at us but at the empty space before her, as if words were written there. ¡°Can you see the logout button?¡± ¡°Logout button¡ Ah, yes. Here it is. When I open the menu, it¡¯s at the very bottom,beled ¡®Logout¡¯.¡± ¡°Hmm.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll press it now.¡± At that moment, the saintess froze. Literally, her movements stiffened. The heartbeat that had been pounding in her chest, the gaze of her sky-blue eyes, and her light-colored hair fluttering in the river breeze¡ªall stoppedpletely. ¡°¡¡± ¡°Hmm.¡± Noh Doha reached out a hand. But his hand simply sliced through empty air. ¡°I¡¯ve experienced this several times now, but it¡¯s always unpleasant. Seeing but not being able to touch is like an illusion, a mirage¡¡± ¡°¡¡± ¡°You decided to call this anomaly the ¡®Logout Game,¡¯ right? It seems it desperately wants to turn our world into fiction¡¡± I set the timer on my watch. 10 seconds. That was the agreed time for the saintess to stay logged out before immediately exiting. 10 seconds passed. The saintess didn¡¯t move. ¡°¡¡± ¡°¡¡± Expecting this might happen, we had set the second timing at 3 minutes. 2 minutes and 50 seconds passed. The saintess still hadn¡¯t moved. Anticipating this as well, we had prepared for the third timing¡ª ¡°Doctor Jang.¡± ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°She¡¯s dead.¡± ¡°¡¡± ¡°It¡¯s not respectful to stare at the dead for too long. In case she returns, I¡¯ll keep watch here. Doctor Jang, you should go upstairs¡¡± I agreed with Noh Doha¡¯s words. The light was shimmering along the riverbank. I calmed myself, made two cups of coffee, and went back down to the basement, only to find Noh Doha¡¯s motionless body. [Proofreader ¨C Gun] ¡°¡¡± I took one coffee back upstairs and never returned to the basement. The next day, a message appeared before me. [Urgent Patch Notice.] [The Administrator of the Great y of All Things announces the following: A severe bug was discovered in the game around 3 PM yesterday, leading to an emergency patch.] [We sincerely apologize for the inconvenience caused to our yers. Thank you.] 8 Sometimes, as a regressor, I wonder. Perhaps others take life more lightly than I do, endlessly turning the wheel of reincarnation. My mind holds the countless endings faced by the Saintess and the numerous deaths of Noh Doha. Mypanions often overlooked how their deaths were etched into my memory. ¡®I can¡¯t die. Not yet.¡¯ In a world left behind, a space that had be virtual to everyone but was still reality to me alone, I waited. For the moment the Exiled God would reveal himself. ¡®Now, the world is almost entirely in your grasp. You must be eager to dere your ultimate victory. But there¡¯s still someone left to prove that [this is not a game].¡¯ That someone was me. ¡®I must be a thorn in your side, monster.¡¯ Toplete its emptiness, it must eliminate every impurity. When the Exiled God could no longer endure, when he discarded the game¡¯s facade and revealed his true form, when the [Administrator of the Great y of All Things] showed their true colors, I intended to witness it and then die. I wouldn¡¯t die before then. Underestimating a regressor would be a mistake. Unlike the old man Scho, who would always end his life like a weakling, I had persistence. ¡°Guild Leader, how have you been? Ugh, real life has been so busy that it¡¯s getting harder to log in¡ But I¡¯ll always make sure to visit whenever I think of it! Hehe.¡± The intervals between Sim Aryeon¡¯s logins rapidly increased. Logging in once a year, or even once every three years, wasn¡¯t unusual anymore. Talking to her, it seemed she wasn¡¯t aware it had been three years. She thought it had only been about three weeks. ¡®Time flows differently here.¡¯ In the void, time¡¯s distortion was expected. Even in Baekhwa High, Cheon Yohwa didn¡¯t believe she had spent four years there. I didn¡¯t just sit and let the years pass by. I entered dungeons known to be the most valuable among Korean yers and hunted all the monsters. Even when the monsters respawned after a while, I killed them all again. For 11 years. I, just an NPC, ruined what should have been experience points for the yers. [Emergency Patch Notice.] [The Administrator of the Great y of All Things announces the following: A severe bug was discovered, necessitating an emergency patch.] [We sincerely apologize for the inconvenience caused to our yers. Thank you.] Soon, the dungeons disappeared. ¡°Hah.¡± Was there no longer a need to pretend to maintain the game¡¯s structure? I went on to destroy every dungeon across the Korean penins. Each time, an ¡®emergency patch¡¯ urred, and the meticulously crafted ¡®game¡¯ rapidly deteriorated. The cities and towns where yers once interacted met the same fate. Beautiful naturalndscapes, streets, and hideous monsters¡ªall objects were destroyed. Only the stone-still figures of logged-out yers remained scattered. My rampage continued for 37 years. [Emergency Patch Notice.] [Emergency Patch Notice.] [Emergency Patch Notice.] At some point, the ¡®game¡¯ stopped even altering day and night. It was evidence that the sun and earth had already fallen under the sway of an Exiled God-level monster. The waters of the Han River halted. The cicadas¡¯ summer songs ceased. Even when monsters respawned, they just wandered in ce. A bizarre world. A broken game. A virtual Eldorado where nothing was born, and nothing died. Yet, my eternal memory, the blood coursing through my veins, and my constantly circting aura affirmed that I was still alive. Now, reality¡¯s time was as long as my memories, and reality¡¯s space was asrge as my body. [Emergency Patch Notice.] 212 years had passed. [Proofreader ¨C Gun] Chapter 117 â€“ Non-Player V [Proofreader ¨C Gun] Chapter 117 ¨C Non-yer V Now, the appearance of void became poignant. Once, the graphic of flowing rivers was beautifully rendered in ¡°virtual reality games,¡± elevated to ¡°AAA games,¡± then downgraded to ordinary ¡°3D games,¡± and further regressed to ¡°90s console games.¡± Ultimately, it degraded to the level of ¡°dot games.¡± Here in this void, no seas, no rivers flowed. Shades of blue, sky blue, and white dots remained fixed. Hillsides were adorned with modest shades of green and deep green. Trees were hues of dark brown and amber. Rocks were grey. Clouds were white. yers, now, had transformed into mere dots of flesh color with slight decorations. ¡°¡¡± Every 1 year, 3 years, 9 years, 20 years, 50 years when Sim Aryeon logged in, her ¡®graphics¡¯ had deteriorated. From a character that seemed painstakingly crafted by a graphic designer in AAA games, to one that could appear in any typical 3D game, and finally resembling designs from low-resolution games of the 90s. By thest encounter, if one didn¡¯t know her as Sim Aryeon, she would have appeared as nothing more than a polygonal figure with ¡®green hair,¡¯ ¡®long hair,¡¯ and ¡®arge wooden peg leg (easel).¡¯ S also met its end. -KoreanVige: Today, the guild leader NPC enjoyed a mocha.jpeg -KoreanVige: Today, the guild leader NPC enjoyed a mocha.png -KoreanVige: Today, the guild leader NPC enjoyed a mocha.jpg -KoreanVige: Today, the guild leader NPC enjoyed a mocha.jpeg On the first page of the bulletin board, there was only one post left. Even that was an old post from quite some time ago. In the past 100 years, Sim Aryeon had not logged in. Perhaps she too had thought she couldn¡¯t endure this ¡°dying game¡± any longer. Seo Gyu had be a yer hundreds of years ago, yet SGNet still persisted. This suggested that those ¡°logged out¡± awakeners hadn¡¯t simply died; they might have been drawn into the realm of the isted god. [Service Closure Notice] Finally. [Hello, yers. This is the Administrator of ¡°Metaphysical y.¡±] [Unfortunately, we have decided to end the service for ¡°Reality Online.¡±] [We sincerely thank all yers who have enjoyed and loved ¡°Reality Online¡± up until now.] [The server for ¡°Reality Online¡± will shut down in 72 hours.] Three days. Until now, it had been an eerie being, concealing its true form for centuries, but now it would emerge from its sanctuary at the moment of global destruction. I had waited. For over two hundred years, I had clung to the undamaged Dao sword, crossing the river. And exactly 72 hourster, [Hello, everyone. This is the Administrator of ¡°Metaphysical y.¡±] Suddenly, in the mosaic sky made of dots, a vivid blue butterfly appeared. The butterfly had a distinctly different ¡°resolution¡±pared to its surroundings. I tried to strike at the being as soon as it came into view, but unfortunately, it didn¡¯t reach the sky. Perhaps that mosaic sky didn¡¯t upy space at all. Without concern for my attack, messages continued to appear before me. [We are considering embarking on a new journey.] [It may take a very long time to reach a new destination, but we hope to meet you again somewhere at the twisted end of the M?bius strip.] [Thank you.] [I really hope to see you again.] Then. ¡°Ah, ah, ah, ah!¡± From behind, a mechanical sound was heard. It was strangely unfamiliar yet somehow familiar. With a chill of resentment, I gazed up at the alien-grade being and couldn¡¯t help but turn around in surprise. There. ¡°Guild Leader!¡± Green dots for hair. A flesh-colored dot for a face. Eyes and mouth made of ck dots. A dot mass much smaller than myself stood there. ¡°I¡¯vee!¡± Dot by dot, with exaggerated movements of its arms back and forth, it walked towards me. Step by step. Step by step. Each time its shoes touched the ground, a faint sound effect of footsteps echoed. The mass of dots embraced my waist tightly. But it was just a sound effect. I felt no sensation on my waist. I hesitated for a moment before speaking. It had been so long since I conversed with a person that my tongue moved awkwardly. ¡°¡Aryeon?¡± ¡°Yes!¡± Dot smiled. Perhaps broadly. Each time it spoke, there followed a digital, buzzing sound effect. The mechanical tones, barely mimicking human voices, rose and fell. ¡°How did you, no. Why are you here¡?¡± ¡°Why not! The server¡¯s closing notice came out! I hurriedly logged in! And, well, I wanted to see Guild Leader onest time with you!¡± ¡°¡¡± ¡°Sorry for beingte, Guild Leader. Hehe.¡± I¡ [Notification.] [The server will automatically shut down in 30 seconds.] I hugged Aryeon tightly. There was no sensation as if embracing empty space. I stroked the perpetually unruly hair that stuck out unevenly. Still, there was no sensation. ¡°Guild Leader?¡± ¡°No. There¡¯s nothing to apologize for. You have nothing to apologize for. Aryeon. If anything, I¡¯m sorry as the Guild Leader. I¡ for what¡¯s next. Trying to gather information somehow. So, I didn¡¯t expect you to end up like this.¡± ¡°Guild Leader.¡± Aryeon reached out a hand. [The server will shut down in 20 seconds.] ¡°Don¡¯t be sad, Guild Leader.¡± [The server will shut down in 10 seconds.] ¡°I¡ Guild Leader, I really like the caramel mhiato from that caf¨¦.¡± [The server will shut down in 3 seconds.] [The server will shut down in 2 seconds.] [The server will shut down in 1 second.] ¡°So, next time¡¡± As the countdown ended, Dot¡¯s world abruptly faded into 16-bit colors. And without a moment¡¯s wait, it transitioned to 8-bit, then 4-bit, andscapeposed solely of ck and white. Our world¡¯s nutrients, reality, essence, were all being swallowed rudely by that empty butterfly above. Aryeon¡¯s lips trembled, but ¡°Ah, ah, ah,¡± only the electronic sounds that were increasingly difficult to interpret as human voices echoed. At that moment, I felt that the outcast was exerting all its power to ¡°bless¡± me. I also intuited that if I were enchanted by it, even the opportunity to end my own life would vanish. I raised thest aura. Holding Aryeon a little tighter. ¡°¡¤¡¤¡¤¡¤¡¤¡¤¡¤¡¤¡± Now, Aryeon¡¯s voice, descending beyond even 1-bit, waspletely iprehensible, but I was certain it was the sound of a smile. ckout. My reality faced ¡°server shutdown.¡± 9 There¡¯s an afterword. Quite a lot of it. I¡¯d like to swiftly reach the happy ending where I, Doctor Jang, begin my counterattack and crush the Outsider who dared to meddle with our world¡ªunfortunately, attempting that is something for muchter. As the ¡°Manager of Infinite Amusements¡± or the ¡°Logout Game¡± surpassed the 555th turn, strategies began to emerge. So, in this episode, instead of skipping straight to the 555th, let¡¯s unravel some minor afterstories. First, the first afterstory. ¡°What, where am I?¡± ¡°Huh? Busan Station? I was just at the park a moment ago¡¡± ¡°Guild Leader? Guild Leader, where are you?¡± Rustling. Immediately after being killed by the Outsider, I woke up to familiar murmurs. Busan Station¡¯s main hall. It couldn¡¯t be called my hometown, but it could be called the homnd of the regressors. People trapped by void were bewildered. ¡°Ah.¡± I felt a temporary disconnection. No matter how much of a genius I was at mental management, returning right after such a bad ending wasn¡¯t easy. At times like this, I relied on my own return routine. Quickly getting up, walking to the vending machine to get a Shirley Temple, suppressing the tutorial fairy to save Seo Gyu¡¯s life, and then picking up a silver droplet from the souvenir shop. Habit. Suggestion. Consciousness. Isn¡¯t it interesting? In a world where everything endlessly repeats in a circle, it was about drawing a slightly smaller circle than the world. Thus, the world became the clock of hours and minutes, and Naite danced the rhythm of time, bing an eternal cycle. I raised my upper body. Once again, I pushed my weight to turn over the leaf of life. And then. Plop¡ª ¡°¡.?¡± Something entered my life. A very lightptopy on my thigh. [Proofreader ¨C Gun] ¡°Aptop?¡± It was an unfamiliar object. Here, ¡°unfamiliar¡± means that I had never witnessed such a sight in all the turns. My eyes widened. I immediately turned on theptop. Bzzt, ziiing¡ The boot-up time was slow. My heart pounded. People murmured around me, but I ignored them all. The important thing now was that this unidentified object had suddenly intruded into my return, into the eternal cycle. Soon, the desktop unfolded. A background as white as a nk canvas. There were no misceneous icons. Just one untitled Notepad filey at the top right of the screen. ¡°¡.¡± Click. I clicked on the file, and a Notepad appeared on theptop screen. [ What is this world? ] One sentence. At that moment, I sensed it. Thisptop and the Notepad file were nothing other than a supernatural entity left behind by the Outsider, the ¡°Manager of Infinite Amusements,¡± to me. Was it a reward for the winner who survived to the end in the game he hosted? Or was this enigmatic Q&A itself another game? As the 135th version of me, I couldn¡¯t judge. It was clear, however, that another item was being allocated to my return, following the staff and the staff sword Doha. ¡°Hmm.¡± I typed a response in the Outsider¡¯s Notepad without hesitation. [ F U C K Y O U ] ¡. There was no response from theptop. What was the problem? After a moment¡¯s thought, I realized it was my mistake. The question was in Korean, and I answered in English. Clearly my fault. I quickly deleted the response and banged the keyboard again. [? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?] [PR/N: ¡®F U C K Y O U¡¯ is what the text says, not me tho, im a good person ?? ] Tick¡ª Theptop went ck. It had turned off on its own. After that, theptop remained inactive until it moved on to the next turn, where it turned on again. It seemed that I only had two chances per turn to answer questions. 10 Here¡¯s the second afterstory. As I mentioned earlier, even though I obtained the item known as theptop, I hadn¡¯t seeded in subduing the Outsider. Therefore, a temporary solution was necessary. I gathered Noh Doha and the Saintess and issued a solemn directive. ¡°If the status window appears, under no circumstances should you ever open it. We must now proceed with the groundwork to ensure this.¡± ¡°Hmm¡¡± ¡°We must be decisive in our means and methods. Under the authority of the Highway Control Bureau and the whispers of the Constetions, continually indoctrinate how harmful the ¡®status window¡¯ is.¡± ¡°Alright, understood¡¡± ¡°If the Saintess detects any awakened individuals obsessed with the status window, notify us immediately. The Highway Control Bureau will step in to arrest and imprison these awakened individuals.¡± ¡°Yes, Doctor Jang.¡± ¡°Those arrested should be sentenced to lifelong imprisonment at hardbor. If necessary, they can even be treated as capital offenders. Creating rumors that they spread like a virus due to mental anomaly should minimize bacsh.¡± Seventy-two death-row inmates mobilized to eradicate the Inunaki Tunnel. Many of them were awakened individuals imprisoned for the crime of ¡®status window viewing.¡¯ My strategy didn¡¯t end there. ¡°The power of the Logout Game ultimately stems from the fulfillment of rising desires. Inflicting damage visible in numbers, gaining experience points, and leveling up.¡± Simply suppressing awakened individuals wasn¡¯t enough to prevent the spread of the ¡®status window.¡¯ Where there¡¯s demand, supply inevitably follows. An alternative was needed to somewhat satisfy people¡¯s desires. That was the ¡®Cafe Hideout.¡¯ -KoreanVige: (1000m) This gentleman likes quiet cafes but doesn¡¯t dislike bustling ones either. However, theck of customers at the cafe left him reluctantly renting the ce. Come down quickly since you¡¯re bored. ©¸Baekhwa High School 9th grade: (1200m) ??;; ©¸KoreanVige: Idiot?? Whether it¡¯s 1000 meters or 1200 meters, there¡¯s not much difference??? ©¸Baekhwa High School 9th grade: (1200m) The fish is pretty ??;; ©¸KoreanVige: Fish? What fish? ©¸Baekhwa High School 9th grade: (1200m) ? ??;; ©¸KoreanVige: ??? Depth system. I quantified each awakened individual¡¯s grade. The difference between Level 10 and Level 11 was difficult to discern. However, I clearly designed the depths of 100 meters and 200 meters in the Cafe Hideout, again 300 meters and 400 meters, so everyone could easily see ¡®how luxurious the interior and service were.¡¯ That was my strategy. Establishing a hideout in the Undersea Tunnel to prevent mental aberrations from invading. Designing the depth system and cafe to fulfill the rising desires of awakened individuals. Continually spreading awareness about the ¡®status window¡¯ through the Highway Control Bureau¡¯sws and the Constetions¡¯ warnings. This rigorous defense seeded, and afterpleting all precautions by Turn 197, we never faced annihtion by the Logout Game again. Now, as a regressor, my task is to wait until the exact strategy is developed. There were no significant problems. As proven in this turn, I was very ustomed to waiting. Therefore. ¡°Aryeon-ah.¡± ¡°Yes, heh? What¡¯s the matter¡?¡± ¡°I found a slime on my walk, so I brought it. It¡¯s yours now.¡± ¡°Wha-at? I was just feeling like looking for a slime, how did you know¡?¡± ¡°And this is a donut from your favorite Haeundae bakery. Here.¡± ¡°Ho-at? Huh? Is today my birthday? Guild Leader, you¡¯re so kind! A miracle that mightst one day out of 700 days¡¡± Today¡¯s afterstory concludes with us watching over our troublemaker happily eating a donut after yfully bopping a slime with a bat. ¡°Hehe¡ Thank you, Guild Leader!¡± [Proofreader ¨C Gun] Chapter 118 â€“ The Tormented One [Proofreader ¨C Gun] Chapter 118 ©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤ The Tormented One 1 Let me share a brief story about old man Scho, something I haven¡¯t talked about in a while. ¡°Hey, Embalmer.¡± ¡°¡¡¡± I¡¯ve mentioned before, but Scho frequently called me ¡°Embalmer.¡± This was because my alias, ¡°Undertaker,¡± came from my job of embalming bodies. The phrase ¡°same thing, different words¡± fits perfectly here. By simply changing the vowel in ¡°Embalmer¡± to ¡°Embalmer,¡± Scho¡¯s advanced Korean pronunciation added an undertone of ¡°sick¡± to the word. This proved that Scho¡¯s mental state hadn¡¯t progressed past infancy. By giving people nasty nicknames and calling them such in front of others, he aimed to assert his power over them. In the eternal election between the belief in human goodness and human wickedness, this was another moment where thetter secured a valuable vote. ¡°Embalmer. Why aren¡¯t you answering? Did you cut off your tongue and give it to a beggar? Hey, you! Even if they are a beggar, you shouldn¡¯t mock them like that.¡± ¡°Damn it¡¡± ¡°Hey, Embalmer. While I¡¯m quite pleased to see you reflecting the Parthenon temple¡¯s maxim of ¡®know thyself,¡¯ why do you demean yourself so? Do you im to be a regressor with such self-deprecation? All people have equal value. Although you may be damnable, you¡¯re an embalmer, not damned.¡± Who taught this old German guy such fluent Korean? He must have been taught by an incrediblenguage instructor. I¡¯d love to find out their identity and pay them a respectful visit¡ªwith a sword. ¡°So, what is it this time? What¡¯s the new trouble you¡¯re nning?¡± ¡°You have a better memory than I do, so you¡¯d know more precisely. That kid over there.¡± Scho pointed to someone. A girl about five years old was ying among a young couple who ran a bakery in Haeundae, Busan. Scho said, ¡°In thest turn, it was a boy.¡± ¡°¡¡¡± ¡°As the turns change, so do the couple¡¯s children. The child meant to be born to them has vanished. Isn¡¯t that right?¡± It wasn¡¯t just that. Although I hadn¡¯t mentioned it to Scho, I remembered it clearly. The couple¡¯s child changed with each turn. In the 18th turn, it was a boy, and in the 17th, another boy but with a different appearance. In the 11th turn, they even had twins. The timing of the pregnancy and birth always varied subtly. There was never a child who looked the same throughout the turns. ¡°So what? Why bring this up now?¡± ¡°Think about it, Doctor.¡± When he was serious, Scho would call me ¡°Doctor¡± instead of ¡°Embalmer.¡± ¡°Doesn¡¯t this mean that every time we return, the children from the previous worlds, the newly born humans, disappearpletely?¡± ¡°¡Not all of them.¡± ¡°Right. Those unaffected by our butterfly effect remain. But since the extermination of the Ten ns, I¡¯ve felt it more keenly. There are more lives I¡¯ve never seen before.¡± ¡°That¡¯s expected, given that many people now feel it¡¯s safe to settle in Korea.¡± ¡°Why are you pretending not to understand? That¡¯s not my point. What I¡¯m saying is, there are children who vanishpletely because of our returns! Their memories, their existence, all of it! Except for you, with your extraordinary memory!¡± ¡°¡¡¡± ¡°I¡¯m worried that the unintended ripple effect of my actions is cruelly impacting those little lives.¡± Scho¡¯s old brow furrowed with an indescribable guilt. It wasn¡¯t until muchter that I learned Scho and his wife had lost a child to miscarriage. Scho was projecting his wounds onto the ¡®vanishing lives¡¯ with each turn. Perhaps Scho¡¯s decision to take a ¡®vacation¡¯ had something to do with this? Erasing his presence. Refraining from interfering with the lives of those yet to be born, to prevent their existence from being pointlessly erased. ¡°Hmm.¡± ¡°¡What is that irritating expression for?¡± ¡°Nothing. Just¡¡± But my thoughts were a bit different. Not just my thoughts, but my feelings as well. Maybe it was at this point that Scho and I started to part ways. Because I didn¡¯t feel any guilt toward the ¡®vanished lives.¡¯ Of course, I felt regret and sadness. For instance, the child Scho had pointed out followed her parents to make glutinous rice donuts, and since they made too many, she even gave me some as a gift. ¡°Oppaaa! Ah-ah!¡± The child¡¯sughter, the small hand putting a donut in my mouth, the stiffness in my back as I bent down to receive it, the stickiness of the sugar that clung excessively to the surface of the glutinous rice donut, my reaction of, ¡°Wow, this is really delicious!¡± and the shy greeting from her parents¡ªall these memories remained with me. Yes, I admit it. I would never again receive a sugar donut from the little baker, Jeong Seoah, the five-year-old from the Haeundae bakery who admired her parents so much that she wanted to bake like them. But Jeong Seoah was just one of many who left a mark on my heart like grains of sand. Thousands, tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands of losses clung to the years of a regressor. Shadows exist not only in space but also in time, and we call those shadows memories. For someone like me, who has lived the longest, the darkest memories cast the deepest shadows. But the emotions that my heart felt were sadness, sorrow, and longing. I can say with certainty that guilt was not among them. In the first ce, the targets of my guilt were limited. It was mainly for the gravestones for which I held funerals through [Time Seal]. In other words, guilt only umted for those whom I had buried forever with my own hands. ¡°Old man, didn¡¯t I mention this before?¡± ¡°Hmm? What?¡± ¡°You know, when we return, the children born are subtly different. So, every time we return, it¡¯s like we¡¯re annihting existences.¡± ¡°Huh? When did I ever say that¡? Oh, that?¡± Scho red at me. ¡°What a crazy bastard.¡± ¡°¡?¡± ¡°You damn fool! That was something I mentioned more than three turns ago! Why are you acting like we talked about it yesterday? You, you bastard, you¡¯re doing this on purpose to make me look like a forgetful old man, aren¡¯t you?¡± Scho fumed, and it took me three minutes to calm him down. So I couldn¡¯t even joke, ¡°Didn¡¯t you once tell me not to use suchnguage? Why change your tune now?¡± When dealing with someone much older, you had to make many concessions. ¡°Doctor, if you don¡¯t fix that nasty habit, you¡¯re going to be in big trouble one day.¡± [Proofreader ¨C Gun] ¡°Indeed. Hearing that from you, who is riddled with mischief, suddenly makes me feel cautious.¡± ¡°Why is this brat getting more and more sharp-tongued? Embalmer! Where has your old innocent self gone?¡± ¡°Who knows? Maybe it got dragged off by a German and gassed to death.¡± ¡°You racist bastard! My family has been supporting the Social Democrats since the Imperial Diet era! My ancestors were arrested too!¡± ¡°Sure, no matter how much a white person frames it as racism against Asians, it doesn¡¯t work. Anyway, old man, I thought about what you said. I disagree.¡± We were walking along Haeundae beach. The sand, once a symbol of vacations in Korea, seemed to sparkle with the blue of an emerald, as if all the jewels called civilization lost by humanity had been stolen here. ¡°If children disappear every time we return, isn¡¯t it also true that new lives, which couldn¡¯t have existed before,e into being because of us?¡± ¡°¡Hmm?¡± ¡°If there were no returns, the people born at this moment would be predetermined. But the stronger and farther our butterfly effect spreads, new possibilities, even if brief,e into being.¡± ¡°¡¡¡± ¡°Of course, it¡¯s not a particrly good world. Every generationins they were born in the worst time in history, and except for the Ice Age, this is indeed the worst era. Still, I think it¡¯s better to exist even briefly than to remain in the abyss of nothingness.¡± Crunch. The sand of the Hangha Desert crunched under my shoe. ¡°And do you think we return because we like it? It¡¯s the fault of those damned anomalies. They should be the ones feeling guilty for the world¡¯s destruction, not us.¡± ¡°Sigh.¡± ¡°Old man, in my opinion, we don¡¯t need to feel guilty for the lives that have passed or take credit for the new ones. Just our determination to prevent the world¡¯s end weighs heavily on our shoulders. There¡¯s no need to add undue responsibility and break our backs.¡± ¡°¡¡¡± ¡°If you feelpelled to feel guilt, I won¡¯t stop you, but equally, you should feel joy for the new lives.¡± ¡°¡¡¡± ¡°As I¡¯m not a great person, I can¡¯t handle both emotions. So, I choose to feel neither guilt nor joy for the new lives.¡± For a long time, only the sound of waves, sand, and our footsteps filled the beach. So I had just advised Scho not to be too sad. ¡°The boy who couldn¡¯t understand a single phrase from the Analects has grown so wise.¡± Scho¡¯s sigh echoed like the old sea spitting out waves. ¡°Yes, having the courage to possess something is difficult, but even more difficult is the courage to let go. Doctor, you might be more suited to being a regressor than I am.¡± I couldn¡¯t easily agree with that soliloquy. However, one thing I was certain of was that my words probably didn¡¯t provide muchfort to Scho. As is well known, Scho eventually went on vacation with his beloved wife. I still didn¡¯t agree with Scho¡¯s assertion. Only when I saw Sim Aryeon reduced to a 1-bit graphic, smiling, did I briefly wonder if I was perhaps doing something bad to other children. ¡°Mister!¡± It was then, as I was walking along the beach. ¡°Hmm?¡± ¡°Ah-ah!¡± A little boy came running up to me, holding out a glutinous rice donut. Looking over the boy¡¯s shoulder, I saw a familiar bakery couple smiling cautiously. I instantly understood the situation. ¡°Ah-ah!¡± ¡°¡¡¡± In this turn, Ipared the boy in front of me to Jeong Seoah, whom I had encountered thousands of years ago. They lookedpletely different. But surprisingly, when I bit into the glutinous rice donut, even the sweetness of the excessively coated sugar tasted remarkably simr. My eyes widened. I couldn¡¯t help but savor the taste of the donut. ¡°How is it? Is it good?¡± ¡°¡It¡¯s delicious. Really, it¡¯s very good. You could be a bakery owner.¡± The boy giggled, hisughter ringing out as he ran back to his parents. The bakery couple, knowing I was the main force behind the annihtion of the Ten ns, bowed their heads slightly. The sight of the sand grains scattering under the boy¡¯s footsteps was vividly imprinted in my mind. As the waves of the sea rushed in, brushing against my feet, they seemed to wash away thest remnants clinging to my heart. ¡®If Scho erases all traces of his existence through suicide, I should rather survive to the end, so that the newly born lives can walk the earth a little longer. Anyway, time will tell which of us was wiser.¡¯ As I was about to leave Haeundae with a light step, a strange sense of incongruity caught my attention. ¡®Wait. Didn¡¯t the kid in the 19th turn call me oppa?¡¯ In fact, if Ipared the time purely in terms of chronology, I was a year younger now than I was then. ¡®So why did he call me mister¡?¡¯ Hmm. ¡Now that I think about it, Jeong Seoah¡¯s glutinous rice donuts might have been tastier after all. [Proofreader ¨C Gun] Chapter 119 â€“ The Brainwasher I [Proofreader ¨C Gun] Chapter 119 ¨C The Brainwasher I 1 I don¡¯t have much fondness for quotes or proverbs. To admire a quote is akin to appreciating a photograph of a beautifulndscape rather than experiencing thendscape itself. For those who have already traveled to suchndscapes, it might hold somememorative value. For others, it¡¯s just a faux antique decorating their home. However, there¡¯s one quote by Nietzsche that even a pragmatist would find useful: ¡°He who fights with monsters should be careful lest he thereby be a monster. And if you gaze long enough into an abyss, the abyss will gaze back into you.¡± This truly is a guide among guides for hitchhikers traveling the apocalyptic road, isn¡¯t it? To make it even more practical, one could slightly modify thetter part: ¨C ¡°If you gaze long enough into Koyori, Koyori will gaze back into you.¡± Koyori. Personal color: Pink. Pok¨¦mon type: Psychic. Specialties: A soft smile for everyone and a brainwashing hypnosis beam. If it had appeared in the first-generation Pok¨¦mon animation as Kadabra, it would have been a cult favorite among children. Unfortunately, being reincarnated in reality made my neck stiff. What I want to tell you is that I, Doctor Jang, made considerable efforts to seal this Pok¨¦mon. ¡®What if I don¡¯t look directly but take a picture? Could I then see Koyori¡¯s true form?¡¯ Click. Imitted the reckless act of secretly photographing Koyori. It was a death-defying act. Although the photograph was sessfully taken, the result was disappointing. There was no significant difference in performance between an ordinary camera lens and my retina. In other words, the photograph showed the same pink hair and the same soft smile. Hmm. Somehow, the photo seemed less impressive than the real thing. The moment I thought, ¡®Hmm. The photo seems less impressive than the real thing,¡¯ I realized I had already fallen under a mild hypnosis. A chill ran down my spine. I immediately burned the photograph. Failure. ¡®What if someone else takes the picture?¡¯ I had Yoo Jiwon, who wasn¡¯t particrly attached to her life, take the photo. The result was the same. Yoo Jiwon also returned unscathed. Failure2. For the record, my tests were never conducted in the same turn. Regarding Koyori, it was necessary to handle and research more cautiously than with a nuclear bomb. Naturally, all tests were conducted in different turns. ¡®What if I record the voice with a voice recorder¨D¨D.¡¯ Failure. ¡®¡Wait. What if I take a picture with a ghost camera?¡¯ It was a rather ingenious idea. Around this time, I had received an instant ghost camera from the Magical Girl Association as a reward for exorcising the Inunaki Tunnel. Click. I had high hopes for this test. The ghost camera was the finest of supernatural items. Could there be a more suitable item to reveal Koyori¡¯s true identity? That was when it happened. Dr-r-r-r¡ From the ghost camera, which was developing the photo normally, a strange noise began to emanate. Dr-r-r! nk! Riiing! Riiiing, riiing, riiing! Riiiing! It was the sound of a telephone ringing. Or maybe it was more like the loud sound of pressing a red fire rm button. nk! The camera jerked and then started emitting smoke from inside as if a fire had broken out. Then it stopped. ¡°¡¡¡± I got goosebumps. ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡± The more chilling fact was that Koyori had approached me without me noticing. Right up close. Koyori tilted her head, bent down, and looked up at me from below. ¡°Oh, you seem familiar¡ Ah, wait a moment. Weren¡¯t you the one at the waiting room in Busan Station? Hmm, your name was definitely¡ Doctor Jang. Mr. Doctor Jang, right?¡± ¡°¡¡¡± ¡°Wow! What a coincidence to meet you here again! Ah, the thing in your hand is emitting smoke. Is it okay?¡± Koyori smiled brightly. ¡°Can I help you with anything?¡± Damn it. I was stupid to trust this camera in the first ce. How powerful could the treasures of a group that dresses up as magical girls really be? However, a regressor¡¯s job is to calcte even such contingencies and establish countermeasures. I immediately activated Protocol 552-71. ¡°Unexpectedly, a wild wind roars! As the wind blows loudly, Zhou Yu hurriedly descended onto the grand tform, looking at the gs fluttering!¡± ¡°¡What?¡± ¡°Lo! Azure Dragon, Vermilion Bird, and White Tiger, ck Tortoise, responding to the southwest, rise swiftly with the eastern wind, causing the gs to snap! Swoosh! The banner topples, and the gpole snaps! Zhou Yu, seeing this, is terrified!¡± ¡°Eh. What¡?¡± ¡°Oh, heavens! Ahhh! Why did you give birth to both me and Kongming! Uwaaa! U-wee!¡± ¡°¡¡¡± Like a madman, I danced and ran towards the horizon, abandoning all the dignity and character I had built over a thousand years as a regressor. Protocol 552-71¡¯s original name is ¡°Singing Pansori Jeokbyeokga¡± or ¡°Pretending to be Crazy.¡± Incidentally, I was good at pansori. I was even better at pretending to be crazy. Even the ever-curious Koyori, who always found everything interesting, didn¡¯t bother chasing after a human disgrace. Dobby was free, and I escaped. And I never approached within 30 kilometers of Koyori again in that turn. Failure. ¨D¨DKoyori was indeed a dangerous existence. As the founder and hidden mastermind of the Library Society, it was hard to resist adding ¡°Koyori-ss¡± to the danger lineup of [Vige-level, City-level, Continent-level, Ocean-level, and Outer God-level]. [Proofreader ¨C Gun] My trusted business partner, National Road Manager Noh Doha, maintained a calm expression in the headquarters operations room. ¡°To me, you seem more dangerous¡¡± ¡°Hmph.¡± I didn¡¯t particrly agree with Noh Doha¡¯s point, but I adjusted my strategy. ¡°As I mentioned, ¡®the one who must not be named¡¯ is dangerous not just to me but to all humans. Each person projects their ideal onto them, so even someone as emotionally detached as myself is bound to fall.¡± ¡°Geez. I don¡¯t even know where to start with your delusions. First off, is your ideal type pink hair¡?¡± ¡°That¡¯s a trivial matter, Manager. But by addressing this issue, we can hypothesize the following: What if someone whocks emotions entirely were to contact ¡®the one who must not be named¡¯? Would they be safe?¡± ¡°Hm? Someone without emotions? Does such a person exist¡?¡± ¡°More precisely, someone whocks any feelings of affection. If someonecks the ability to feel attraction, Koyori¡¯s maniption would fail to take hold.¡± ¡°¡¡¡± ¡°¡¡¡± We almost simultaneously turned our heads. ¡°Hmm?¡± Scritch, scratch. There, in the National Road Manager¡¯s operations control room, Yoo Jiwon was carving wood with a chisel, making pieces for the [minimap] chess set. ¡°Why are you suddenly looking at me?¡± The highly intelligent psychopath tilted her head. 2 Yoo Jiwon. Personal color: Silver. Pok¨¦mon type: Well, who knows. Anyway, psychopath. Spending too much time exining this one is a waste of life. Compared to Koyori, she couldn¡¯t win in anything but looks. It was an excessively bitter fact for reality, but Yoo Jiwon was undeniably beautiful. This was an objective truth that even I couldn¡¯t twist. Among the awakened in Korea, the two top rivals in terms of appearance were Koyori and Yoo Jiwon. The fact that these two were the standard bearers just showed how hopeless thisnd was. That¡¯s right. I always assigned Yoo Jiwon to monitor Koyori. On the Korean penins map spread out in the operations team room, there was always a ck bishop (?) with the engraved name ¡°Koyori¡± wandering around. ¡°Jiwon, you need to make contact with ¡®the one who must not be named.¡¯ And, of course, you must never let it be known that I sent you. Above all, if there¡¯s even the slightest sign that you¡¯re being brainwashed, I will iste you immediately.¡± ¡°Hmmm¡¡± Yoo Jiwon propped her chin on her hand. The very act of doing so in front of someone, while making a thoughtful noise, was an obvious sign of a psychopath. It was chilling. ¡°Sir, I have conditions.¡± ¡°What conditions?¡± ¡°When you go to the next turn, get me something.¡± This was the sound of a born lunatic. If Yoo Jiwon were a normal psychopath, she would think: ¡®Huh? The next turn of me? That¡¯s apletely separate person from the current me. I¡¯ll pursue my happiness now.¡¯ ¡®I¡¯ll live for myself from now on.¡¯ But no. Our psychopath had wrinkles in her brain from sheer brilliance. ¡®Hmmm. If that person (Doctor Jang) causes the world to regress, no matter how much wealth and power I umte, it will all disappear with one ¡°click¡± of regression.¡¯ ¡®Why should my power and safety vanish because of a clicker?¡¯ ¡®But the regressor cannot be killed.¡¯ ¡®Therefore, I must cling to the regressor.¡¯ ¡®In other words¡ negotiate with the regressor to pass more power and information to the next turn of myself. Then even more the next time. If I keep inheriting wealth and power this way¡¡¯ ¡®The final victory will be mine.¡¯ ¡®I will invest everything in the regressor coin from now on.¡¯ This was the extraordinary thought process she reached. How do I know this? Because she told me directly. I believe no further exnation is needed as to why I consider this beautifuldy a lunatic. I¡¯ve never seen a character with such a thought process in any work of fiction involving infinite regression. It¡¯s another example of how reality always triumphs over fiction. ¡°Jiwon.¡± ¡°Yes, sir.¡± ¡°Do you have any idea how many times I¡¯ve heard you say that?¡± ¡°No. But your remark just now confirms that I maintain my sanity in any turn. That¡¯s reassuring.¡± ¡°I feel like I need to rece ¡®sanity¡¯ with another word to make sense of it¡¡± ¡°Intelligence? Rationality? Judgment?¡± ¡°The opposite of all those words would be more urate.¡± ¡°¡?¡± In the end, I had no choice but to promise Yoo Jiwon again. For reference, she was at a depth of 1,000 meters ording to my hideout caf¨¦¡¯s standards. She started at 100 meters. There¡¯s no need to exin how she wed his way from 100 meters to 1,000 meters. Just know that I am a person who keeps promises very well. I sent Yoo Jiwon on her mission and followed her, maintaining a careful distance of several hundred meters. Koyori was running a soup kitchen in Daejeon. She distributed food twice daily, morning and evening, in exchange for some lightbor from the general public. I observed the scene through binocrs. Seeing Koyori herself in an apron, smiling brightly as she served food, made my teeth chatter. The apron even had Chinese characters written on it. Records of the Three Kingdoms. ¡®Terrifying, Koyori!¡¯ I shuddered. ¡®Are you trying to seduce my mind even in such a moment? Do you think I¡¯ll develop any affection for you because of this?¡¯ Furthermore, the apron was green, the symbol of the Shu Han, neither the baseless blue nor red. Truly formidable brainwashing! My hands trembled. As I forcibly turned the binocrs slightly, I saw the final weapon of our National Road Management, the silver-haired psychopath, walking steadily. And then¨D¨D. ¡°¡¡¡± ¡°¡¡¡± The two beings, met. The one who makes everyone fall in love and the one who never feels affection. In other words¡ contradiction! The mere contact threatened to disrupt thews of the universe and mock social ethics, an encounter that should never have urred in a proper history, but stood there by some bizarre twist of causality (me). My heart swelled with grandeur. [Proofreader ¨C Gun] Chapter 120 - The Brainwasher II [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] Chapter 120 ©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤ The Brainwasher II 3 Thus, two ck holes collided, ending the sr system... was unfortunately not the conclusion. The world remained intact. The meeting between Koyori and Yoo Jiwon caused no storm in the macrocosm. Despite being colonized by numerous anomalies, the universe proved to be surprisingly resilient, enduring for decades. ¡°....... ¡¡.¡± ¡°¡¡? ¡¡. ¡¡.¡± From a distance, I observed the two conversing. They were too far away for me to overhear their conversation, and Koyori''s [Cognitive Maniption] would likely distort it anyway. Koyori bowed slightly and handed something over¡ªa business card or letter, perhaps. Yoo Jiwon received it and nodded. Shortly after, Yoo Jiwon returned as if nothing had happened. I hurriedly approached her. ¡°What did you talk about? What was your impression of Koyori? Did you feel any inexplicable fondness or a desire toply with her requests?¡± ¡°Pardon? No?¡± Yoo Jiwon responded with a sentence that perfectly encapsted the subtleties of the Koreannguage. ¡°We just had a conversation. It went very smoothly.¡± ¡°Ah¡!¡± Imented. Was it indeed impossible for a psychopath to resist Koyori¡¯s powers? ¡°¡I see. You did well. Still, I think this must have been a very special experience for you. It must be the first time you¡¯ve felt even a tiny bit of positive emotion towards a human, no? When else would you get to experience this?¡± ¡°Hm?¡± Yoo Jiwon tilted her head. ¡°Excuse me, sir, but I don¡¯t understand what you¡¯re saying. I didn¡¯t feel any affection towards the target.¡± Now it was my turn to tilt my head. ¡°What are you talking about? You just said the conversation went very smoothly.¡± ¡°Yes? It did, indeed.¡± Then, Yoo Jiwon, in apletely unemotional tone, began exining as if it were the most natural thing in the world. ¡°Why should a smooth conversation necessarily lead to affection for the other person?¡± ? ¡°Sir, a smooth conversation results infort. To be more precise, it brings satisfaction from not having to waste unnecessary conversation to enhance mutual understanding. It¡¯s like using the subway instead of walking to school¡ªmuch faster and more convenient. But you wouldn¡¯t feel human affection towards a subway train, would you?¡± ¡°¡¡¡± ¡°Oh, my apologies, sir. Everyone¡¯s preferences are different. Do you perhaps feel affection for subway trains?¡± Of course, I didn¡¯t. One person with a peculiar attachment to railways was more than enough. Listening to Yoo Jiwon¡¯s lengthy exnation, I had an epiphany. ¡®This might work! With Koyori! If this unparalleled psychopath can, a miracle might happen where she escapes [Cognitive Maniption]!¡¯ I grabbed Yoo Jiwon¡¯s shoulder, unable to contain my excitement. ¡°Yoo Jiwon.¡± ¡°Yes, sir.¡± ¡°From now on, by any means necessary, get close to ''the one who must not be named.'' Be friends or whatever it takes to establish a special rtionship. Observe her every move and report back to me. Can you do that?¡± ¡°Of course, sir. Leave it to me. But...¡± ¡°Ah, don¡¯t worry. I will certainly deliver your will to you in the next turn.¡± ¡°I pledge my loyalty, sir.¡± A look of mutual understanding passed between us. At that moment, the Saintess who had been silently observing muttered. [Doctor Jang, I¡¯ve been debating whether to point this out, but right now¡ isn¡¯t it obvious to anyone that you¡¯re stalking Koyori?] It was an observation not even worth considering. As if someone were crazy enough to run a soup kitchen for free, wearing a green ¡®Records of the Three Kingdoms¡¯ apron, and politely smiling at everyone, stalking that someone? Did I look like the kind of person to do that? Ridiculous. From that day, I immediatelyunched Operation ¡°Contradiction.¡± The greatest shield of the Korean Penins, a character that any story wouldbel with [¡ùThis character is a secondary, secondary, secondary heroine and can never be conquered], was now stationed in the heart of Daejeon. That¡¯s right. Yoo Jiwon stayed in Daejeon, making daily contact with Koyori. After all, Koyori had to report to the soup kitchen every morning and evening, and Yoo Jiwon approached her without fail. On the second day, nothing unusual happened. They exchanged what seemed like pleasant small talk. On the third day, the same. On the fourth day, too. Finally, on the fifth day. [Doctor Jang, something strange seems to be happening to Yoo Jiwon.] I sensed a nibble. ¡°What kind of strange phenomenon?¡± [¡It''s hard to exin, but it¡¯s bizarre. Whenever Yoo Jiwon leaves her quarters and starts walking, strangers approach and start conversations.] ¡°Hm. Yoo Jiwon has a Hermes-quality face. Maybe people are just entranced by her looks?¡± [You¡¯re the first person to describe someone¡¯s attractiveness like that... Hmm, no. It¡¯s really strange. It¡¯s better if youe and see for yourself.] So, I did. I trailed behind Yoo Jiwon, ensuring no one noticed. ¡°Oh my, Yoo Jiwon! I was lucky enough to get some honey apples this time. Here, take one. No, no money needed. Just take it! I feel so happy whenever I see you!¡± ¡°Thank you. I will enjoy it.¡± ¡°Wow! It''s Yoo Jiwon! Big sister, let''s y together again today! Come swing with us in the yground!¡± ¡°Yes. If I have time this evening.¡± ¡As the Saintess had said, it was a strange sight. Every time Yoo Jiwon walked down the street, people of all kinds approached her and struck up conversations. As I had mentioned multiple times, Yoo Jiwon was as beautiful as a crystal sculpture carved from eternal ice. Her constantck of expression gave the impression of perpetual permafrost. Would it be easy to approach such a person and strike up a friendly conversation? Even if someone did, they would only be met with a t, emotionless voice and the cold gaze behind her sses in return. In short, there was no reward for being kind to her. Yet, the townspeople seemed to enjoy engaging with Yoo Jiwon, approaching her eagerly. ¡°Saintess, please connect me telepathically with Yoo Jiwon. I need to check her mental state.¡± [Understood. ...Connected. I will ry Yoo Jiwon¡¯s words, so please speakfortably.] ¡°Thank you. Hey, Yoo Jiwon. Are you okay?¡± [I¡¯m fine.] The Saintess¡¯s voice, replicating Yoo Jiwon''s, waspletely calm. ¡°From what I see, Daejeon has already fallen under Voldemort¡¯s control. At least the people talking to you are clearly enthralled by Voldemort. They are ttering you to draw out your favor and keep you in this city.¡± [Hmm. I also thought it was strange. But if they¡¯re trying to win my favor, it¡¯s a very shallow attempt.] ¡°What?¡± [It¡¯s annoying.] ¡°¡¡¡± [When I go to a restaurant and the owner recognizes me and starts chatting, I find it bothersome even if I don¡¯t show it. The street now feels like one giant neighborhood restaurant.] The next day. The city of Daejeon itself fell silent. ¡°¡¡¡± Yoo Jiwon left her lodging, but no one approached her. The woman who had given her a basket of apples the day before, the neighborhood kids who begged to y with her¡ªeveryone passed by with nk expressions, ignoring her as if they didn¡¯t know her. I couldn¡¯t help but feel a chill of fear. [It¡¯s a bit morefortable now.] Yoo Jiwon was unfazed. [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] Her thoughts seemed akin to finding a vacant seat by the window in a caf¨¦¡ªgood luck, nothing more. Despite the sudden cold shoulder from the townspeople who had been obsessing over her the day before, she showed no signs of anxiety or confusion. But this, of course, meant... this was Yoo Jiwon¡¯s victory. After all, without any interaction, there was no way to enchant someone! From that moment, the city started to spiral into chaos. ¡°Aaaaaaah!¡± A resident, running, collided with Yoo Jiwon. The resident lost their bnce and fell. At that moment, screeeech¡ªbang! A truck narrowly missed them, crashing into a building. The resident stood up abruptly and grabbed Yoo Jiwon¡¯s hand. ¡°Ah, thank you! Really, thank you! If I hadn¡¯t bumped into you, I would¡¯ve been hit by the truck and died! You¡¯re my lifesaver!¡± ¡°Yes. Take care of your life.¡± ¡°¡¡¡± When Yoo Jiwon entered a bakery, the employees lined up and set off fireworks. ¡°Congrattions! You¡¯re the 100,000th customer since we opened! As a special event, we¡¯ll give you any five items for free every day starting today...¡± ¡°Oh, sorry, I¡¯m not interested in such events. Please pass it on to the next customer. I¡¯ll just take a baguette if you have any.¡± ¡°¡¡¡± Everywhere Yoo Jiwon went, she was saved from ''idental mishaps'' and encountered ''incredible luck.'' Yoo Jiwon ignored all these encounters. [Why did I ignore them? Well, because following Doctor Jang¡¯s orders benefits me far more than establishing friendly rtions with those people.] [They won¡¯t take care of my next turn, will they?] Yoo Jiwon, using the funds I provided, ate what she wanted and bought what she liked, simply going to the za twice a day to chat briefly with Koyori. In essence, she lived a prosperous life in this dystopia, doing whatever she wanted. Conversely, the city residents'' faces seemed to grow more haggard by the day. Bang! Bang, bang, bang! Around the 30th day, a gunfight broke out near Yoo Jiwon¡¯s lodging. What follows is a reconstruction based on Yoo Jiwon¡¯ster testimony. Right after the gunshots rang out, a man with a gunshot wound to his arm banged on Yoo Jiwon¡¯s door. ¡°P-Please help! Please open the door! I¡¯ll repay you!¡± Yoo Jiwon, who was reading a book in Latin by the window, raised an eyebrow in annoyance. ¡°What is it now?¡± ¡°Ah. I¡¯m the leader of the top guild in this city. My subordinate just backstabbed me. But¡ even though he ambushed me, he couldn¡¯t kill me. My brothers wille and avenge me soon.¡± ¡°Hah.¡± ¡°If you hadn¡¯t opened the door, I would¡¯ve died in the hallway. Thank you. If you want, I can give you everything in this city¡¡± Yoo Jiwon put down her book and walked over. By the way, Yoo Jiwon was the operationsmander of the national highway management team and had led one of the twelve squads during the Meteor Shower subjugation. In other words, Yoo Jiwon was second only to me in aura maniption. Naturally, a warlord with a bullet hole in his arm was no match for her. Yoo Jiwon effortlessly lifted the guild leader with one hand, as if picking up a chicken. ¡°Huh?¡± Then, she opened the door and tossed him into the hallway. The guild members ying the role of traitors flinched as they found their target. Yoo Jiwon addressed the assassins. ¡°What are you doing? Aren¡¯t you going to kill him?¡± ¡°¡¡¡± ¡°Then I¡¯ll go back to my reading. Do not disturb me.¡± Thud. The door closed. This was the scene reconstructed from Yoo Jiwon¡¯s memory. No gunshots were heard in the hallway. That night. A strange sound echoed through the dark skies of Daejeon. -Ohhh... Ohhh¡ -Hehehe, hehehe! Hehehe! It sounded like the cries of beasts, the growls of tigers, and theughter of countless children all mixed together, reverberating simultaneously. Even I was experiencing this bizarre phenomenon for the first time. ¡°Saintess, can you observe what¡¯s happening in the city?¡± [I¡¯m sorry. I can¡¯t see anything. Whether it¡¯s because all the awakened in Daejeon have fallen asleep, or for some other reason, all I see is darkness.] ¡°¡¡¡± [If you permit, I can contact Koyori.] ¡°No.¡± I replied immediately. I had a gut feeling. This situation was not the result of a ¡®correct strategy.¡¯ It felt like opening an ending using some kind of cheat code, in game terms. The problem was, this was far from a happy ending. Whatever had been forcibly awakened was undoubtedly furious. ¡°Koyori, or the anomaly surrounding Koyori, can enthrall and control the entire city¡¯s residents. Just confirming this information is a great achievement. Any further contact is dangerous.¡± [Understood.] ¡°What about Yoo Jiwon?¡± [She¡¯s the same¡ªpitch ck, like the other awakened ones.] The eerie wails continued throughout the night. Yoo Jiwon¡¯s whereabouts were revealed the next morning. At 7 AM, she woke up and walked out of her lodging as if nothing had happened. I immediately entered Daejeon and contacted Yoo Jiwon, asking if she had heard the strange sounds the previous night. ¡°Sounds?¡± Yoo Jiwon tilted her head. ¡°I¡¯m not sure, sir. Since fourth grade, I¡¯ve always worn a sleep mask and earplugs to bed.¡± With the dawn, not only had the wails disappeared, but so had the city¡¯s residents. Even the Saintess¡¯s [irvoyance] couldn¡¯t observe anything. The only person detected was Yoo Jiwon. I immediately activated Yoo Jiwon¡¯s [Minimap], but the result was the same. Neither Koyori nor any other awakened in Daejeon responded. It was as if they had evaporated in an instant. From that day until the end of this turn, Koyori and the residents of Daejeon never reappeared. ¡°By the way.¡± Yoo Jiwon took something out of her pocket. It was a letter. It served as an epilogue to this episode. ¡°Sir. Please ept this.¡± ¡°What is it?¡± ¡°It¡¯s a letter from Ms. Koyori to you.¡± ¡°¡¡¡± ¡°She asked me to deliver it to [the first person she meets upon waking up] if she could no longer run the canteen.¡± I hesitated before epting the letter. I opened the envelope. A sweet apple scent wafted from the paper. -Man proposes, God disposes. -nning is done by humans, but sess is determined by the heavens. ¡°¡¡¡± Mou Shi Zai Ren, Cheng Shi Zai Tian. A phrase from Romance of the Three Kingdoms. It¡¯s simr to the idiom "Man proposes, God disposes," seemingly a general saying one could tell anyone. But the fact that she quoted the Romance of the Three Kingdoms made my heart uneasy. ¡®Doesn¡¯t it seem like she knew I was the one who sent Yoo Jiwon?¡¯ ¡Moreover, I recognized Koyori¡¯s handwriting. I had once epted her into my guild, so it was natural. The handwriting on the letter was distinctly different from Koyori¡¯s writing back then. Perhaps this letter contained the first genuine glimpse of Koyori I had ever seen. The first trace not filtered by [Perception Maniption]. I turned the letter over. -The butterfly of the typhoon and the butterfly in the dream are different beings. A shiver ran through me as if struck by static electricity. The blue morpho butterfly of the anomaly ¡®Butterfly Effect,¡¯ and the butterfly that appeared at the end of the ¡®Logout Game.¡¯ The phrase hinted at the existence of both. It was a message only I could decipher¡ and it addressed one of the questions I was most curious about at the time. How much does Koyori know? Or is this, too, merely reflecting the information I wish to see? From where did I begin to be enthralled? ¡°¡Yoo Jiwon, when did you receive this letter?¡± ¡°Oh. I got it when we met on the first day, just before we parted.¡± ¡°¡¡¡± ¡°She promised that if I fulfilled her request to deliver the letter, she wouldn¡¯t cause me any direct harm. It was an offer worth epting.¡± Yoo Jiwon tilted her head. ¡°Is there something strange in the letter, sir?¡± ¡°¡¡¡± I kept my mouth shut. As I folded the letter, still carrying the scent of apples, I couldn¡¯t help but think anew. ¨D¨DAfter all, if you pit the strongest spear against the strongest shield, the result is a draw. - The Brainwasher. End. [PR/N: im actually scared of her bro.] [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] Chapter 121 - Dreamer I [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] Chapter 121 ©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤ Dreamer I 1 Before I knew it, my story had exceeded 120 episodes. I didn¡¯t count them myself; ording to Oh Dokseo, that¡¯s the case. I¡¯m not sure, but ording to Oh Dokseo, the "self-proimed web novel expert," the number 120 has some symbolic meaning. ¡°Got it, mister? Anyway, I need a volume of 120 episodes. You must give me up to 120 episodes without any issues.¡± ¡°Why?¡± ¡°Because I n to read them all at once on the tform after stockpiling up to 120 episodes... Ah, damn. Do you even understand if I exin? You said you hadn¡¯t even looked at web novels before the Void Arrival anyway.¡± ¡°Hmm.¡± ¡°Anyway, 120 episodes! At least 120 episodes are needed. I¡¯m saying this because I have a n!¡± Oh Dokseo nagged at me as if she were my editor. She practically performed the role of an editor. What can an old and sick person like me do? I have to follow the lead of the young. However, the method of writing was up to me. I preferred the traditional way. I wrote my story by hand in a notebook and handed it to Oh Dokseo. Sometimes, I even went more traditional, narrating oral stories instead of writing them down. When I presented Oh Dokseo with these old traditions lost to the younger generation, she showed a moved expression. ¡°No... damn. How am I supposed to use this? You need to give me a usable manuscript.¡± I was a writer considerate of my editor. So, I answered in a way that matched Oh Dokseo¡¯s intellectual level. ¡°Not my problem?¡± ¡°......¡± ¡°Good luck.¡± My role was just to tell stories. That would be problematic if I also had to edit, revise, proofread, and format the stories. Not because it¡¯s annoying, but because a regressor¡¯s life is busy. If any errors are found in the officially released story, it¡¯s not my fault. It¡¯s entirely Oh Dokseo¡¯s fault. How could I, the Doctor Jang with [Perfect Memory], make a mistake? Among ourselves, if any typos are detected, please me "Oh Dokseo-sitch." She¡¯s a middle-schooler otaku, but she has a kind personality, so please, everyone, understand with a big heart. Anyway. Since 120 episodes is a significant number, it might be good to review the cities of the Korean Penins mentioned in my story so far. Let''s call it a newly created map in the apocalyptic era. Here¡¯s the note I handed over to Oh Dokseo while exining the situation: ¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D [Busan] Headquarters of the National Road Management Corps. Food produced through the ''Sword Maiden¡¯ in the Gimhae ins and Kyushu is stored in Busan. The patrol units of the National Road Management Corps double as caravans, transporting food and supplies from Busan across the nation. Hence, the patrol units are sometimes called ¡®Caravans.¡¯ Judicial and military powers in Busan are exercised by the Three Thousand Worlds Guild. The National Road Management Corps and the Three Thousand Worlds are in a blood alliance. Thest hope of the Korean Penins. asional water and power outages happen, but there¡¯s no problem if you have the romance of rainwater and candlelight. Cheers to you who live today. - Key figures: Noh Doha, Tang Seorin, Yoo Jiwon, the corpse of Old Scho. [Daejeon] A massive refugee city. Most refugees and disced people in the Korean Penins gather here. Around Daejeon, there are many mutated creatures affected by the Void Poison. Using this ecosystem, Daejeon produces its own food. However, the safety of the food is not guaranteed at all. The city is practically controlled by the Great Satisfaction Society Guild, which is believed to be led by the pink-haired one. If you¡¯re not afraid for your life, please visit and enjoy the city''s sights. - Key figure: Voldemort. [Sejong] One of the two sacred cities on the Korean Penins, along with Pyongyang. A county for, by, and of Cheon Yohwa. The city is strongly controlled by the Baekhwa Guild,posed of alumni from Baekhwa Girls¡¯ High School. Originally, the members of the Baekhwa Guild were children from families that believed in the pseudo-religion Cheonilgyo, and they still worship Cheon Yohwa. Although Cheon Yohwa herself detests such pseudo-religions, the way the city is run looks like the headquarters of a cult. If you¡¯re tired of living in the apocalypse,e to Sejong and curse Cheon Yohwa. Rmended phrase: "Isn''t it a bit weird to keep wearing school uniforms as is?" You can take a biology ss to rediscover how many organs your body has. - Key figure: Cheon Yohwa. [Seoul] The front line. Everything south of the Han River is devastated. It boasts the lowest housing prices on the Korean Penins. A defense line is formed to block the monsters constantlying from the north. All bridges except for Jamsu Bridge and Seongsu Bridge have been destroyed for security reasons. Originally, my hideout was in Seoul, but since the Inunaki Tunnel was modified, Cheon Yohwa''s Baekhwa Guild has been defending Seoul. If you¡¯re an old-generation person who still wants a Han River view, I highly rmend it. However, note that ites with a monster view as well. - Key figure: The Saintess. ¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D Other cities like Jeju, Naju, and Pyongyang haven¡¯t been covered in my story yet, so I¡¯ll skip them. ¡°Oh? Mister.¡± When you organize it like this and unfold the map, you might think like Oh Dokseo. ¡°Isn¡¯t it more doable than you¡¯d think?¡± ¡°Hmm.¡± "Food production is stable, and the forces centered around Busan are running smoothly. Plus, you said Cheon Yohwa follows you a lot. So, saving the world... might be too much, but saving the Korean Penins should be totally doable, right?" "Well..." Sorry, but things aren''t that easy. You all probably witnessed Daejeon disappearing overnight in thest episode. Let me reiterate this once again. This world hates humans. 2 First of all, we need to point out that maps created when the world was still normal are no longer of any use. That''s because this world is seriouslymitted to screwing humanity over. idents like the following ur quite frequently if the National Road Management Corps sends out a patrol caravan without proper caution. - Ah, this is bad. By now, we should have reached Daejeon. Why does it feel like we''re just going in circles? - Captain, this is serious. We''ve been wandering around this area for 14 days already. Even if we post on SGNet, there are noments... - 14 days? What are you talking about, sub-captain? It''s only been 4 days. - What? Missing. Disappearing. Vanishing. Clearly, they were only crossing the distance of two bus stops, but it took more than half a month in terms of time. They thought they were walking on a path, but suddenly they found themselves heading towards the bottom of a pond. Where a river should flow, a rock salt mine springs up, and where a mountain should be, a vastke stretches to the horizon. A literal maze. The world devoured by the void is a massivebyrinth, a Labyrinthos. In such a world, my role is breaking through thebyrinth. In Greek mythology, it would be like Theseus traversing the maze and grilling the Minotaur into a steak. "Doctor Jang, sir." "Huh? What is it?" "Patrol unit 21 has been stationary on my map for 3 hours now." "Not moving at all?" "No." [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] "What about the telegraph pole? The wires?" "They seem to be cut. The reports that used to be posted regrly on SGNet have stopped since 180 minutes ago." "Ah... They¡¯re trapped in the void again. I told you, sending patrol units near Daejeon always causes problems. Saintwaa? Are you listening?" [Yes.] "Send a message to Patrol Unit 21 in the name of the Constetion. Tell them not to panic and wait where they are. A rescue team will be there soon." [Are you going to check it out yourself?] "Yes, I need to repair the wires if they¡¯re cut." [Understood.] With Yoo Jiwon''s ''Mini-map'' and the Saintess''s ''Telepathy,'' I managed to connect the cities in this treacherous apocalypse somehow. Although I couldn''t dream of dominating areas, I could hope for line-based control. And of course, besides the Saintess and Yoo Jiwon, many talented individuals were assisting the National Road Management Corps. "Hayul." "Hmm?" "The wires are cut again. Let¡¯s goy the thread." If Theseus was to traverse thebyrinth, he needed Ariadne. Puppeteer Hayul. This kid, who spun puppet strings like a spider, was also an indispensable talent in managing the roads of the Korean Penins. 3 As I ran with Hayul on my back, I quickly found Patrol Unit 21 huddled in the middle of a forest. It seemed a significant amount of time had passed since they were bewitched by the void; the members looked utterly worn out. "Ah...! Doctor Jang!" The captain of the patrol unit recognized me, and his face lit up. Although my official title within the National Road Management Corps changed with each episode, the members always treated me with utmost respect. "You came!" "Yes. Everyone, you¡¯ve worked hard." I took out Hayul and some chocte from my backpack. Hayul wandered off on her own, while I distributed the chocte to the unit members. "How many days have you been stranded?" "By my count, it¡¯s the 15th day today. However, the days each member perceives are different, so it¡¯s not urate." "You¡¯re thoroughly bewitched. What about the sun?" "ording to the instructions, I observed the direction. On the 1st day, it was south, the 2nd day, it was east, the 3rd day, it was north, and so on. The direction of the sunrise changed daily." "The moon?" "I always saw one moon, but one of the members testified seeing three moons once." "Are there any missing members?" "No. We moved in groups of three." Of course, that couldn¡¯t be true. With the sun and moon corrupted to such an extent by the void, the likelihood of all members returning safely was extremely slim. Upon checking, the patrol unit, which should have consisted of 24 members, had reduced to 21. However, the remaining members had no awareness or memory of the three missing ones. I sighed deeply. ''At this rate, I¡¯ll really have to clear a separate path near Daejeon.'' At that moment, Hayul looked at me. She busily moved his tiny hands. -Found. Broken ce. It was signnguage. Normally, Hayul had a maid puppet that she carried around, which spoke in her ce, but we had left in such a hurry this time that we didn''t bring the maid. Still, the two of usmunicated well through signnguage. Sometimes, we even chatted in Japanese Sign Language instead of Korean. "Where?" -Here. Swoosh¡ª As Hayul gestured with a golden aura, a thin puppet thread emerged from the ground. The thread was snapped in the middle. Telegraph wire. The puppet threads that Hayul spun were not only used for the security of the guild''s hideout. Like this, the threads wereid underground along the roads the National Road Management Corps used. Hayul''s puppet threads exhibited performance close to room-temperature superconductors when infused with aura. If one was adept at handling aura, sending Morse code through the wires was possible. Above all, the "telegraph wire" was indeed like Ariadne''s thread for the patrol units. In the void, constetion phenomena andpasses were easily rendered useless. In such a maze, Hayul''s puppet threads were the "only objective indicator." Hayul and I only buried the puppet threads along the safest routes. In other words, the moment the puppet threads were cut for any reason, the survival rate of the patrol units drastically dropped. "Why do you think it got cut?" -I don''t know. Presumed to be the work of a monster dwelling underground. "Sigh... I¡¯ve lost count of how many times this has happened near here. I might really have to abandon the Daejeon route and only send people through the Sejong route." -Is that okay? "Doing so will further iste Daejeon and elerate its voidification, but there''s no other way. For now, let''s rey the telegraph wire. This time, bury it a bit deeper underground." -Okay. Threads flowed from under Hayul''s fingernails. The puppet threads descended, slicing through the ground like it was cake. Thud¡ª Meanwhile, I brought and nted a utility pole. Utility poles were easy to find anywhere in the country and served well as markers indicating ¡®there are telegraph wires underground here.¡¯ The repair work was quickly finished. However, the truly important rescue operation was just beginning. "Team Leader Park." "Yes, Doctor Jang." "Take your team and head to Sejong. I have some business to attend to around here, and I''ll join you once it''s done." "Understood. Thank you!" The patrol caravan moved. If this were after the 380th turn, Sharp and Bouncy would have acted as wagons, but unfortunately, this incident took ce in the 205th turn. The patrol members pulled their carts and departed. "Alright. Let¡¯s handle this quickly and head back. Hayul, hop on." -Okay. Hayul leaped onto my back like a sloth. With the unique gait of a regressor, I swiftly searched the surrounding area. From behind, Hayul stretched out her hand, signing with her fingers. -Fun. Fun. Fun. "...." This kid enjoyed riding on my back. ording to her, it felt like riding a roller coaster. Anyway, after searching for an entire hour, I couldn''t find any of the missing members. Just when I thought I might have to give up and return, something that shouldn''t be seen in the deste void came into view. -Brother. Over there. "...Yeah. I see it too." I stopped in my tracks. [DREAM CASINO] A neon sign with a mix of pink and red hues was shining brightly. Busan experienced daily ckouts even out of boredom, so I wondered where they got the electricity to power that. "A casino...?" ...It seemed the missing patrol members had turned into gamblers. [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] Chapter 122 - Dreamer II [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] Chapter 122 ©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤ Dreamer II 4 It¡¯s been so long that I can hardly remember, but I must have been quite a decent young man before bing an awakened being in my first turn. Smoking? I didn¡¯t. Drinking? Not really. Of course, I was never addicted to gambling either. Except for the fact that I did a reset marathon over a thousand times to achieve the best ending in my life. - Brother, I''m curious. I want to go inside. ¡°Wait a moment.¡± So, even though Hayul was tugging at my sleeve as soon as she saw the casino, my moral and upright self didn¡¯t give in easily. Instead, I drew my sword first. One sh. With a sudden swing, my dedicated gear, the cane sword Doha, sliced the world diagonally. Rumble- Dust rose from all directions. A part of the casino building, operating illegally in the void, copsed helplessly. ¡°¡¡! ¡¡!¡± Hayul jumped up and down next to me, but it was nothing more than a silent outcry. No matter how curious she was, it was very important to test whether physical force worked on the opponent, like now. It wasn¡¯t just because I was the type of yer who, upon participating in a TRPG, would coolly and scientifically suggest to the master, ¡®Can I get some gasoline and burn down the mansion from the outside?¡¯ before entering some ominous house. By merely testing whether physical force was effective, I could somewhat gauge the danger level of the void and the level of the monster. I leisurely observed the reaction of that ''casino monster.'' ¡°Heeeek!¡± And then, I witnessed a surprising sight. Little creatures came rushing out of the casino entrance, panicking and iling. ¡°The base is copsing!¡± ¡°Heeeek! An earthquake? Is it an earthquake?¡± ¡°That¡¯s impossible...! Our revolutionary front base was built in the safest area in Korea, considering all possible natural disasters.¡± ¡°But an earthquake is happening!¡± ¡°Comrade 107! When disaster strikes right in front of you, a small-bourgeois fairy denying reality must be executed! Executed!¡± ¡°I cannot endure self-criticism.¡± ¡°Heek! Comrades! Please spare me from the purge!¡± They were none other than the tutorial fairies. They were the doppelgangers of the Fairy Lord, a subordinate of the Alien God Endless Hell. In other words, these monsters were nothing more than imitations of imitations, and they swarmed out and started to restore the building. ¡®¡Why are these guys here again?¡¯ In my 205th turn, I was dumbfounded. I sheathed my cane sword and walked towards the fairies. Tap tap. I tapped the shoulder of the closest fairy. ¡°Hey.¡± ¡°Huh? A human guest? Sorry, but the store is temporarily closed due to a sudden earthquake heeeeek? Doctor Jang!¡± The fairy fell t on its back. The other fairies, who were ondders holding hammers and tools, also turned to look at me. ¡°D-Doctor Jang? Why? Why Doctor Jang?¡± ¡°The nightmare of Busan Station!¡± ¡°The tyrant of Baekhwa Girls¡¯ High School!¡± ¡°Comrade 107! W-what¡¯s going on? Didn¡¯t you assure us that this ce would never be discovered?¡± ¡°Hiiiyaaaak! Run! Run away! Our n will be annihted if we get caught by that guy again!¡± The fairies scattered in all directions, but it wasn¡¯t a very wise move. Sometimes in RPG battles, there were situations where the ¡®flee¡¯mand simply didn¡¯t work, and this was one of those times. ¡°Hayul.¡± - Yes. From Hayul¡¯s fingertips, spider silk shot out swiftly. A momentter, all 27 fairies were wrapped in the spider silk and presented before me. ¡°Heek, heeeek¡¡± ¡°Hey. Didn¡¯t you all get wiped out along with the Fairy Lord when Endless Hell was sealed? What are you doing hiding out in this backwater?¡± The fairies trembled. ¡°T-the Fairy Lord was nothing more than our oppressor...! We never truly submitted to that guy!¡± ¡°Oh. So, what is it, the Royalists and the Revolutionaries? It¡¯s all part of your roley settings anyway. Are you still living talking about revolution?¡± ¡°Roley settings? No! We are very serious!¡± The fairy¡¯s next words were quite shocking. ¡°We lived just fine without the Fairy Lord in the first ce! But that terrifying being created the Fairy Lord and oppressed us!¡± ¡°¡What?¡± ¡°Atst, with the demise of the Fairy Lord, our long-awaited liberation came to us fairies! But due to long-term oppression, our national capital is very low...! So, we tearfully jumped into the gambling business to raise revolutionary funds...!¡± ¡°Revolution is innocent!¡± As I collected testimonies and information from the suspects, I arrived at an astonishing truth. ¡°Oh, so. You were actually monsters that had nothing to do with the Alien God Endless Hell, but Endless Hell just created the Fairy Lord and was oppressively ruling over you all?¡± "Exactly!" "So, the division between those who follow the Fairy Lord and those who don''t... Was the existence of the Royalists and the Republicans actually true?" "Have you been listening with your ears or a toilet, human?" Unbelievable. Indeed, the "tutorial fairies" had nothing to do with Endless Hell. Endless Hell created the puppet dictator, the Fairy Lord, and oppressed the fairies. It was a kind of colonial rule. However, when I and Cheon Yohwa subjugated Endless Hell, the situation drastically changed. The fairies were suddenly liberated and scattered everywhere, transforming into guerris with a vow never to be swayed by a giant monster again. The so-called "Dream Entertainment Hall" casino established here was a business run by these guerri fairies. Why were they operating it? To build a fairymunity, by fairies, for fairies, once again! ¡®Come to think of it, the monsters at Baekhwa Girls'' High School were all ghosts, but the tutorial fairies did feel somewhat out of ce.¡¯ Who would have thought such a secret was hidden? As I marveled at how much information I still didn¡¯t know about the world, Ihayul jumped up and down next to me. - Brother. Brother. ¡°Yes?¡± - Over there. I want to look around. It seemed Hayul had been deeply interested in the casino since earlier. Well, it was confirmed to be almost risk-free. "Hey, you little guys. Show us how you operate this casino." ¡°Heek. That¡¯s ridiculous! We can¡¯t reveal the insides of our revolutionary base to a bourgeois oppressor¡.¡± ¡°Should I call Cheon Yohwa and ask her to put you in the hourss where Endless Hell is sealed?¡± ¡°A step back for two steps forward is something even proletarianrades can understand¡!¡± We entered the casino. Fortunately or unfortunately, the missing management personnel from the caravan were found inside. To be precise, they were not in the casino but in the hotel built above the casino, all three sound asleep,pletely unaware of the world. ¡°What? Why are they all sleeping? Did you guys do this?¡± ¡°Heeeek¡! T-this was done consensually! In our casino, we exchange the chips won by our customers not for money, but for dreams!¡± ¡°Exchange for dreams?¡± ¡°Yes! Here, look at our menu...!¡± The fairy took something out from its bosom. It was arge menu. It was certainly not a size that could fit into the fairy¡¯s body, but instead of nitpicking, I decided to read it. [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] ¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D ??*?~Feeling like walking in a dream~??*? Wee to our ¡ºDREAM¡» Casino ?(?¦Å? )?! We sincerely wee you!???)Ø¯ ¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D Riiiip. I instinctively tore up the menu. ¡°Heeeek? What are you doing!¡± ¡°Sorry, it was my instinct¡.¡± ¡°Is tearing up the menu upon entering a store your instinct? That¡¯s scary! This paper was made with great effort, so don¡¯t waste it!¡± Hmm. I calmly took the menu again and read it. This time, for my mental well-being, I omitted all the emojis and described only the content of the menu inly. ¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D [Dream Casino Guide] *Wee! *Here at ''Dream Entertainment Hall,'' you can enjoy various games using Fairy Coins. Fairy Coins can be purchased with your ''time.'' *Exchange rate: 1 hour = 1 Fairy Coin. *To use the entertainment facilities in this casino, you must bet at least 1 Fairy Coin. *Fairy Coins can be exchanged for the following rewards: -10 Fairy Coins: You can have afortable dream for one night. Guaranteed deep sleep. The content of the dream is undetermined. You can freely set the time from a minimum of 2 hours to a maximum of 24 hours. -50 Fairy Coins: You can enhance a specific sense in your dream. Sight, smell, taste, etc. The memory of the sense will likely remain rtively vivid even after the dream ends. -100 Fairy Coins: You can choose the location in your dream. Any space within 100 square meters is possible (e.g., a top-notch restaurant from before the end of the century). However, moving beyond the set range is impossible. The scenery outside the windows, etc., can be decorated with 10 Fairy Coins. Please consult with a staff member for detailed settings! -1,000 Fairy Coins: You can choose a person to appear in your dream. Even someone who no longer exists in reality. -2,000 Fairy Coins: You can set what kind of rtionship you have with the person in your dream. Please consult with a staff member for detailed settings! -3,000 Fairy Coins: You can set yourself as the character in your dream. Appearance change, social status modification, resume falsification, gender transition, age change are possible. Please consult with a staff member for detailed settings! ¡¤ ¡¤ ¡¤ -10,000,000,000 Fairy Coins: Guaranteed perfect lucid dream. We promise sensations and intelligence exactly the same as reality! This item is a membership. Customers who exchange for this item will be immediately upgraded to ''VVIP'' status and will continue to be guaranteed ''lucid dreams'' when using other products. -100,000,000,000 Fairy Coins: You can freely set the flow of time felt in the dream. Do you wish for eternal life? Live 100 years in a dream during just 1 second in reality! If you get tired of the life in the dream, you can wake up immediately. This item is a membership. Customers who exchange for this item will be immediately upgraded to ''VVVIP'' status and will continue to be guaranteed ''time flow adjustment'' when using other products. *Note: The maximum number of Fairy Coins that can be exchanged at one time in this casino is 9,000 Fairy Coins. *Note: At this casino, we may require repayment of the principal amount at midnight every day. If you cannot repay the principal amount, the number of insufficient coins will be confiscated from your time. How the confiscated time is used is entirely up to this casino. Please enjoy gambling safely and responsibly. ¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D ¡°¡¡.¡± I was momentarily at a loss for words. There were so many issues to point out that I didn¡¯t know where to start. But first, as a regressor, I decided to ask the question that I was naturally curious about. ¡°Hey, you guys... do you have the ability to control dreams?¡± ¡°Huh? Of course.¡± ¡°We are dream fairies, after all.¡± ¡°We couldn¡¯t perform our main job because we were oppressed by the Fairy Lord, but our true name is actually Dream Demons.¡± Shocking! The truth was revealed after 205 regressions! The tutorial fairies'' true identity was Dream Demons, i.e., Subi and Incubi! - Fairy Coins. 9000 coins, exchange desired. Exciting. Next to me, Hayul, true to her Japanese-influenced nature, was burning with the spirit of pachinko. I flicked her forehead and looked at the fairies. ¡°What happens to human customers whose time you confiscate?¡± ¡°Huh. They end up like this.¡± Suddenly, one of the management staff lying on the hotel bed stood up. Hayul flinched in surprise. The staff member was a middle-aged man. His beard was already scruffy, having been trapped in the void for several days. With a nk, almost brainless look, he muttered. ¡°Hueee¡.¡± ¡°¡¡.¡± ¡°Huee, huee, fairy number 5000... reporting in¡.¡± ¡°¡¡.¡± Silence. Both Hayul and I turned to the fairies, demanding an exnation. The tutorial fairies, no, the Dream Demons, tilted their heads with clueless expressions, not understanding what they did wrong. ¡°Huh. That customer took out a full loan of 9000 coins and lost it all at barat in just one day. Now, for the next 10 years, he has no choice but to work as arade of our Fairy Revolution Club!¡± ¡°That¡¯s right!¡± ¡°Hueee! Forward without stopping until the day of the revolution!¡± This is insane. This ce is a breeding ground for monsters. [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] Chapter 123 - Dreamer III [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] Chapter 123 ©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤ Dreamer III "But before the first shovel of the revolution was even lifted, we were caught by the notorious reactionary, Doctor Jang..." "Hoeeek. Tears, tears..." Plop. The fairies'' bodies drooped. To reiterate, fairies were anomalies that directly contradicted human physics. Not just in the way their shoulders drooped like humans, but their entire bodies melted like slime, oozing onto the ground. "Why do the attempts of those who dream of world revolution always end in tragedy?" "Failure, another failure..." "We gave up wealth and honor the moment we left our homnd, but seeing all the seeds of revolution turn to ashes is truly exhausting..." A cloud of gloom began to form over the fairies'' slime bodies. Hmm. There were countless points I wanted to tackle, but it seemed I needed to clear up a major misunderstanding first. "Excuse me. I don''t understand, so let me ask one thing." "Hoe...?" "Why am I a reactionary?" Blink, blink. The fairies tilted their heads in confusion. "Well, because you caused chaos at Busan Station and wreaked havoc at Baekhwa High School, making you our enemy. And our enemy is the enemy of the revolution." "That binary way of thinking certainly fits revolutionaries, but haven''t you considered that I might have been helping you?" "Hoeek?" At that moment, I sensed an opportunity. I felt the potential for something great. The first material humans used to create swords wasn''t stone, but their tongues. I wielded my intangible sword. "At Busan Station, you oppressed humans first, so you should thank me for stopping you before youmitted any more misdeeds. Isn''t that right?" "...Is that so?" "Of course. And at Baekhwa High School, I defeated the Endless Hell and killed the Fairy Lord. Thanks to that, you were freed from your shackles. In fact, I''m practically your liberator, aren''t I?" "..." "..." The fairies looked at each other. "Hoeee?" "Now that you mention it, it does make sense..." "If self-liberation is impossible, external liberation is eptable. This can be recognized as a revolutionary methodology." "But that would only be epting a new oppressor, wouldn''t it?" Whisper, whisper. Suddenly, a revolutionary debate broke out. For revolutionaries, the debate is a kind of coliseum. Those who lose have nothing but purges awaiting them. I also jumped into the heated debate. "No, that''s not true. After I defeated the Endless Hell, did I try to control you fairies? I left you alone, didn''t I?" "Hoeee." In truth, I thought they were wiped out along with the Endless Hell and left them alone, but in the grand scheme of the revolution, minor details didn''t matter. Only the linear progression of history was important. "Even when you gathered and built a casino, I didn''t interfere. How does that make me a reactionary and an oppressor?" "Certainly..." "That makes sense!" "Wait! Then why did you destroy our casino with your sword just now?" It was a sharp question, but too weak to damage my thick-skinned face. "That''s because you kidnapped one of our agents first." "Hoeek, kidnapping... We didn''t..." "Moreover, no matter how much the ends justify the means, how can you call yourselves revolutionaries when you run an illegal gambling den? Why not sell drugs, too, while you''re at it? You look like a fine mafia cartel." "Hoeeeeek..." "Then... Were you really the savior of our kind?" Twinkle, twinkle. The fairies looked up at me with sparkling eyes. Doubt. Expectation. The mixed emotions in their gaze proved that now was the time for the finishing blow. I smiled with utmost benevolence. "Don''t call me that. Such a distant title doesn''t suit us,rades. We may have been born on different days, but aren''t we revolutionaries who have sworn to die together?" "Heoooook!" "Comrade Doctor Jang!" The fairies sprang to their feet. "Unbelievable! We''ve misunderstood Comrade Doctor Jang''s true intentions all this time!" "Now that I think about it, not a single word he said was wrong! Therade eliminated the Fairy Lord and his despicable master, and he didn''t demand anything from us afterwards!" "Liberator!" "Beacon of freedom! Our savior!" "Oh, revolution! The vanguard who leads the foolish masses! Comrade Doctor Jang is the avant-garde of this world!" It''s over. What¡¯s there to hide? From this point, I used the excuse of subjugating the Endless Hell to ascend as the secretary-general of the fairies. When I established the "Canned Hotel" to train writers on my 560th turn, I could mobilize arge number of fairies thanks to my position. "But no matter how much the incident was caused by mutual misunderstanding, I apologize for destroying your hideout,rades." "It''s all right, Comrade Doctor Jang!" "We''re the ones who should apologize for luring your subordinates to the barat table!" "Hmm. No, no. As someone who knows how earnest your revolutionary spirit is, I can''t just overlook this. So, I have a suggestion..." I smiled brightly. "If you truly want toplete the revolution, you shouldn''t just linger in a rural area like this. You should head to the city. What do you think,rades? How abouting with me and getting a taste of city life?" "...Hoee?" 5 One monthter. A colorful banner was hung at the entrance of the Inunaki Tunnel, which opened into the sea off the coast of Busan. [Cafe Hideout Event!] [New Entertainment Facility ''Dream Casino'' Opens!] [A grand entertainment venue run by dream demons! Wee to the Dream Paradise!] In this modern era, aptly called the age of advertising, simply hanging a banner wasn''t enough to appeal to customers. "Huh? What''s this?" "Did we have such an advertisement before...?" For the first time, an "advertisement" appeared on SG Net. Whether surfing the web or posting articles, a ''Dream Casino'' ad continued to sh on one side of the screen. It was practically a monopoly. Those who clicked on the ad received 100 coins as a first-time gift. While it might not be as fun as visiting the casino in person, a simple online game was also established as an ''Inte Casino.'' Of course, it was just a minor pastime, a kind of bait product. This would naturally make people curious enough to visit the main branch, the ''real casino'' in Busan. But that wasn¡¯t all. "Doctor Jang, do we really have to go this far?" "Trust me, Saintess. This casino business will be a huge hit." "...Okay." Despite her sigh, the saintess reluctantly agreed with my assertion. Soon, a message from Constetion was delivered to all awakened beings active on the Korean Penins. [''Dream Demon of the Grand Entertainment Venue'' manages the casino.] That''s right. A new Constetion debut! Previously, I created a new Constetion called ''Librarian of the Grand Library'' when I set up the ''Library Association¡¯s Anomaly Encyclopedia'' board. I then put Shin Ahryun in charge of it. This time, by establishing a casino at the Inunaki Tunnel, I forged another Constetion, the ''Dream Demon of the Grand Entertainment Venue.'' [''Dream Demon of the Grand Entertainment Venue'' is the lord ruling over all fairies.] [''Dream Demon of the Grand Entertainment Venue'' wishes for you to be intoxicated with dreams. Amusement. That is how you can praise and worship the ''Dream Demon of the Grand Entertainment Venue.''] [The deeper your faith in the ''Dream Demon of the Grand Entertainment Venue,'' the more diverse the entertainment you can enjoy at the casino will be.] Librarian of the Grand Library. Dream Demon of the Grand Entertainment Venue. Gradually, the scale of the website, fittingly named ''SG Net,'' or ''Constetion Net,'' was expanding. The Constetions, which initially borrowed names from historical figures, were beginning to take on real substance and approach the awakened beings with more concrete content. Noh Doha, who had been informed of my n in advance, furrowed his brow. "Doctor Jang. Is there a particr reason we need to proceed with this casino business? No matter if the only currencies exchanged are ''time'' and ''dreams,'' a casino is still a casino. Won''t it have some adverse effects...?" "It will." I didn¡¯t deny it. "Some awakened beings might end up living their lives addicted to gambling. Consequently, they might end up mortgaging their entire lives to the fairies." "Even so...?" "Even so, we must proceed. It''s not merely because there are too few entertainment facilities these days. Chief Administrator Noh Doha. Take a look at this." [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] "Hmm...?" I lifted a transparent box. Inside the ss case were objects resembling coins. They were casino chips. "We''ve finally discovered this. What do you see, Chief Administrator?" "Uh, aren''t those casino chips...?" "Yes. Money." Clink. I grabbed a handful of casino chips and dropped them onto the table. "Currency. Exchange medium. Chief Administrator, think about it. If we make Dream Casino a sess, we can finally circte ''safe money'' even in this wretched post-apocalyptic world." "...!" Noh Doha''s eyes widened behind his sses. Our gazes sparked like an electric shock. "Until now, we could only maintain exchange rights in very limited ways, backed by food. But this is different. Fairy Coins, the casino chips usable at Dream Casino, can literally be exchanged for ''any goods'' by people." "In dreams..." "Yes, in dreams. But the dreams people can set are not very different from reality. Look at thest item. You can turn all those dreams into perfect lucid dreams with a hundred billion coins. With a trillion coins? You can even control the time in the dreams." "Aha. Aha..." "There will be very few people who actually grab one billion or ten billion coins. But it doesn¡¯t matter. Currency is essentially an illusion, a fantasy, a ghost. But the difference from an individual¡¯s mere delusion is¨D¨D." "A dream shared by all humans, not just a single person¡¯s dream¡ Therefore, a fantasy that ends up having the same weight as material reality¡" "Exactly." "Hooh. Truly, Dream Casino. The amusement of dream demons..." Noh Doha picked up the casino chip I had dropped on the table with his fingers. "Interesting¡" His sses glinted. Breath slipped from his slightly parted lips. "A currency not based on gold, the petrodor, or Bitcoin but on dreams¡ Ah, the paradox of currency, which began as the dream of civilization, returning to its original form at the end¡" "What do you think?" "Hooh¡" Noh Doha adjusted his sses and looked straight at me. "It suits you¡" "Excuse me?" "I said, it suits you. This is ultimately an advanced form of your ability, isn''t it? The Time Seal or whatever it is¡" "¡" "I know you view the Time Seal as a curse rather than an ability. But from my perspective, you are also a kind of dream demon. Doctor Jang. And you could say that you have just brought in subordinates to make your forces even stronger¡" Noh Doha pressed the casino chip with his fingertip. "I¡¯ve heard there are many ways for an Awakened to develop their abilities. So, isn¡¯t it possible that you¡¯ve be stronger by subjugating anomalies this time? Hooh, congrattions. What do you call this, an ability upgrade¡?" "I merely perpetuate a day that actually existed infinitely. The dreams of the fairies are just simtions. No matter how much power the fairies exert, they can¡¯t create dreams that ount for all the variables in reality." I, too, looked at Noh Doha. We searched each other¡¯s gazes. "Workshop Master Noh Doha. Just as the sword you created, Doha, was something that the alien-god Endless Hell couldn¡¯t anticipate." "¡" "I will aim for reality. Just as I have so far. And I will continue to do so, forever." A silence fell. With a long, humming breath, Noh Doha nodded. "¡Fine. Then there¡¯s nothing to worry about. It¡¯s a brilliantly fine n, so let¡¯s proceed with the currency reform immediately¡" That was the highest praise that coulde from a person like Noh Doha. "Oh, by the way. What do you want to call this new key currency that will be circted in our world? Fairy Coin¡?" "No. Although I also considered the name Dream Currency, I think it¡¯s better to call it ''Won¡¯''." "Oh? And why is that¡?" "It will be easier for people to ept because of the familiarity." I picked up the casino chip¡ no, the money that would be the new world''s currency, and flicked it to Noh Doha. Noh Doha deftly caught my money. "Because it¡¯s a currency that flows in this endlessly repeating circr world, it¡¯s Won. Because it¡¯s money that feeds on human hopes and dreams, it¡¯s Won. And because it will be an object of curses andmentations, it¡¯s also Won. Coincidentally, Japan and China also use the characters Yen and Yuan. It can be interpreted in any way. Strong sorceries originally have many names to conceal themselves." [PR/N: Won (ˆA), Won (îŠ), Won (Ô¹), Yen (ƒÒ), Yuan (Ôª). Words with their characters, respectively in order, just for better understanding.] "Hmm¡ well." With his usual twisted smile, Noh Doha pocketed the money. "Not bad. Since sorcery is your specialty, Doctor Jang, I¡¯ll leave it to you¡" 6 There is an epilogue. Not long after, the National Road Management Department began performing as a ''bank''. And they supplied 9 billion worth of ''Won'' to the major guilds in various cities, free of charge. Without any interest. When the guild leaders visited Busan, each of them used the casino. And they left excellent reviews both in reality and on SG Net. - [Three Thousand] Witch Trials Judge: It was like a midsummer night¡¯s dream. How long has it been since I¡¯ve tasted a premium omakase restaurant? A ss of wine. A warm partner. It was a time that reaffirmed the truth that life is enough with just that¡ Although I couldn¡¯t capture it in photos, that itself is also a kind of beauty, isn''t it? Today''s remark: Moment, you are so beautiful that you should stay still. - [Baekhwa] High School 7th Grade: Totally rmended!! I could enjoy an ordinary school life! I achieved my bucket list of holding hands and walking home under the cherry blossom trees! ?????;; Truly rave reviews. Naturally, the guild leaders¡¯ reviews stimted other guild members, and further piqued the interest of awakened beings all over the Korean Penins. In the end, within less than two years, the Won was circted as the official key currency. Initially, there were no major obstacles to exchanging goods with just Won in the regions of the Korean Penins, the Japanese Archipgo, and the Chinese maind. They even paid equal attention to the arrangement of the names of the fallen countries to avoid offending anyone by using each order: Korean Penins-Japanese Archipgo-Chinese Maind, Japanese Archipgo-Chinese Maind-Korean Penins, and Chinese Maind-Korean Penins-Japanese Archipgo. In some sense, the 205th turn might have been a very significant turning point. Of course, numerous incidents would ur because of this Dream Casino and the Won¡ But that can be unraveled slowlyter. So let¡¯s end this episode with a brief glimpse into a dream I bought at the casino. "Brother Hyunduk!" "Oh! Brother Doctor! You, my brother, have done a great job!" "How can this be solely my credit? It¡¯s thanks to Brother Woonjang who led the soldiers, and further, it¡¯s due to the treacherous Jojeok who lost the people''s hearts, and ultimately, it¡¯s the merit of Brother Hyunduk who gathered the people scattered across the world." "Hohoho. I can''t match Brother Doctor¡¯s eloquence." In the dream, we ¨C Yubi, Zhang Fei, Guan Yu, and the Doctor Jang ¨C founded the Shu Han. Naturally, we chopped off Cao Cao¡¯s head and threw it into the river of Xu Province. This is the realization of justice. The proper history. Truly a touching Romance of the Three Kingdoms that you can¡¯t watch without tears. It was overwhelming. How could I hog this thrill all to myself? As soon as I woke from the dream, I pounded on the keyboard (the reincarnationptop given by the alien-god). A lengthy Romance of the Three Kingdoms novel waspleted within a few days. I handed this ''masterpiece'' to the so-called editor. "Reader. Make sure to include this novel in the main text. I think it¡¯s a masterpiece. A monumental work in the genre of Romance of the Three Kingdoms parodies! I n to serialize it on SG Net too. So in the main text as well¡" "Wait. In the main text, you want to insert a 600-episode Romance of the Three Kingdoms parody into the middle of the novel I¡¯m editing?" "Exactly. That will perfectly solve the issue of volume you mentioned. The readers will shed tears of joy." "Are you seriously crazy?" "¡?" ¡Unfortunately, it seemed my masterpiece wouldn¡¯t be included in the main text due to some uncultured individual. The end. - The Dreamer. End. [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] Chapter 124 - Unbelievers â… [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] Chapter 124 ©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤ Unbelievers ¢ñ 1 Can you guess what promise Koreans will absolutely never keep? "Let''s have a meal together sometime." That''s right. To Koreans, this phrase does not literally mean that they want to meet up and increase insulin secretion together when they are genuinely hungry. If we interpret it strictly, it means something like: "Though we are not allies, let us dere here and now that we are not enemies either." Each country has its own sophisticated diplomatic expressions like this. For example, if a resident of Kyoto asks you, "Would you like some ochazuke?" it wouldn''t be wise to respond with "Wow! Traditional food! Japanese people are so kind!" Simrly, if North Korea fires a missile, it doesn''t mean "Die, South Korean bastards!" but rather "Look at us! We exist too!" Automatic AI trantion should be applied in your mind. The same goes for "Let''s have a meal together sometime." If you respond with, "Yes! My friend! When shall we meet? Tomorrow? Next week?" the other person might seriously doubt whether this diplomatic rtionship is worth maintaining. And there''s a universal diplomatic maxim that transcends borders: "The end of the world is approaching soon! Everyone!" "Hell ising! Ah! I can see thendscape of hell with my eyes! Get on the new ark before the hellfire pours down!" "Who am I? I am the son of heaven and the savior. Those who believe in this truth will be blessed, but disasters will follow the unbelievers." This is precisely the apocalyptic rhetoric of cults. Anyone who lives with their internal trantion function always on, as general people do, knows that when cult members say "The end wille someday, one day!" the correct interpretation is "¨DBut if you donate, we might be able to extend the deadline of the apocalypse for you." People who fail to understand such basic diplomatguage are few in any country. These marginalized individuals, excluded from international diplomacy, are always subject to exploitation. And then, the void arrived. "Wow! The end has reallye! The guru''s prophecy was true! Guru, what should we do now? Shall we merrily start mass suicide as you mentioned before?" "Ugh." The monsters'' brains had no trantion function. Naturally, they could not understand the subtle diplomacy of humans. On the very day the void arrived, cult leaders worldwide wanted to ask the monsters, "Aren''t you damn clueless?" "No¡¡. I mean. Listen, just because the apocalypse is near doesn''t necessarily mean we have tomit suicide¡¡." "Guru, stop talking nonsense andmit suicide quickly." Most of the gurus found themselves being treated as the clueless ones. But there was no need to be too sad. The believers were not so cruel as to ostracize their gurus. They earnestly achieved the "Prophecy Fulfilled" achievement together. -Breaking news. Evidence of a mass suicidemitted at a facility in Chungcheongbuk-do around 11 a.m. today... -ording to police investigations, there seems to be no clear connection between the recent series of mass incidents... -The terrorists who upied the Seoul subway have been identified as members of a certain cult. Theymitted mass suicide once a day, including their guru... A harsh season hade for cult leaders. There had never been such unemployment in history. Those running cults had to make tougher choices. However, it is said that heroes appear in times of chaos. In Korea, two cult leaders managed to shout "I want to live! With you!" oveing countless suicide suggestions¨D¨D. Entry Number One. "All awakened ones must join the New Buddhism to free themselves from the sin of killing as soon as possible! Those who don''t, go against the will of Hwaeom! They are disrupting the peace of all beings!" "Immortal life without killing! Immortal Hwaeom! Eternal peace of a billion miles!" [PR/N: Hwaeom is the name of the Korean transmission of the Huayan school of East Asian Buddhism] New Buddhism. A certain monk who had settled in central Korea at the right time reached enlightenment upon seeing the zombie virus, Udumbara, spreading in his city. The faith that putting a flower on one''s head would protect one from the monsters resonated with modern people who already doubted the efficiency of their mental AI trantors. They willingly reced their internal trantors with a more eco-friendly substance. New Buddhism rapidly expanded its influence, disying fierce authority that dominated the entire Korean Penins, the Japanese Archipgo, and the Chinese Maind. At one time, Korea''s most significant export was not K-pop but K-religion. Of course, once I started repelling Udumbara, it all came to naught. The monk amicably held hands with his followers and booked a one-way ticket to the other shore. Entry Number Two. "Understood! Brothers and sisters! As your shepherd, I will lead the way!" "That''s our leader!" "Mo Gwangseo! Mo Gwangseo!" Mo Gwangseo. Like all pioneers who create new doctrines, Mo Gwangseo had a unique history. Mo Gwangseo was a warrior of squared emunication, having been dered heretical by the Catholic Church and then again by the organization Mary''s Ark of Salvation. He was a truly extraordinary cultist. If you multiply a negative by another negative, it bes a positive. Unlike most cultists, Mo Gwangseo had a mathematical mind and was convinced that he was heading in the right direction by going round and round. With about 210 believers, he didn''t even rank among the top cults in Korea, but Mo Gwangseo didn''t mind. Even Jesus had only twelve disciples (and one of them respected Brutus more than his master). Mo Gwangseo''s confidence was not without foundation. More precisely, he created the foundation. "What is that smell? Leader, what is that?" "It''s ether." "Excuse me?" "This container is filled with ether in the form of holy water, which will guide me to heaven." Thetest chemical substance, dubbed ether by Mo Gwangseo, was also known as gasoline. Indeed, Mo Gwangseo proved he was on a different levelpared to other mediocre cult leaders. Before the followers could think, "Hmm, the cult leader in the neighboring town put on a spectacr show before ascending, shouldn''t we have some entertainment like that too...?" Mo Gwangseo had already prepared the gasoline himself. "Brothers and sisters! From ancient times, fire has been sacred ether! The essence of fire is to purify the earthly impurities and bring us closer to heaven! However, erasing the filthy energy is not easy, so I, as a soul that has prated the six great spirits, will pave the way for you and guide you to the high heavenly kingdom." Themonality between rock stars and cult leaders is that the performance on stage is crucial. As soon as Mo Gwangseo finished his speech, he covered himself in oil from head to toe. The strong smell of gasoline spread, detectable even to those whose noses were dulled by spring pollen. "Everyone! You must do the same. Each of you must follow my lead and break through the path of wind with all your might so that the souls left on earth can ascend easily! So that the whole world may be saved by the glorious light of mercy and the blessing of love! Amen in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit!" Mo Gwangseo ran out of the hall. Having received a normalpulsory education in South Korea, he knew what would happen if gasoline caught fire in an enclosed space. By the way, he graduated from a film directing department. "In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, Amen!" "Leader! Leader!" Moved by the cries, some followers shouted, "Amen!" and chased after the cult leader. One follower, particrly skilled in running, easily caught up with the leader and hugged him tightly. "Leader! I''ll go with you, Leader! I''ll break through the wind path with you!" "Oh, oh!" Perhaps Mo Gwangseo intended to keep running and escape. After disappearing from the followers'' view, he might have nned to detonate a pre-prepared explosive, making it appear as if he ascended by sacrificing himself. Then, after a few days, he could return unharmed, appearing as a resurrected Jesus to the followers. Turning a crisis into an opportunity¡ªthis was the n. What Mo Gwangseo didn''t ount for was that his performance was so outstanding that it deeply moved the followers. "Let go! Let go! Wait, don''t touch that¡ª" Boom! ording to survivors'' testimonies, an explosion urred in the nearby parking lot at that moment. No matter how much oil sunscreen Mo Gwangseo applied, a mere ignition would not cause such a massive outdoor explosion. [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] Two followers who followed the cult leader and Mo Gwangseo himself were killed instantly. Mo Gwangseo''s body was particrly shattered into pieces and burned for a long time. "The Leader has ascended!" "The Leader has opened the wind path!" "Oh, holy. Amen..." If the story ended here, it would be no different from countless other pseudo-religious organizations that emerged and naturally dissipated after the advent of the void. As always, misfortune struck when the curtain did not fall at the moment the story should have ended. "Huh?" "What''s wrong, Kim? Don''t change your mind and just apply the gasoline quickly." "No, that''s not it! Look! Look at the ce where the Leader ascended! That...!" "Huh?" It was while the remaining followers were preparing a mass immtion in the parking lot. Someone pointed with a finger. There was light. This was not some literary interpretation that light in the Bible means Logos. It was literal ''light'' that appeared in the outdoor parking lot near Okjeong Lake in Okjeong-dong, Yangju, Gyeonggi-do, South Korea. A shadow of a person walked out from the midst of the light. "Oh, ohhh..." It was Mo Gwangseo. Backlit, Mo Gwangseo appeared as if he was surrounded by a halo. Thud. The followers fell to their knees without hesitation. They wept. "It''s a miracle..." "The Leader has resurrected!" Smiling gently, Mo Gwangseo¡ªor the entity the followers firmly believed to be Mo Gwangseo¡ªdid not respond. He just smiled benevolently. But for the brainwashed followers, that was enough. Like heroines in light novels falling for the protagonist''s head-patting technique, the followers wept, washing their tears with more tears, and kissed Mo Gwangseo''s feet, pledging eternal loyalty. "It''s the resurrection! It''s the miracle of resurrection!" The followers no longer needed a ''wind path'' to ascend to heaven. Thend where the resurrected Jesus existed was the holy temple. There were no trumpet sounds, nor visible angels, but such trivial details didn''t matter. To live in a cult, one needed the courage to ignore life''s trivialities. And the 200 followers were indeed courageous. "Leader Mo Gwangseo was the resurrected Jesus!" "Oh, Amen! Amen!" "I''ve been saved! We''ve been saved!" Mo Gwangseo had won. Where? In the religious war. In this ce called the Korean Penins, a jar of loneliness where 20 gods and 50 resurrected Jesuses fought an eternal crusade, Mo Gwangseo was chosen as thest one standing. Now, Mo Gwangseo''s cult was reborn under the name ''Resurrection Church.'' "Spread this miracle far and wide!" "We believe in the miracle of holy water and holy fire!" "Preach and keep preaching! Amen!" The followers of the Resurrection Church roamed around the country with holy water¡ªgasoline¡ªmarked on their foreheads. While the New Buddhism absorbed followers from the Buddhist sects, the Resurrection Church eagerly consumed Christian believers. Of course, followers of other local cults became the most desirable prey. "What? You want me to renounce my faith? What a joke! Our leader received the Eucharist from the Pope himself, which turned into flesh and blood in his mouth. The statue of the Virgin Mary in our church cried tears 500 times, and we have photos and evidence!" "Yeah, so what? Our leader resurrected." "What?" "Our leader is the resurrected Jesus. What are you going to do about it?" Mo Gwangseo''s resurrection didn''t happen just once. The first instance was difficult, but the second, third, and fourth were easy. Every Sunday, Mo Gwangseo was engulfed in gasoline and set aze. Each time, he walked out, emitting light. With an endlessly benevolent smile. "Oh, ohhh!" "Do you believe now?" "I believeee! Amen!" The material ''evidence'' other cults boasted about became powerless in the face of the vivid resurrection show happening before their eyes. The sin of killing their leader, whom they worshipped as Jesus, every Sunday could be justified in the name of their missionary duty. It was crucial not to expect rational reasoning from them. Those who attended Sunday Mass and renounced their previous faith returned to their bases and immediately arrested the ''false prophets.'' "No! You Satanic bastards! Do you think you''ll get away with this?" "Shut up! You are the Satan!" "What, what?" Competitors, who were God and Jesus just yesterday, turned into Satan overnight. The believers chastised themselves for being deceived by the Antichrist and poured the holy water they received from the Resurrection Church on the heads of the Satanists. "Please, spare me! Please, spare me!" "Ether shall purify the wicked soul. Amen." "Amen!" Holy bonfires were lit all over the country. Naturally, I began hearing stories about the Resurrection Church whilemuting between Seoul and Busan. "...This is insane." My eyes turned cold. There was nothing special about cults themselves. South Korea had always been overflowing with cults. Ever since Dangun hypnotized a perfectly fine bear by telling it, "From now on, you''re not a bear but a human, got it?" thisnd had been famous as a ma for mental indoctrination. [PR/N: In Korean legends, a tiger and a bear lived in a cave and prayed to God to be human beings. Their wish can only be true if they can only eat mugwort and garlic for 100 days in the cave. The tiger gave up after 20 days but the bear seeded and turned into a woman who gave birth to the founder of Korea.] But the Resurrection Church was somewhat different. I was a rational Korean. So, when I heard about Mo Gwangseo, my mind immediately began processing like an AI trantor. A being that keepsing back to life? Yet, doesn''t understand humannguage? Emits light and smiles silently each time it resurrects? "No matter how I look at it, that''s not a human, just a case of a human turning into a monstrosity." Exactly. These cultists were no longer satisfied with worshiping humans and had begun to revere ''monstrosities'' as Jesus. [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] Chapter 125 - Unbelievers â… â… [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] Chapter 125 ©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤ Unbelievers ¢ñ¢ñ 3 Originally, I didn''t pay much attention to Mo Gwangseo and the Resurrection Church. The anecdotes about Mo Gwangseo and the actions of the church members described in this episode are about 50% based on my imagination. I didn''t witness them firsthand; I reconstructed them based on the testimonies of various people. Why didn''t I care? "Who has time to worry about a cult when I''m already swamped?" Honestly, it wasn''t worth my attention. The situation was different with the Shinbul (New Buddhism) cult. Although it was simr in that it used the paranormal to support faith, the Udumbara of Shinbul posed a direct threat to human civilization. Moreover, Shinbul was hostile to the Awakened, requiring urgent action. But the Resurrection Church? "Awakened? What''s important about that right now? Jesus has returned!" "Amen!" "The end is near. Brothers and sisters, repent now and board the ark of salvation designed by our leader." "You! I see from your face that you are a good person who must be saved!" Aside from asionally encountering a missionary on the street, there wasn''t much harm. And street evangelism was a side quest that you could run into on your way to work even before the apocalypse in South Korea. As a regressor, I had much more important main quests to focus on. More importantly, Mo Gwangseo''s Resurrection Church also had its own main quest. - Everyone! I will open the way for the wind so that you can ascend. You must help others too. When he was alive¡ªbefore he transformed into the "Resurrection Monstrosity"¡ªMo Gwangseo targeted a unique sales point in the religious market of Korea. - But where do you think your help is most urgently needed? - Um? ...Yeouido? - No! It''s North Korea! - What? The Northward Evangelization Doctrine. - Jesus said, ''Go out into the highways and hedges andpel them toe in, that my house may be filled.'' But why did Jesus say topel them? Did he mean to drag unbaptized people into the church by force? - Absolutely not. There are evil Satanic forces that forcefully prevent the sheep from following the shepherd''s call by blocking the roads and building fences. These Antichrists must be defeated by force. - The unbaptized brothers and sisters in North Korea are not at fault. The great sin lies with the Kim family, who built the iron fence and wall around them. Since the Korean Penins was divided, the ''road'' has been cut off and a ''fence'' has been built. Jesusmands you to restore this road of tears and blood with your steps. - Ah, brothers and sisters! We do not tread this most difficult path here because we are better than others or to boast. We trust that other brothers will pull the sheep along the easier fields, so we walk this more arduous path of evangelization out of faith and love for our brothers. - So please, may the thunder of faith break down Satan''s wall, and may our steps reach their hands. Amen. Mo Gwangseo''s Northward Evangelization Doctrine gained considerable support among his followers. To be more precise, only those who resonated with it joined his church. In truth, the Northward Evangelization Doctrine was another "diplomatic" flourish that Mo Gwangseo had devised. If you took it literally and tried to spread the doctrine by moving northward, Mo Gwangseo and the JSA (Joint Security Area) battalion would be in trouble. Mo Gwangseo, as a citizen of a democratic country, was merely making "campaign promises" to his followers. But as I''ve said before, all evil stems from the monstrosities that don''t have a trantor in their brains. In this case, it was the Ten ns. "The barbed wire has been torn down!" The Ten ns were drawn to gatherings of over 300 people. After concluding that Korean humans were quite ptable, the Ten ns became interested in the same species of meat. The camps in North Korea, where the line between prison and barracks was bing blurred, appeared to the Ten ns as Michelin one-star fusion restaurants. "Ah! Leader Mo Gwangseo, no, Jesus''s prophecy has been proven true again!" "The fist of fire has shattered the wall! Now it is time for us to spread the gospel!" "Let''s go, brothers! To North Korea!" The Resurrection Church really did march northward. After incorporating various cults within Korea into its own, training them, and then sending the church members on a continuous march to North Korea. This new crusade continued to advance even as the South Korean military was being annihted. If you''re wondering why a crusade emerged out of nowhere on the Korean Penins rather than in Jerusalem, it''s either because you didn''t study history enough or because you''ve been influenced by identalism. After all, Pyongyang was once called the Jerusalem of the East. "March northward!" "God wills it!" Gaeseong, Geumcheon, Pyeongsan, Sariwon. North Korea''s major strongholds were liberated one by one. Indeed, the Korean Penins seemed to have geographical characteristics that provided more buffs to volunteers than to regr armies. The secret to the Crusaders'' sess was simple. The Resurrection Church regarded the Ten ns, who had destroyed the demilitarized zone, as "Apostles of God." They followed behind the Ten ns, who devoured the North Korean army. In a sense, the Resurrection Church members were among the best-adapted humans to the apocalypse. The leader was a monstrosity, the vanguard was a monstrosity, and few other groups had utilized monstrosities as effectively as they did. And finally. "Look over there!" "It''s Pyongyang! We''ve finally arrived!" "Ah... the Lord''s light fills the Jerusalem of the East." The liberation of Pyongyang! The believers shuddered with excitement. Since the time of Dangun, had there ever been a religious figure who aplished as much as they had, aside from perhaps Gung Ye? Of course, the Oriental Jerusalem had little of the Lord''s light. The only cathedral in Pyongyang, Jangchung Cathedral, had long since copsed. There weren''t many people either. -G????????????????! No, they were disappearing in real-time. The North Korean regime had made a desperate final stand to defend Pyongyang. And as you might guess from the use of the past tense, they were wiped out entirely, down to their souls. There were even some Chinese troops in Pyongyang. Upon hearing the intelligence that "liberators are marching north from the south," the Chinese soldiers'' minds suddenly regressed to the 1950s. That''s right. Even though they sometimes forgot, Pyongyang and Beijing were blood allies. And so they shed blood together. -Gu?ro???o?wi??o?... The strongest of the Ten ns roared. The Ten ns was ridiculously powerful, the strongest of the monstrosities. With its tentacles reminiscent of Cthulhu, the Ten ns easily drilled through underground rock formations, rendering bunkers meaningless. The North Korean leadership, military generals, and, most importantly, the North Korean soldiers and Pyongyang citizens all set off to meet Comrade Marx. Even the Chinese People''s Volunteer Army, who hade down from Manchuria, btedly realized that they had severely misinterpreted the intelligence. The Ten ns loved East Asians far too much to be considered mere capitalist imperialist agents. At that moment. At the very moment when North Koreans were dying, Chinese were despairing, and South Koreans had just arrived in Pyongyang and were screaming. Footsteps. Mo Gwangseo walked forward. "Leader!" Shouted a believer. Those who had followed Mo Gwangseo before he demonstrated the miracle of the Second Coming subtly enjoyed using the old title, "Leader," to express their sense of privilege. "Jesus!" Shouted thete converts. Throughout the Crusaders'' march, Mo Gwangseo had walked at their forefront. For such an esteemed figure to walk toward that terrifying monstrosity! Even if the Ten ns was an Apostle of God, they couldn''t help but worry. "Who the heck is this bastard?" Shouted the North Koreans. The Chinese were no different. It was a natural reaction. In the name of the Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit, or perhaps in the name of Leader Jesus Christ, Mo Gwangseo walked forward. Thud. And naturally, one of the countless tentacles of the Ten ns impaled Mo Gwangseo like a skewer. ¡°Leadeeeeerrr!¡± ¡°Oh Lord! Oh Loooord!¡± [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] Though it was as inevitable as thew of gravity, the believers of the Resurrection Church were horrified. How could this be? The Ten ns were indeed apostles of God, but the problem was that their name happened to be Judas Iscariot. This is why one should always check their true name when summoning a servant. The believers of the Resurrection Church seemed to be paying for ignoring this old proverb. As some wept, and others looked on in confusion, thinking, ''What the hell are those guys doing?'' sh¡ª. There was light again. -Grrrrrooooookooopahhak! Light burst forth from the tentacles of the Ten ns. The city, which was in the midst of a massacre, was suddenly engulfed in a bright white glow. The Ten ns, as if they had bitten into a shell while eating raw oysters, spat out Mo Gwangseo. By the time the light subsided, all the humans engaged in the urban battle could witness the halo of Mo Gwangseo. ¡°¡¡¡± ¡°¡¡¡± The battlefield fell silent. With a gentle smile, Mo Gwangseo, the resurrected anomaly, stood in the centre of the attention of tens of thousands of people. -Grrruuuuuu... And then a miracle happened. The Ten ns, who had spat out Mo Gwangseo, turned their backs and left. If one were to interpret it in humannguage, it might be something like, ''I wouldn''te back to this tasteless restaurant even if you paid me.'' However, since the anomalies didn''t carry human trantors, and humans didn''t buy anomaly trantors either, the meaning was lost. Thud, thud¡ The massive form of the Ten ns slowly moved away. The North Korean soldiers, who had been ready to ept their total annihtion just moments ago, and the Chinese troops, all stared in disbelief. What on earth had just happened? ¡°Hallelujah!¡± The believers of the Resurrection Church provided an answer to their questions. ¡°Jesus has driven away the apostle of God!¡± ¡°Oh, fellow citizens! Praise the Lord! He has blessed our Crusade!¡± ¡°It¡¯s a miracle, a miracle!¡± The Chinese soldiers didn¡¯t understand the Koreans'' fervor. But the North Koreans did. Through the interpretation of a North Korean officer, the cries of the Resurrection Church believers were tranted to Chinese as well. The expressions of the remaining soldiers and civilians changed. Incidentally, that day was a Saturday, and the next day a special ''mass'' of the Resurrection Church was held. Even the skeptics who were still unsure about Mo Gwangseo''s miracle attended the live "concert" to see what all the fuss was about. The mass ended. On that day, Pyongyang was restored as the Jerusalem of Korea. 4 The Holy Kingdom of the East The name of the newly established country in the ruins of Pyongyang. Although it was not recognized internationally, the new nation was not without power. After all, the previous regime was in a simr position. North Korea had now be Rome itself. Although it was too far east to be considered the Eastern Roman Empire, that didn''t matter. The capital was, of course, the Holy City of Pyongyang. The national leader was Mo Gwangseo. Mo Gwangseo¡¯s official title wasn¡¯t king, president, prime minister, or Leader. Not even pope. The only title fitting for Mo Gwangseo was Jesus, so the official full title of the head of state of the Holy Kingdom of the East was determined to be ''Mo Gwangseo Jesus.'' Theedy, with the Resurrection Church handling both the script and the lead role, had finally reached its climax. ¡°What the hell is this...¡± The expression on Noh Doha¡¯s face when he heard the news from the North was priceless. ¡°Wasn''t that ce amunist stronghold? And now they¡¯re rapping about Jesus? Marx would have condemned religion as the opium of the people...?¡± ¡°Hmm. Isn¡¯t a cult religion better than Juche ideology?¡± ¡°Better, my ass. It¡¯s just the same. This country is really going to hell...¡± Indeed, this world was a fantasy. What else could you call a reality where a ''Holy Empire'' was marked boldly on the map? In any case, Pyongyang seemed to have left asting impression on the Ten ns as a ''restaurant with poor hygiene,'' and they made sure to avoid it. The Holy Kingdom of the East believers praised this as a ''glorious miracle of Mo Gwangseo Jesus Christ.'' Naturally, other North Koreans began to flock to Pyongyang as well. It wasn''t so much that they were fooled by the propaganda of the Holy Kingdom, but rather that they didn¡¯t want to serve a meal to such terrible customers as the Ten ns. As the end times drew on, the governments of Korea, Japan, and China copsed in that order. Though the three East Asian countries weren¡¯t born on the same day, they seemed to have formed a brotherly bond to die together. Yet, the Holy Kingdom of the East alone managed to preserve its state. It was truly fitting for a region that had long been stripped of any concept of international cooperation. While the surrounding countries wondered, ''Why hasn''t that ce fallen? Seriously, why hasn''t it fallen?'' (which was also simr to the previous regime), the Holy Kingdom of the East gradually became aware of the situation. ¡®Huh? All our neighboring countries have copsed?¡¯ ¡®Then doesn¡¯t that mean we can now legitimately im those ungovernednds?¡¯ The Holy Kingdom of the East resumed its ''march northward.'' It wasn¡¯t under the pretense of reiming the ancestralnds of the nation. Such nationalist thinking was not in vogue. The Holy Kingdom of the East was the only regime directly acknowledged by the Lord. Therefore, they believed they could formallyy im to any territory in the world. Thus, the Second Crusade was officially dered in the Holy City of Pyongyang. The Crusaders swept through the Gando region, where the poption had been forcibly reduced to around 300 by the Ten ns. Liberation, liberation, and more liberation. ¡°Today, the holy Crusaders of the East liberated three more viges and brought them into the embrace of our Mo Gwangseo Jesus Christ. Let us pray for the well-being of our brothers and sisters. Amen.¡± ¡°Amen!¡± This wasn¡¯t a sh between nations or a conflict between peoples. It was simply a bloodbath between the Resurrection Church, which had downloaded a hypnosis app, and the poor ordinary people who resisted. In such a genre of conflict, the ordinary people were always at a disadvantage. Even those who had never encountered adult doujinshi could sense the clear foreboding. If this were the world of a doujinshi, the person who first sensed the ''foreboding'' would be the first victim. ¡°Hmm¡¡± Fortunately, reality was not a doujinshi. In contrast to doujinshi, which lowered humanity''s average intelligence just to maintain the genre''s strictness, the people of reality could judge things correctly. Especially when the National Highway Director, Noh Doha, was the type to snatch away a phone if the opponent had a hypnosis app and preach about ''101 reasons why you shouldmit suicide right now.'' At first, Noh Doha was disgusted by the cult madness, but gradually, his expression changed. ¡°Doctor Jang¡¡± ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°Just curious, but¡ is there any way we could make use of this Mo Gwangseo¡¯s Resurrection Church?¡± It was a kind of destiny. The National Highway Director, the ruler of the ''south'' of the Korean Penins, was instinctively beginning to pay attention to the leader of the ''north.'' [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] Chapter 126 - Unbelievers III [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] Chapter 126 ©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤ Unbelievers ¢ñ¢ñ¢ñ 5 It may seem trivial, but Noh Doha was a raging pragmatist. Beyond the principle of "ck cat or white cat, as long as it catches mice," he was an extremist who believed that as long as something tasted good, it didn¡¯t matter whether it was a ck or white rat (and in the apocalypse, rats were indeed a good source of nutrition). In short, Noh Doha was specialized in squeezing out extreme efficiency, regardless of whether his opponent was a cultist or whatever else. "Are you saying we should use them? The Resurrection Church?" "Yes. I¡¯d like to consult with the ¡®Regressor Wiki¡¯ of the Doctor Jang first... but that Resurrection Church won¡¯tst long, right?" "Of course. The Resurrection Church will copse within three years at thetest." Indeed. No matter how madly the Resurrection Church expanded, no matter if it even set its sights on not just North Korea but also the entire Manchurian region, there was no need to worry. It was doomed to fail soon anyway. It was different from the Udumbara New Buddhism. Udumbara actually guaranteed benefits to those infected with the virus. Followers of New Buddhism could regenerate endlessly, even if their arms were cut off, their heads were half-smashed, or their guts were torn out. They could even live well without eating, just through photosynthesis. If not for the minor drawback of having to sacrifice your life to the World Tree when the due date arrived, I would¡¯ve converted to New Buddhism myself. But the Resurrection Church? "Mo Gwangseo, that freak, has no powers at all. Aside from the fact that he glows every time he resurrects, he really has no abilities." "Hmm..." This had been verified many times. In one turn, they even kidnapped Mo Gwangseo for biological experiments. They tried burning, roasting, and searing him with aura, doing all sorts of things. "Will this kill you? How about this?" They relentlessly tortured him, but the results were disappointing. Mo Gwangseo resurrected every time. One day, they tied Mo Gwangseo to the spot where a meteor shower was going to hit. Even the meteor shower, which scorched everything in its path to grey ash, couldn¡¯t kill Mo Gwangseo. There was even a time when theymissioned UFOs to kill Mo Gwangseo. They sent him on a fishing boat timed with the arrival of aliens in the East Sea. "Screeeech!" "Kiyaaak! Scree!" The universe¡¯s strongest warrior race attacked Mo Gwangseo. sh! sh! Mo Gwangseo died dozens of times per second, dazzling everyone with his light. The East Sea instantly became the hottest club in the world. Thirty minutes passed. "Kiyaaak..." "Kyaaak, kiyaaak..." Though the aliens could survive in the harsh environment of space, they were somehow designed to dissolve like salt in H?O, so their miraculous UFO sank. The aliens, who had given their all to the club party, also melted into slime. These bastards were just Ultraman with a time limit extended from 3 minutes to 30 minutes. Grinning¡ª While the aliens evolved into slippery slimes, only Mo Gwangseo remained, smiling calmly on the fishing boat. It was truly astonishing resilience. But... that was all there was to it. The light that Mo Gwangseo emitted didn¡¯t even have a recovery effect as small as that of a Bhus energy drink, let alone a holy blessing. It was just dazzling. It was extremely dazzling. Other than damaging the human cornea, it really had no other, no particr significance. "Ooooh! Mo Gwangseo, Jesus Christ, who returned from the heavens to save the earth!" "I believe in youuu!" But for some reason, people were infatuated with Mo Gwangseo. They worshipped this being who had no other use but shining as a god. Why? It was unknown. I¡¯d have rushed to Pyongyang to shout ¡°Mo Gwangseo Amen¡± myself if I knew. Isn¡¯t the world truly a mystery? "Well, there¡¯s no need to analyze why. Leave that to the psychologists and sociologists. What¡¯s important to us is that the Resurrection Church has mobilization power and action capacity..." Returning to the main topic, Noh Doha spoke. "All we need to do is defend a few key points. Hm. If the Resurrection Church can draw some aggro from the monsters up north, wouldn¡¯t that be to our advantage...?" "Oh. Are you nning to use the Resurrection Church as a human shield?" "Yes..." ng. Noh Doha lightly tapped his ankle brace with a hammer. Even after bing the national road manager, he personally made or repaired braces if there were no urgent issues to deal with. A daily routine. A note attached to Noh Doha''s brace had the name "Shin Soobin" written on it. He was one of the few elders who still regarded him as ¡°Orthotics Technician¡± rather than ¡°National Road Manager.¡± "Doctor Jang. If you think about it coldly, the Resurrection Church isn¡¯t really a nuisance to us, aside from their northward advance. If we assign them the role of meat shields, wouldn¡¯t that be the correct way to use life...?" "Hmm." I rested my chin on my hand. In previous turns, I hadn¡¯t interfered with the Resurrection Church. I saw them as a slow suicide funeral for the remnants of South Korea. Christianity. The religion most deeply rooted in Korea. The Resurrection Church only mimicked thenguage and grammar of that religion on the surface. Northward Advance. The ideology most deeply entrenched in Korea. The Resurrection Church also borrowed the colors and smells of this ideology. A cult among cults. A parasite among parasites. But a parasite cannot survive if its host dies. Civilization had copsed. South Korea was dead. Only the parasites wriggling in theirst season remained on the corpse that had stopped breathing long ago. I didn¡¯t respect their lives, but I did respect their deaths. After all, shouldn¡¯t people have the right to choose their own way of dying? ¡®Eastern Holy Kingdom¡¯ and ¡®Pyongyang Holy City¡¯ were the graves and coffins they had chosen to lie in. "Let¡¯s devour the brains of the Resurrection Church..." And Noh Doha was the type who would use even a corpse if necessary. I momentarily set aside my personal sentiments in the shadow that gloomily deepened in Noh Doha''s eyes. It wasn¡¯t difficult. I did not need to disregard the opinions of a life I valued for lives I did not respect. "You¡¯re suggesting we take control of the leadership of the Eastern Holy Kingdom and y puppet masters?" "Yes..." "It won¡¯t be easy. The Eastern Holy Kingdom isn¡¯t a state. It¡¯s not even a cohesive group. It¡¯s merely a collection of cultists whoe together and fall apart under the symbol of Mo Gwangseo. We would have to bring all twelve of the so-called ¡®Apostles¡¯ to our side, or at least choose one of them as a ¡®Pope¡¯ and support them. Naturally, we¡¯d also have to provide ndestine support to keep the Eastern Holy Kingdom going. Is it worth the effort?" "It¡¯s not... no, it¡¯s not worth it..." Noh Doha chuckled. "But wouldn¡¯t it be profitable if we could control Mo Gwangseo alone...?" "What? How? If you¡¯re considering using Cheon Yohwa¡¯s mind control, we¡¯ve already tried that. The brainwashing resets every time Mo Gwangseo resurrects, so it doesn¡¯t work. And Yo-hwa can¡¯t keep traveling to Pyongyang every week to y preacher." "No, not Guild Master of Baekhwa. Don¡¯t you have a cker in your guild? You might as well save her for making soup..." I blinked. A cker? "Oh." There was that option. 6. "Gi-Guild Master? Why are you suddenly looking at me like... like that...?" "No, not you, Aryeon." "Huh?" There were two ckers in our guild. One was Sim Aryeon, who dreamed of bing Professor Quirrell¡¯s tongue. The other was currently nestled in Sim Aryeon¡¯s arms, tilting their head. When our eyes met, the cker waved. Then the maid behind the sofa, connected by invisible strings, spoke. "What?" Puppeteer Lee Hayul. Hayul rarely appeared in my stories, for a simple reason. From time to time, without telling anyone, she would suddenly take off. You could say she loved traveling. It wouldn¡¯t be wrong to describe her as a wanderer with a restless spirit. Hayul would pull out just enough puppet strings to be useful in the frontline, and then disappear for weeks or months on end. Sometimes, truly out of the blue. "This time, I want to go to India, Oppa." "Uyuni Salt ts. Let¡¯s make rice balls at the Uyuni Salt ts. You cook the rice, Oppa." She would even pester me to travel to dangerous ces. Isn¡¯t there a saying that those who enjoy something cannot be beaten by those who work hard? That rule applied perfectly even in the apocalypse. Lee Hayul was thoroughly enjoying life in the apocalypse. If Hayul ever became the protagonist of a spin-off, the genre would instantly switch from survival to a road trip movie. Perhaps she was a natural-born counter-revolutionary, having been oppressed by the mayor of Jung Sangguk from birth¡ªI could only specte. Whatever the psychological reason, it didn¡¯t matter. From the perspective of Noh Doha, who believed humans should invest 25 hours and 59 minutes out of every 24 hours inbor, Lee Hayul was naturally a ¡®cker.¡¯ That cker was currently lying on the sofa, using Sim Aryeon¡¯sp as a pillow, munching on potato chips. "Hayul." I tried my best to maintain a gentle and kind smile. For the record, I also believed that, though maybe not as extreme as Noh Doha, a person should dedicate at least 20 hours tobor. "What?" [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] "You like dolls, right, Hayul? I found a doll up north that I think you¡¯d like to y with. What do you think? Interested?" "..." Blink, blink. The golden eyes of this cker wanderer kid blinked emotionlessly. "Not interested." "Hmm... What would make our Hayul interested? Don¡¯t you think it¡¯s about time you started working, Hayul?" "I don¡¯t need to work. Only I can make the transmission lines. It¡¯s patented. Other guild masters are begging me to install them in their hideouts. I could livefortably off consulting fees alone." This spoiled, talented brat... "I even finished reading Romance of the Three Kingdoms like you told me to. At least three years of immunity, please." "Hey. If you had any conscience, would you call that reading properly? If you read it properly, huh? How could anyone side with Wei?" "East Wu is practically invisible, a transparent country. Shu Han is a cklisted country with infinitebor. If you¡¯re not a native of Xu Province, is there any reason not to choose Wei?" "...If you don¡¯t help me with this, I¡¯ll tell Seo Gyu to delete your SGNet ount." "Oh, I must have been from Xu Province in a past life. How can I help you, Oppa?" Puppet strings stretched from Seoul to Pyongyang like a highway. Toy about 250 kilometers of puppet strings, Hayul had to spend two whole years as a machine weaving spider webs, but it wasn¡¯t a big issue. She installed the strings unnoticed by anyone, and the strings themselves were transparent. Unless someone used aura, it was almost impossible to cut them. I sneaked into Pyongyang Holy City. "Hm? Just now..." "What¡¯s wrong?" "Is it just me, or did I feel a breeze? Maybe I¡¯m imagining things." Mo Gwangseo was surrounded by an awakened security force, but evading their eyes was no big deal. After all, 30% of them were opium addicts. Some of the guards even had guns. Guns, in this day and age? Amateurs who didn¡¯t value their lives. I snuck into the ¡®Mo Gwangseo Christ Cathedral,¡¯ erasing my presence. This ce, once called the Kumsusan Pce of the Sun, had been haphazardly renovated with spires and crosses scattered around the building. Some of them had bent and copsed in the wind. In the heart of it all, Mo Gwangseo was alone in the hall that had been transformed into a cathedral. Without an altar or tabernacle, it was as if his presence alone sufficed. He sat on a golden throne. ¡°¡¡¡± It wasn¡¯t time for mass, so he was the only one there, but there was no telling when a follower might enter. I quickly attached puppet strings to various parts of his body. ¡°Saintess, everything¡¯s in ce.¡± [Yes, I¡¯ve informed Hayul. ¡Hayul says the distance makes it difficult to control.] ¡°Does that mean it won¡¯t work?¡± [No, she says she can still manage basic mouth movements.] I nodded. I¡¯d been putting Hayul through rigorous aura training for the past two years for this mission. ¡°Tell her to try saying something, anything, as a test.¡± [Understood.] A momentter. ¡°Oppaaaa.¡± Goosebumps rose all over me. The lips of Mo Gwangseo, who had always maintained a smile, were slowly moving. ¡°Can I take a break from training now?¡± ¡°¡Sure, Hayul. Just endure it on the days when mass is held once a week.¡± ¡°You¡ that hypocritical bastard, who betrayed Liu Zhang, the warlord of the Yi Province, like a piece of trash. The neck of Zhang Fei dangles¡ª the neck of Guan Yu swings¡ª Brother, why aren¡¯t youing, Brother? Have you forgotten the Oath of the Peach Garden? Hurry up ande, Brother.¡± Thunk. Mo Gwangseo¡¯s mouth returned to its original position. ¡°¡¡¡± Rage red up from within me, but I held it back. Fine. The kid had endured hellish training, pulling puppet strings non-stop for two years; I could allow her this much stress relief. In my mind, I slightly adjusted Lee Hayul¡¯s awakened rank from 1,000 meters to 900 meters, then slipped out. The very next day, during the Sunday mass, the hypnotic app of the Eastern Holy Nation (backdoor installed) showed off its prowess. ¡°Soon, strange beings wille from the distant frozennd.¡± The worshippers were shocked as they listened to the mass. ¡°T-The Leader¡?¡± ¡°Mo Gwangseo Christ has spoken!¡± There was amotion. The cult followers were astonished by the words of their leader, who had not uttered a single word since his resurrection. Some of the more zealous ones were already on their knees, weeping. Mo Gwangseo spoke in a low voice. ¡°You have purified the kingdom with your faith, and now it¡¯s time to surround it with walls made of your body and blood. When winteres, the army of demons will descend upon us. Build fortresses and barriers at every path to testify to your faith.¡± ¡°A wall, you say¡?¡± ¡°Your kingdom must be preserved for a long time so that the lost sheep can arrive, even ifte. Protecting this ce is protecting the path to ascension. My beloved children, prepare to fight against the armies of monsters and demons. But do not persecute my people; let the walls be made of your voluntary faith alone.¡± ¡°Ooooooh!¡± Mo Gwangseo¡¯s official first statement caused a massive stir. The Crusaders, who had been marching northward with the belief that life was worth discarding on the roadside, stopped and began constructing fortresses. The leader¡¯smand was invible. Even if the fortresses were built, they probably wouldn¡¯t deal any meaningful damage to the monsters. But it was certainly better than pointless expansion of the cult. The number of monsters descending from the north decreased immediately. And that wasn¡¯t all. [The ¡®Morning Star of the Second Coming¡¯ issues orders to the faithful.] We even created a constetion that mimicked Mo Gwangseo. On days when mass wasn¡¯t held, the Saintess pretended to be Mo Gwangseo, sending ¡®constetion messages¡¯ to control the followers. iming to be the resurrected Jesus, thus the Second Coming. Mo Gwangseo¡¯s name, Gwangseo, means ¡°morning light¡± when reversed, hence the ¡°Morning Star of the Second Coming.¡± Of course, this constetion was newly established exclusively for awakened believers of the Resurrection Church. [The ¡®Morning Star of the Second Coming¡¯ prophesies theing of the monster armies.] [The ¡®Morning Star of the Second Coming¡¯ guides you on the path you must take.] [The ¡®Morning Star of the Second Coming¡¯ instructs the National Road Administration not to antagonize believers, as they are tools to fulfill the divine will.] The malicious software secretly installed by Lee Hayul and the saintess within the Resurrection Church worked perfectly. Now the Resurrection Church followers were nothing more than puppets to be controlled at our will. ¡°Excellent¡.¡± The person who had ordered this grand hacking project, Noh Doha, looked quite satisfied. Confirming that the backdoor was functioning correctly, the head of the National Road Administration smiled faintly. ¡°Now we can use it subtly whenever necessary. You¡¯ve done well, Doctor Jang¡.¡± ¡°No big deal.¡± From this point on, the area we effectively controlled extended not only to the south of the Han River but also included the northern regions. It took about 2,000 years, counting all the rounds together, to get to this point. Could this be the slowest territorial expansionbined in all genre novels and alternate history novels? 7 There¡¯s a short epilogue. No matter how much of a direct highway was opened from Seoul to Pyongyang using puppet strings, asional maintenance was necessary. Once every six months, I would infiltrate the cathedral in Pyongyang Sacred City to adjust the puppet strings. Just like any other day, I had finished the tuning work and turned around when¡ª ¡°Enter through the narrow gate.¡± I turned around. Mo Gwangseo¡¯s unfocused eyes were staring at the floor. ¡°For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it.¡± ¡°¡¡¡± ¡°But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it. Scribe, enter through the narrow gate.¡± With that, Mo Gwangseo fell silent again. The atmosphere was a bit eerie, but I didn¡¯t take it too seriously. I just thought Hayul was messing with me again. When I returned to Seoul, I asked him. ¡°Hayul, I didn¡¯t know you read the Bible.¡± ¡°Huh?¡± ¡°You quoted the Gospel of Matthew in Pyongyang earlier. But why did you call me a scribe?¡± ¡°¡?¡± Lee Hayul tilted his head. ¡°I¡¯ve never read the Bible.¡± ¡°¡¡¡± ¡°I don¡¯t have a religion.¡± ¡Whether Lee Hayul¡¯s words are true or false, I¡¯ll leave that judgment to you readers. -Unbeliever. The End. [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] Chapter 127 - Victim I [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] Chapter 127 - Victim I 1 Let¡¯s talk about the end of our world once again today. 2 Whenever 15 years pass after the start of the regression, peace and stability slowly begin to arrive on the Korean Penins. Of course, the phrase "peace on the Korean Penins" has long been known to evoke different reactions from foreigners and locals alike. "Siren? What is this? An air raid? Has the Korean War broken out?" "No, it''s just daily life." "What?" While other countries peacefully harvest mackerel or herring from the sea, the specialty of the East Sea was missile parts. Even in the apocalyptic world where everything was steeped in void, things weren''t much different. In Busan, thergest city on the Korean Penins, ckouts urred almost daily, and strange entities gathered both inside and outside the city. The experienced people of the Korean Penins were prepared to humbly ept reality, thinking, ¡®Well, it seems peaceful enough, doesn¡¯t it?¡¯ But foreigners felt differently. In most regions, the ¡®15th year¡¯ marked the point where the end of civilization became inevitable. [Doctor Jang.] "Yes?" [A monster wave has been detected in the North Korean region. It''s currently spected to be moving southward toward the ind areas of the Korean Penins from the Gando region.] Monster waves. A phenomenon where all the strange entities gather together and surge like a tidal wave. It was this phenomenon that led to the destruction of countless countries and societies: Russia, Turkey, Iran, Pakistan, India, Mongolia, China¡ The Korean Penins was no exception. [16 hours since the monster wave was detected. The Eastern Holy Kingdom is still resisting in the North Korean region, but the final defense line is in danger.] [The final defense line has copsed. Urban warfare has begun in Pyongyang.] [The Cathedral of Jesus the Saviour has copsed. It has now been engulfed by the monster wave. The number of awakened beings in Pyongyang is rapidly decreasing.] [Ah. There''s a lighting from the cathedral. The light... it keeps shing. It¡¯s suspected that the repeated deaths of Mokwangseo are causing it.] [The Resurrection Church believers in Pyongyang haveunched their final charge. Soon, all the awakened beings observable by ''irvoycane'' will be annihted. Six, five, four, three, two... one.] [Pyongyang, annihted.] [The monster wave continues to move southward.] Even if humanity overcame the rounds where they were torn apart by the Ten ns and swept away by Meteor Shower, they could not escape annihtion in the end. Danger level: 4. Oceanic scale. The monster wave was not a unique phenomenon like a meteor shower or hell, nor was it a strange entity with a peculiar gimmick. As the name suggests, the monster wave was more fitting as a ''monster'' rather than an enigmatic ''entity.'' The reason why these creatures¡ªno, why this phenomenon was so formidable was simple. [The monster wave is about to enter Seoul. The number of entities engulfed by the wave is estimated to be around 500,000.] [Blowing up the Jamsu Bridge.] It was because of their overwhelming ''numbers.'' 3 "100,000. 200,000. 500,000. In severe cases, it¡¯s like facing a literal million-strong army. There''s simply no strategy against these entities." "Hmm..." Of course, I shared this information with my blood allies whenever I held secret meetings. In every regression, Noh Doha, who would eventually be recruited into my "Regression Alliance," let out an annoyed sigh. "Is there no specific strategy for dealing with them?" "There is. ording to the information I''ve gathered so far, the monster wave first appears here, in Istanbul, Turkey. It appears exactly one day after I regress." "Oh...?" "When the monster wave first starts appearing in Istanbul, it¡¯s not that troublesome. Only about 1,000 entities gather together." "A thousand, huh? So, isn¡¯t that within the range where a single awakened like Doctor Jang could barely manage to fend them off...?" "Exactly. So, in the next round, I n to head straight to Istanbul as soon as I drop into Busan Station, taking only the saintess with me." The saintess, who had been quietly sipping from a convenience store coffee bag beside me, looked up in surprise. "What?" Noh Doha and I nced at the saintess, then back at each other. "Is it really necessary to bring the saintess? The longer the Constetions remain silent, the more the awakened ones will act out..." "I have to turn on the map and fight too. I could take some support along, but honestly, traveling across Eurasia with a high-intelligence psychopath isn¡¯t really my thing. I¡¯ll defeat them as quickly as possible and return." "Hmm. Well, all right. Then I¡¯ll prepare a ''protocol that can withstand at least a month at the start, even without Doctor Jang and the saintess'' for the next round." The saintess cautiously raised her hand. "Um. Excuse me. I¡¯m not really into long-distance travel. Doctor Jang? Captain Noh Doha. My opinion is¨D¨D." The end times were too harsh for the opinions of a reclusive homebody to be respected. I carried the saintess on my back in the next round and crossed the Eurasian continent. It was as if the endless aura training was meant for this very moment; my steps were literally different from the rest. "Please let me know if you¡¯re feeling tired at any time." "...! Just, a bit, Doctor Jang, slow down a bit¡ª" "I''m d to see you''re doing fine." It took exactly 113 hours to cross the void, teeming with terrifying anomalies and asionally bombarded by tactical nukes, to arrive in Istanbul, Turkey. It was truly fortunate that the Saint had mastered the [Time Stop] ability. Even the basic human need for sleep could be instantly fulfilled by simply ¡®clicking¡¯ time to a halt. Me? I could go for up to six days without sleep and still be fine. ¡°Saintess, I¡¯m sorry to ask this of you right after we¡¯ve arrived, but please keep an eye out for any remaining monster waves using the Awakened¡¯s vision, and let me know immediately if you spot anything.¡± ¡°¡I¡¯ve just decided that I¡¯ll never travel with you again, Doctor Jang.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t worry. When we return to Korea, I¡¯ll get you there even faster!¡± ¡°¡¡¡± One of the most historically significant cities in the world, Istanbul, was now facing an era of overtourism due to the ¡®Monster Wave.¡¯ Monsters of varying types and personalities mixed together like sewage, forming a tsunami. This was not just a metaphor; from a distance, it really looked like a ¡®ck wave.¡¯ However, getting our travel tickets early was worth it, as the ck wave was still only looming in the west of Istanbul. At this point, I could handle it all by myself. My name is Kangrim. ¡°What? How is this possible¡? Who are you¡?¡± ¡°Thank you! Thank you, my friend, foring all this way to help us! We will never, ever forget what you¡¯ve done for us!¡± The locals who were nning a remation operation on the other side of the Bosphorus Strait couldn¡¯t contain their gratitude. The Monster Wave was sessfully subdued. Although both of our governments had copsed, a renewed sense of ¡®brotherhood¡¯ was forged between the Turkish and Korean people. After filming a brief patriotic drama, I returned to mypanions. ¡°Thank you for your hard work, Saintess. But isn¡¯t it meaningful that we¡¯ve defeated a monster that could have grown to oceanic proportions in the future? Let¡¯s return home quickly and deliver this joyful news.¡± ¡°A¡ ah¡¡± ¡°Seeing you so happy, Saintess, truly fills my heart with joy.¡± ¡°A¡ ah¡ a¡¡± We safely returned home. Everyone was happy. And exactly 17 yearster, the entire Korean Penins, including Busan, was submerged by the ck wave of the Monster Wave, leading to itsplete destruction. ¡°Hey. Damn, you crazy regressor. You said you¡¯d exterminated them¡¡± ¡°Oh, I¡¯m sorry.¡± That was both Noh Doha¡¯s and my final words. 4 What went wrong? To conclude, the ¡®Monster Wave¡¯ was not a phenomenon exclusive to Istanbul. It just happened to appear in Istanbul first. Under certain conditions, the ¡®Monster Wave¡¯ could ur anywhere at any time. ¡°What conditions¡?¡± ¡°Well, it turns out that when a void reaches a certain size, the Monster Wave inevitably urs.¡± A void had appeared right in the heart of Istanbul. It was simr to the situation in Seoul. However, unlike Seoul, which waspletely swept away by the void, the size of the void within Istanbul was abnormallyrge. Even roughly estimating, the void inside, known as ¡®Constantinople,¡¯ spanned an area as vast as the Mediterranean Sea. It was filled with fictional Crusader monsters. ¡°No matter how well we defend Turkey, it¡¯s pointless. When civilization begins to break down truly, voids start appearing everywhere. In Germany, India, Russia, Mongolia¡ªMonster Waves can ur in any of these ces.¡± ¡°Hah¡? Then, how are we supposed to exterminate them¡?¡± ¡°To be honest, it¡¯s practically impossible to eradicate them.¡± That¡¯s right. Even as a regressor, there was nothing I could do. The sheer power of ¡®overwhelming numbers¡¯ was that formidable. ¡°We¡¯re struggling just to defend the Korean Penins; there¡¯s no way we can manage all of Eurasia.¡± ¡°Well, that¡¯s true¡¡± ¡°Yes. Of course, if we manage to defend against the hordes of monsters pouring in from Manchuria, survival is technically possible.¡± The problem is. ¡°But the Monster Wave doesn¡¯t happen just once; it keeps recurring, sometimes monthly, sometimes weekly. As you defend against waves of tens of thousands of monsters, no matter how much I lead the charge, the damage umtes.¡± ¡°¡¡¡± ¡°Awakened ones are not invincible, after all.¡± As our forces slowly get whittled down, a point inevitablyes when we can no longer hold back the southern advance of the Monster Wave. We can dy it. We can postpone it. But one day, we will reach that ¡®end point,¡¯ whether we want to or not. The National Highway Management Agency meeting room fell silent. [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] Noh Doha let out a dryugh. ¡°Isn¡¯t this a bit of a scam¡?¡± At least Noh Doha managed to brush it off with augh. We kept this information to ourselves. Many would have fallen into despair if people knew that such a ¡®guaranteed bad ending¡¯ awaited humanity. The Ten ns or Meteor Shower were at least individual entities. They could be killed. But a collective entity¡ªa phenomenon that urs naturally? How could anyone possibly handle something like that? ¡°Is there any way we can use the Ressurection Church of Mo Gwangseo¡?¡± The idea of using the Eastern Holy Kingdom as a puppet state was proposed with this background in mind. From Noh Doha¡¯s perspective, erecting a ¡®human barrier¡¯ in the north was better to dy the Monster Wave''s southern advance by any means. While it was an effective method, it wasn¡¯t a perfect solution. I, too, fell deep into thought. ¡°Hmmm.¡± A dilemma on all sides. With each turn, I umted strategies for dealing with various anomalies and continually pondered the ultimate solution for the Monster Wave. Yet, no brilliant idea seemed toe to mind. As I sat on the sofa in our caf¨¦ hideout, mimicking Rodin¡¯s ¡®The Thinker,¡¯ I suddenly noticed Sim Aryeon, with her green hair, approaching me. ¡°G-Guild Leader¡¡± ¡°Hm? What is it?¡± ¡°Y-You know that meteor shower anomaly you mentioned before? Well, I¡¯ve finished the illustrations for it today¡ I was thinking of posting them on the SGNet forum under the name [Librarian of the Great Library]. Is that okay¡?¡± My dear Aryeon wanted to y at being a Constetion again. I nodded generously. Ever since I witnessed her reduced to a 16-bit sprite in the game ¡°Logout,¡± I couldn¡¯t help but be a bit soft on this girl. ¡°Go ahead.¡± ¡°Wow! You¡¯re the best, Guild Leader! Hehe, it¡¯s so much fun to act like a Constetion and make prophecies about anomalies that haven¡¯t even appeared yet¡!¡± Just as Sim Aryeon rolled away, eagerly running back to her homnd (the world of the), a sudden inspiration struck me. ¡°...!¡± It was a truly monumental revtion. If I had majored in art, I would¡¯ve pped Picasso across the face right then and there. If I had been a Buddhist, I would¡¯ve ced a lotus cushion beside Buddha on the spot. ¡°Aryeon, wait a moment!¡± ¡°Y-Yes?¡± ¡°Just out of curiosity¡ªhow would you feel if every human being on this Earth, at least everyone on the Korean Penins, started hating you?¡± ¡°What¡?¡± ¡°Of course, they wouldn¡¯t actually hate you. For instance, imagine they all despise a viin, like the ¡®Viin of Goryeo¡¯ or the ¡®Librarian of the Great Library,¡¯ someone you¡¯re portraying.¡± ¡°G-Guild Leader¡ have you been calling me ¡®Viin of Goryeo¡¯ in your head?¡± ¡°That¡¯s not important right now. Just answer my question! Quickly.¡± ¡°Hmmm¡¡± Sim Aryeon pressed her index finger to her chin. ¡°I-I¡¯d obviously hate it if they despised me directly as a person¡¡± ¡°But?¡± ¡°But if something I¡¯m portraying were to be the target of such intense hatred and contempt¡ I don¡¯t think I¡¯d mind it. Why do you ask?¡± ¡°Nothing. Got it. Thanks for answering. Now, go ahead and continue with your viinous activities.¡± ¡°I¡¯m not a viin!¡± In the next turn, which would be the 217th, I decided to put my unprecedented idea into action. After regressing, I gathered my usual allies¡ªSeo Gyu, Sim Aryeon, the Saintess¡ªjust like in previous turns. But just as the Solitary Epicure Ten ns were about to run rampant across the Korean Penins¡ [¡®The Saintess of Salvation¡¯ is in mourning, signaling that darkness has descended upon the people of thisnd.] The Awakened on the Korean Penins received a message they had never seen before. [¡®The Saintess of Salvation¡¯ strongly rmends that all Awakened check ConstetionlNet immediately.] Curious but puzzled, the Awakened logged into SGNet. And. As soon as they connected, they saw a post on the site as a ¡®popup window.¡¯ ¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D Author: ¡®Collector of All Anomalies¡¯ Greetings, human Awakened of the Korean Penins. I am a Constetion who has been closely observing your activities. Given your rtively meaningful achievementspared to other regions, I¡¯ve decided that a little more¡ ¡®challenging selection¡¯ is necessary for you. (??) Starting today, an apostle of mine, known as the ¡®Ten ns,¡¯ will appear in the Korean Penins. The Ten ns possess countless tentacles. If these tentacles pierce you, it will be difficult to avoid death. Moreover, these tentacles regenerate continuously in real time, so even if you manage to cut one off, others will simply grow in its ce. I wonder if you¡¯ll be able to withstand this trial as well. I must say, even though I came up with it, this seems like it will be quite an interesting ¡®experiment.¡¯ (??) I wish you the best of luck. ¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D And not long after, the Ten ns really did appear, causing significant damage. ¡°Kyyaaaah!¡± Sim Aryeon, who had been logged into SGNet under the name [Collector of All Anomalies], eximed in joy. Yes, it wasn¡¯t a scream but a shout of excitement. ¡°G-Guild Leader! This is amazing! Absolutely amazing! The power! The voices and curses of the people who hate me¡ They¡¯re all flooding into me¡ so abundantly¡!¡± ¡°Hm.¡± ¡°I feel like I can do anything right now! Oh my god! Guild Leader! I feel so incredibly strong¡!¡± Indeed. There was no point in hiding it. The project was to make all the major anomalies that would appear on the Korean Penins seem like they were caused by a specific Constetion. Thus, the hatred and resentment toward those anomalies would naturally be directed at this ¡®viin.¡¯ The operation was named Project Zero Requiem. [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] Chapter 128 - Victim II [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] Chapter 128 - Victim II 5 ¡°What the heck is that Constetion? It¡¯s infuriating!¡± Tang Seorin mmed the table. We were at a popr sundae soup restaurant in Busan. Contrary to her usual focus on eating, Tang Seorin had spent the entire meal ranting about the [Collector of All Anomalies]. This was proof that our Zero Requiem project had been a resounding sess. ¡°Hmm. Well, it seems that Constetion thinks of themselves as an online game operator.¡± ¡°Hah. If someone ran a game with that kind of nerdy attitude nowadays, the game would tank too!¡± ¡°That¡¯s why reality has already tanked, hasn¡¯t it?¡± ¡°Ugh... Seriously, everything about it is annoying. Does that Constetion think the Korean Penins is their yground? I¡¯ll make sure they regret it someday.¡± Except for asionally putting concrete shoes on people and making them walk the runway over the sea in Busan, Tang Seorin was an upstanding person. And even such a person was this angry. Imagine how other awakened ones must feel. I set aside my guilt toward Tang Seorin for a moment and focused on the media maniption. ¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D Author: ¡®Collector of All Anomalies¡¯ Greetings, human Awakened Ones active on the Korean Penins. I¡¯m surprised! I never imagined that you¡¯d defeat the Apostle Ten ns so easily that I prepared with such ambition. I suppose I should have expected this from thend known for its gaming prowess! (??) In response, I¡¯m nning to send out even more challenging anomalies from now on. By any chance... do you like ¡®hide and seek¡¯? Because I do! (??) Next up, I¡¯ll introduce you to the anomaly World Tree Udumbara. If you don¡¯t find it within the time limit, it¡¯ll spread a zombie virus across the entire Korean Penins, or even the world. ¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D As soon as a new post appeared after the Ten ns were exterminated, SGNet exploded. -Anonymous: Seriously, why does this bastard keep showing up only on the Korean Penins? -[Yuldo Nation] Sword Maiden: Oh! I cannot contain my indignation at the outrageous mockery of the world by this demonic outsider! -[Baekhwa] High School Senior: Hoee ??;; I want to tie him up and start cutting off his fingers and toes with nail clippers ??;; -Anonymous: Am I the only one about to lose my mind at that stupid ?? thing?? -CookingQeenB: Interesting. Only five people in the world¡ªme, the Saintess, Noh Doha, Yoo Jiwon, and Sim Aryeon¡ªknew that the [Collector of All Anomalies] was a fabricated entity. Noh Doha pouted. ¡°Sometimes I wonder if we really need to go this far... But " Monster Wave" scammed us first, so we have to respond with our own scam...¡± Anyway, our media maniption and Zero Requiem operation were progressing smoothly. As Doctor Jang, I had already memorized all the anomalies that would appear on the Korean Penins. Their identities, gimmicks, and even the timing of their appearances. Using this knowledge of a regressor just a bit cunningly, creating a new Constetion to act as the mastermind ying with the Korean Penins was a piece of cake. If journalists from before the apocalypse saw this, they¡¯d be moved to tears, thinking, ¡®Indeed, the essence of Korean journalism has been passed down to the next generation, even after civilization was destroyed!¡¯ In the end, all the malice and resentment of the people were directed solely at the [Collector of All Anomalies], which meant at Sim Aryeon. ¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D Author: ¡®Collector of All Anomalies¡¯ Greetings, human Awakened Ones active on the Korean Penins. (??) ¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D At this point, Awakened Ones would have a fit just at seeing the phrase (??). -Anonymous: Again? It¡¯s here again? -LiteratureGirl: What are the other Constetions doing, not dealing with that mastermind? Absolute Evil. Someone who treats this end-of-the-world scenario, where everyone is seriously struggling to survive, as nothing more than a light-hearted game. A mastermind with no dignity or intelligence to speak of. ...If the [Collector of All Anomalies] were even slightly serious, a cult might have formed to worship this Constetion. After all, even though it brought about humanity''s doom, a Constetion that could freely unleash terrifying creatures would naturally seem immense to mere mortals. But the [Collector of All Anomalies] was far too frivolous to be revered as a malevolent god. Simply put, itcked any kind of dignity. Whether someone loved or hated humanity, no one could bring themselves to worship the [Collector of All Anomalies]. All it received was scorn, resentment, and contempt. -Anonymous: Damn, did you see the meteor shower dropping star corpses? ©¸Anonymous: Yeah, saw it. That was really messed up. ©¸[National Road] Officer: The only reason it was stopped was because the head of the Three Thousand Worlds was there. The Gyeongsangnam-do area would have beenpletely devastated if we hadn''t known about it. ©¸Anonymous: What¡¯s with these crazy creatures? I really want to beat the crap out of that Collector guy. Lol. And so. Fifteen years passed. [Doctor Jang.] [A Monster Wave has been detected in the North Korean region. It¡¯s currently presumed to be heading south toward the ind from the Gando area.] I nodded. It had been a long, arduous time. Who owns SGNet, the only information-sharing tform left in this post-apocalyptic world? Me. Who is the one who has formed blood pacts with the Constetions, the only reliable sources of information in this world? Me, the Doctor Jang. At this very moment, all the information power of the Korean Penins was in my hands. Before the apocalypse, the media might have used this power merely to create a president, whether from the opposition or the ruling party¨D¨D but the work I was creating operated on a far higher level than such petty political realities. "Aryeon." "Yes." "Have you practiced singing a lot?" "Y-Yes...! The Great Witch of the Three Thousand Worlds said I¡¯m ready to graduate...!" "Excellent. Now, go. Show them." "..." "Show them that being a healer was originally a noble profession." "...! Yes, Guildmaster...!" There were omens. There were hints. There were foreshadowings. It wasn¡¯t by chance that I focused on this girl when dealing with the ¡®Logout Game.¡¯ Everything led to this moment. Sim Aryeon. She was now about to be the savior of the Korean Penins. Formerly, KoreanViin. An inte troll. Alias, the Bird That Drinks Poison. Deploy. 6 In this world, there are few problems that cannot be solved by overwhelming damage. Just as I, with no particr expertise in martial arts, sliced through the Ten ns with my aura, and just as the overly simple ¡®Monster Wave¡¯ destroyed numerous countries with sheer numbers. But I, Doctor Jang, now on my 217th turn, will offer a cold and exhrating critique of the current state of affairs, steeped as they are in the meta of overwhelming damage. Overwhelming damage. It is nothingpared to ¡®overwhelming healing.¡¯ ¡°Hold them off! Don¡¯t let them cross the Yalu River!¡± "B-But, Your Eminence! The number of anomalies is endless! There are tens of thousands just within sight, how can we...?" "Don¡¯t utter such weak words! The Reborn Jesus is watching over us! Even if we die, this is where we will ascend to heaven! God wills it! Amen!" The Yalu River defense line. Until recently, the Eastern Holy Kingdom had been thoroughly engrossed in ying the game of northern expansion. It was so much fun to simply loot the Manchurian regions, which had been ravaged by the Ten ns. [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] But as Proverbs 13:11 says, wealth gained hastily will dwindle. The believers of the Eastern Holy Kingdom were terrified by the endless ck tide of anomalies. The fear of a ¡®relentless wave from the north¡¯ was ingrained in the DNA of the Korean people. No matter how deeply indoctrinated a cultist was, oveing such fears with faith was not easy. "Y-Your Eminence! The creatures are trying to ford the river using the corpses to block it!" "No! Stop them! Stop them! If this line breaks, only the Chongchon River and the Taedong River will be left!" At that moment. [¡®Morning Star of the Second Coming¡¯ pities humanity and sends down your Saintess.] The believers of the Resurrection Church, who were struggling at the front lines, raised their eyes to the sky. Those who didn¡¯t even have time to raise their heads had their throats cut by the anomalies and could admire the sky up close. Morning Star of the Second Coming? Isn¡¯t that our Church¡¯s Jesus? Did He send the Saintess to us? "Ah¨D¨D¨D." A single note of song pierced through the battlefield, drenched in ck, filthy water and crimson blood. Step. Step. Sim Aryeon, that awkward girl from our guild, sped her hands together and walked across the battlefield, step by step. It wasn¡¯t a heavenly voice that would astonish the Chinese, shock the Japanese, and bring the Koreans to their knees, like Tang Seorin¡¯s song. Reaching the pinnacle of the penins¡¯s idols was still far off. But, Sim Aryeon was Tang Seorin¡¯s disciple. More precisely, I had made her a disciple. Tang Seorin had squeezed time out of her busy schedule to give Sim Aryeon one-on-one lessons. For ten years! So, if not the penins¡¯s top idol, she could at least be called Pyongyang¡¯s top idol. Sim Aryeon, our healer, walked on, singing a beautiful Latin requiem (though she didn¡¯t understand the lyrics). I secretly used my aura to amplify her voice, spreading it far and wide, beyond the horizon. ¡°Ah¨D¨D Ah¨D¨D.¡± Then a miracle happened. A soldier who had just been bisected by an anomaly, almost on his way to heaven, suddenly grew a new lower half. ¡°Huh?¡± An arm sprouted from someone who had lost one. A foot grew back for someone whose foot had been crushed. Half-corpses scattered across the battlefield began to regrow arms, legs, fingers, toes, eye sockets, and mouths, rising once more. The blood that had soaked the ground, almost turning it red, flowed back to its owners, bing flesh again. As the waves of Sim Aryeon¡¯s song spread, the wounded and the half-dead within its range were healed one by one. Revival. And that¡¯s not all. What bloomed from Sim Aryeon¡¯s footsteps wasn¡¯t just human life. The green grass that had been ckened and sullied by the filthy water, the multicolored flowers, blossomed again. "Ah... Ah..." Green revival. The believers looked down at their hands. The hands that, just a few seconds ago, had exposed bone. Someone murmured without realizing it. ¡°It¡¯s a miracle...¡± Yes. It was a miracle. Even in this apocalyptic world, where monsters appeared and awakened ones emerged, the sight of ¡®life¡¯ being revived with every step Sim Aryeon took was breathtakingly sacred. The ¡®Monster Wave¡¯ couldn¡¯t stand by and rushed in, but I quietly dealt with those foul creatures. I, Doctor Jang, valued etiquette very much. After all, it was a viin¡¯s courtesy to quietly stay out of the way during a magical girl¡¯s transformation scene. ¡°Saintess, you are the Saintess...¡± ¡°Jesus has called upon Santa Maria!¡± ¡°Hallelujah! It is God¡¯s will!¡± The tide of battle shifted rapidly. The Monster Wave was thrown into confusion. It suddenly learned the lesson of empathy. No matter how much it killed and sliced, the number of human heads never seemed to diminish. Humans were naturally a warrior race. As long as their heads remained attached, the Koreans, under the game¡¯s rule of ¡®new game with increased strength,¡¯ awakened the primal instincts of their ancestors. Four days and nights passed. The battle at the Yalu River defense line. Here, 2,000 elite soldiers of the Eastern Holy Kingdom achieved a resounding victory against a force of 200,000 monsters. It was a historic triumph. ¡°Uwooooooo!¡± ¡°We... We won! We won!¡± ¡°Lord Christ does not abandon us humans! Long live Jesus! Long live the Saintess!¡± ¡°...¡± Sim Aryeon smiled faintly. It wasn¡¯t that she had suddenly started to emte Koyori. I had repeatedly warned her, ¡°As long as you keep your mouth shut, you seem perfectly fine, so please, whatever you do, don¡¯t open it.¡± As long as she wasn¡¯t involved with intemunities or logout games, Aryeon was generally a good kid with good behaviour. The Resurrection Church believers responded with fervent cheers to Sim Aryeon¡¯s mystical smile. Once again, it¡¯s worth mentioning that this world¡¯s genre was, in fact, fantasy. And ording to the genre rules of fantasy, there had to be a Saintess in the Holy Empire. Especially if there was already a Saintess in the southern capital of Seoul, there must be another Saintess in the northern capital of Pyongyang to counterbnce. That was the physicalw of the Korean Penins. Who could have predicted it? The Saintess of the Eastern Holy Kingdom. Her name was Sim Aryeon. 7 There¡¯s an epilogue. Thanks to the sess of Zero Requiem, another ocean-level monster, the Monster Wave, was more or less safely dealt with. However, this ¡®solution¡¯ couldn¡¯t be called an ¡®extermination.¡¯ Monster Waves continued to ur periodically beyond the Yalu River. Each time, Sim Aryeon had to be carried on my back to the Yalu River front lines, where she would wield her authority as a Saintess. ¡°G-Guildmaster. Did I do well? I did well, right? I did really well, right? P-Please praise me...¡± ¡°Yes. You were truly perfect. You¡¯ve been through a lot. You¡¯re indeed the world¡¯s strongest healer. Aryeon, you¡¯re such a treasure.¡± ¡°Hehe...¡± But even if it was only a temporary solution, Sim Aryeon consistently protected the Korean Penins as the ¡®Unyielding Wall of Life¡¯ in the North. In the 15th year, the 16th year, the 17th year, the 18th year, the 19th year, the 20th year, the 21st year, and the 22nd year. Although by the 22nd year, Sim Aryeon¡¯s powers had grown so strong that a ¡®corruption phenomenon¡¯ urred... But in essence, Sim Aryeon had defended the front lines alone until then. For a whole eight years. ¨D¨DHonestly, while dealing with the ¡®Monster Wave¡¯ this time, I had a lot on my mind. After all, the Monster Wave was a mid-boss level creature that had destroyed our world countless times. Naturally, many tragedies had been caused by this monster. At first, I considered describing those solemn deaths, just as I did when talking about the ¡®Ten ns¡¯ or the ¡®Meteor Shower.¡¯ But when I thought of Sim Aryeon, my thoughts changed. Despite receiving all sorts of hatred and contempt from the awakened ones, despite being dragged to the battlefield at least once a month to y the role of a Saintess, which was never in her destiny, Sim Aryeon never showed signs of struggle. As her guildmaster, shouldn¡¯t I sing ofughter rather than tragedy? Magnificence, or sorrow. At least while Sim Aryeon is smiling, I don¡¯t want to paint such scenes. Because. ¡°Hehe... Ah, when we get back to the hideout, please make me a caf¨¦ mocha...! With lots and lots of chocte syrup...!¡± Just as this girl liked my coffee, I also liked her smile very much. -The Victim. The End. [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] Chapter 129 - Eschatologist I [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] Chapter 129 ©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤ Eschatologist I 1 Do you often have nightmares? I do. For instance, in one dream, the KoreanVige Viin (considering her history of neglect and abandonment)pletely subjugated Seo Gyu to be her subordinate, turning him into the tyrant of SGNet. - KoreanVige: From now on, I''ll ban all those old Three Kingdoms debates in SGNet for 24 hours straight... - ZERO_SUGAR: What are you talking about, Aryeon? - KoreanVige: Oh, this resentment and grudge. The Guild Master''s trolling is always the most satisfying. It tastes so good. The Guild Master is the ultimate gourmet experience... - KoreanVige: From now on, I will ascend to the heavens... At that, all the members of SGNet apuded the new administrator''s bold decision. Even Saintess, who always connected anonymously, and Noh Doha, who rarely participated in themunity, signed up with their real names just to praise the KoreanVige. What a horrifying nightmare. Even if the world forgave her, I, Doctor Jang, could never forgive such a tragedy. The very next day, I secretly added an extra shot of espresso to Aryeon¡¯s caf¨¦ mocha (Aryeon was puzzled by the change in taste). There are other nightmares, less horrific but with more realism. - Teacher? Teacher...? In that nightmare, I, Doctor Jang, was already dead. I don''t remember exactly how I died. Even with my perfect memory ability, recalling what happens in dreams is hard. Perhaps I might know if I bought a lucid dream for a billion won from one of those tutorial fairies. How did I die? Was I betrayed and stabbed in the back? Did someone I trusted enough to let my guard down kill me? Or was I killed by some monstrous being that my aura couldn¡¯t protect me from? Unlike others, I had over a thousand possible causes of death, so it was impossible to determine the exact one. - Teacher, please wake up, teacher. Please open your eyes... But in that nightmare, Cheon Yohwa was watching my dead body. Actually, "watching" isn''t the right word. Cheon Yohwa''s red eyes were almost blinded, as if they were soaked like a car windshield in the rain. She groped. Kneeling before my corpse, she used her sense of touch, not sight, to trace the contours of my body, inch by inch. In a way, it was a relief that she couldn''t see. As if experiencing an out-of-body experience, I observed the world in third-person. The genre of that world was horror. There wasn¡¯t a single intact part of my corpse. -... Cheon Yohwa soon realized that too. Her hand stopped. - Dead. She muttered, repeating the word. - Dead, dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. A crashing sound, as if something had shattered. The scene then drastically changed. Around Cheon Yohwa, something resembling the static on an old television screen began to writhe. The white and ck noise rapidly expanded. ¡®Ah.¡¯ The noise, spreading like a tidal wave from Cheon Yohwa, quickly engulfed an entire city, the Korean Penins, and the entire world. As the noise expanded, the world screamed. Between the screams, bursts of blood sttered. Birch trees and red spider lilies. The colors of the noise and the blood were eerily simr to those that once bloomed at Baekhwa High School. The Divine Domain. The realm of the Forgotten God. When Cheon Yohwa, its master and priestess, wished for the world''s destruction, the alien god granted her wish without hesitation, dyeing the world in ck and white and red. ¡®Yohwa, don¡¯t. Yohwa, please, don''t do this.¡¯ The descent of a corrupted Cheon Yohwa, who had once sealed away all the horrors of Baekhwa, disyed terrifying power. After all, this was the [Bad Ending] scenario I had envisioned. The Forgotten God was dangerous. Cheon Yohwa, who had sealed such a god, always carried the risk of descending as an even more catastrophic disaster. But Cheon Yohwa was not a weak child. She was strong. After the 117th turn, I rarely witnessed Cheon Yohwa''s mental breakdown while I was alive. Yes, while I was alive. What if I were to die? What if I died before Cheon Yohwa, and in a manner too humiliating for her to ept? What would happen to the student I had personally handed a graduation certificate to? Ka ha ha ha ha ka ka ka ka¡ª The alien god, released from its ss prison,ughed maniacally. The entire Earth turned into a mass of ck and white noise. The Forgotten God, assassinated by a regressor, had finally returned to dere its ultimate victory. Though it was just a dream, dismissing it as a mere mental triumph for the Forgotten God felt too ominous as itsughter echoed across the universe. The dirge sung as the world ended was one of mockery. - Huh? Then, the transformed Cheon Yohwa that had swallowed Cheon Yohwa stoppedughing. Staring¡ª I felt it looking at me. The ck and white noise, the Earth, the universe, the god who had isted the world, was staring directly at me. - Not dead? Yet? At that moment, my dream ended. 2 Simr nightmares have repeated several times. It wasn''t just Cheon Yohwa appearing in my nightmares. Every time I dreamt, the protagonist changed. Tang Seorin, Saintess, Lee Hayul, Sim Aryeon... Of course, a dream is just a dream. It would be easy to dismiss it as just an ¡°unpleasant nightmare.¡± And in fact, that¡¯s what I¡¯ve done. ¡°Hoee? A nightmare?¡± But after I obtained information in the 205th turn that the tutorial fairies were actually nightmares (Incubi/Subi), I began to think differently. I decided it was necessary to take my nightmares more seriously. ¡°Yeah. Dreams are your area of expertise, after all. Is it possible that a ¡®creature that parasitizes dreams¡¯ could exist?¡± ¡°Hoee. Of course!¡± Fairy 264 wiggled its butt. ¡°There are plenty of creatures in dreams, not just us fairies!¡± ¡°Plenty?¡± ¡°Hoee. Humans have long had a habit of considering dreams as another dimension. To describe the situation based on the glossary developed by Secretary General Comrade, a dream is ¡®another world that is entirely different from this one, yet one I can enter, or end up entering!¡¯¡± ¡°Sounds like the Void.¡± ¡°Correct! There may be humans who have never entered the Void, but there are no humans who have never dreamed...! Humans are a pitiable species, destined to experience the Void called dreams from birth! And we fairies are the ones who live in that ¡®first Void¡¯...! We are a species overflowing with fundamental significance! If there is any reactionary force that dares to covet our rightful Lebensraum, the realm of dreams, then they will be punished!¡± [PR/N: Lebensraum is a German concept of expansionism and V?lkisch nationalism, the philosophy and policies of which weremon to German politics from the 1890s to the 1940s] ¡°Hmm.¡± Dreams could be considered another Void. No, they are a Void. After talking with the fairies, the experts in this field, I felt more confident. But there were still unresolved questions. And I¡¯m not the type to brood alone when I have doubts. I immediately sought out the counsellor I trusted the most and opened up about my "nightmares." "Why me, of all people?" "Because you''ve never been the protagonist in these nightmares." "Sigh..." Noh Doha, the chief administrator, wiped his sses. It didn¡¯t really matter much, as the sses cloth itself was dirty from how long it hadn¡¯t been washed. I snapped my fingers, summoning my aura. Carefully, I cleaned the grime off his sses. [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] "You should be cleaning those with water, not a cloth." "I don¡¯t have time for that. I¡¯m incredibly busy. If only certain individuals didn¡¯te bursting into my office needing psychological counselling, maybe I¡¯d have more free time..." "Was that Jiwon? I¡¯ll make sure to give him a stern talking-toter." "Is this guy serious...?" "Anyway, help me think this through. If this ''nightmare'' is a monster, why does it keep showing me these dreams?" "Hmmm..." Noh Doha chewed on the end of his pen. "...Let¡¯s set aside the possibility that this is just some meaningless dream conjured up by your unpleasant subconscious." "What exactly do you think of me?" "The only purpose I can see is to shake your mental state. However, monsters don¡¯t have intellect or reason. If we were to consider monsters as intelligent beings like humans, I¡¯d say that Doctor Jang, you, are an inexplicable thorn in their side..." "A thorn?" "Yes." Noh Doha grinned. "You¡¯ve got a handle on when and where monsters will appear, and you¡¯ve even used all sorts of bizarre methods to defeat them... Isn¡¯t that quite the mystery? The only ways to defeat someone like you are overwhelming force or psychological attacks..." "..." "Overwhelming force. That¡¯s what we¡¯d call a monster wave... But ording to you, thanks to that, what was it, the bird that drinks poison or something, we¡¯ve got about eight years before that bes a problem, right?" "Yes." "Then there¡¯s nothing left but to shake your mind bit by bit. I¡¯ve been meaning to point this out... Doctor Jang, you tend to view monsters as overwhelmingly powerful enemies." "Because they are overwhelmingly powerful." "Well, when ites to ocean-level or quasi-deity-level threats, sure, they could crush us humans like bugs. Even the Ten ns were considered unbeatable before you came along... But from their perspective, aren¡¯t you also a terrifying existence?" "Hmm." "If I were a monster, I¡¯d try to break your spirit. Showing you scenes of the people you care about being ruined one by one... It¡¯s not a bad tactic, don¡¯t you think?" Indeed. Noh Doha''s analysis made sense. Of course, as he emphasized, monsters didn¡¯t possess human-like intellect. Rather than the monster having a ''purpose'' to break me down, it was more likely that it just happened to produce phenomena that threatened me. But either way, the fact remained that there was a monster trying to break my mind. "Talking with you helps me sort things out. But still, isn¡¯t it just a dream? As long as it doesn¡¯t immediately impact our reality, we can leave it alone." "Heh. As you wish. I¡¯ll leave dealing with the monsters to Doctor Jang. By the way, I¡¯m just d I¡¯ve never appeared in your grim nightmares..." However, after several turns, it became clear that our assessment was too naive. "Sir!" Thud, thud, thud. Cheon Yohwa, a former basketball ace, came rushing in. Despite being in the cozy depth of our hideout caf¨¦, 1,200 meters underground, where running was unnecessary, she hurried toward me as if I might disappear at any moment. It wasn¡¯t until she reached me that she sighed in relief. "Oh... Sir, you¡¯re okay. Thank goodness..." "What¡¯s wrong? Why do you look so worried?" "...I¡¯m sorry. I had a really disturbing dreamst night." "A disturbing dream?" My long experience as a regressor had developed a highly sensitive intuition at the back of my neck. The moment I heard the words "bad dream," my neck prickled with goosebumps. "Yes. In the dream, something bad happened to you. It was so cruel. You tried your best to help people, but no one appreciated it, and though I don¡¯t remember clearly, there was betrayal too..." As expected. My intuition had not failed me. "So I got really, really angry. The people around me suddenly felt less than human, and if they weren¡¯t human, there was no reason to protect them... So." "You broke the seal of the Endless Hell." "Oh... Right. Um, Endless Hell covered the whole world, humanity went extinct, and yet I didn¡¯t feel anything. I hated that..." Indeed. There was something I hadn¡¯t considered, and Noh Doha had overlooked it as well. If the "nightmare" was truly a monster, then it wouldn¡¯t just be me experiencing it. All of humanity might be haunted by the same monster whenever they had nightmares. I could vaguely remember the nightmare because I was an awakened with [Perfect Memory]. Most people probably just forgot about it after they woke up. I wasn¡¯t too worried about my own mental state. After all, I had various measures in ce to maintain my mental health. But if it affected others as well? That was a different story. As you know, people like Tang Seorin, the Saintess, Cheon Yohwa, and Sim Aryeon all had the potential to "fall" and bring about world destruction if pushed too far. A monster that eroded their minds, even if they couldn¡¯t remember it clearly, was definitely a threat that needed to be dealt with more seriously. I immediately headed to the casino. "Fairy Number 264." "Hoet. What¡¯s going on, Secretary-General?" "Gather as many avable incubuses as possible. Be prepared to engage in lucid dreaming. It¡¯s time to raise the red g once more." "Hoek... I can gather about 90 of them. But what kind of enemy has appeared that requires a full mobilization order?" I spoke. "We need to crush the monster that¡¯s parasitizing humanity¡¯s dreams." "Hoeh? As expected of the Secretary-General...!" Fairy Number 264 grabbed my hands in a double handshake. "If it¡¯s about reiming our rightful territory in the dream world...! We, the Fairy Revolutionary Club, will fully support you in crushing the reactionary elements that have upied our homnd!" The fairy shed fragrant, flowery tears. This was the moment when the first-ever human (me) - monster (fairy) alliance was formed. [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] Chapter 130 - Eschatologist II [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] Chapter 130 ©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤ Eschatologist II 3 One piece of advice I''d like to give to those of you who will eventually read my biography: try to maintain good rtions with the tutorial fairies whenever possible. As an inexperienced regressor, I ended up entangled in a cycle of mutual hatred with them, cutting off heads and bashing in skulls. But there''s no need for you to go down that same path. "Heek, heek, heek. The operation to hunt down the counter-revolutionary gueris hidden deep within your unconscious mind, Comrade Secretary, is starting now...!" "Alright. I''m counting on you." The tutorial fairy was truly a useful anomaly. Its way of speaking was peculiar, and it had a history of grinding humans down through its tutorial process, but if you overlook that, didn''t it stillmunicate with Homo sapiens? As long as you don''t start with something like, "What kind of bullshit is that, you fucking bastard?!" you can leave a good impression on the fairy. Actually, it''s not just with fairies¡ªsuch greetings should generally be avoided with anyone. The fairies came running and surrounded me. I counted, and there were 64 of them gathered around. "First, in order to enter the unconscious, it''s essential to rx your mind and body and get some sleep!" "Mm." Iy down on the bed. The fairies took up positions as if preparing for a game of ring-around-the-rosy, holding my left and right hands. Fairy-Fairy-(Me)-Fairy-Fairy. If I were to draw it, it would look something like that. On the left and right, 32 tutorial fairies were lined up. "Now, we''ll invite Comrade Secretary to the homnd of our fairies. If you have a song request, please let us know!" "A song request?" "Yes. A perfectly suitable and adorable luby is required to enter the realm of dreams! If you don''t have a request, ''Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star'' will be the default BGM!" Due to some trauma rted to a meteor shower, I requested "The Cradle Song" instead of "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star." The tutorial fairies held hands and swayed from side to side. "Mom is in the ind''s shade¡ª?" "Cutting off heads¡ª?" "The baby is left alone¡ª Pooping itself¡ª?" Wait a minute. Were those the actual lyrics to "The Cradle Song"? "ZZZ..." Before I could question it, the fairies'' singing lifted me entirely and dropped me into sleep. Blink. When I opened my eyes, the scenery had changed. A moment ago, I was lying on a bed in the hideout, but now I found myself with my cheek resting on a caf¨¦ table in the old Baekje Hospital building. Under the table was old Scho''s corpse. The fairies were still holding onto my hands. The eight formations that had been made up of 32 fairies each had been halved, leaving 16 fairies on either side. "Oh...? Hey, this would be a perfect remedy for insomniacs. You know, Captain Noh Doha is alwaysining about sleep deprivation; maybe if we sang this to him..." "The sea is singing¡ª?" "A song of doom¡ª?" "ZZZ..." I fell asleep again within the dream. As my consciousness grew faint, I had a thought. Isn''t this simr to something from the movie Inception? Blink. I repeated the process of falling asleep within dreams. Each time, my consciousness sank deeper into my unconscious, into deeper sleep. From the hideout to the caf¨¦, to Tang Seorin''s VIP train car, to the Jamsu Bridge convenience store, to Baekhwa High School... "Oh? Deputy-Guild Master, you¨D¨D." Sometimes, the characters in the dream would recognize me and widen their eyes. In one particrly old timeline, Tang Seorin, who was the Guild Master at the time, was startled to see me. But the luby never stopped. "Cutting heads off¡ª?" "Falling asleep¡ª?" Deeper. Even deeper. Dream within a dream. It was a descent that no normal human could ever perceive, and even if they could dream, they would never remember it¡ªa plunge into the abyss of the unconscious. "¨D¨DSenior?" "Hyung." "G-Guild Master..." "Oppa." It was an endless fall. The rtionships, memories, and essence that made me who I was as Doctor Jang gradually scattered and broke apart. Like livestock being ughtered at a butcher''s shop. Like a wooden doll being carved away in a sculptor''s hands. "Humanity sleeps soundly¡ª?" "Don''t cry¡ª?" "The baby''s cry." "Soul is shaking." Blink. With each descent into a deeper ''dream,'' the number of fairies decreased. 64, 32, 16, 8, 4, 2... Finally, just one. "Heekee." Fairy No. 264. The very first tutorial fairy I ever met was holding both of my hands. In the reality where it existed as a 2D deformed character, the fairy''s expression could best be described as ??;;. "Heek! My goodness! You really worked hard!" The fairy shook its head from side to side, and little drops of deformed sweat flew off. "Comrade Secretary''s unconscious mind is so solid, too solid!" "...Is that so?" "Heek! In all my long life as a nightmare, I''ve never seen a human with such a structure in their unconscious! Comrade Secretary, you have no distinction between ''present'' and ''past.'' Everything exists right in front of you, and the capacity spans thousands of years! It''s a structure that no mere mortal could withstand... Truly befitting of a Comrade Secretary who leads us with iron will!" "Mm." As a human, it was difficult for me to grasp the concept of an ''unconscious mind being solid.'' I could only guess that my [Perfect Memory Ability] had given the fairies a hard time. How should I put it? Unlike others, my memories never faded. Except for those before the 4th regression, of course. For me, it had been thousands of years since I''d gotten used to these ''memories that seem to appear right in front of me.'' It was also the reason old Scho envied me so deeply. That old man¡¯s life''s tragedy was that his wife''s face and voice were gradually fading from his memory. There will be another opportunity to discuss this unique condition of mine in detailter. "In any case, you¡¯ve done well. Is this the bottom of my unconscious mind?" "Heek, heek, heek. That''s right! Reaching here would be impossible for anyone but highly skilled nightmares...! This is the ultimate achievement born from the heroic will of revolutionaries!" I looked around. The waiting room at Busan Station. In a way, I felt it was truly like me. While I personally have a birthce, the "regressor" Doctor Jang¡¯s hometown could only be here. My starting point. The weight of this waiting room, indistinguishable from reality, lingered somewhere in the air. "This doesn¡¯t feel like a dream at all." "Of course not. This ce isn''t just a figment of Secretary Comrade''s personal unconscious; it''s essentially the ''collective unconscious of humanity.'' It''s a phenomenon essential for human survival, like air or water... A reality before reality, a transcendental structure, a surreal ce." "The collective unconscious? That''s Carl Jung''s concept. You guys know about that?" [PR/N: Carl¡¯s concept of the collective unconscious, which can be thought of as structures of the unconscious mind which are shared among people, or patterns and reactions in the mind that all people have inmon across the world.] [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] "Heheh. Thanks to Endless Hell, I got to ess all human knowledge and had a crash course!" "Ah." "Anyway, you have to be really careful here, Secretary Comrade. What surrounds you isn''t just physical reality, but the unconscious of humanity itself...!" Even as she said that, the fairy didn''t let go of my hand. Just like when the Fairy Lord gave us a brief glimpse of the realm of Endless Hell, this probably meant that this ce was genuinely dangerous. "In this ce, thews of time and space mean nothing!" "Are you saying it''s like a void?" "It''s not just like a void; it is the void itself!" Some people talk faster when discussing something they''re well-versed in, and it seemed the same was true for Fairy No. 264. "In a way, dreams can be considered the first and greatest void that looms over every human being... The only reason we could use this waiting room as a base camp is because it''s the ce Secretary Comrade feels is the most familiar." "A base camp, huh." "Yes, so when we leave here, no matter what happens, you mustn''t let go of my hand, Secretary Comrade! In case of emergency, to activate the emergency escape protocol..." It was at that moment. Tap- A soft clicking of heels echoed through the waiting room. The sound of heels hitting the floor was far too loud. Like the sound of a vige church bell. Beyond the area where the fairy and I stood, the waiting room was obscured in darkness. So, the figure making the footsteps was revealed slowly, from the bottom up. Tap- ck loafer shoes. White stockings. A purple skirt that covered the calves below the knees. But with white lines that lightened the characteristic heavy feel of deep violet. "Huh?" Pink hair. "How curious." "...." "Fancy meeting you here, Guildmaster?" Koyori. Koyori was smiling sweetly. My heart skipped a beat. My aura fluctuated more rapidly than my pulse. As I gathered my aura throughout my body and was about to decapitate Koyori instantly... "¨DHuh?" Poof! The weight of the hand holding mine suddenly lightened. I turned to look, and the fairy''s head had beenpletely torn off. Thud, thud, thud. The fairy''s flesh hit the floor, as if a song was missing its beat. The arm of Fairy No. 264, which was in my hand, drooped limply, swaying once, twice, thrice, before finally going still. Instant death. The dream demon, who had more power in dreams than in reality, was instantly killed within that very dream. "...." "Oh, I''m sorry. But I was so happy to see the Guildmaster again after so long that I couldn''t help myself... I''m really sorry¨D." There was no room for discussion. I instantly gathered my aura and leaped forward. I passed by Koyori, and as I did, I felt the sensation of her neck exploding against my sword cane. The sound of an explosion, rather than a slicing, followed a stepter with a bang. I''ve grown a lot since the Ten ns War. I didn''t even think to say something like "Did I get her?" or check if she was dead, I just kept running. In short, I was running away as fast as I could. "¨DAha." And yet, before I even ran 300 meters, Koyori was right in front of me again. Thud! I crashed into her head-on, and Koyori fell backward. Koyori rubbed her nose, giving a wry smile. "Ouch, ouch... I''m sorry, Guildmaster. I wasn''t looking ahead. Ahaha. I''m a bit clumsy, you know." "...." I immediately shot my aura upward. The inverted bolt of lightning pierced through the ceiling of Busan Station. The sky was visible. I gathered my aura in my feet andunched myself into the air. Void stepping. A technique only someone who has honed their aura to the extreme, like me, could perform at this point. "The weather is lovely." Koyori was sitting on a cloud. "...." "It feels a little clearer up here in the sky than on the ground, as long as you avoid the void, doesn''t it? Ah. Guildmaster, would you like some pu-erh tea?" Using the cloud as a bench, Koyori swung her legs back and forth. Next to her, a thermos and tea cups were prepared. I immediately canceled the void step and let myself fall. Boom! I dug with all my might when I hit the ground. I dug into the ground, deeper underground. I was a drill, and our drill was one to pierce the underground. "Oh, look at me. Guildmaster prefers Ceylon tea over pu-erh tea." Koyori, who had been buried 600 meters underground, was unearthed. She smiled brightly while holding Ceylon tea in both hands. "...." "Oh, were we ying hide-and-seek just now? So... was I ''it''? Guildmaster, found you. Ahaha. Is this how you y? It''s a bit embarrassing since I haven''t yed hide-and-seek since I was a child." Oh, God, Buddha, Ah, Shiva, Mo Gwangseo, and Jesus Christ! Please! I had no choice. I activated the final emergency escape protocol 552-71, "Jeokbyeokga Pansori." [PR/N: Jeokbyeokga is one of the five surviving stories of the Korean pansori storytelling tradition.] "A sudden gust of wind, whoosh! The sound of the wind is loud, Zhou Yu hurriedly climbed onto the tall tower, whoosh whoosh whoosh, looked at the gs..." "Hohoho? The Azure Dragon and Vermilion Bird towers nk the White Tiger and ck Tortoise, and the Northwestern wind, whoosh whoosh whoosh, rises up and in an instant, the Southeastern wind is born, the tower creaks, thud, the gpole rolls, thud thud thud?" "..." "Ah, the thunderous roar made Zhou Yu''s guts drop in fear?" Thud- Koyori, having somehow obtained a janggu (traditional Korean drum), struck the center of the drum with skillful ease. Her rendition of Jeokbyeokga was as masterful as mine, which I''d learned from a professional pansori singer during a vacation round. "Oh. Guildmaster, aren''t you going to keep singing? I practiced a lot to sing this with you..." "...." Koyori''s eyebrows drooped sadly. At that moment, I had to face the cold, harsh truth. Indeed. I was screwed. And not just a little. I was screwed a lot. [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] Chapter 131 - Eschatologist III [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] Chapter 131 ©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤ Eschatologist III "Don''t worry too much, Guild Master." Koyori gave a bittersweet smile, as if she were genuinely concerned about me. "As you know, this ce is a well of dreams, passed down through you, Guild Master. I am nothing more than a character within a dream within a dream. I have no connection to the real me." "¡Just an illusion?" "Yes. Hmm. To put it another way, perhaps this is a manifestation of your fear and avoidance? Of course, it''s quite sad that your subconscious fear happened to take on my form..." Koyori''s eyes drooped sadly, but I couldn''t let my guard down. Imagine Godzi wagging its tail, asking to be petted. Even a light novel protagonist equipped with a "petting ¡ú opponent''s surrender" internal protocol would probably start to doubt the power in their palm. "It doesn''t make sense for me not to be an illusion. No matter how mysterious I might seem to you, Guild Master, things like sitting on clouds or being 600 meters underground wouldn''t happen, would they?" "¡¡." "Everything here is just a fantasy created by your fears. The fact that I call you ''Guild Master'' is strange enough on its own. After all, I never¡" "¡epted me as the Guild Master. That title only exists within my memories." "Yes! Exactly." What should I do? Trusting Koyori was out of the question. I¡¯d sooner believe that the UFO that fell into the East Sea was actually an alien goodwill ambassador. But it was also true that I couldn''t escape from here. I had to wait for the tutorial''s fairies to rescue me, or find a way to escape on my own. Until then, it was clear that Koyori would be right on my tail, whether I liked it or not. "Besides, I can be your guide here, Guild Master." "A guide? That¡¯s a very wee offer. Someone just assassinated the guide I hired." "Haha. I''m sorry. But wouldn''t a local guide be more reliable than an outsider?" Koyori sped her hands behind her back and leaned in. "Dream demons are just a bridge between dreams and reality. Hmm. It¡¯s hard to call them a plete resident'' of this ce. But I''ve always existed here, as a manifestation of your subconscious." "¡¡." "I know almost everything about what''s happening here, Guild Master. You came to explore a nightmare, right? I can guide you much better than any ordinary dream demon." A brief silence. "¡There¡¯s a condition." "Yes. Please, anything you want." "Don''t try to win my favor unnecessarily. Don¡¯t get too close. And don''t kill dream demons without warning, like you did earlier. If you break these conditions, I will do whatever it takes to escape." What would happen if I took my own life in this dream? I didn¡¯t know, but it was worth trying simply because it was a death method I was unfamiliar with. Koyori smiled somewhat wistfully. "I understand, Guild Master. I''ll do my best. But¡" "But?" "Hmm. It''s nothing. This ce is dangerous, so we should get out of here quickly." Koyori turned around. Tap, tap. The sound of her loafer heels echoed in the waiting room. "Please follow me. I''ll show you the ''nightmares.''" 4 The scene that unfolded before me as soon as I stepped out of Busan Station was emptiness. Let me take this moment to remind you of the fear of emptiness. In our reality, that is, before the end of the century, ''space-time'' was always orderly. When you looked to the left, you saw the left; when you stepped to the right, you moved to the right. But emptiness is not like that. In that ce, normal space-time and physicalws were meaningless. Especially in the case of a deep void. "¡¡!" As soon as I stepped outside Busan Station, my head became hazy. A yellow traffic light was set up 200 meters away. For some reason, it caught my attention, and in that instant, the traffic light was ''right in front of my nose.'' Blink, blink, blink- The yellow light from the traffic light shed furiously in front of my eyes. When I closed my eyelids for a moment and opened them, the traffic light was nowhere to be seen. "¡¡." Waaaah! Somewhere, the cries of children could be heard. When I turned my head, I saw only a simple grassy field. Every time the grass swayed in the wind, a baby-like cry echoed, "Waaaah, waaaah." "Good, good." Thud. An old woman squatted in a flowerbed, picking azalea buds. Waaah! As the crimson liquid gushed out, the cries burst forth. The old woman stroked the azalea petals as if soothing a newborn, her fingernails stained bright red with the flower¡¯s sap. "¡¡." I steadied my breathing. In the midst of the endlessly repeating blinking of the traffic light, the crying of flower babies, and the old woman¡¯s caresses, I focused only on the path I was walking. Next to me, Koyori blinked. "Wow. That¡¯s impressive. You¡¯re really maintaining your self-awareness. How do you do it?" "¡It''s thanks to my own know-how. So, where are the nightmares?" "Ah. They¡¯re right over there." Koyori pointed her finger. I paused. As my gaze naturally followed, I found myself holding my breath. "What¡ is that?" In front of me was a scene that was both familiar and alien. The familiar part was the building. The headquarters of the National Highway Management Corps. That building, practically andmark in Busan, stood tall like the Tower of Babel. In one iteration where Busan had fallen into ''Utopia,'' I watched fireworks from the rooftop terrace of that building with Tang Seorin. "A¨D¨Dah¨D¨Dah¨D¨D." Even in this dream, Tang Seorin was there. But this time, she wasn''t on the terrace but hanging from the spire. It was as if she had been crucified. Large nails were driven into her wrists and feet, just like a victim of a witch trial. For someone who imed to be a witch, she was subjected to an extraordinarily cruel witch hunt. Tang Seorin, bleeding from her limbs, continued to sing without pause. My own limbs turned deathly pale. But the horrific scene didn¡¯t end there. "¨D¨DAh¨D¨DAh¨D¨D." Directly below Tang Seorin, another person was crucified. It was Sim Aryeon. With the singing technique she learned from Tang Seorin, in Latin, Sim Aryeon followed her master, echoing the chorus. Neither of them had any expression on their faces. The duet of the witch and the saintess resonated endlessly through the city''s night sky, vibrating across the entire universe. "What on earth is that¡?" "You already know, don''t you?" Koyori spoke. "It''s a perpetual motion machine. The ''Great Witch'' burns her life away as she sings. It''s a power that must eventuallye to an end, but with the ''Saintess of the North'' joining in, the story changes." "¡¡." "Even when the Great Witch''s life runs out, the Saintess of the North can replenish it. Then, it¡¯s essentially creating a never-ending fuel source for the dream." "¡¡." "The Great Witch will keep dying anding back to life as she sings, again and again, solely for the peace of the world. That''s the kind of nightmare it is." I immediately swung my sword. The Tower of Babel crumbled. Tang Seorin''s and Sim Aryeon''s songs were swallowed up by the sound of the copsing tower and faded away. Maybe it was just my imagination, but it seemed like Tang Seorin and Sim Aryeon looked at me and let out a brief, dying breath of "Ah" before they were buried in the cloud of dust. [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] My heart pounded. But the nightmare wasn¡¯t over. "¡You can''t kill a dream, Guild Master." Koyori spoke as if it were an unavoidable truth. "As I mentioned, the nightmares here simply manifest your fears. You''re wise, so surely you''ve imagined it at least once? The idea that if those two were to fall and their powers were to intertwine, it might just create an eternal, peaceful Utopia¡ªsomething like that." "¡What a twisted hobby. I would never choose such an option." "Yes. And you could say that this ce is a trash heap of possibilities that you didn¡¯t choose, Guild Master." "¡¡." "Worlds after bad endings. The fate of parallel worlds. Fragments of possible worlds. Or simply bad dreams. A macabre hobby." Koyori took a step forward. As she did, the surroundings changed drastically. Sejong City turned into a white desert, and in the middle of it, Cheon Yohwa and Lee Hayul were sitting facing each other. Even though they were far off in the distance, I could clearly hear the conversation between the two children. "¡But sometimes, out of nowhere, the teacher brings up references to Records of the Grand Historian and Water Margin. Shouldn¡¯t we imnt that kind of knowledge into ¡®Teacher¡¯ too?" "Rejected. It''s better to pursue a perfect version of Brother as he is." "Wow¡ Hayul, you and I really have matching interests, but also don¡¯t match at all." "Agreed. I don''t understand why you cling to such an outdated movement like Realism." "What are you saying, you doll-obsessed nerd?" They chatted away. On the surface, it looked like a heartwarming scene, but my mouth was dry. Creak¡ª There was something between Cheon Yohwa and Lee Hayul. It was ''me.'' A doll-like figure that looked like an Doctor Jang, the corpse of an Doctor Jang, stood hunched between the two. "Hmm¡ªthen let¡¯s omit Records of the Grand Historian and Water Margin, and just imnt knowledge of Three Kingdoms. If we remove that too, it¡¯s really hard to call him ¡®Teacher¡¯!" "Agreed." Creak. Creak. Cheon Yohwa was inputting data into my corpse. As if turning a zombie into an AI judge. And connected to the limbs and all the muscles of this ''Doctor Jang'' were puppet strings held by Lee Hayul. The ''Doctor Jang'' opened his mouth. -You two¡ what exactly do you think of humans? I''ve told you time and again, Yohwa. You need to look at humans with a bit more warmth. "Wow! Just like Teacher!" -And Hayul, I''ve also told you, don¡¯t y with living people like they¡¯re dolls. No, you shouldn¡¯t even do it with dead people. "Satisfied." The two of them were cheerful. Only those two endlessly performed their puppet show in the world that had turned into a white desert. The scene felt so distant. "That too is one of the bad endings," Whispered Koyori beside me. "When the Endless Hell was unleashed, covering the entire world in emptiness, only Cheon Yohwa and the Puppeteer were granted a small oasis." "¡¡." "Oh, and please, don¡¯t even think about approaching them? Even though it looks normal, the Cheon Yohwa and Puppeteer over there are already in an advanced state of corruption. They¡¯ve be anomalies that could destroy the world on their own¡ Guild Master?" I ignored Koyori¡¯s words. Crunch. My footprint left an imprint in the desert sand. As soon as I took that single step, Cheon Yohwa and Lee Hayul''s gazes instantly focused on me. "¡¡." "¡¡." Silently. Intently. My students looked at me. I walked slowly, but with purpose, towards the two of them. During that time, Cheon Yohwa and Lee Hayul''s faces becamepletely expressionless, as if they had never been happily chatting at all. I stood before them. And I embraced them both. As tightly as possible. Cherishing them so they wouldn¡¯t break. "Yohwa." "¡¡." "Hayul." "¡¡." "You shouldn¡¯t be in a ce like this. Let¡¯s go home. Let¡¯s go back home¡." "¡¡." "¡¡." Shhhh¡ª In my arms, Yohwa and Hayul¡¯s forms began to dissolve. White sand, turning into a sandstorm, scattered from within my embrace. Even the desert itself was swept away by the wind and vanished. I found myself sitting in the middle of a cracked asphalt road. "Impressive¡," Koyori murmured. "Truly, how can you keep such a firm grip on your sense of self? In a ce like this, you could indulge in whatever desires you want. No, this is a ce where you can''t help but indulge." "¡It''s nothing special. Even I take breaks and go on vacation sometimes." "But vacations are just a means to eventually return to reality, aren¡¯t they? Why is it that you refuse to let yourself gopletely? Just once. Even if you did, no one here would be able to harm you." It might have felt good if I could have replied that it was because my spirit is that strong. But that wasn¡¯t the truth. To be strong, one¡¯s own reasons are never enough; the presence of others is necessary. The reason I¡¯ve been able to hold out so strongly¡ª "¨D¨DAh." ¡ªironically, is because there have always been ¡®others who fell apart before me.¡¯ "This is bad, Guild Master. That ¡®ending¡¯ is truly dangerous." "¡¡." "It¡¯s one of the most dangerous entities in this post-apocalyptic world. I highly rmend you flee. It probably won¡¯t be as easy to bury them as it was with Cheon Yohwa or the Puppeteer." Even before Koyori¡¯s warning, I had sensed something ominous. ''Something'' was approaching us. The hair on my scalp stood on end. My nape, which always detected threats even before my five senses did, was prickling fiercely. I enhanced my vision with aura. Beyond the asphalt forest of ruined buildings, it was walking toward us. "Hah." Seeing the figure, I couldn¡¯t help but let out a dryugh. Of course. If this ce is truly my nightmare and the collective unconscious of humanity, as Koyori suggested¡ªa ce where ¡®the worst of bad endings¡¯ gather¡ªthen it makes sense for something like that to exist here. "That damn old man, who was never of any help in life¡." Emmett Schopenhauer. My oldrade. An Awakened. Nicknamed the Sword Star. A Fallen. Nicknamed the Sword Demon. The swordsman with the most outstanding martial talents, possessing a divine martial body, was now exuding an aura far beyond what he had in reality, as he approached me. [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] Chapter 132 - Eschatologist IV [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] Chapter 132 ©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤ Eschatologist IV 5 Let¡¯s talk about Old Scho. shback. A distant past. A very long time ago, during the 21st turn, I once had a drunken heart-to-heart with Old Scho on a sky-blue bridge. ¡°Embalmer, what do you think will happen to the world after we die?¡± ¡°After we die?¡± Old Scho and I were probably the only two regressors in this world. So, every now and then, we¡¯d excitedly discuss topics that ¡°only regressors could truly get absorbed in.¡± Just like now. ¡°Well¡ at the point when the two of us die¡ I guess the world would also regress along with us. Time would rewind.¡± ¡°What if that¡¯s not the case?¡± ¡°Sorry?¡± ¡°What if the world continues even after we¡¯re dead?¡± ¡°But that wouldn¡¯t make any sense, would it? We die and then immediately wake up again. How could the world continue?¡± ¡°Listen carefully.¡± The old regressor¡¯s theory went like this: ¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D A. The [World After a Bad Ending] Hypothesis. Exnation: Even if a regressor dies, the world does not regress. Time continues until the universe meets its end. Only after aplete end does the world ¡®roll back.¡¯ The server resets. However, for some reason, the memories of Old Scho and me, the regressors, are preserved without being wiped. ¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D ¡°Ah¡ So even though we subjectively feel like we¡¯ve just woken up after dying, objectively, we only wake up after the world has been destroyed?¡± ¡°Right. In this case, our ability would be closer to [memory preservation] rather than [regression]. It aligns pretty well, considering that you, doctor, possess perfect memory.¡± ¡°Oh¡¡± ¡°There¡¯s another hypothesis too.¡± ¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D B. The [Parallel World] Hypothesis. Exnation: If a regressor dies, their consciousness and memories are transferred to a ¡®different parallel world.¡¯ Even though it may look the same, the world they now live in is entirely separate from the one they previously lived in. However, the differences between the worlds are not observable to the regressors. ¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D ¡°If the parallel world hypothesis is correct, our ability might need to be called [world line transfer].¡± ¡°This is a perspective I¡¯ve never considered before.¡± ¡°That¡¯s because you, Embalmer, wander around with that empty head of yours without any thought. You¡¯re so ignorant. You really need to study. Calling social democratsmies, mocking Germany¡¯s history at every chance¡ªyou''re utterly uneducated. You¡¯re a failure as a human, a failure in character, and a failure in personality.¡± ¡°Did you just ambush me with nder here¡?¡± ¡°I support the parallel world hypothesis.¡± I blinked in surprise. ¡°Uh¡ why?¡± ¡°Do you really think it makes sense for the entire world, for time itself, to regress just because two mere human beings died?¡± Old Scho swirled his soju ss. ¡°It¡¯s much more usible that only our consciousness moved to another world, don¡¯t you think?¡± ¡°Hmm.¡± Listening to Old Scho, I felt an inexplicable unease. If, as he said, it¡¯s absurd to turn back the world¡¯s time, then isn¡¯t it equally absurd to transfer an individual¡¯s consciousness and memories to another parallel world? In fact, theoretically, it might be more burdensome to assume the existence of countless parallel worlds. ¡°Then, all the worlds we originally lived in¡ all the ¡®parallel worlds¡¯ we¡¯ve passed through have been destroyed, haven¡¯t they? We¡¯re just wandering from one vanished home to another.¡± ¡°Exactly! We keep telling ourselves that we¡¯re saving the world by retrying over and over¡ but in reality, the people of those many worlds are already dead. The monsters have won.¡± Looking back now, like most drunken ramblings, Old Scho¡¯s passionate speechcked consistency. If we assume that Old Scho sincerely believed in the [World After a Bad Ending] or [Parallel World] hypotheses¡ª Then shouldn¡¯t he have valued his life even more? If it wasn¡¯t simply about turning back time, and if indeed countless worlds had met their end, then the lives of Old Scho and me bore the weight of ¡®an entire world.¡¯ Since each time we failed, another world would perish. Yet, Old Scho was soon to take a long vacation. Why was that? Did it mean he trusted me that much? Believing that even if he gave up, I wouldn¡¯t? Or was his lover far more precious to him than a world that had entrusted its weight to the likes of us? Between a world and a love, is thetter really heavier? The drunk old man staggered. ¡°Isn¡¯t it really a damnable world, Embalmer? I¡ I really don¡¯t¡ don¡¯t know why this is happening. I just don¡¯t know.¡± ¡°Ah¡ªold man. You should get up. If you sleep here, you¡¯ll catch a cold. Oh, seriously. This guy always relies on his immortal body and does this.¡± ¡It was as if the old man before me was like a Sherpa struggling to bear an even heavier burden on his already weighed-down shoulders. It was a double-edged stance chosen by a captain on a sinking ship. Stance A: "I cannot afford to fail here. Because if I fail, the world will perish." Stance B: "But even if I do fail here, there¡¯s nothing I can do about it. Because this ship is carrying far too much cargo for just one person like me to bear." Yes. Old Scho was undoubtedly driving himself to the brink so that he could justify either oue. ¡°I¡¯m sorry, Embalmer¡ I¡¯m so sorry¡¡± ¡°Hey, what¡¯s with this old German man suddenly mixing in a dialect? This is driving me crazy. Should I just throw you in a gas chamber?¡± ¡°You insane¡ racist bastard¡¡± ¡°Thatbel doesn¡¯t work when a white guy uses it on an Asian, you know?¡± In the 21st turn, I was still young. I couldn¡¯t see through Old Scho¡¯s state of mind. So even as I supported his drunken body, I couldn¡¯t support his heart. If I had been more experienced. If I had gone through more strange and terrifying things, I would have told Old Scho back then. In a calm voice: ¡°Old man.¡± ¡°Whether it¡¯s the [World After a Bad Ending] or the [Parallel World], whether it¡¯s true or false doesn¡¯t matter right now.¡± ¡°Because all of those are nothing but Void and Anomaly.¡± 6 End of the shback. Let¡¯s rewind the perspective by a few thousand years. The reunion with Old Scho in the unconscious world was the worst. ¡°Ah. Guildmaster, we¡¯ve been spotted.¡± Koyori muttered, but there was no need to inform me kindly. Old Scho was rushing at me with a wild swing of a steel pipe. ¡°¡¡!¡± A Sword Master¡¯s strike was faster than sound. Have you ever seen a night sky engraved with the faint glow of the Milky Way like a subtle jewel? You can see it every day if you visit a clean-apocalypse world without pollution and fine dust. And you can witness it in Old Scho¡¯s aura as well. Kwarrrrr! The ¡®night-sky-colored¡¯ aura charged straight at me, slicing through the building debris in its path as if it found them cumbersome. [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] This was the decisive reason Old Scho became known as the Sword Star. His de contained the Milky Way and starlight. The thunderous sound of the copsing buildings echoed several beats slower than Old Scho¡¯s attack. It wasn¡¯t until I barely managed to draw Doha and deflect Old Scho¡¯s strike that the tremendous aftershock struck my hearing. ¡°Holy¡?¡± My hands tingled, and my whole body shook. My senses all screamed nausea. Just one strike. As the 261st turn, my heart sank just from defending against a single attack. For someone like me who relies on aura rather than martial arts, it felt like my MP had been halved instantly. Suddenly, the spirit of Seo Gyu possessed my heart. The words "You fucking bastard, stop cheating so much!" slipped out of my mouth. ¡°Damn, you weren¡¯t this strong before!¡± ¡°¡¡¡± ¡°No matter how empty or strange you¡¯ve be, the original you were just an old man who disappeared after the 25th turn. How can you be this strong?¡± Old Scho remained expressionless. It must be because his tiny brain folds and facial muscles had atrophied as he fell into Void. -¡¡, ¡¡, ¡¡. Old Scho¡¯s lips kept moving as he muttered something repeatedly. Thanks to my time with Lee Hahyul, my lip-reading skills had developed to a high level. Even from a distance, I could roughly decipher what Old Scho was saying. After all, Germans had been somewhat vulnerable in the field of wiretapping since World War II. The result of my eavesdropping was this: ¡°Adele, Adele, Adele, Adele, Adele, Adele, Adele.¡± What the hell. The Sword Demon raised the steel pipe again. The intensity I felt from the tips of the old man¡¯s fingers made the hair on the back of my neck stand on end. At this rate, I was about to be regressor chicken on the old man¡¯s dinner table tonight. ¡°Hah.¡± At that moment, I came up with a brilliant idea. I grabbed Koyori, who was standing by watching in spectator mode, and pushed her in front of me. ¡°Huh?¡± ¡°Koyori, let¡¯s be friends!¡± It was the forbidden secret technique passed down through the Korean penins: the Friend Shield. Running away now would only risk being pursued by the corrupted regressor, the strange creature known as ¡®Emett Schopenhauer.¡¯ So, why not aim for mutual destruction? As a guardian of human civilization, I always respected the Code of Hammurabi. An eye for an eye. Anomaly for Anomaly. Old Scho for Koyori. If I could eliminate either the regressor¡¯s anomaly or the brainwashing beam anomaly, it would be a win for me! Why bother worrying about means and methods? ¡°¡¡¡± Scho hesitated. The old man, who had been poised tounch a barrage of attacks, suddenly stopped. I mentally pumped my fist. As expected, even Old Scho had to hesitate in front of the brainwashing beam. Even I, after crawling through 261 turns, could only avoid it with no real countermeasure, so how could some fresh-faced old man like him boast here? "Um... Guildmaster?" "What? I''m busy. Don''t talk to me." "But I think it would be better if I tell you." Koyori, who had been reduced to a human shield in my left hand, spoke as if troubled. "As you know, I am perceived as the ideal type that the other person would be most attracted to, right? So¡ who do you think I look like to that grandfather who¡¯s reached his ending?" "......" Ah. "AdeleAdeleAdeleAdeleAdeleAdeleAdeleAdeleAdeleAdeleAdeleAdele." Around Old Scho, a ''night sky'' unfolded. To use thetest trends, this was domain expansion. Considering the old man¡¯s age, it was more like a bounded field. Old Scho''s terrifying aura, coloring the ground and sky, extended from his feet. Suddenly, the night sky appeared in the middle of the day in a ruined city. This was more than sword energy; it was killing intent. This was the ultimate potential of Emett Schopenhauer, the human being. The extreme limit of his possibilities. This was a realm that even I had never witnessed when Old Scho was in his prime in the original world, an iprehensible level of transcendence. "If he were maintaining his sanity, he wouldn¡¯t confuse me with his beloved wife... But in this corrupted ''ending'' state where he¡¯s lost his reason, well, I¡¯m at a loss too¡" "Cancel your brainwashing!" "Haha, Guildmaster, you know that''s passive and I can¡¯t do anything about it. But more importantly, this is a big deal. To him, I must look like his beloved wife being held hostage by a kidnapper. Though, of course, I¡¯m d to have be friends with you, Guildmaster." I immediately threw Koyori as far away as possible. "Whoa-?" She flew like a missile, maybe because she was originally from North Korea. I just hoped she would be faithful to her origins and explode at the end. Naturally, the focus of the Old Scho Anomaly shifted from me to the Koyori Missile. The old man, a hopeless romantic, threw down the steel pipe and charged after Koyori. My one and only chance. I took off immediately. The protagonist of an infinite regression story should never miss a one-time opportunity. "Adeleeeeeee!" Boom. Bang. The city was being destroyed in real-time. I could hear Old Scho¡¯s desperate cries from far behind, but it wasn¡¯t my concern. I wished the two of them would live happily ever after¨D¨D. "Adele." At that moment, I sensed a presence beside me. There was no time to look back. sh! Something cut through my protective aura, like tofu, slicing up to my neck. ''Ah.'' I fell forward in the same running motion. My head soared into the air, and I barely managed to look to the side. Old Scho, whom I thought I had sent far away, was suddenly right next to me, running ''alongside'' me. His hand was stained with blood. A close-range strike. With a single hand strike, he had decapitated me. Koyori was held by Old Scho at his side. She looked at me¡ªor more precisely, at my escaping head¡ªand gave a wry smile. My senses faded. Sound, consciousness, everything was rapidly drifting away. In a way, it was a relief. Even if I had survived a bit longer, all I would have witnessed was Old Scho kissing Adele-Koyori in some twisted romantic scene, right? I wanted to say something, anything. ''Seriously, isn¡¯t this just too much?'' At the same time, I felt like I had returned to one of the early turns, back to my childhood as a regressor. Back then, I didn¡¯t have to face destruction alone. There was always the reassuring back of the most dependable dealer right in front of me. See? Old Scho¡¯s potential was definitely extraordinary. If only he could fully unleash that overwhelming talent, if only he could blossom itpletely, not in this bad ending but in reality, then, old man, together we could definitely¨D¨D. At that moment, my consciousness plummeted to the bottom. The sensation of death was not much different from a dream or reality. ckout. [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] Chapter 133 - Eschatologist V [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] Chapter 133 ©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤ Eschatologist V 7 When I opened my eyes, leaving another death in my memory, I found myself in the waiting room of Busan Station. It would have been nice to say that I caught sight of the familiar 399 survivors... but that wasn¡¯t the case. Even Busan Station''s waiting room couldn''t escape the chilling wave of massyoffs. This time, only one person was there to greet me. "Oh. Guildmaster, you''re awake?" "...Yes." "Here, some Ceylon tea. When you get up in a bit, have a sip to moisten your throat." Koyori was sitting on a bench in the waiting room. And I was lying on the same bench. At that time, I didn¡¯t realize it, but there was something called the logic of genres in this world. [Same Bench] [One Sitting] [One Lying Down]. When these three conceptsbine, they always produce an inevitable oue, transcending time and space. Simply put, Koyori was giving me ap pillow. Her pink hair draped over my eyes like a cluster of acacia flowers. Like a bath soak, a subtle scent wafted in the air, with a fruity aroma reminiscent of an apple dipped briefly in cold water. "..." I reflexively tried to get up but decided against it. Perhaps it was because I had used the forbidden technique [Friend Shield] earlier. I felt a slight pang of guilt. Surprisingly, it seemed my heart still had room for the emotion called ''guilt towards Koyori.'' Not that I could escape the presence in front of me anyway. "Am I dead?" "Yes. And no." Koyori brushed her hair behind her ear. The strands swayed gently like bellflowers. "You were indeed killed by the hands of the [Bad Ending]. The Guildmaster has died. But it''s hard to call it a true death. In dreams, one cannot truly die." "...I see." Even if I die in this unconscious world, ''regression'' won''t activate. The real me is still surrounded by tutorial fairies, enjoying a deep sleep. It was good information. "How did you get out? The enemy seemed impossible to confront." "Well, if you try to confront them like you did, it would be difficult. But I don''t bother to antagonize such beings. If you want to escape, it''s quite simple." True enough. Hooray for brainwashing hypnosis beams. I let out a sigh. "That old man was too powerful." "..." "In this unconscious world, it is said that what one fears most is reflected. Indeed, I was afraid of that old man." It wasn''t that I disliked Emmett Schopenhauer as an individual. He was myrade. But. "If the old man hadn''t gone on leave and stayed by my side, what would have happened... I used to imagine that scenario a few times." IF. The hypothetical scenario. The route where the old man didn''t go on leave. "The old man had a soft heart. Even if he hadn''t gone on leave, love and despair for his wife would have continued to coil inside him. If he had forced himself to endure that and insisted on going to war with me...¡± Wouldn''t he have broken at some point? There were countless dangerous moments. For instance, when we defeated the Isted God Endless Hell. Endless Hell shows people the ''most perfect timeline'' in a hallucination. Naturally, the old man would have been immersed in days of happiness with his wife. I managed to shake off the temptations of Tang Seorin, Noh Doha, and the Saintess... but could the old man have escaped? Wouldn''t he have fallen into bing Endless Hell''s new apostle? For example, when it was revealed that the tutorial fairy was actually a subus. By negotiating with the subi, one can manipte dreams as desired. That, too, would have been a temptation difficult for the old man to refuse. For example, when the entity in front of him began to take a genuine ''interest'' in the old man. Like the nightmare I just encountered, wouldn¡¯t the old man have ended up bing a viin, driven by the delusion that he was reunited with his wife in reality and moving only for Koyori? The bestrade turns into the worst enemy. It was amon storyline. "Looking back, maybe it was a divine stroke of luck that he left with his wife as he did." "..." "A troublemaker in life and in death. Honestly, that old man is of no help in life." The waiting room was quiet. As if hundreds or thousands of years had passed in an instant, undergrowth began to sprout across the waiting room floor. Through the broken roof and ceiling, ancient sunlight dripped like candle wax. Koyori didn''t respond. She just listened quietly, smiling as if she found it difficult, as if she knew that this ''silent listening'' was the form offort I desired at the moment. "Guildmaster." After a long silence, Koyori whispered. "Can you always feel better?" Her whisper carried the scent of green apples. "After all, life is like countless dreams. The final dream a person has is simply called reality. Guildmaster, you''re like a ghost wandering in dreams forever, searching for a reality you can ept. You''re an Undertaker burying your dead dreams one by one as they die. This ce is an interlude where the corpses you''ve buriede back to life and dance." "Dream within a dream, the world after the bad ending, parallel worlds, collective unconsciousness. It''s probably a void where such concepts have turned into anomalies." "And you can be the master of that void, Guildmaster." "..." "I''ll help you, Guildmaster." Koyori''s thumb stroked my cheekbone. Like a child peering down into a deep well from above, Koyori was gazing down into my eyes. "Help? You, help me?" "Yes. This ce isn''t just your unconsciousness, it''s the unconsciousness of all humanity. What do you think would happen if you could manipte it at will?" A soft breath. The scent of apples settled on my cornea. My face felt itchy. As Koyori moved her lips, her breath drew closer and closer. "You''d be able to impose your dream on all other humans." "..." "That''s right. Dreams that no one else can experience, thendscapes of destruction that only you remember. You''d be able to share those with others, with your loved ones, with all humanity." "..." "Show them your life, Guildmaster." Suddenly, the fruity aroma turned into a wine-like scent. Wine brewed from apples. As if petals were blooming and unfolding, Koyori''s breath,den with the scent of wine, spread out all around. "Show them how much you suffered, how much you ran around for others, how wise and powerful you were." "..." "And so, let them suffer from your pain, let them be devoted to your dedication, and let them marvel at your abilities." The voice from Koyori''s lips, which parted like flower petals in a pink hue, flowed out thickly like honey. "The Guildmaster can be the dream of all. A dream everyone has. If we were to name it a myth, then in this apocalypse, you would be a single flower blooming like a miracle." "You don''t think I''ll nod in agreement just because you say so, do you?" "No." Koyori smiled with her eyes. "Not right now." Her finger gently pressed against the tip of my chin. "But as your pain matures, won''t that nod also be more pronounced?" "......" [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] "Please, don''t be sweet so easily, Guildmaster. If you keep bing more tempting, I''ll want to devour you without even realizing it." The words whispered right in front of me seemed to be truly spoken by Koyori¡ªor perhaps it was merely my illusion murmuring. It was impossible to gauge Koyori''s sincerity in any statement. She called me a wraith of dreams. But in reality, it was she who was a mirage made entirely of breath and flesh woven from the fabric of dreams. Perhaps that was the tragedy assigned to the existence known as Koyori. Looking up at Koyori''s red well, I suddenly had such thoughts. 8 A week''s worth of nights passed. It was quite a shock to have offered my neck to an oldrade, but my mental state was fully restored after a few rests. I tossed Ceylon tea into my mouth and farmed a silver bell at a souvenir shop. Koyori was watching my actions with an amused expression. "What do you n to do? That bad ending is an unbeatable foe, just as you said, Guildmaster." "A bad ending has its own uses." Jingle. The silver bell wrapped around my wrist rang softly. My personal item (pre-apocalypse price: 9,900 won), engraved even into my unconscious, felt particrly special today. "The old man will return someday." "Pardon?" "More precisely, I''ll make him return. Thepany''s co-representative ran off thinking he''d find happiness on his own, so shouldn''t we drag him back? The problem was that even if we managed to return the old man, we''d only hear the sound of a water rocket at first." The potential of the old man, Scho, was tremendous. But it was just potential. Back when Scho was alive, the Korean Awakener Federation couldn''t even catch a meteor shower. Can you believe it? A meteor shower. Something so insignificant now that it''s almost embarrassing even to call it a mid-boss, was once enough to make Scho say, "What, you expect us to beat this?" Scho''s time stopped at the 23rd turn. That''s well over a thousand years ago by my standards. This is why no matter how sessful one is, it''s essential to adapt to new eras constantly. It''s like trying to im that the Epic of Gilgamesh is the most trending genre of literature today¡ªabsurd, right? "I originally nned to train the old man non-stop once he returned. With his talent, I figured a light 200-year training regimen would make him somewhatpetent." "Heh." "But wasn''t such a wonderful answer key provided in this subconscious world?" Koyori tilted her head. "Answer key?" Yes, an answer key. I was fully prepared to face the bad ending, the corrupted alternate version of Scho, known as the Sword Demon. As before, the Sword Demon wandered through the scorched remains of Seoul. He was dragging a dull construction site pipe around with no sense of style. Seriously, wasn''t this guy devouring all the style and dignity left for the awakeners? For the sake of preserving the dignity and character of the awakeners, it seemed that I, Doctor Jang, had to step up. I took a deep breath. And I yelled with all my might. "Hey, you National Socialist German Workers'' Party bastard!" "......" Freeze¡ª The racially charged hate speech, which would cause any sensible and cultured German (except in the 1930s) to convulse, rang out loudly. For reference, the National Socialist German Workers'' Party, or NSDAP, was better known by its alias, the Nazis. Also, Scho had always voted for the Social Democrats from birth until the day the world ended. He was a true red-blooded socialist. Germany produced both Karl Marx and Adolf Hitler. While fascism andmunism were just ideological struggles in other countries, in Germany, it was an internal feud filled with self-loathing. Even if one were to turn into a monster, a true revolutionary never betrays their ideology. "Take this!" Swish¡ª I waved an old banner. "......!" Seeing the proud emblem drawn on the banner, the Sword Demon''s eyes wavered uncontrobly. …d. In the East, it''s merely a symbol of Buddhism, but what Westerners, indoctrinated by identalism, could understand the profound teachings of Buddha? The DNA of "Ka" sleeping within Scho''s bloodline began to react allergically to the "Hi" sound, triggering an overblown immune response. "Uwoooaaaaaaahhh!" The German-born supermunist Sword Master roared. If his aura had turned red, it would have been perfect. But the power was undeniable. In line with the ideology embedded in him since birth to destroy the outdated world, Scho¡¯s swordy¡ªno, pipe strikes¡ªwere instantly destroying the city. But the Sword Demon''s hand, which was about to strike me down, suddenly mmed on the brakes. "......! ......!" The Sword Demon¡¯s aura, which was about to strike, suddenly froze upon seeing the y sculptures lined up. Busts that bore the exact likeness of ''Karl Marx'' and ''Rosa Luxemburg''! The Sword Demon hesitated like an NPC caught in a bug, wearing an expression simr to that of a Japanese Kirishitan who had been ordered to step on a Christian image to prove they were not a Christian. Indeed, to a German-born elder, those two busts were akin to sacred icons of Jesus and the Virgin Mary. A leftward strike would destroy Marx, while a rightward one would shatter Luxemburg. "Ugh, uoooooo......!" My preparations didn''t stop there. Just in case, I had also disyed the busts of Kurt Schumacher, Willy Brandt, Wilhelm Pieck, Walter Ulbricht, and so on. Any German leftist politician whose name I knew had their bust on disy. Regardless of which faction Scho supported (though I had no interest in German politics, the idea that the left could unify was but a fantasy, akin to a monster), one of them was bound to get him! That''s right. I, Doctor Jang, had spent a whole week loitering in Busan Station''s waiting room just to prepare this. Thanks to my repeated frivolous endeavors during each vacation turn, my sculpting skills had reached a fairly high level. "You think you''re the only one who can deploy a domain? This is my domain deployment." "Uwooooo......" "I''ve hidden sculptures like mines all over this city. Come on in, to my personal boundary. The crimson ughtering revolutionary space." "Uwooooooaaaahhh......!" Come at me, oldmie. Cry and prove your ideological purity. [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] Chapter 134 - Eschatologist VI [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] Chapter 134 ©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤ Eschatologist VI "Huah! Uhhhhh!" The Sword Demon lunged at me. Butpared to when he had once sliced my neck in a single stroke, his movements were as sluggish as an old slug. His footwork had changed, in a bad way. To avoid thendmines (statues) I had nted all over the city, the Sword Demon was forced into an inefficient path. Of course, it was hard to say that Old Scho, who had fallen into corruption, still retained the same strong political ideals he had in life. In fact, most of the statues I made were of Adele¡ªOld Scho''s wife. There were even statues of his wife hidden behind the statues of Marx and Luxemburg. Probably 90% of the reason the Sword Demon hesitated in destroying the statues was because of the wife statues. You might wonder, "Then weren¡¯t themunist statues unnecessary?" But such a question itself would be against the antimunist ideology of the Korean Penins. Why would I pass up the chance to legally mock and humiliate that senile old man? Especially when it''s a once-in-a-millennium opportunity for some real fun? As a regressor, you should enjoy it while you can. Some of the wife statues were not just busts but half-figures, with the right arm raised in a "middle finger" pose. Hundreds of middle fingers were proudly raised towards Old Scho. In this deste, barren city''s ruins, the increasing exterior decorations finally made it somewhat worth sightseeing. This was true urban beautification. "¡¡! ¡¡!" The Sword Demon howled again, moved by my thorough and generous gift. It must have been out of gratitude for an oldrade¡¯s heartfelt effort. Though I couldn¡¯t understand thenguage of this monstrosity, if tranted to German, it was probably something like ¡°Danke.¡± Behind me, Koyori murmured, ¡°This is interesting¡¡± Leaving the observer behind, our two weapons¡ªmore precisely, my cane sword and his iron pipe¡ªshed fiercely. Even though my opponent was Old Scho, who had reached his maximum potential, fighting became manageable with his movement restricted. "Grgrgrrr!" The Sword Demon, frustrated, stepped on thin air and flew up. He intended to avoid even the possibility of stepping on the statues! But it was a move that knew one thing and missed two others. It seemed the old man had been on vacation too long and had forgotten what kind of person I was. ¡°Look- at- me!¡± Sshraaak! Without hesitation, I tore off my shirt. Behind me, Koyori chuckled, ¡°Oh my, oh my.¡± But my stripping wasn¡¯t just for fan service. It wasn¡¯t even a performance to taunt the enemy like a holy knight tank. It was purely driven by my artistic desire to show Old Scho the portrait on my underwear. A canvas-white undershirt. On it was a portrait of Madame Adele. "¡¡!" Old Scho suddenly froze in midair as if he¡¯d crashed into a car. The hand gripping his iron pipe trembled. His gaping mouth could only produce eerie sounds like "Uh- uh?" From his perspective, it was like unexpectedly witnessing a masterpiece of the century, so of course, he had to revere it. Moreover, not just my clothes, but my arms, hands, and feet were all tattooed with portraits of Madame Adele¡! The fully upgraded version of [Friend Shield], [Wife Shield], had descended upon this ce. "Go ahead and attack, old man. Try attacking? Where will you attack? The neck? Do you see the ADELE tattooed on my throat?¡± ¡°Uh, uhh¡ uh¡?¡± ¡°Go ahead, try and cut it! You rotten old man!¡± The Sword Demon was at a loss, stammering. Even Old Scho, who had abandoned friendship and fled, was helpless before "love." Remember, this is the textbook way to deal with monsters. There''s a reason demons are so keen on hiding their true names. The moment their identity is known, their weaknesses are exposed, and once you grasp those weaknesses, the monster''s stiff neck bes as fragile as a chicken''s. From now on, it was my turn. With my entire body wrapped in an anti-Old Scho exclusive AT Field, I charged forward. ¡°I¡¯ve wanted to punch your face for a thousand years!¡± "Uwaaaah!" One strike. Another strike. And another. Every time I swung my cane sword, the Sword Demon was barely able to dodge. Even then, Old Scho''s murky eyes roamed over my skin. He seemed to be checking for any gaps he could stab into while avoiding the portraits of Madame Adele. But I did not make the same mistake as the goddess who tried to make a baby invincible but left his ankle as a weak spot. As a Korean who grew up reading The Tale of the Baby Warrior Uturn and learned early on from bleak stories, I was even more inclined to avoid such petty mistakes. ¡°Huuuuh¡!¡± In the end, Old Scho could not find any weakness on my body. The Sword Demon couldn''t maintain his position in the air and fell. His only remaining option was to be beaten by me. And the target of those beatings was both physical and mental. Because I wasn¡¯t a dualist like Descartes, who treated mind and body separately. ¡°Emett, what¡¯s going on with you?¡± ¡°¡¡?!¡± ¡°I¡¯m at a conference right now! My God, did you drink? Why are you acting like a child? Huh? Wait a minute, Emett. I¡¯m hearing strange noises from the sky!¡± The words flowing from my mouth. They were a copy-paste of a 30-second phone call between Old Scho and his wife. High-level giarism was indistinguishable from the original. I not only mimicked the dialogue but also perfectly imitated the voice. By converting the vibrations of sound waves into aura, I seeded in replicating "Madame Adele''s voice." This strategy was inspired by my battle against the fallen version of a Saintess, the Executor, in the 107th turn. Using a technique devised by one fallen one against another was truly an achievement of human intelligence. ¡°My brother¡¯s name is Maximilian! Oh my God, Emett, what are you talking about all of a sudden?! This is crazy. Wait, hold on. We¡¯ll discuss this in personter!¡± ¡°Uh, uh, uhhh¡?¡± Old Scho was defenseless against my "voice phishing" tactic. The mental strength of a German was worn down in real-time by a Korean''s K-fraud attack. ¡°Oh my, oh my¡¡± [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] Koyori, watching our fight, had a blissful look on her face. How should I describe it? It was like the expression you make after buying a delicious-smelling bread at a bakery in the subway station, only to find out it¡¯s actually as tasty as it smells. Just watching was satisfying. The battle continued for a day, two days, three days, and even four days. In this fierce struggle, I wasn¡¯t just venting my thousand-year-old stress on Old Scho. That was only 85% of my purpose in the battle. The remaining 15% was to observe and learn from the ''answer sheet,'' as I had told Koyori. ¡°The monster before me is, after all, a manifestation of the talents Old Scho might have developed.¡± Huuu- I adjusted my breathing, letting the opponent¡¯s aura flow past me. Then, I stared directly at the Sword Demon. While it might have been closer to a sinister energy than pure intent, there was no doubt that the Sword Demon was one of the possible oues for a warrior named "Emett Schopenhauer." My gaze sharpened. ¡®I must remember as much as I can.¡¯ The grip on the sword hilt. The direction of his swings. The ratio and method of mixing feints into his attacks. The angle at which he applies weight through the sword and the speed at which he skillfully deflects. The way he utilizes aura in his swordsmanship. This was a swordsmanship that Schopenhauer would have eventually mastered if he hadn¡¯t quit the game after the 23rd turn. ¡®I¡¯ll observe, remember, and pass it on.¡¯ For when old Schopenhauer returns someday. Thus, I prolonged the fight, which I could have ended much sooner, as much as possible. I introduced numerous scenarios. How would he react to an attack from the left? How does he defend against a sudden aura strike while feinting a sword sh? What if I respond like this? And in this situation? Oh, how about this? I threw countless questions at my opponent. ¡°Ughhhhh!¡± And countless exmations were myrade''s response. If the countless question marks are hammered into one''s own exmation points, that bes the path a warrior walks. Even if a human falls into monstrosity, their de does not bend. ¡®I don¡¯t know what kind of profound meaning is hidden here.¡¯ I¡¯ll admit it honestly. Just like the old man said, my martial talent is hopeless. I hoped in vain, but my senses were not particrly moved by the brilliant disy of swordsmanship and footwork unfolding before my eyes. There was no sudden epiphany, no breakthrough in levels as often described in martial arts novels; such fortuitous events were clearly not destined for me. As a warrior, I was below average. ¡®But still, if I urately imitate the appearance and demonstrate it, the old man will figure out the hidden meaning on his own.¡¯ However, as a supporter, I was exceptionally talented. There have been few moments where I¡¯ve been more grateful for my [Perfect Memory] ability than now. I was always true to the role given to me as a regressor in this world. I helped myrades. I assisted them. I connected them with one another. I became a bridge across the absolute barriers given to mortals¡ªtime and death¡ªand connected them like a single thread. ¡°Old man. You are not fighting me, nor are you fighting to defeat me.¡± The dark aura and the midnight-blue aura shed. ¡°Urgh! Hrrrgh, huuuuugh!¡± ¡°You are fighting against the version of yourself who will be a slightly better person in the future. It¡¯s quite an ironic thing, don¡¯t you think? After all, every battle is essentially a duel with oneself, isn¡¯t it?¡± ¡°...!¡± ¡°I¡¯ll make a prediction. Someday, you will lose your life by your own de.¡± The fight that hadsted through four sleepless nights was slowlying to an end. I thought of it as a long letter from the Schopenhauer of today to his future self. People used to record their moves on paper and exchange them to y Go over long distances. So it wouldn¡¯t be strange if two warriors exchanged martial arts manuals across a bit of time. "... Ugh... Uh..." The Sword Demon was utterly exhausted. Even a killing machine that operated solely on the principle of "love for his wife" had its limits. Due to the inherent limitations of being based on a human body, the Sword Demon''s muscles were weary from endless minor wounds, and his heart groaned under the constant fatigue. His aura was not infinite either. In a battlefield meticulously designed to favor me, it was Schopenhauer whose engine ran out of fuel first. Pat, pat-pat¡ªpat¡ª The once overwhelming aura of the Sword Demon, which had stained broad daylight with the colors of the night sky, had diminished to the point of being barely visible. It was like a malfunctioning TV asionally disying noise on the screen¡ªSchopenhauer''s midnight-blue aura flickered on and off around his shoulders. If that monstrosity was Schopenhauer¡¯s fall, then this sight was the downfall of that monstrosity. Yes, though it may be ironic for a regressor like me to say, every incident has an end. It was nearly time to bury the small time capsule in my mind. ¡°Ugh, ugh¡ uh¡¡± As I took a step back, the Sword Demon instinctively swung a metal pipe. Stagger¡ª The strike was so feeble that it only sliced through the empty air. The Sword Demon tried to pursue me, but his steps faltered, and he copsed. His ankles were marred by numerous wounds, like the stumps of trees that a clumsy lumberjack had failed to fell. The Sword Demon tried to crawl toward me, even using his hands if necessary. But due to his crude aura maniption, all of his fingernails were shattered. Whenever he iled about, blood burst out from between his ten broken fingernails. His blood was so dark that it smelled like coal. A trail of ash followed him. ¡°...¡± I raised Doha. I had resolved to deliver the final blow to Schopenhauer, to his remnants, to his bad ending. If Schopenhauer were to die, I had long believed that I was the only one qualified to give him a proper burial. But I couldn¡¯t bring myself to strike down just yet. The destination Schopenhauer was crawling toward, whether it was on his feet, arms, hands, fingers, or even his fingernails, was not me, who had fought with him for the past four days. ¡°...Ah...¡± It was a bit further back. ¡°...Dell...e...a¡¡± He was heading toward Koyori. [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] Chapter 135 - Eschatologist VII [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] Chapter 135 ©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤ Eschatologist VII 9 I have witnessed the deaths of countlessrades. I have both overseen their deaths and observed their passing. Is this not one of the reasons I was given the name "Undertaker"? [PR/N: Doctor Jang is also known as the Undertaker.] Yet, in retrospect, the death of the Sword Star¡ªEmett Schopenhauer¡ªalways happened too quickly, too easily. "Old man! Over there, the tentacles!" "Huh?" The Old Scho fought on the front lines like a dealer should. Therefore, he was bound to die earlier than me, who was a supporter. If someone asked me to paint a picture of "Scho''s death," I would depict one of two scenes. One scene where he was torn into KFC-like pieces by the tentacles of the ten-legged beast. Or the scene where he copsed as a headless Duhan in the old Baekje Hospital caf¨¦. Either way, his death began too swiftly and ended too hastily. Scho''s final moments were never leisurely enough for him to leave me with anyst words. Even during the times when we mutually agreed to end a turn, it was the same. That death was not "game over," but merely a "continue" button, so there was no reason to leave anyst words. Thus. This was the first time I truly witnessed the end of a friend. "¡A¡dele¡" Splish. Ssh. Emett Schopenhauer crawled. Towards Koyori. ck, coal-colored blood oozed from his broken fingernails. "¡" Seeing an oldrade in such a pitiful state, my sword hand hesitated, lost. Should I strike down his neck immediately, so he could retain his final dignity? Or should I let Scho, even if just in a dream, see Lady Adele''s face before he closed his eyes? Clink, nk. My sword hovered somewhere between drawing and sheathing. At either end of that small stepy dignity in reality and happiness in a dream. "Shh." Koyori''s whisper was quicker than my sword. "Leave it to me, Guild Leader." "¡" Koyori closed one eye and gently ced a finger on her lips. She was smiling faintly. There was a time when I really liked that smile. But now, I couldn¡¯t trust Koyori. Still, at that moment, I let go of my sword. Was it because, after spending a week with Koyori, I had been subtly brainwashed? Or was it because, as an undertaker, I instinctively felt that the person who could give Scho the proper funeral was not me but Koyori? Under my silent gaze, Scho staggered as he crawled. "A¡dele¡Adele¡" Atst, his battered fingers touched Koyori''s foot. Splosh. The ck blood Scho shed stained Koyori''s shoe like ink. The viscous blood dripped down her loafers. "Yes." Koyori bent down. She gently held Scho''s worn-out, coal-colored hand with her white-gloved hands. "Emett." "¡" Sho looked up with an expressionless face. Koyori smiled faintly. "You''ve done well, Emett." "¡" "My goodness. You look so tired. Where have you been running around like this?" "¡, ¡" "Yes. You sometimes get obsessed with the strangest things and never listen to anyone else. I''m always worried about you." "¡" "Are you okay? You mustn''t push yourself too hard. You always need to think about your health." Only the sound of Scho''sbored breathing echoed in response. Come to think of it, there aren''t many beings with a fate as pitiable as that regressor. His wife was a schr. She was invited to an academic conference at a university in Korea. Scho followed his wife to this distant, unfamiliarnd. Scho had no real interest in this ce. To the old man, the Korean Penins was nothing but a gray area that he had never given much thought to. It was only a ce that had some significance as a light overseas trip with his wife. Now, having lost that wife, what meaning could thisnd possibly hold for Emett Schopenhauer? I find it difficult to imagine the sorrow of those who have lost loved ones in a foreignnd. For Emett Schopenhauer, the only path left was to search for his beloved wife. And that reunion could only happen in one of two ways. A brief phone callsting mere seconds. Or a dreamlike vision in this void of unconsciousness. "¡" "Yes, you." Koyori knelt down. She gently embraced Scho. "I love you too." "¡" With a sigh, Scho''s body crumbled. His flesh turned into ck fluid, and the fluid soon became coal ash that scattered. It took a long time. It seemed that Scho had a lot of flesh to turn into dust. The pitch-ck ashes were scattered over the distant ruins of the city. Koyori remained kneeling, embracing the ashes. That was Koyori''s way of giving a human a funeral. I parted my lips. "¡Was the old man smiling at the end?" "Yes." Koyori stood up with a grunt. She lightly brushed off the ashes clinging to her body. As the powder scattered, the sounds of coughing and sneezing echoed. Koyoriughed sheepishly. "Well, who knows? Perhaps he was having a happy dream. Which do you prefer, Guild Leader?" "Which do you mean?" "Would you prefer that he smiled in my arms? Or that, in the end, he realized that this was just a falsefort and regained his senses?" "¡" I could only remain silent. Koyori looked at me for a while. Her long, curved smile seemed to be observing my heartbeat rather than my face. I hoped she couldn¡¯t hear my racing heart. It was a hope I thought was rationally justifiable. Rumble... At that moment, the ruins of the city roared, swallowing all the surrounding sounds and echoes. Koyori looked up at the sky. "Ah. The bad ending of this ce has ended as well." She sped her hands behind her back. "Really, I can finally breathe a little. Thank you, Guild Leader. Thanks to you, I feel a bit more at ease." "...What do you mean?" "Hahaha. Lately, there have been so many powerful nightmares here. I wouldn''t have been able to handle even the likes of that Cheon Yohwa or the Puppeteer you took downst time." "That''s strange." I furrowed my brows. "For Cheon Yohwa or Hayul, you probably appeared as me. Wouldn''t that have made it easier to overpower them mentally?" "They said there couldn''t be two Guildmasters in this world, so they left the puppet alone and tried to kill me instead." "..." "Well then." With a p, Koyori pped her hands. Suddenly, we found ourselves in the waiting room of Busan Station. This was proof that the control of this unconscious world had passed to Koyori. "You can leave whenever you''re ready now. Before, I wasn''t strong enough to help you, but now, if you sleep here and wake up, you''ll be back in reality." "..." "Come here, Guildmaster." Tap, tap. Koyori sat on the bench and yfully patted her thigh, as if inviting me to rest my head on herp. "Hmm." The idea that I could now return to reality... It was a relief that I had somewhat conquered this "dream within a dream," this "world after the bad ending," this "parallel world." However, there were many inconsistencies in Koyori''s words. If Koyori''s intention from the beginning was to cooperate with me willingly, why did she eliminate the fairy from Tutorial 264? Could it be that she removed the subus in advance to make sure I had no choice but to rely on her, so that I would help her clean up the "bad endings"? Most importantly... "You. You''re not just an illusion, are you?" "Pardon?" "A week ago, when you introduced yourself, you imed to be nothing more than a manifestation of my fears and aversions, as if you were a separate entity from the real Koyori." That''s right. Koyori definitely said this: -Perhaps you could say that I''m a manifestation of the Guildmaster''s fears and aversions? -Though it''s very sad that your unconscious fear happened to manifest in my form. But just now, Koyori had inadvertently confessed. "Then how could you have almost died approaching Cheon Yohwa and Hayul? Before I entered this ce, my fears wouldn''t have taken concrete form, and you wouldn''t have existed." "..." A soft "Hmm," "Hmm-" sound escaped from Koyori''s lips. After a while, her lips curled into a smile. "That''s strange." She smiled as if she was genuinely puzzled. "Guildmaster... Your ''memory'' is incredibly, really incredibly strong, isn''t it?" "..." "Your memory isn''t just exceptionally good, is it? Ah. Well, I guess that exins a lot." "You..." "I''ll always be here, Guildmaster. For thousands of years, and even thousands of years toe." Step. Koyori walked closer. "You helped me, so I''ll help you too. You''ve been living so hard that too much sediment has built up here." "Sediment?" "Yes. Think about it. Originally, you wouldn''t have witnessed the ''Logout Game'' or faced your end, would you?" "..." "But you went ahead and saw it all, didn''t you? The nightmare of humanity that should have ended at the Ten ns, keeps growing and growing as you continue to move forward. All sorts of ends are piling up, really countless forms of endings. Ah." Of course, Koyori continued. [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] "I''m not ming you, Guildmaster. I''m just pointing out that the nightmares you''ve witnessed are piling up continuously at the bottom of your unconscious, whether or not you realize it." "..." "When you stare into the abyss, the abyss also stares back into you. That''s one of your favorite quotes, isn''t it? Yes, you''ve been nurturing such an abyss in your heart." Step. Koyori came even closer. "So- I think it would be good if you asionally came down here and cleaned things up regrly." "Clean up." "Yes. Like cleaning a house. When you return, I''ll sometimese out to greet you." "...You''re saying you''re my coborator?" "Of course, Guildmaster. After all, I''m one of your guild members, aren''t I?" "Then I suppose you could grant me a favor." I spoke. "Yori, please disappear from my dreams. That would be much better for my mental health." "Hahaha." Swoosh- Koyori reached out her hand. Her palm gently covered my eyes. A warm darkness. "I''m sorry, but that''s not possible, Guildmaster." A whisper, fragrant with the scent of apples, tickled my nose. "Because we are already one, aren''t we?" ckout. 10 There are epilogues. The first epilogue. Afterward, I safely returned to reality, just as Koyori had promised. However, the fairies from Tutorial 264, who should have been surrounding my bed, were nowhere to be seen. For some reason, they were busy working at the casino instead. It was truly bewildering. When I asked them why they weren''t in the middle of performing the ritual to help me enter the unconscious world. "Huh?" The fairy from Tutorial 264, who should have had her head blown off in the dream, tilted her head curiously. "What are you talking about, Secretary General? We can show humans the dreams they want, but we don''t have the ability to take you to such a terrifying ce." "..." "Dreams are meant to be enjoyed, not explored like some kind of ruin! We never received such orders from you, Secretary General, and even if we had, it would have been impossible to fulfill them!" The fairy giggled. It might have been my imagination, but I thought I could smell apples from somewhere. 11 The second epilogue. Regardless of what the fairies said, one thing was certain¡ªI had indeed managed to conquer, to some extent, the "dream within a dream," the "bad endings," and the "parallel world." The effects of my conquest began to manifest the very next day. First, testimonies began to appear on S. - Anonymous: Slept like a log this morning, feeling great, thumbs up if you did too, lol. ©¸ Anonymous: You too?? I used to have nightmares every night after visiting the Void, but today I slept like a baby, no lie. ©¸ LiteratureGirl: ? Same here, that¡¯s so strange. -[Yuldo Nation] Sword Maiden: Proper sleep is essential for rigorous training. Today, once again, I weed sleep in the correct posture to glimpse that lofty state of nothingness. -[National Highway] Officer: Habits formed during wakefulness carry over into sleep. If you suffer from insomnia, take a step back and check if there¡¯s anything in your daily routine that needs fixing. -Anonymous: Screw everything else, I just wish I could always sleep as well as I didst night. Simr phenomena must have urred abroad as well. As I always emphasize, mental health is extremely important for humans, and healthy sleep is a significant aspect of maintaining a healthy mind. In that sense, I, Doctor Jang, feel I can congratte myself for having contributed, however slightly, to the mental well-being of humanity. ¡°Good morning, Head of Administration.¡± ¡°Good morning, my ass. It''s a shitty morning. Thanks to someone, I only got three hours of sleep, and I''m about to lose it. But you look so damn happy, which is just great to see, isn''t it...?¡± ¡°Ah.¡± ...Come to think of it, I hadn¡¯t managed to conquer the bad ending of the person who needed healthy sleep the most. Next time, I should start by finding Noh Doha in the unconscious world. 12 The third epilogue. This final epilogue, in fact, is not something that actually happened in reality. It¡¯s just a scene I, Doctor Jang, saw in a dream. But you know how some dreams are. So vivid that, upon reflection, it''s hard to tell whether it was really a dream or reality. In that dream, I was dreaming of Old Scho. As dreams often do, the perspective was unclear. Sometimes, I observed Old Scho from a third-person viewpoint. At other times, I found myself briefly embodying him, enjoying the perspective of a first-person protagonist. And beside me, Emett Schopenhauer, was Adele. - ¡¡. - ¡¡. We spent a joyful day together. Adele loved taking walks, and I loved walking alongside Adele. - I know a good walking path. - Really? How? - Well, you''ll see if you follow me. I revealed a hidden walking course to Adele, who knew nothing of Korea¡¯s geography. I had spent my time during the turns finding good walking paths for moments like this. In Seoul, in Sejong, in Busan, I introduced my wife to the routes I had taken note of. Adele was as delighted as if she had received a surprise gift. - I didn''t know you had such good taste! Just hearing that made all the time I had spent researching feel worthwhile. Then, as the day was drawing to a close. We were sitting together on a bench when suddenly, off in the distance, beyond the blue hydrangeas and cypress trees, I saw a familiar face. My friend. Doctor Jangwas standing with his back to a tree. ¡®Ah.¡¯ At that moment, I realized. This sunset-drenched scene was a dream. ¡®Yes. I remember. Before I died, I wished to see my wife again.¡¯ I wanted to grow old with you. I wanted to live with you. I wanted to die with you, but I couldn''t. - Emett? - ¡¡. I held her hand tightly. In the little time left, I whispered to Adele. - You know, today was hard for me. - Huh? - After we parted ways, something really painful happened. She was surprised and asked if I was okay. I gazed at my wife¡¯s face. As long as possible. As deeply as possible. - Yes. But it¡¯s okay. I¡¯m d I survived until now. For the first time, I thought that. I was d I had survived, even if it was more like an escape. Still, I was d I didn¡¯tpletely disappear. Because it allowed this moment to exist. - Being with you makes everything okay. I said. - I love you. And there, my dream ended. It was just a dream, but I couldn¡¯t help sitting in bed for a while afterward. Was that dream entirely a fantasy created in my head? Or did I briefly connect with a scene Old Scho really dreamed of, through some passage in the unconscious world? Or perhaps¡ Could it be that the illusion Koyori showed me when she embraced the Sword Demon was that very dream? ¡®Guild Leader, which do you hope it was?¡¯ Suddenly, Koyori¡¯s voice echoed in my mind. ¡®Do you wish that person had smiled in my arms?¡¯ ¡®Or would you rather they had woken up at the very end, dismissing it as falsefort?¡¯ I smiled bitterly. Yes. Though Old Scho may have fallen into monstrosity, I still hoped his end was peaceful. If that dream was indeed the scene Koyori showed, I can¡¯t help but acknowledge this one thing. No matter what other end humanity might face, the end thates in Koyori¡¯s arms would be the most serene in the world. - The End of the Eschatologists. [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] Chapter 136 - The Impostor I [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] Chapter 136 - The Impostor I 1 By now, if you''ve been following my story, you might have vaguely noticed something. An essential element typically found in genre fiction is missing from my tale. This element is so crucial that you might wonder why the protagonist even bothers ying the role without it. That element is the "monopoly of fortuitous encounters." For example, take the 555th turn of Oh Dokseo. The moment she realized she was in a novel''s world, didn''t she immediately have this thought? [Oh Dokseo: Well, anyway, the key thing in the Busan Station arc is how quickly you can secure the elixir hidden in Haeundae early on. That''s all that matters.] Ah, fortuitous encounters! What a sweet sound. An elixir that boosts your cultivation in an instant. A secret manual somehow buried halfway up a cliff. A future world¡¯s strongest individual, whose personality would normally be twisted beyond repair, but whom you train from a young age to be dependent on you through gaslighting. Or perhaps you loot an item whose true value remains unknown to anyone else. You lightly snatch these up. "Just my luck," you coolly murmur. This, indeed, is the dignity bestowed upon the protagonist of genre literature. Why hide it? I, too, had my fair share of luck in my youth. In fact, it wouldn¡¯t be an exaggeration to call me a "luck hunter," actively seeking out these fortuitous encounters. If I ever entered a void, it meant there was a rare item there that could only be farmed in that ce. It was the same with the anomalies. I haven''t mentioned it until now, but the "Heart of the Ten ns" is an incredibly rare item. If you eat it raw, it easily stacks up internal energy equivalent to a full 60-year cycle (tastes like tuna belly). But if it was in the past, things might have been different. As of now, I no longer cling to such items. In fact, I actively avoid them. Unless it¡¯s absolutely essential, I pass it up, and if it¡¯s too valuable to pass up, I hand it over to others instead. "Why on earth...?" Upon hearing my policy, there was a time when Oh Dokseo frowned in confusion. She was taking a break from writing my tale at the time. Sensing that she seemed a bit worn out, I specially prepared Ten n sushi for her, using the Heart of the Ten ns. She munched on it, mumbling, "It really tastes like tuna sashimi..." before continuing. "Are you a hipster or something? Like, do you think it''s too clich¨¦ for the protagonist to monopolize all the fortuitous encounters or something?" "No way. If I could, I¡¯d love to monopolize fortuitous encounters. After all, I have the [Continue] ability, so the more I collect, the better." "Then why...? Oh! Is it more efficient for yourrades to consume them rather than you?" "Hmm. There¡¯s that too, but¡ it¡¯s easier if I just show you." I enjoyed educating Oh Dokseo on the anomalies. It would all be useful to herter on. I opened my interdimensional trunk bag, took out a notebook, and ced an item on the table with a thunk. Oh Dokseo¡¯s eyes widened. Of course, the item was probably familiar for someone as much of an otaku as her. "...Isn''t this the [Monkey¡¯s Paw]?" "Oh. You recognized it immediately." The Monkey''s Paw. As the name suggests, this anomaly is shaped like a monkey''s paw, and it grants three wishes. However, true to its nature as a anomaly, it never grants wishes in a straightforward manner. Anyone who dares to use it to cheat life will find that some form of "misfortune" inevitably befalls them. Wish for "eternal life," and it will grant you eternal old age without immortality, letting you enjoy an eternal silver life. Wish for "immortality and eternal youth," and after the earth ends, you¡¯ll be the only one left, enjoying an endless journey through the universe. Wish for "immortality, eternal youth, and the ability to end your life whenever you wish," and it will ensure that horrendous, catastrophic events keep happening around you, making you question if you can even die at all. Is that absurd? Yes, it is. Absurdity is the essence of the [Monkey''s Paw]. It¡¯s impossible to make a wish without side effects. You could call it the dark evolution of the magicmp with the genie trapped inside. "Strictly speaking, this is both a monkey''s paw and a human hand." "Huh? What do you mean?" "By the time I found it, someone had already used up all three wishes." "Yikes." Unfortunately, this post-apocalyptic world had already fully realized the curse of the Monkey''s Paw. "Dokseo, if someone who thinks they¡¯re smart but doesn¡¯t yet understand what anomalies are like found the [Monkey¡¯s Paw], what kind of wishes do you think they¡¯d make?" "...Well, since there are three wishes in total, first, they¡¯d wish for ¡®the removal of any negative side effects of the wishes.¡¯" I smiled. "Good. What next?" "Uh... ¡®Remove the limit on the number of wishes¡¯? Three wishes might not be enough. Although this type of wish is often denied in stories, you¡¯ve got to try, right?" "Wow. How could it be so simr?" "Huh?" "I''ll exinter. Anyway, what¡¯s thest wish?" "Hmm..." Oh Dokseo ate another piece of Ten n sushi before speaking. "It''s a bit tricky, but I''d wish for ''luck to be maxed out.''" "......" "Since the Monkey¡¯s Paw brings misfortune to its user, this would be a counterattack. If I max out my luck from the start, I could suppress the misfortune itself." I couldn''t help but suppress a bitter smile. Oh Dokseo''s answer was textbook. It was simr to the responses I got when I asked Cheon Yohwa, Lee Hayul, and Seo Gyu the same question. Though the details of the wish differed, the objective was the same: to "eliminate the limits and side effects of the Monkey''s Paw." "You''re right. No matter who found it, they would have made simr wishes." "Oh, right." I took a sip of my caf¨¦ auit. Then, I looked down at the notebook ced beside the Monkey''s Paw on the table. "And that''s why monopolizing fortuitous encounters has be impossible for me." 2 The first time I found the Monkey''s Paw was in Jeju Ind. At the time, I was exploring the tutorial dungeon that had appeared at Seongsan Ilchulbong. The dungeon was themed around a "school trip," a void that, in terms of timeline, had appeared alongside the "Baekhwah High School" tutorial dungeon as one of the earliest tutorial dungeons. In the tutorial dungeon, the elevation of Seongsan Ilchulbong grew to the height of Everest. Of course, by the time I arrived, the tutorial had long since ended, and Seongsan Ilchulbong had returned to its normal size. I was exploring the now ordinary area of the former tutorial dungeon, searching for any items that might be worth salvaging. "There are quite a few corpses." No particrly noteworthy items were in sight. However, as befitting a former tutorial dungeon, bones and corpses were strewn from the hiking trail entrance. "Are there any people I know among them?" I checked the cards and IDs of the corpses, and most of the bodies near the entrance were Japanese. There were about 16 bodies in total. It wasn''t unusual. A few Japanese people were in the Busan Station tutorial dungeon where I came from, like Uehara Shino. Being closer to Japan than Busan, more Japanese people were likely forcibly summoned to Jeju Ind. "Hmm?" Then, near the summit, I found a rather "peculiar corpse." First of all, the body was covered in thick hair. No, it wasn''t just thick; it looked as though the whole body had been drenched in hair growth serum. At first nce, it was easy to mistake it for an animal''s carcass or a bush rather than a person. Most notably, the body¡¯s location was odd. It was hidden in a slope far from the designated tourist route, in a spot where it was unlikely to be seen by others. "Was this person also a victim of the tutorial?" The body was clutching a thick notebook with both hands. I picked up the notebook, thinking it might be a will. ¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D ¡¶Day 1¡· I''m writing this journal just in case something truly unexpected happens. ¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D The will was written in Japanese, not Korean. Flip. Without much thought, I turned to the first page of the notebook. ¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D The world has gone strange. It was strange before, but now it¡¯s even stranger. People are dying so easily it¡¯s almostughable. But I¡¯m lucky! When I was dragged to this mysterious ce, the "Monkey¡¯s Paw" was right before me. Thanks to having watched the Monogatari series back in the day, I recognized what it was as soon as I saw it. Who would have thought my ex-girlfriend''s otaku hobby would be helpful? Thanks, Sena. I forgive you for cheating on me with that other girl. The Koreans around me didn¡¯t seem to know what it was. Afraid someone else might realize, I quickly stuffed it into my backpack. ¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D The Monkey''s Paw? I looked down at the corpse again. It was so hairy that the face was almost unrecognizable. "Hmm. Now that I think about it, it really does resemble monkey fur..." Could this person have made wishes to the Monkey''s Paw and ultimately been possessed by the anomaly? Flip. I continued to turn the pages. [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] ¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D ¡¶Day 2¡· If I had a "Monkey''s Paw," what wishes should I make? I remember chatting with Sena about that once. I thought it was just idle chatter, but who knew I''d actually be given such fortune? It feels like destiny. No matter how many side effects the "Monkey¡¯s Paw" may have, it would be foolish not to use it. People are dropping like flies around me. I have to survive somehow. If I don¡¯t think like this, I can¡¯t handle how many people are dying. I miss eating gyudon and pineapple. ¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D Borrowing the power of an anomaly. "Hmm." That was a thought typical of someone not yet ustomed to the end times. But even someone like me, who had experienced hundreds of turns, could only make limited use of tutorial entities like the spirit of Inunaki Tunnel, and even then, with numerous restrictions. It''s a path beginners should not tread lightly. However, I could fully understand the desperate mindset of someone in a life-threatening situation, willing to take a gamble. Flip. I continued to read. ¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D ¡¶Day 3¡· The Japanese people summoned to this ce gathered and formed a party. There was a girl named Y¨ who was quite powerful. But she insisted that everyone open their backpacks and share resources. Is she crazy? That''s private property. I wanted to join another group, but most of them were Korean, somunication was difficult. I asked for a night to think it over. Y¨ just stared at me expressionlessly and told me to do as I wished. What a creepy girl. Fine, I''ll do as I please. Tonight, I n to use the "Monkey''s Paw." ¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D Flip. ¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D ¡¶Day 4¡· I¡¯ve spent days meticulously nning the wishes I''ll make with the "Monkey¡¯s Paw." Here they are, in order: 1. Please don''t create any side effects from whatever wishes I make. 2. Remove the limitation on the number of wishes I can make. If it''s impossible to remove the limit, then disregard this wish. 3. Give me luck. Let me avoid all "idental misfortune," like being killed by a random falling rock. The core of these wishes is the third one¡ªluck. I considered other cheat abilities but ultimately rejected them. No matter how powerful a skill I obtain, I''d be helpless if this Monkey¡¯s Paw brings me misfortune. Luck. With overwhelming luck, any power or misfortune would pale inparison. Perhaps the "Monkey''s Paw" might try something sneaky while I''m making my wishes. It¡¯s a demon, after all. So, I n to write these three wishes down on a piece of paper and present them all at once. Honestly, I don¡¯t know how this will turn out. I think I¡¯m prepared, but just in case, I¡¯m leaving this journal as a sort of will. If I fail, I hope whoever finds this journalter will use it more wisely. Now, I''m going for it. ¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D "......" Before I knew it, I was deeply engrossed in the journal of this unknown awakened person. Judging by the fact that they ended up as a corpse, it¡¯s likely that the person failed. But there was much to learn from failure, just as there is from sess. This awakened individual adhered to a basic principle when dealing with anomalies and voids: "leave records for others." That makes this corpse something like a fellowpanion trying to survive the apocalypse. Flip. My hands became a bit more respectful as I turned the pages of this will. ¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D ¡¶Day 5¡· I did it! While I was on watch, centaur monsters attacked from the dungeon. But for some reason, I didn¡¯t notice them at all, and they only went after the others. Half the group was killed, but I didn''t get a scratch. Even Y¨, the strongest among us, got injured. The surprising thing is that the second wish also came true! The wish limit is lifted! Hooray! With the certainty that I wouldn¡¯t die an absurd death, I suddenly felt more rxed. Even seeing Y¨''s face doesn¡¯t annoy me anymore. Amazing. This is real. I wished to the "Monkey¡¯s Paw" that I wanted to eat gyudon. When I killed a monster, it dropped gyudon. Iughed at howzy it was. I got six bowls of gyudon and shared them with the remaining group members. Y¨''s expressionless face actually looked shocked. Yeah. That¡¯s the role that suits you¡ªjust an extra. Our numbers have halved, but the power of the gyudon has lifted everyone''s spirits. I¡¯ve been reminded of how precious food is. Thank you, Sena! It''s all thanks to you! I¡¯ll even forgive you for cheating on me with four other people while we were dating! ¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D The trembling in the handwriting of the journal was unmistakable. In my mind, I could see the image of someone who had risked everything, betting their life in an all-or-nothing gamble, and finally seeded, shouting in triumph. A kind of victory deration. But unlike the journal''s owner, I didn¡¯t let my guard down. "If this person had truly won, they wouldn''t have ended up as a corpse." The joy continued through the 6th, 7th, 8th, 9th, and 10th days. After the 11th day, the journal entries became sporadic. When I flipped to a page far in the back, the journal finally resumed. This time, the handwriting was trembling for a different reason. ¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D ¡¶Day 6??¡· Something is wrong. Something is very wrong. When I woke up today, centaurs were attacking again. It felt strangely familiar, and then I realized the situation was exactly the same as on Day 5. Half the group died. Y¨ got injured in the exact same spot. Every event repeated itself. ¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D The journal¡¯s owner seemed to manage to maintain some semnce of calm for a while. They became diligent in recording what was happening again, detailing the events and any signs she noticed. But as "Day 6??" repeated itself, she could no longer keep theyposure. It seemed they weren¡¯t particrly mentally strong from the start. ¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D Something¡¯s wrong something¡¯s wrong something¡¯s wrong something¡¯s wrong something¡¯s wrong something¡¯s wrong something¡¯s wrong something¡¯s wrong something¡¯s wrong ¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D On some pages, they had filled the entire space with the word "wrong." After another long gap of empty pages. Suddenly, in the middle of a nk page, a single sentence was written in cold, detached handwriting. ¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D Is time looping? [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] Chapter 137 - The Impostor II [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] Chapter 137 - The Impostor II 3 ¡°Wait. Hold on a second, mister!¡± Oh Dokseo, who had been listening to me, was startled. Sge spoke so urgently that some of her espresso spilled. ¡°So, so you''re saying that Japanese guy was a regressor too!¡± ¡°Calm down.¡± ¡°How can I calm down? If that¡¯s true, that means there were three regressors, not just that old geezer Old Scho or you!¡± ¡°Well, just try to calm down for now.¡± I calmly wiped the table with a handkerchief. Oh Dokseo, who had beenpletely absorbed in watching the ¡®Monkey¡¯s Paw,¡¯ had now fully shifted her attention to the diary. At that moment, the diary opened to the page I had mentioned, revealing the sentence, ¡°Time is looping.¡± ¡°When I first read that line in the diary, I was just as excited as you are now.¡± It was natural. How could anyone¡¯s heart not race? If there really was a ¡®third regressor,¡¯ it would be an incredible discovery. Even if that person¡¯s body was found on Seongsan Ilchulbong, it wouldn¡¯t have mattered. There was a good chance they would survive in the next round. But to give a bit of a spoiler, no such miracle happened. Not in the next round, nor the one after that. No matter how much time passed, the hairy corpse remained motionless in a corner of Seongsan Ilchulbong. ¡°Can, can I read the diary too?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t mind. Unlike the Monkey¡¯s Paw, that diary is just an ordinary notebook.¡± ¡°Thanks, mister!¡± p. Oh Dokseo eagerly flipped through the pages. For a moment, her hands ovepped with my own in the past. The same hands that had first discovered that diary. 4 ¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D ¡¶Day 5???¡· Again. Again, centaurs attacked and started killing our party. Why do I keep returning to Day 5? Was it the wish I made with the Monkey¡¯s Paw that became the trigger? I don¡¯t know anymore. Because I knew the ambush wasing this time, we managed to drive the centaurs away without anyone dying. The party members are praising me, saying I¡¯m amazing. Even the stoic Y¨ looked at me with a surprised expression, but for some reason, I didn¡¯t feel happy about it. ¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D To you, this note may seem neatly written, but in reality, it was not. The handwriting in the diary gradually became more chaotic, like the scribbles of a madman. asionally, when the writer regained some sanity, the handwriting would be neat again, but it was merely a facade. The content of the will, that is, the mental state of the diary¡¯s owner, was already spiraling uncontrobly into madness. ¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D ¡¶Day 12??????¡· It¡¯s certain now. No matter what I do, I can¡¯t leave this dungeon. Next, I¡¯ll try to catch and interrogate the ¡®fairy¡¯ who seems to be the host of this death game. That creature must know something. ¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D ¡¶Day 13??????¡· The fairy ran away as soon as it saw me. It said something like, ¡°Oh no! This isn¡¯t the ce! I made a mistake!¡± I don¡¯t understand what it meant. I wanted to capture it by force, but honestly, it was impossible. The fairy waved something that looked like a magic wand, and people died instantly. Then, it turned invisible and disappeared. I¡¯ve reached the final stage again. The ce that Koreans call Seongsan Ilchulbong. When others reach the summit, they are engulfed in a bright light and disappear somewhere. But I remain stuck inside the dungeon. Why? Why am I the only one who can¡¯t leave the dungeon? I begged the Monkey¡¯s Paw countless times to let me out of this dungeon. But nothing changed. Why? I asked to see my family and friends, but again, there was no response. Why? In anger, I threw the Monkey¡¯s Paw away. The next day, when I woke up, it was lying on my chest. ¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D ¡¶?????????????¡· Someone, please help me. ¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D ¡¶Day 5??????????????¡· Back to the ambush on Day 5. I¡¯m suddenly overwhelmed with apathy. This time, I didn¡¯t stop the centaurs and just let them be. Instead, I joined them. I attacked my party members from behind as they fought the centaurs. Without Y¨ and me, they were utterly helpless, and the group copsed easily. I saved Y¨ forst. When our eyes met, Y¨ widened her eyes. ¡°You¨D¨D¨D,¡± she tried to say something. But at that moment, a centaur trampled over Y¨. When a human is trampled by a horse, they die in a gruesome way. I felt a thrill I hadn¡¯t felt in a long time. It was a bit fun. The problem was, after wiping out our group, the centaurs hunted me down too. What an idiot. As expected of a monster, they don¡¯t understand concepts like cooperation or alliances. ¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D ¡°......¡± I swallowed hard. This was a typical sign of corruption. The ¡°owner of the diary,¡± who believed themselves to be a regressor, was gradually losing their humanity. Humanity only exists when people live together with others. In other words, if my space is unable to interact with others and my time cannot intersect with others, a person rapidly transforms into ¡°something other than human.¡± The saintess who fell and became an executioner was a prime example. The owner of the diary was no different. ¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D ¡¶Day 17???????????????????¡· I reflect on my past self. Reflection on the past leads to the path of the future. I¡¯ve grown to the point where I can believe that now. Since no progress can be made in this space, only the training of the self holds any meaning. Why did I hate Y¨ so much before? Was it because her hair looked simr to the girl Sena cheated with? Because her expression was annoying? Because she seemed like a model student? I repent of my prejudices. Now, I like Y¨. I really do. Other people break down within three days, but Y¨ has endured for nearly three weeks. She keeps muttering ¡°Rika- Rika-,¡± the name of someone who seems important to her. Does she have a promise to keep when she gets out of here? Iughed at how foolish that sounded. ¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D ¡¶Day 20???????????????????¡· The world outside this space must already be gone. There¡¯s no such thing as a ¡°stage clear.¡± When you''re engulfed by the light during the final tally, it actually means you¡¯re dead. So it¡¯s definitely better to stay here with me. Monsters pop out asionally, but it¡¯s better than dying, right? By this point, even the Korean group we parted with at the starting line arrives at the summit one by one. But I don¡¯t let them leave. It reminds me of a game I enjoyed with Sena called Fall Guys. Did you think you¡¯d reached the finish line? Too bad. [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] I hung Y¨ in the center of the crater. Then I caught and rolled everyone who got close to the summit down the slope. They tumbled, tumbled, tumbled. If I was lucky, they rolled right into the center where Y¨ was hanging. Bingo! Hole in one. I used to wonder why Korean students woulde here for a school trip, but now I understand the real beauty of this ce. The angle and force with which you roll people cause their trajectory to vary greatly. This is a deep game. I hereby dere this my private golf course. It¡¯s my property. One of the Koreans looked at me and yelled, calling me the boss monster. How rude. I¡¯m a youngdy, you know. ¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D ¡¶Day 27???????????????????¡· My heart skipped a beat after a long time. A group that seemed pretty strong rescued Y¨ and ambushed me. Did thest survivors form a desperate team? When a spear grazed my neck, I thought my heart would drop. I barely survived the ambush and killed them. I felt alive. This is what human interaction feels like. I gathered all the wounded and killed them one by one in front of Y¨. I took special care with the one who almost beheaded me. That Korean red at me with terrifying eyes until the very end. Too bad. Sorry, but I¡¯m someone who¡¯s maxed out ¡®luck¡¯ with the Monkey¡¯s Paw. Y¨ made a good sound. Wasn¡¯t the violin an instrument born from human screams? I¡¯ve be more knowledgeable. ¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D p. The diary was full of content that was hard to describe. Unless someone is particrly into gore or ryona (sadistic) material, to me, it all felt like just more of the same. Torture scenes carried out solely to elicit a ¡°new reaction from others.¡± A tragedy so extreme that even the tutorial fairy would say, ¡°This is too much.¡± But the reactions of humans, as toys, couldn¡¯tst forever. Creativity also had its limits. In the end, the diary was filled with yellowed pages, with just onest sentence scrawled at the end. A shaky handwriting. ¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D I¡¯m sorry I was born. Monkey¡¯s Paw, please make me disappear. ¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D Tap. I closed the diary. Then, I looked down at the hairy corpse that had been holding onto this will with both hands. The corpse¡¯s posture almost looked as if it were praying to someone. 5 What on earth had happened to the ¡°hairy corpse¡±? Was she really a regressor? How did the Monkey¡¯s Paw even work? An ordinary person might have found it difficult to continue investigating from here. But I, Doctor Jang, was an experienced ¡°true regressor.¡± Even if it seemed useless at first, I had never neglected building connections with others. Therefore, it wasn¡¯t difficult to gather information about the ¡°Japanese person¡± who had been dragged into the tutorial dungeon in Jeju Ind. "Nyaa? Are you talking about Y¨?" Manyo Neko flicked her cat-like tail. Sitting across from me, Manyo Neko blinked, pausing mid-sip of her green tea. "Suddenly, you want to meet Y¨? What are you talking about, Doctor Jang?" "She''s your childhood friend, isn''t she? I heard she''s from the Jeju Ind tutorial dungeon." Y¨. No need to hide it. The person who repeatedly appeared in the diary was, in fact, someone I was familiar with. There were so many people with the name ¡°Y¨¡± that I wasn¡¯t sure at first, but several clues gave me certainty. She was stronger than most Awakened individuals. Despite awakening, she still had ck hair. And most importantly, she murmured the name "Rika" while being tortured. That¡¯s right. It had been mentioned a few times in the episode where the Inunaki Tunnel was raided. Manyo Neko''s real name was Rika. And she had a childhood friend named Y¨. If I hadn¡¯t subdued the Inunaki Tunnel, I wouldn¡¯t have been able to request this meeting. Fate is mysterious. ¡°Nyaa. I did hear that Y¨ was kamikakushi-ed (spirited away) to an ind in Korea¡.¡± ¡°I¡¯ve been investigating something rted to the Jeju Ind dungeon recently. I¡¯m dealing with a rather troublesome spirit. I¡¯d like to get some testimony from your friend.¡± For reference, the Magical Girl Association is extremely exclusive when ites to outsiders. From the fact that they named their group the ¡°Magical Girl¡± ¡°Association,¡± you could tell they didn¡¯t care at all about public opinion. ¡°Nyaa. If it''s a request from the Doctor Jang, I''ll grant it. Understood, nya!¡± And I was someone who had even received a thank-you que as an ¡°Honorary Magical Girl¡± from the head of the organization, also known as the Great Priestess. It wasn¡¯t something I was particrly thankful for. In any case, my request was quickly fulfilled in a society that runs on connections. Before long, I was able to meet with Y¨, whose magical girl name was "Kurokoto" (ck Jade). "You wanted to see me?" The person before me was rtively normal in a ce overflowing with all kinds of concept-crazy people. Kurokoto was wearing a ck mask with an "X" on it, covering her mouth. For people who had experienced the COVID era, this could be understood as just a fashion statement. "Yes. We met briefly when I was working on the Inunaki Tunnel case, right? It''s good to see you." "Ah... Yes. Thank you very much for that time." ¡°I heard you cleared the tutorial dungeon at Seongsan Ilchulbong on Jeju Ind.¡± "......" "There seems to be a strange creature there. To assess how dangerous it is, I need your testimony. I ask for your cooperation. Can you tell me what happened in the tutorial dungeon?" To be honest, I was quite cautious when bringing this up. ording to the diary, the person in front of me had, with high probability, been tortured by the "owner of the diary." If even a fraction of what was in the diary was true, Kurokoto would have been marked with an indelible trauma. When such a buried, painful story is brought up, the other party usually reacts negatively. A flinch, perhaps. Or a startle. ¡°This is the first I¡¯ve heard of it. Was there really a creature dangerous enough for you to take an interest in that ce?¡± But Kurokoto¡¯s reaction was neither. There was only pure curiosity in the tilt of her chin. Her response was tooposed for someone with supposed trauma. Despite sensing something odd, I continued my questioning. "...Have you seen the figure in this photo?" The photo I pulled out from my pocket showed the "hairy corpse." Finally, Kurokoto uttered an "Ah" as if she recognized something. She seemed to have identified the figure. Yet, it was still a strange reaction, not one you''d expect from someone who had encountered a person who left an indelible scar on their life. "...I think I know who this is. Is this the person you''re interested in, Doctor Jang?" "Yes. Even a small clue would be helpful. I would like you to share any information you have on this person." ¡°I can certainly share what I know, but...¡± Kurokoto furrowed her brow. I tensed up. This might be the moment when I could get a clue about the third regressor. "I''m not sure how helpful it will be. I don¡¯t have much information, actually." Behind the ck mask, Kurokoto''s lips moved slowly. "¨D¨DThat''s because this woman died almost as soon as the tutorial dungeon began, being too weak." [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] Chapter 138 - The Impostor III [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] Chapter 138 - The Impostor III 6 Kuro. The name of the "diary owner," which had not appeared throughout the will note, was Kuro. Let''s focus on the fact that this was a nickname, not a real name. Even the ck Jade couldn''t know the real name of the diary owner. "Kuro didn''t talk to anyone." And probably, no one knew. "Weren''t they in the same group?" "Yes. Since they were Japanese, they were part of our group. But they alwaysgged behind, just following us. Kuro never actively tried to do anything or join in." "¡¡." In in terms, they were an outsider. You know how, when elementary school kids go on a field trip, there¡¯s always that one kid whogs behind everyone else, insisting, ''Don¡¯t worry about me, I¡¯m just enjoying the scenery, which is the real purpose of the trip''? Kuro was exactly that type. Life as an outsider became far more severe after the end of the century than it was before. In this era, social skills were no longer a "nice-to-have" trait but something directly tied to survival. "If they were such a loner, they wouldn¡¯t have been treated well in the group, right?" "Correct. When we fought monsters, Kuro would just stand there and watch. I remember they didn¡¯t even participate in the distribution of loot from the fairies." "¡¡." "Still, we didn¡¯t kick them out of the group. They didn¡¯t cause any trouble¡ To be blunt, there was also the calction that if monsters attacked us from behind, Kuro would be the first to die." "They were just a disposable pawn?" "Honestly, yes." ¡That impression waspletely contrary to what I had felt while reading the will note. In the diary, Kuro seemed twisted but at least fulfilled their role in the group as an awakened being. Above all, it gave the impression that Kuro¡¯s strength increased as time passed. They even seemed capable of single-handedly fending off a centaur tribe¡¯s attack. Was that testimony all a lie? Was the diary I found nothing more than the delusional notebook of an isted person? "However¡ Looking back now after hearing what you said, there were some strange things." "No matter how trivial, feel free to share." ck Jade furrowed her brow, as if searching for a faded photograph in the drawer of her memory. "Kuro slept a lot." I blinked. "Sleep?" "Yes. Sleep. You know how, when you¡¯re spirited away, you never know when a monster might appear, so you¡¯re usually on edge? But Kuro strangely slept peacefully despite being so timid when awake." "¡¡." "And this might sound odd, but each day Kuro slept, their arms became more and more covered in fur. Yes, just like the photo you showed me, Doctor Jang." Monkey¡¯s Paw. A human who uses the power of a monster bes more and more like a monster. If someone relied on the Monkey¡¯s Paw, they too would eventually degenerate into a monkey-like form. "Since hair suddenly sprouted from their arm, we were cautious. It could have been some unknown disease or curse. So, we subdued Kuro and searched their belongings¡" "What was in the backpack?" "¡A monster''s hand, an ordinary notebook, and some snacks. We, of course, tried to confiscate the monster''s hand. But." But they couldn¡¯t take it away. "When we tried to take it, the hand went berserk with incredible strength. Several of our group were knocked out in an instant." "Oh." "Fortunately, no one was seriously hurt. But in the chaos, Kuro escaped. The monster¡¯s hand crawled after them. We were shocked and dumbfounded¡ But more than that, we were disgusted. So, we just let Kuro disappear." "You never reunited with Kuro?" "No." ck Jade looked down at the photo on the table. "I was a bit curious about what happened to them, but I guess they turned into this hairy creature. It was probably some kind of curse." "¡¡." Before parting ways, I chatted with ck Jade about various things until the evening. Just before I left the shrine, I asked ck Jade onest question. "By the way, I have onest question." "Yes?" "When you did the tutorial dungeon in Jeju Ind, did arge number of Japanese people die early on? Like, 16 people dying near the entrance of the dungeon?" ck Jade shook her head. "No, nothing like that happened. Our group had a high survival rate." "Just as I thought. Thanks." "¡? No problem. Take care." I quietly descended the shrine¡¯s steps. Now then. What could be the truth behind this case? One thing was clear: the "Monkey¡¯s Paw" had something to do with it. If I trust ck Jade¡¯s testimony, it¡¯s also clear that the diary didn¡¯t depict reality as it was. "Hmm." I wrote a small sentence on the back of the diary. [Old Scho, fool.] I found the same diary when I moved to the next turn and went to Seongsan Ilchulbong. I flipped through the pages but couldn¡¯t find the sentence [Old man Sho, fool]. "¨D¨DAha." Only then did I realise the truth about how the Monkey¡¯s Paw granted wishes, the nature of this diary, and the truth about the "False Returner." The solution was simple. 7 "This is a ''Dream Diary,'' Dokseo." Oh Dokseo blinked. "Uh¡ a Dream Diary?" "Yes. You¡¯ve heard of it, right? It¡¯s used for psychological counseling or just to experience lucid dreaming, but in any case, this item is a ''notebook that records events that happen in dreams.''" "I¡¯ve heard of it¡ So, you¡¯re saying all the stories in this notebook are just delusions that happened in a dream?" "Something like that." I picked up the notebook and lightly flipped through it. "Didn¡¯t you notice something strange?" "Something strange?" "Yes. The diary says that time repeats infinitely from the 5th day. But for some reason, this diary alone isn¡¯t ''caught in the regression and its contents remain unchanged.''" "¡! Oh! Oh!" "You noticed too, huh?" I smiled faintly. ¡°It¡¯s not something like my cane sword or the logout gameptop I gave you¡ªthose special, unique items. If a real regression were to happen, of course, the contents of the diary would revert to nk. But the diary continued, just as if nothing had happened.¡± ¡°Then, does that mean the diary, like your unique items, remains even after the regression¡?¡± ¡°That was a possibility, but I tested it myself, and that wasn¡¯t the case.¡± [Old Scho, fool.] The sentence I had written as a test disappeared cleanly in the next turn. So, in the end, this diary wasn¡¯t some extraordinary item. It was just an ordinary notebook. ¡°This simplifies the conclusion. The person who wrote in that diary was simply dreaming that they were repeatedly regressing.¡± ¡°Ah¡ Wait a minute, but then wouldn¡¯t that mean the monkey''s paw deceived Kuro by pretending to grant her wish?¡± Oh Dokseo snatched the notebook from my hand and opened the page titled [4th Day]. ¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D 1. Whatever wish I make, please don¡¯t create any side effects. 2. Remove the limit on the number of wishes I can make. If that¡¯s impossible, then let¡¯s pretend I didn¡¯t make this wish. 3. Give me good luck. Make sure I avoid all ¡®idental misfortunes,¡¯ like being crushed by a falling rock. ¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D ¡°Here. Look at this.¡± Oh Dokseo pointed firmly at the first wish. ¡°Look closely. She clearly wished for no side effects from her wishes.¡± ¡°She did.¡± ¡°But if the monkey¡¯s paw just showed Kuro a dream of ¡®being a max-luck regressor,¡¯ while in reality, she¡¯s still a lonely person with no special abilities, isn¡¯t that fraud?¡± I smiled. ¡°Oh Dokseo, youck a sense of the anomaly.¡± ¡°What? What nonsense is that?¡± ¡°Think deeply about what the monkey¡¯s paw really is. It¡¯s not something that grants wishes. It¡¯s something that creates side effects from wishes. That¡¯s the essence of the monkey¡¯s paw.¡± Humans always want to gain without any loss. In other words, they have no conscience. To rece the lost conscience of humans, the anomalies say this: every advantage has its downside. If you¡¯ve gained something, you must lose something as well. ¡®Luck and misfortune are equal in amount.¡¯ This principle is thew the monkey¡¯s paw adheres to. ¡°In that sense, the name [Monkey''s Paw] doesn¡¯t really capture its essence. We should call it [Pros and Cons] or [The Law of Total Luck]. That would be a more appropriate name.¡± ¡°The Law of Total Luck¡¡± Oh Dokseo muttered nkly. I nodded. The Law of Total Luck. That was the true name of this entity. ¡°The principle behind the Law of Total Luck works like this: First, a person wishes for the ¡®luck¡¯ they desire. Then, the entity calctes a misfortune equal in magnitude to that luck.¡± ¡°Aha¡?¡± [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] In short, the monkey¡¯s paw is like the hand of a merchant that trades luck for misfortune. ¡°But one day, a customer suddenly demands free luck without any strings attached. That customer was Kuro. Now, how do you think the merchant would feel?¡± ¡°¡What kind of jerk is this?¡± ¡°Exactly. It¡¯s a dilemma.¡± Of course, the anomaly doesn¡¯t feel ¡®dilemma.¡¯ It simply encounters an ¡®error.¡¯ When a situation contrary to its nature is forced upon it, the entity will do whatever it takes to correct the error, by any means necessary. The Law of Total Luck was no different. ¡°So.¡± I took out a pen. Scratch, scratch. I drew an arrow next to the [4th Day] entry in the diary. Then, I added my interpretation on a nk page. ¡°The Law of Total Luck had no choice but to twist Kuro¡¯s wish. Like this.¡± ¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D 1. Whatever wish I make, please don¡¯t create any side effects. ¡ú (1) Any luck must necessarilye with misfortune of equal value. That¡¯s the ¡®side effect¡¯ Kuro referred to. (2) If there¡¯s no hidden downside or side effect, there¡¯s no luck. Kuro¡¯s wish is essentially the same as not wishing for any luck at all. (3) Therefore, Kuro made no wishes in this reality. The wishes she made are fulfilled in ¡®a ce that is not reality.¡¯ (4) In that other ce, the Law of Total Luck need not be upheld, so Kuro can enjoy nearly infinite luck. (5) Since the luck enjoyed in that ce doesn¡¯t require any misfortune to be bnced, no misfortune will befall Kuro in reality. (6) In reality, Kuro has neither luck nor misfortune. Therefore, Kuro¡¯s wish for no downsides and side effects has been granted. ¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D Oh Dokseo¡¯s jaw dropped. ¡°No way¡¡± ¡°How is it? Do you understand?¡± ¡°No side effects¡ Yeah, no matter how sweet a dream is, you can¡¯t really say it causes any side effects in reality¡ Wow, seriously. You really shouldn¡¯t mess with entities like this, huh?¡± I was satisfied with Oh Dokseo¡¯s muttering. I had hoped she would learn that precious lesson. ¡°But the problem doesn¡¯t end here. The second wish also brought about massive repercussions.¡± ¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D 2. Remove the limit on the number of wishes I can make. If that¡¯s impossible, then let¡¯s pretend I didn¡¯t make this wish. ¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D I tapped the second wish with my pen. ¡°This lifted the restrictions on the monkey¡¯s paw.¡± ¡°Lifted the restrictions?¡± ¡°As you know, the exchange of luck and misfortune with the monkey¡¯s paw is usually limited to three times. It¡¯s a kind of golden rule. But Kuro asked, didn¡¯t she? To remove the limit on her wishes.¡± Kuro probably thought she was being clever by inserting a loophole to exploit. But the ¡®side effect¡¯ she feared so much manifested entirely differently. ¡°This effectively broke the chains that were binding the entity known as the Law of Total Luck.¡± ¡°¡What do you mean?¡± ¡°I mean this.¡± ¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D 2. Remove the limit on the number of wishes I can make. If that¡¯s impossible, then let¡¯s pretend I didn¡¯t make this wish. ¡ú (1) The wishes humans make are essentially asking for ¡®luck.¡¯ (2) Removing the limit on the number of wishes means removing the limit on the ¡®amount of luck¡¯ that can umte. (3) But luck and misfortune must always maintain the same total amount. (4) Therefore, if the limit on luck is removed, the limit on misfortune must also be removed. From now on, humans must exchange not just three rounds of luck and misfortune, but an infinite number of rounds, and in infinite quantities. ¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D Oh Dokseo paused. ¡°What? What? Whaaaat...?¡± ¡°Pay attention to the wish Kuro made. If Kuro had wished for something like [Remove the limit only for me], it wouldn¡¯t have caused much trouble.¡± But Kuro, whether consciously or unconsciously, made one crucial mistake. ¡°Kuro asked for theplete removal of the [wish limit] that the Monkey''s Paw had.¡± ¡°So...?¡± ¡°So, the second wish didn¡¯t just apply to Kuro alone¡ªit applied to all of humanity. You and I are no exceptions. If we take more ¡®luck¡¯ than we need, an equivalent amount of ¡®misfortune¡¯ will immediately follow.¡± ¡°What the...?!¡± Oh Dokseo screamed. ¡°Us too?¡± ¡°Yeah.¡± ¡°Why?!¡± ¡°Because a certain awakened person named Kuro made that wish to the Monkey¡¯s Paw.¡± ¡°Damn it, that¡¯s so annoying!¡± ¡°Absolutely annoying.¡± Indeed. It took a long way to get here, but the main theme of this episode was simple. -Why is it that I, Doctor Jang, unlike the protagonists in other stories, do not indulge in monopolizing fortuitous opportunities? Now, the answer has been revealed to you as well. There is only one reason. This world already has a fundamental anomaly known as the ¡®Total Luck System¡¯ in ce. ¡°Didn¡¯t you feel it too, somehow? Even though we¡¯ve got two lucky regressors and even though we¡¯ve got No Doha, the ultimate workaholic, forming the National Highway Management Corps, and even though things are improving, those inexplicable setbacks just keep happening.¡± ¡°Gasp. No way?¡± ¡°It¡¯s because of the Total Luck System. In this world, if you try to freeload too easily, the hammer of misfortune will crush your head.¡± ¡°Ahhhhh! Ahhhh! Ahhhhhh! What kind of cursed game is this!¡± Oh Dokseo howled in despair. In short, in our world, it was impossible to monopolize fortuitous opportunities due to the veryws of nature. For Oh Dokseo, who considered herself the protagonist of the world, it was nothing but despair. I sipped on my now-cold caf¨¦ auit. Even cold, it tasted good. ¡°Well, don¡¯t worry too much.¡± As an experienced regressor, I always had a n to deal with the Total Luck System. In fact, I found this anomaly quite useful in many ways. ¡°How can I not worry... Wait a minute! I just ate Ten n¡¯s heart steak earlier! Does that mean I¡¯m going to get that much misfortune now? What did you make me eat, old man?!¡± But that¡¯s another story. I¡¯ll save it for another episode someday. 8 There¡¯s an epilogue. After learning that a great void called the ¡®Dream Within a Dream,¡¯ ¡®Bad Ending,¡¯ and ¡®Parallel Worlds¡¯ was asleep in the unconscious depths of humanity, I began to infiltrate the world of the unconscious asionally. The purpose was simple. To regrly clean out humanity¡¯s unconscious warehouse so that people could always have a good night¡¯s sleep. ¡°Hm?¡± ¡°Grrrr... Grrrr...¡± So, today as well, while I was busily beating up Old Scho¡¯s bad ending, I sensed a strange auraing from the southern direction of the Korean Penins. After finishing off Old Scho¡¯s, I headed south. In the South Sea of Korea, there stood Seongsan Ilchulbong, which had been replicated from reality but erged about 50 times in size. ¡°......¡± Thud thud thud- From an elevation almost as high as Mount Everest, ¡®someone¡¯ was rolling something down. It was a human head. The person had long ck hair, so long that it covered her face. Thud thud thud- She had piled up the heads like a mountain beside her and kept dropping them into the crater of Seongsan Ilchulbong, expressionless, meaninglessly. Like a reversed Sisyphus. Suddenly, I thought to myself. ¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D 3. Give me luck. Let me avoid all ¡®random misfortunes,¡¯ like getting killed by a stray boulder. ¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D Kuro had wished to eliminate all random misfortunes. How did the Monkey¡¯s Paw interpret that wish? Perhaps it considered that as long as the misfortune wasn¡¯t random but rather ¡®inevitable,¡¯ it wouldn¡¯t matter? Even though countless myths and tales have warned against human arrogance, people still lightly think, ¡®If I just change the form of the wish, I can still use the anomaly.¡¯ Why be satisfied with just three wishes? Why not ask for unlimited wishes? If it were me, I would¡¯ve used the anomaly more wisely. Even if Kuro¡¯s Tale remained a rumor passed down among humans, future generations would still think, ¡®I could have used it better,¡¯ and approach another Monkey¡¯s Paw. Hubris. Perhaps that was the inevitable misfortune that befell Kuro. I turned my back and moved away from the South Sea. Thud thud thud- Even today, a girl will be rolling severed heads in someone''s dream. - The Impostor. The End. [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] Chapter 139 - A Fortunate One I [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] Chapter 139 ©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤ A Fortunate One I 1 As mentioned in the previous episode, monopolizing a ''miracle'' is impossible in this world. To be more precise, it can be done, but the consequences that might follow are unpredictable. It''s like eating a high-carb dessert that''s bad for your health. ¡°Hmm.¡± And just like someone on a diet contemting a delicious cake in front of them, I hesitated. On the tabley a monkey''s paw. ¡®Where exactly does luck end and misfortune begin?¡¯ For instance... yes. To quickly form a connection with Tang Seorin, I embark on a pilgrimage to Busan''s famous restaurants. A course of top-notch restaurantsposed of her favorite dishes. I gathered this information by running around and umting knowledge over several turns. Does the "The Law of Total Luck" count even this regression knowledge as ''luck''? ¡®If it does, that''s a bit unfair. It should even consider my regression ability as luck.¡¯ I chuckled. After some research, it seemed the "The Law of Total Luck" wasn''t as strict as that. I had sweat, spent time, and sometimes risked my life to obtain the knowledge of a regressor. It wasn''t a luck suddenly falling from the sky, but an achievement obtained through relentless effort. Thus, even if I consumed something like the ''Heart of Ten ns,'' there would be no side effects. Oh Dokseo was worried for nothing. ¡®Hmm. Then what exactly is true luck?¡¯ I couldn''t help but get intrigued. ¡®Should I test it?¡¯ It was the 590th turn. Typically, I enjoyed a ''vacation episode'' every 5 or 10 episodes, so it was perfect timing. I had alreadypleted the regression and wrapped up various early-stage tasks (recruiting the Saintess, employing Noh Doha, etc.). And this time, I headed straight to Jeju Ind. I had alreadypleted the tutorial dungeon on Jeju Ind. It had opened much earlier than Busan Station, so naturally, it was done. I found the "Monkey''s Paw" near the summit of Seongsan Ilchulbong, next to the now-hairy, sprawled-out Kuro, and made my wish. ¡°Monkey''s Paw, Monkey''s Paw. Grant my wish.¡± -¡¡ ¡°First, give me endless luck.¡± The Monkey''s Paw twitched and trembled. It seemed that was the correct way to make a wish. ¡°I mean, let me enjoy a luck that I would normally never be able to have. A luck so incredible it seems nearly impossible.¡± -¡¡! ¡°Second, let the side effects of the lucke exactly 10 years from now.¡± -¡¡! ¡¡! ¡°Third, even after making the wish, dy turning me into a hairy beast for 10 years. That¡¯s a kind of misfortune too, isn''t it?¡± -¡¡. At that moment, a strangeughter echoed from all around. -Ukikikikiki! Hee! Ukikiki! Hik! The sound of a monkeyughing. No, it was a strangely mechanical sound, as if AI was imitating a monkey''sughter. With that sound, the Monkey''s Paw suddenly turned to powder and melted away. ¡°Oh.¡± If I were to interpret it, it was probably something like, "Your wish has been granted." The powder was entirely absorbed into my forearm, but at a nce, there was no change in my body. ¡®So, this means the luck begins now.¡¯ What kind of events await me? I stood still at the top of Seongsan Ilchulbong for a while, but no incidents urred. ¡°Hmm.¡± Did the wish work? I returned to the maind, half in doubt. For a while, I focused on stabilizing the National Road Management Corps and other tasks, but nothing happened that I could call overwhelming ''luck.'' I was beginning to think that maybe the "The Law of Total Luck" wasn''t powerful enough and my wish had failed¡ªwhen. Knock, knock. Someone knocked on the door of my office. I was temporarily staying at the National Road Management Corps headquarters since I hadn''t yet conquered the Inunaki Tunnel in this turn. ¡°Who is it?¡± -I''ve heard the greatest swordsman in Korea resides here, so I''vee to find him. ¡°Hmm?¡± The voice of the person who knocked was someone I had never heard before. This was quite an unusual urrence. Again, this happened during the 590th turn. By this time, without exaggeration, I had met almost every person living in Busan at least once. Just in case there might be a [Teleportation] ability user somewhere in the world, as Old Scho suggested, I usually made a point to form connections with people I didn¡¯t know. But apletely new voice? And they said they came to find the greatest swordsman in Korea. That means they''re quite a unique character, yet I don''t know them? ¡°I don''t know what brings you here, but pleasee in.¡± -Then I''lle in. The door opened. How should I describe it? An incredibly beautiful boy stood there. ¡°Uh...¡± If you''ve listened to my stories before, you''d know that I don''t casually make judgments about other people''s appearances. If I were to say someone was ¡®beautiful¡¯ or ¡®pretty,¡¯ it would be because their appearance had such an overwhelming charm that I couldn''t help but praise it. Just as one must call a mountain a mountain, when something is beautiful, it must be called beautiful. I only describe a face with ''irresistible'' charm, a kind of miracle that nature bestows upon the human world. Therefore, the boy before me had a radiance to his face more intense than any man I had ever seen. Gray hair. Not the color of aging, but a vibrant hue. A sign that the visitor was an awakened one. His fashion was unique. Was it traditional Korean clothing? No, it was more like a tattered hemp robe from the Joseon Dynasty. Even with an outfit that should have caused a -30 debuff to his appearance, it couldn''t suppress the visitor''s aura at all. I was amazed again. That I hadn''t encountered such a person in 590 turns? Even if I hadn''t seen him, his face should always be talked about on SGNet, right? ¡°Oh, I''m sorry. I stared at your face too much. My apologies.¡± ¡°It¡¯s no problem.¡± His voice was also astonishingly clear. I realized btedly that the visitor''s way of speaking was quite odd. The voice was so outstanding that I hadn''t even noticed the content of his words. Though his hair color and appearance differed, if there were a male version of Koyori, wouldn''t it be at this level? ¡®That''s strange. I''ve heard this way of speaking somewhere before, but where was it...?¡¯ I couldn¡¯t quite recall. A young boy with gray hair opened his mouth very politely. "More importantly, are you the greatest swordsman of the Korean Penins, the one who simultaneously cut through the hearts of Ten ns, Doctor Jang?" "Uh, yes. Although I had the help of other Awakened ones, it is true that my alias is Doctor Jang." "Hmm. I see I havee to the right person." [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] The young boy gently tapped his waist. Even the way he moved his fingers was elegant. There was a sword hilt hanging from the hemp belt around his waist. It looked more like a practice sword rather than a real one. "I, too, thoughcking in skill, walk the path of a warrior. Hearing of your reputation, I dared to seek you out even at the risk of rudeness upon this first meeting. Would you not share a duel with me?" "...Uh." Wait a moment. ''The title of ''I''? A warrior? An aluminum practice sword?'' A terrifying sense of foreboding suddenly overwhelmed my mind. It was like standing at the edge of a swamp, unable to use light-footed techniques and being forced to wade in with sandals on¡ªa strange feeling of dread suddenly overcame me. But I, Doctor Jang, was known as a master of mental fortitude. I forced the unease down and spoke calmly. "...Hmm. I''m more than willing to engage in some martial practice, but may I ask for your name?" "Oh dear, look at this. Ipletely forgot to introduce myself. As one ages, manners shoulde naturally, but it seems I¡¯m still far from being a proper ascetic. Hahaha." The young boy, who seemed barely 18, criticized his own age while taking a very formal bow, the kind you would only see in old Hong Kong movies. "You may call me the Sword Maiden. I am a noble of the long-lost Kingdom of Sirand and the head of the Mount Hua Sect." "..." "Recently, by sheer luck, I attained a great enlightenment and reverted to my youthful form. However, I am not content with this level and intend to dedicate myself to further training, which is the duty of any true warrior! That is why I seek to learn a thing or two from you, Doctor Jang!" "..." This is insane. 2 The Sword Maiden, or at least the boy who imed to be, was, in fact, extremely powerful. "Hahaha! Truly, the world is vast, and the martial world is full of masters! To think that there is a swordsman of such a high level even in this remote region. I have learned much today!" "Uh, yes..." In our duel, I won. But for a regressor like me, who has lived through 590 turns, victory is nothing but a basic prerequisite. The problem was the process leading to that victory. The Sword Maiden exchanged 101 moves with me. In truth, other than the sword spirits that appear in the great void of the dream within a dream, only a few could im to be the best in the world, and he was at a level where he could fight on par with me. He possessed the kind of strength that could be entrusted with holding a frontline against monsters. The gray-haired, insane martial arts enthusiast before me was that powerful. This was a tremendous asset that had joined our side. So, naturally, I should have been happy. I should have been, but... "Sir... you¡¯re quite skilled..." "Haha! Though I may be older, how can I ept praise from a junior who surpasses me in skill? Don¡¯t make this old man feel ashamed." "Yes..." "Hmm! I n to stay here in Dongnae for a while. I have realized that my current level is still insufficient to restore the glory of the Mount Hua Sect. Until I can at least fight on par with you, Doctor Jang, I intend to devote myself entirely to training." "..." Why does this feel so ufortable? Is this crazy martial artist seriously iming he looked like this in his prime? Did he actually wield a sword this well? Am I really supposed to believe this, you wretched monster? "Hmph." "...?" No, this was all just an illusion created by Koyori! Damn. To think she¡¯d cast such an intricate spell on me without my even noticing! Koyori, you terrifying child...! I tried every possible method to inflict pain on my cheek. For some reason, I didn''t wake up from the dream. Damn it. "Why are you doing that? A young man developing a habit of self-harm is not good." I¡¯m several thousand times older than you, you know. No, that''s not the point. "So, sir, you mentioned experiencing something like a rejuvenation, right?" "Indeed." "As you know, the world has be quite dangerous these days. That rejuvenation could have been the work of some monster''s trickery. Could I ask how exactly you experienced such a miraculous event...?" "Ah, it¡¯s no problem. The profound truths of enlightenment should be shared among like-minded friends!" The Sword Maiden stroked his chin. As if there were a long, non-existent beard there. Honestly, at this level of madness, it could almost be considered performance art. "It was when I was meditating on the beach of Yuldo Ind." So, you were just fishing on the beach of Ulleungdo, right? I get it. "But then, though it wasn''t even night yet, the sky over the horizon turned into the Milky Way." "...?" "That''s right. I suddenly felt a sense of enlightenment. I thought, the distinction between day and night is just a temporary human construct, and in the endless cycle of time, it¡¯s merely a brief flicker of light followed by darkness, repeating endlessly. All things in the world follow this cycle. It is strange to see night unfold during the day or day during the night. The very fact that I found it odd revealed that I was still bound by my own prejudices. Thus, a warrior is one who, armed with a single sword, either pushes through with determination or hastens the arrival of the perfect truth that will eventually unfold. Day remains day, holding its own beauty, and night remains night, shining with the Milky Way. Even if only for a moment, witnessing that fleeting instant is the privilege of us individuals. Ah, then, if I wish to extend that privilege, it is not mere selfishness but a devotion to all living things that flicker briefly before passing away." I apologize for subjecting you to this long-winded exnation, but the Sword Maiden genuinely said all of that. I wanted to interrupt, but it was difficult to find the right moment. Sometimes I forgot that the old man (no longer, apparently) in front of me was the one who held the fate of the Korean Penins''s food production in his hands. I couldn¡¯t afford to interrupt him and risk offending him. "So... after attaining that enlightenment...?" "When I woke up, I found myself rejuvenated. Hahaha." What is this? Is this just pure luck? Oh. Oh! ''Pure luck!'' Finally, I remembered the time a year ago when I made a wish to the monkey''s paw on Jeju Ind. That¡¯s right. The Sword Maiden had ''luckily'' ''somehow'' gained enlightenment while meditating on the beach and had undergone rejuvenation. It was, in short, a stroke of good luck¡ªa kind of miraculous encounter that had never urred once in all 590 loops! I nced at the Sword Maiden. The old man¡ªor rather, the young boy¡ªwasughing heartily. And. As would soon be revealed, the Sword Maiden'' rejuvenation was just the beginning of the ''good luck'' I would experience in the 590th turn. [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] Chapter 140 [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] Chapter 140 ©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤ A Fortunate One II 3 "Doctor Jang, we have a problem." One day, the Saintess sent a message on the Star Chat in the middle of the night. I jumped out of bed. It was 3 a.m. If the Saintess woke me up at this hour, it must have been an urgent event. "What happened?" "You mentioned before that in the seventh year, a ''meteor shower'' would appear in the night sky and devastate the Gyeongsangnam-do region." "Yes, that''s correct." "Right now, something that appears to be a meteor shower has been observed in the sky over the East Sea. The observation point is Ulleungdo." What? "There''s even a photo uploaded on SG Net." "Since it''s early morning, it only has 14 views, but please check it." Startled, I quickly changed out of my pajamas and rushed out. Even the Sword Maiden, who was curled up like a cat sleeping by my doorstep, followed me in a hurry. "What is it at this hour, Sword Duke?" I won''t exin how the Sword Maiden came to call me the ''Duke of Swords'' instead of Doctor Jang. There are many things in this world that I don''t want to exin, and generally, those things are rted to lunatics. "A strange phenomenon has appeared in the East Sea." "Hah! Something wicked is attacking at night! What a wicked thing!" Tap, tap, tap- The two of us stepped onto the sands of Haeundae Beach and naturally ran across the sea toward Busan. Stepping on Water. From my perspective, it was the peak of aura control, and from the Sword Maiden''s perspective, it was the height of internal energy mastery, allowing us to run across the water''s surface. "But a strange phenomenon in the middle of the sea. I don''t know if it''s an ominous sign or a good one. Still, it''s better than it appearing onnd, but you seem to think differently, Sword Duke." Of course, it was an ominous sign. My [Regressor''s Schedule] was so meticulously nned that it could be believed it was written by someone with a severe obsession with timekeeping. There was always room for a margin of about a week, but the most important point, the timing of the appearance of the ''strange phenomenon,'' was nned down to the minute and second. ''There should still be several years left before the meteor shower appears. Why now? Could it be that something went wrong when I killed the butterfly effect in Beijing?'' This would severely disrupt my n to strengthen the bonds of the awakened by using the pretext of the meteor shower subjugation. My heart pounded with anxiety. When we finally arrived near Ulleungdo and looked up at the sky, a brilliant array of colors spread across the pitch-ck night sky. I muttered in disbelief. "It''s really a meteor shower...?" In truth, there was no problem with subjugating the meteor shower itself. Surely, as a regressor on my 590th turn, I could handle an early boss in Korea. But as I mentioned before, the disruption of my n was inevitable. How would I strengthen the unity of the Korean Awakeners'' Alliance, and how would I solidify the position of the leader, Tang Seorin, and so on...? As I was deep in thought, surrounded by the night sky and the dark sea. "What?" sh! Something else sparkled on the other side of the meteor shower in the night sky. The sparkle was quite fast. A ''disc-shaped'' object, in other words, a saucer-like flying object, swiftly crossed the sky and... Crashed head-on into the meteor shower. -Twinkle, twinkle, little star? The meteor shower shuddered. It might have been akin to a human tilting their head in confusion. By the way, there was an artificial space around the meteor shower, simr to an ocean. Naturally, the disc-shaped flying object bounced off the surface of the meteor shower as if it were a skipping stone. "......" I was speechless. ''No way, that''s a UFO, isn''t it?'' Yes, it was. A disc-shaped mysterious flying object. It was an unfortunate entity with the strongestbat power in the universe but, ironically, had a fire attribute like a Pok¨¦mon, making it vulnerable to water. It was doomed to dissolve like sugar as soon as it entered the East Sea¡ªa tragic UFO. "W-what the- W-wait- What?" Tap, tap, tap, tap. The UFO''s skipping stone-like motion didn''t stop. -What? What? The meteor shower, repeatedly struck in the middle of the night, was killed on the spot. No, it really died. Meteor Shower Subjugation Complete. The early boss of Korea disappeared without the Korean Awakeners lifting a finger. Tap, tap, tap, tap, tap. Even in the midst of this, the UFO continued to skip across the meteor shower''s surface, a total of 89 times. As a result, the UFO, which should have originally fallen in the middle of the East Sea, veered off in apletely different direction. The direction was north. And not toward the sea, but toward thend¡ªtoward North Korea. "No, no!" I screamed, and I was dead serious. "Hmm? What do you mean, ''no,'' Sword Duke?" "If that thing crashes onnd, it''s over! That saucer contains 120 monsters, each one stronger than you, Sword Maiden! It will be a catastrophe!" "What?" The Sword Maiden''s expression changed. "Then we must chase it immediately! I need to teach it a lesson!" "Yes, damn it." Regardless of the Sword Maiden''s crazy talk, he was right that we needed to chase it. I pushed my aura to its maximum output and ran, making sure not to lose sight of the UFO. The Sword Maiden yelled, "Hey! Sword Duke¡ªwait for me, Sword Duke!" from behind, but I didn''t care. I didn''t have time to humor that old lunatic right now. "Huff, huff... huff!" For the first time in a long while, I ran so hard that I was out of breath. I ran so far that I lost contact with the Saintess along the way. To cut to the chase, the UFO crashnded further north than North Korea. Specifically, itnded between Shenyang and Sinuiju, in the region known as Manchuria, where aliens were now crawling out. -Screech? -Screech. Screeech. It was like watching disgusting cockroaches scurrying out of their nest. Except these cockroaches were strong. Very strong. I hid in the bushes from a distance and observed the aliens. For a species from a sci-fi world, they naturally moved with martial arts-like agility as they scouted the area. Then again, if their genre was more space opera than pure sci-fi, it wouldn''t be that different from traditional martial arts. -Screech? One of the aliens tilted its head and dipped its ankle into a stream. Ssh, ssh. It was a bold move, but foot baths were a privilege beneficial only to humans and Japanese macaques. [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] The alien melted away, from its toes to its head. -Screeeech! -Screech! Screeeech! Screech! The aliens panicked. They probably said something like, "Oh no! How can such a terrible substance exist in this world?" or "Seeing yourrade melt like wax just by touching it requires a SAN check!" After that, the aliens became more frantic in their movements. -Screeeech! -Screech! Screeeech! The aliens pulled outser guns from their belts and started collecting rocks, soil, and minerals from the surroundings. Bzzzzzzz- Using iprehensible technology, Earth''s minerals were perfectly adapted for the aliens'' needs. -Screech! Screech! The aliens used theirsers to gather all sorts of materials and began constructing something. The minerals hit by theser beams floated in the air and were shaped in real-time into walls, pirs, and mysterious interior items. In less than 30 minutes, a bizarre structure rose in the middle of Manchuria. To describe its appearance in the most Earth-like terms... it was like a termite mound. Except it was pitch ck. The surface of the termite mound oozed a dark,va-like substance continuously. It was an ominous sight. -Screeeech. -Screech, screech. The aliens, apparently impressed by their own construction skills, embraced each other and danced in celebration. They enjoyed their dance party for a while and then slipped into their termite mound... er, their ck termite fortress. "......" What the heck? Is that fortress some kind of foothold for an invasion of Earth? Or perhaps an antenna tower to send signals to their fellow refugee ships still wandering in space? "Huff! Huff, huff! Huff! Sw-Sword Duke. I finally... huff, caught up. To think that I, a master of footwork, would be thiste..." "Shh. Be quiet. They''ll hear us." "Huff... Huff? That strange-looking, huff, tower¡ªwhat is it?" "I don''t know either. Other than that the aliens built it." I dug a proper trench and went into full camouge mode. Even if it meant abandoning this timeline, I was determined to figure out these things'' motives. Whether it was fortunate or unfortunate, my time in hiding didn''tst long. The reason why the aliens built that strange structure was soon revealed. Rumble, rumble, rumble- It started to rain. From the aliens'' perspective, it was as if "the substance of death" was raining down from the sky. Earth''s specialty, H?O, poured down on their ck termite fortress in abundance. The ck, grimy liquid continuously flowing from the fortress''s surface was washed away by the rain. Peek¡ª After the rain stopped and quite some time had passed, aliens poked their heads out from the ck ant nest. -Ka? -Kaa, Kaa. -Kaaakaaakaa. Surprisingly, the aliens were unharmed. First of all, the armor the aliens were wearing had slightly changed in shape. Should I call that a raincoat? Anyway, they were wearing something that resembled a ck raincoat. It seemed they had been tirelessly working on a sewing machine inside the ck ant nest. -Kaaakaaak! But anyone who has worn a raincoat knows that its waterproofing isn''t perfect. The newly modified armor of the aliens wasn''t entirely wless either. If they wandered on the humid surface of Earth for too long, it would slowly start to melt away. Are you guys like Ultraman with a 3-minute time limit or something? Anyway, the very fact that there seemed to be hope for survival on this hellish, doomed was precious to the aliens. -Kaaakaa! Kaa! The aliens gradually started expanding the ck ant nest. However, they actively increased the real estate area instead of building upwards. Have you perhaps heard of the project called "The Line" that Saudi Arabia ambitiously pursued, only to scale it down drastically? You could also think of the Great Wall of China. In short, the ck ant nest of the aliens started to increasingly resemble a wall. As the building continuously expanded sideways, this was a natural progression. "Huh?" And that wall¡ kept expanding toward the West Sea on one side and toward the East Seacon the other. ¡®Wait. Wait. Wait, hold on.¡¯ Eventually, the aliens'' ck Wall spanned across Manchuria horizontally. In other words, ¡®If a Monster Wave urs... it would be blocked by the ck Wall!¡¯ And indeed, it was. A few yearster, when the ocean-level monstrosity known as the "Monster Wave" swallowed the world and finally advanced to devour the eastern frontier of the Korean Penins, it encountered an entirely unexpected obstacle. -Guruk? -Kruruk? Some shabby-looking wall was standing in the way of their advance. Initially, the Monster Wave wasn''t fazed. They confidently advanced. What was this wall, after all,pared to Wall Maria in front of the giants? -Kaaakaaak! -Kaaakaaak! Kaaakaa! The problem was that each of the aliens emerging from this Wall Maria hadbat skills on par with Captain Levi. In front of the total of 116 (a few had died in the meantime) Captain Levi-level aliens, the Monster Wave was annihted without being able to put up a fight. In the process of annihting an army of 200,000, not a single alien died. Of course, the Monster Wave, with its automatically replenishing forces,unched the same onught the following month, and the month after that. And each time, they were crushed just the same. Naturally, the Korean Penins south of the ck Wall remained safe. There was no need for Holy Eastern Kingdom to stage any antics, nor for Sim Aryeon to initiate a Zero Requiem operation. Without suffering any damage, the Korean Penins waspletely spared from the threat of the Monster Wave, which had been deemed virtually untameable. "Is this¡ really happening?" My jaw dropped. To be honest, my mouth had been hanging open for years now, unable to close. So, the actual strategy against the Monster Wave was to use a meteor shower somehow to skip UFOs like stones,nd them in Manchuria, and then induce the construction of an alien-only Great Wall to block the nomadic invasions of the Monster Wave? And now you expect me to believe this, Monstrosity? "You¡¯re quite lucky¡." Noh Dohamented as he sipped his coffee after hearing my story. Maybe it was just my imagination, but the dark circles under his eyes seemed lighter than in previous encounters. After all, everything he was doing was going well. "But isn¡¯t this all because you wished upon that ¡®Monkey¡¯s Paw¡¯ or whatever it was? Hmph. I don¡¯t care, but aren¡¯t you eventually going to be screwed in a few years¡?" ¡°¡¡¡± ¡°I¡¯m really looking forward to what kind of messed-up blues will hit you. I¡¯ll go ahead and reserve a VIP seat in advance to watch it all unfold¡.¡± This is driving me nuts. [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] Chapter 141 [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] Chapter 141 ©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤ A Fortunate One III 4 The luck didn¡¯t run out. Even as I yed an endless defense game against the flood of forces pouring in from the continent at the Reversed-Great Wall, ¡°opportunities¡± kepting my way. [Doctor Jang, it has been confirmed that the ''pink entity'' you warned us aboutst time has moved to Kyushu, Japan.] The greatest enemy of a regressor, the master of gaslighting, Koyori, had taken it upon herself to defect from Korea. This was unprecedented good news. From my perspective, I felt like giving her a generous settlement bonus for her relocation. And that wasn''t all. [No status window anomalies have appeared.] ¡°What?¡± [We concentrated on observing the date and location you provided, but no one saw a status window.] ¡°......¡± [Perhaps this is also due to the influence of the ¡®Monkey''s Paw¡¯?] And that wasn¡¯t all2. Luck didn¡¯t only unfold in the physical world. My luck didn¡¯t stop even in themunity. In short, a wave of Romance of the Three Kingdoms parodies had begun to sweep through the SGNet novel serialization board. - Lu Bu Hides His Father (¡ï9.9) - Ten Regr Attendants as Grand General (¡ï8.7) - [Alternate History] Ordered to Advance North, but Woke Up in Hanzhong, Not North Korea?! (¡ï9.2) - The Three Brothers Always Slept in the Same Bed [19+ Uncut Version] (¡ï9.8) - On the First Day of Possession, I Became Zhang Jue, the Man Who Killed Cao Cao''s Father (¡ï9.9) - Possessed as a Yellow Turban Rebel, But Why Is There a Copy of Das Kapital in My Hand? (¡ï9.6) The rankings were dominated by Romance of the Three Kingdoms parodies everywhere you looked on the board. Indeed, Romance of the Three Kingdoms was now a thoroughly YOUNG and MZ-style content. Not just on the novel serialization board, but even in the free board, the heart of SGNet, the Romance of the Three Kingdoms discussions flowed without any cooldown. - Anonymous: Romance of the Three Kingdoms <<< I thought it was content for old folks, but after reading the novel, the y, and the history, there''s no work quite like it. - Anonymous: How great was Ma Su''s mountain climbing? Let''s find out by organizing a mountaineering team to China. We''ll depart ording to everyone''s guild leave schedule. Sorry, but given the dangers overseas, only those capable of diving to a depth of 600m or more will be epted. Please inquire if interested! - dolLHOuse: What¡¯s up with SGNettely? Is everyone collectively getting prescription sses? ©¸ Anonymous: We¡¯ve got a newbie who hasn¡¯t read Romance of the Three Kingdoms yet. LOL. ©¸ dolLHOuse: I¡¯ve read it, though? ©¸ Anonymous: So, which faction do you support? ©¸ dolLHOuse: As long as it''s not the big-eared guy, I don''t care. Anyway, all those characters end up as nobodies in the Five Barbarians and Sixteen Kingdoms ending, right? ©¸ Anonymous: Blocking you. -[Three Thousand Worlds] Witch Trial Judge: The night sky is beautiful today. Was this the Prime Minister''s feeling when he looked up at the stars in Wuzhang ins? - GoryeoJang: Wow, seriously,tely I just want to bury all these idiots here in coffins. -[National Highway] Historian: We hold a weekly meeting in Busan to read and discuss the original Records of the Three Kingdoms. (4/6) Before I knew it, I had been engrossed in themunity on my smartphone for six hours straight without even blinking. ¡°Whoa.¡± I shuddered. I had always nagged Aryeon to quit her inte addiction. But here I was, in my 590th turn, finally experiencing the true pleasure ofmunity surfing. ¡®Is this the true power of the Monkey''s Paw?¡¯ I couldn¡¯t tear myself away from SGNet. It was as if the honey specifically crafted by a master for me, Doctor Jang, had been smeared all over the smartphone screen! ¡°Ugh. How terrifying, Monkey¡¯s Paw! This is a power that would have already bewitched an ordinary human!¡± ¡°......¡± Hayul, who happened to be passing through the living room, gave me a disgusted look, as if I were a pathetic creature. It was the look of a responsible younger sister staring at her deadbeat older brother before she disappeared. Right. In my 590th turn, I was learning firsthand what it felt like to live the life of a cult leader (hope edition). Everything in the world was going my way! Every business I touched progressed wlessly, and troubles I couldn¡¯t handle simply never arose in the first ce. But I wasn¡¯t a cult leader. I was an ordinary citizen who preferred the subway over a limousine. Therefore, I could tell without even looking at the route map that the name of my next stop on the path of fate was ¡°Destruction.¡± Indeed, the seventh year had arrived. The 10th year, the due date for the payment of the debt of fortune I had asked the Monkey''s Paw to defer, was fast approaching. ¡®Should I kill myself?¡¯ A drastic decision was needed. ¡®Extreme choices¡¯ are something that anyone who has lived as a debtor for seven years would understand. For a regressor, it wasn¡¯t even all that extreme. If I were to say, ¡®Wow, thanks to the Fortune Quota System, I¡¯ve enjoyed this round to the fullest^^ Now, I¡¯ll be off to the next round...¡¯ and then leave the chatroom, wouldn¡¯t I be able to escape safely from that future mountain of debt? It was maddening to think I had to leave this Romance of the Three Kingdoms paradise, but a regressor must know how to put aside selfish desires for a moment. ¡°Ah... I wouldn¡¯t rmend that, sir.¡± The other expert had a different opinion. ¡°Why?¡± "Hmm. The situation might actually get worse." Cheon Yohwa, who had listened to my concerns, gave a wry smile. The reason I confided in her about such a personal issue was that, among our group, she was the one with the most expertise in dealing with anomalies¡ªbesides me, of course. As everyone knew, Cheon Yohwa had sealed the Endless Hell (the alien-god) within an hourss. Including the anomalies from school ghost stories, she carried a total of 100 "pocket monsters" with her. If another trainer saw this, they might have sued her for exceeding the allowed number of Pok¨¦mon one could carry alone. Fortunately, this world wasn''t the type of genre where one imprisons creatures with masochistic instincts and forces them to fight in a coliseum. But for that very reason, the anomalies naturally harbored a deep resentment toward the warden who had imprisoned them. In short, the anomalies, led by Endless Hell, were constantly plotting rebellion whenever they got the chance. No wonder Cheon Yohwa was stressed out every day, gorging on tteokbokki from the snack shop in front of the school. Like the saintess, she too was burdened by the inevitable fate that the stronger an awakened one became, the closer they came to corruption. "Things will get worse?" "Yes, that''s what I think." "Hmm. Thest time I checked, the ¡®Monkey¡¯s Paw¡¯ didn¡¯t have the ability to notice regressions. It didn¡¯t even have the power to grant Kuro the ability to regress. If I just close my eyes and regress, wouldn¡¯t the debt disappear as well?¡± "Ahaha. It¡¯s precisely because of that Kuro person that the ¡®Monkey¡¯s Paw¡¯ ended up being applied not just to individuals, but to the entire world, right?" "......" "At first nce, it seems like the people who make wishes are the ones parasitizing the ¡®Monkey¡¯s Paw¡¯. But I think it¡¯s the opposite. The ¡®Monkey¡¯s Paw¡¯ is the one that¡¯s parasitic." "An anomaly that parasitizes people?" "Yes!" Cheon Yohwa pped her hands together. Despite the seriousness of our conversation, she seemed to enjoy sharing these thoughts with me. Well, given that she spent 365 days a yearpeting with a near-divine anomaly for control, I must be a precious conversation partner for her too. [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] There weren¡¯t many people who could empathize with the terror of anomalies as much as we could. "Think about it, teacher. The ¡®Monkey¡¯s Paw¡¯ probably can¡¯t grow stronger on its own. Someone has to make a wish to it, and only then, using that wish as a pretext, does it increase its power." "Hooh." "From the perspective of the ¡®Monkey¡¯s Paw¡¯, Kuro must have been incredibly grateful. If someone had prayed for just a normal desire, the ¡®Monkey¡¯s Paw¡¯ would have remained a fairly ordinary anomaly. But because Kuro wished for an excessively ''high-level wish'', the ¡®Monkey¡¯s Paw¡¯ also escted in rank along with that wish!" "So, if by any chance, I, a regressor, simply run away thinking I can just regress anyway..." "Then the ¡®Monkey¡¯s Paw¡¯ might gain the power to control both fortune and misfortune, even surpassing regression. At least, that¡¯s my guess." "Hmm." "That''s why I don''t rmend suicide. Besides, I wouldn¡¯t want to see you dead either, teacher. Hehe..." She had a point. Thinking about it, even I, who had criticized Kuro¡¯s foolishness, was now about tomit a foolish act. The ''fortune of an ordinary person'' and the ''fortune of a regressor in their 590th turn'' were clearly on different levels. Just consider the scale of what the ¡®Monkey¡¯s Paw¡¯ had done in this turn. A senile old master swordsman had regained his youth. A meteor shower that was supposed to appear muchter had been summoned to the East Sea, and it even involved a perfectly timed UFO collision. As a result, the ck Great Wall, something that should never have existed, had appeared in the northern part of the Korean Penins. In other words, the power of the ¡®Monkey¡¯s Paw¡¯ had grown to the point where it could bring about suchrge-scale "opportunities." By the standards of the Library Society ssification system, I should probably consider its danger level to have already reached oceanic proportions. ¡®Could it be that I¡¯m in serious trouble?¡¯ A sense of urgency began to creep up on me. I had to find a solution somehow, before misfortune started to really pour in. "On the contrary, I think you need to survive as persistently as possible in this turn, teacher." "And why is that?" "Well, if you die without having fully experienced the misfortune equivalent to the fortune you''ve enjoyed in this turn, that ¡®unpaid misfortune¡¯ might carry over to the next turn, don''t you think?" "Hmm..." I stroked my chin. Talking with Cheon Yohwa had stirred something in my mind, a kind of itch that made me feel like I was on the verge of a good idea. ¡®Wait. I feel like I¡¯m just about toe up with a good idea...¡¯ At this point, I hadn¡¯t yet fully grasped what that "good idea" was. That would be covered in the next episode. But I had at least figured out the general direction. "Then, ording to what you¡¯re saying, I need to be as miserable as possible from now on." "Ahaha... Yes. But intentionally seeking out misfortune isn¡¯t exactly easy, you know? It¡¯s a bit tricky." "No, there¡¯s a way. A very clever n, in fact." "Oh? Really?" I nodded. And then, with utmost seriousness, I said, "Yohwa." "Yes, teacher." "Have you ever heard of something called the ''Hate Pill''?" "......?" 5 The ¡®Hate Pill.¡¯ Should I call it a genre? It¡¯s more of a meme. Cheon Yohwa tilted her head, indicating she had never heard of it before, which was understandable. Its origin was from the neighboring country across the sea from the Korean Penins. Some people often think that Japancks creativity or originality. - Tonkatsu? Isn¡¯t that just a variation of a cutlet? - Japanese curry? It¡¯s just Indian curry adjusted to suit Japanese tastes. But that¡¯s a misconception. If you remove the "all-ages" filter from the lens through which you view the world, you¡¯ll suddenly witness the creativity erupting from the Japanese archipgo like Mount Fuji. Just take a look at how they took the characters from Romance of the Three Kingdoms, swapped their genders, and created the "TS Three Kingdoms genre," also known as the Koihime Musou genre. This bizarre creation came from the Japanese archipgo. There are countless other inventions that are difficult to mention due to various reasons. The only region that ever disyed more creativity than this was ancient Greece. (The Greeks impregnated the thigh of their chief god and dressed the most invincible hero in history in women¡¯s clothes.) Anyway. The "Hate Pill" is another example of Japan''s entric creativity. - If you take this medicine, people¡¯s affection towards you will reverse! - Reverse affection? - Yes. Everyone who used to like you, including your family, will now hate you just as much as they liked you. It¡¯s literally a "Hate Pill." - ......? - The people who used to subtly show affection towards you will suddenly change their faces and start cursing you, wishing you dead! Oh, but don¡¯t worry. People who already disliked you will continue to feel the same way! - Why would you even want to include such a medicine in a story? - Because the effects have a time limit. - ......?? - After the effects wear off, the people around you will start to regret it. They¡¯ll see how the protagonist has be utterly broken because of their curses and think, "What have I done to the protagonist I liked so much? How could I have said such horrible things...?" - What¡¯s the point of that? - Huh? Isn¡¯t it satisfying to see characters in despair after they¡¯ve wronged the protagonist and feel remorse? - ......??? Building up a narrative over dozens of chapters just to make the protagonist miserable is incredibly inefficient from a practical standpoint. Modern people, who always prioritize efficiency, would rather just p on the tags #Regret #Obsession #Despair and be done with it. And the way to do that was through the "Hate Pill." It was Japan¡¯s instant three-minute dish of misery. In simpler terms, you could call it a "reverse affection medicine." Just taking it would make you miserable. So how did I, Doctor Jang,e to know about such an obscure foreign genre? Well... Just a reminder, this story took ce in the 590th turn. And I¡¯d already binge-read every web novel in existence and even pulled a Misery on the authors by the 560th turn. End of exnation. "So you''re saying you¡¯ll take the ''Hate Pill'' to intentionally trigger ''misfortune'' and escape the grip of thew of fortune equilibrium?" "You understood perfectly." "Wow, you¡¯ve really gone crazy in style." The person who introduced me to web novels and the only one among myrades who knew about the "Hate Pill" because of their nerdy inclinations, Oh Dokseo, nodded in agreement. "That¡¯s a brilliant idea. As expected of my protagonist. Let¡¯s test it right away!" For the record, Oh Dokseo loved despair-themed stories. "But where do we farm the Hate Pill? It wasn¡¯t mentioned anywhere in Omniscient Regressor¡¯s Viewpoint." "Oh, Oh Dokseo. Just as you get ginseng from Joseon and the queue from the Qing Dynasty, wouldn¡¯t it be obvious where to farm the Hate Pill?" "Oh." Indeed. We immediately set sail for the "ce of origin." [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] Chapter 142 [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] Chapter 142 ©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤ A Fortunate One IV 6 I''ve mentioned several times that the Magical Girl Association of the Japanese archipgo highly respects me. This is partly because I, Doctor Jang, often help magical girls. However, in East Asia, human rtionships don''t work in such a calctive manner. True "interaction" here only urs when one transcends time limitations¡ªwhen one goes beyond the human capacity to perceive only the "present." Blood ties. Regional ties. Who you are in the present is only a secondary concern. What matters more is how long "we" have built our rtionship from the past and how far we''ve ovee the temporal limitations of the human race. The Japanese have also deeply internalized this truth. Even in loveedy works, no matter how charming the characters are, the childhood friend who has already secured a "regional tie" with the protagonist before the story even begins will eventually win. This fact reflects the wisdom of the Japanese. How could I not emte them? As soon as I arrived in the archipgo to find the "Hate Pill," I sought out old connections. ¡°Ah, Mr. Jang! Long time no see! How have you been?¡± ¡°Yeah. Have you been well too?¡± ¡°Yes! Long time no see, Dokseo-chan!¡± ¡°Oh. Yeah. Sis. Long time no see.¡± As expected. At our meeting, the other person proudly used a "personal nickname" instead of mymon nickname, "Doctor Jang," to show everyone around us that our rtionship was not ordinary. This, too, is an old Japanese grammar, simr to that of childhood friends. The grandeur of transforming the alias "Doctor Jang" into the affectionate "Mr. Jang" silenced the other magical girls around us. ¡°Uehara, you look much more lively than when you were in Busan. Is it because you¡¯re back home?¡± ¡°Hehe. Yes! Wee to Fukuoka, Mr. Jang!¡± Uehara Shino. The nickname in my mind is "MacGuffin." The Korean alias is "Alchemist." Those with good memories might have already recalled. Yes. Uehara Shino was one of the 399 summoned to the Busan Station Tutorial Dungeon. To both Dokseo and me, she was practically an original member. In today''snguage, you could say we share the same "empty ties." ¡°I owe you a lot from Busan. This time, I''ll guide you!¡± In Busan Station, she was always timid, but back in her hometown, she confidently led a group of magical girl trainees. Originally, Uehara Shino stayed only on the Korean Penins during the early stages. Finding a way back to Japan was difficult, and the local conditions were tough. After hearing that she had to use the term "Magical Girl" instead of "Awakener" in Japan, Uehara Shino chose political asylum with tears in her eyes. Even in the 90th turn, when I ran a convenience store, Uehara was still on the Korean Penins. And she wrote this message on the bills: [Thank you very much. But no matter how I think about it, the store name and the staff''s T-shirts are strange. Manager, are you perhaps a member of the Red Army? Sincerely, Uehara Shino.] But by the 590th turn, things had improved in many ways. The most crucial turning point was the disappearance of the Inunaki Tunnel. When the barrier that had isted regions copsed, the Japanese archipgo, which had returned to the feudal era of 60-some countries, finally took a breather. With some relief, the Magical Girl Association turned their attention to the skilled personnel who had gone abroad. Since Uehara Shino was of the same "empty ties" as the Doctor Jang and had outstanding abilities, she naturally became the top priority for recruitment. -But still, being a magical girl... -Oh, I¡¯ll make sure you get promoted quickly! The position offered to her as an alchemist was the head of the Apothecary. This position allowed her to im priority over all medicinal materials produced and discovered in the Japanese archipgo. My old friend, now back in her hometown and settled into her new role, smiled shyly at me. ¡°How can I help you, Mr. Jang?¡± Let me make it clear: the protagonist who goes out to find items on their own is a third-rate regressor. A true first-rate regressor leads theirwork to deliver the desired items to them. Not only did Uehara personally go out to find the "Hate Pill," but she also made a strong request for cooperation to the Association. There was even a subtle hint that she might return to the Doctor Jang¡¯s side if they refused. ¡°Nyan! If it¡¯s a request from the Doctor Jang, I¡¯ll lend a paw too!¡± [It¡¯s time to repay the favors I owe. Leave it to me.] Manyo Neko and Phantom de also joined in. Both were among the top ten in the Magical Girl Association. ¡°Here it is, Mr. Jang!¡± As a result, within less than a month ofnding in Japan, the "Hate Pill" was presented before my eyes. Behold. This is the greatness of connections. I don¡¯t understand why some novels have protagonists ying the lone wolf. With such convenience, why don¡¯t they build rtionships with theirpanions? Strange protagonists indeed. As much as I¡¯ve received help now, I¡¯ll have to return the favorter, but that¡¯s what friendship is all about, isn¡¯t it? ¡°But sir, you were like that until the 6th turn.¡± ¡°Hey now. Don¡¯t judge a man by his youthful days.¡± ¡°That ¡®youthful¡¯ period is still older than me, sir...¡± Dokseo grumbled, looking down at the item on the table. ¡°So, this is the Hate Pill.¡± ¡°Hmm.¡± The Hate Pill was a bright red pill. It looked so ominous that even if something went wrong after taking it, it would probably be considered natural. But for someone like me, whose judgment day was approaching with each passing moment due to the Law of Total Luck, it was the greatest elixir in the world! ¡°What are you going to do? Are you going to take it right away? Honestly, I¡¯m curious to see what happens if you take it. I actually like love-hate rtionships.¡± ¡°No. You can¡¯t just gulp down an elixir carelessly. To properly brew its effects, you have to follow the appropriate procedures and methods.¡± ¡°Oh... Was there such a procedure for the Hate Pill?¡± There was. Or more urately, I was about to create one. 7 From that day, I stopped talking about "Three Kingdoms." I didn''t get involved no matter how much the Three Kingdoms topic trended on SGNet. I didn''t mention it at all. This astonishing change shocked those around me. ¡°T-Teacher didn¡¯t bring up the Three Kingdoms even once today?¡± Cheon Yohwa. ¡°Brother, are you alright! I brought thest of the Ceylon tea, scraped from the bottom!¡± Seo Gyu. [Are you really okay?] [This is an emergency.] [Doctor Jang. Could this be a sign that you are finally starting to fall?] Saint. ¡°G-guild master... is broken... How do we fix this... I¡¯m powerless...¡± Sim Aryeon. ¡°Your Excellency. Honestly, I¡¯ve never really liked The Romance of the Three Kingdoms. The same goes for The Records of the Grand Historian and Water Margin. Aren''t they just too old-fashioned?¡± Yoo Jiwon. ¡°Oppa, I think I¡¯ve started to like Liu Bei these days. So it¡¯s okay if we chat about The Three Kingdoms.¡± Lee Hayul, that sly Wei and Jin fan. ¡°Doctor Jang, I''m sorry. I haven¡¯t been paying much attention to youtely, have I? I think you''ll feel better if you eat something delicious.¡± Tang Seorin. [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] And. ¡°¡¡¡± Noh Doha. While the other colleagues were all concerned about me (I¡¯m not sure what they thought of me until now), only Noh Doha looked at me with suspicion, his eyes narrowed. ¡°You¡¡± ¡°Yes?¡± ¡°Just confess already. What kind of crazy scheme are you plotting this time...?¡± It was typical of him, a workaholic who carried suspicion about everything. It meant he was unnecessarily sharp. ¡°You''re so strange. Who was it who kept nagging me to stop talking about The Three Kingdoms all the time?¡± ¡°Well, that''s because these days your eyes have a disturbing and sinister look...¡± ¡°Please refrain from ndering me. Head of Security.¡± ¡°¡¡¡± To brew the ''Hate Pill'' to its highest potency, simply stopping the Three Kingdoms chatter wasn''t enough. I started to tantly, almost shamelessly, help out my other colleagues. ¡°Yohwa, I found out there''s a student at Baekhwa Girls¡¯ High School who¡¯s carrying a gun. I thought it was dangerous, so I confiscated it.¡± ¡°Eh? Really? Wow, thank you, teacher! Something terrible could have happened without you!¡± ¡°That was dangerous, Saintess. Even though you can stop time, you might still be vulnerable to dangers that strike without warning.¡± ¡°Oh... yes, you''re right. Thank you for saving me, Doctor Jang.¡± ¡°Tang Seorin, I already know you can use a powerful spell by shortening your lifespan. But I don¡¯t want you to die even a little bit earlier than me.¡± ¡°¡Doctor Jang, you.¡± ¡°Sword Maiden, how about we take a trip to Mount Hua?¡± ¡°Oho! As expected, you¡¯re the only one who understands me, Doctor Jang!¡± ¡°Chief cksmith Noh Doha, isn¡¯t it difficult to work alone? Sometimes, I can assist you as an apprentice.¡± ¡°Damn it, you really are up to something, aren''t you, you bastard?¡± After stopping the Three Kingdoms talk and shamelessly flirting with everyone for about a year. Sure enough. ¡®That entity¡¯ made its reappearance. ¡°Teacher! I can¡¯t even imagine a world without you anymore!¡± ¡°Doctor Jang, on second thought, while the Inunaki Tunnel is secure as a hideout, its surroundings aren¡¯t exactly ideal. How about moving to my train?¡± ¡°Boss! I¡¯ve changed the name of the Freeboard to the Three Kingdoms Board! Although it¡¯s nothingpared to the gratitude I owe you, please ept my humble thanks.¡± I clenched my fist in my mind. ¡®It¡¯s here!¡¯ That¡¯s right. The ¡®Savior Entity¡¯ had returned. Just as fish reproduce when water quality improves, the moment the condition ¡®The Doctor Jang stops talking about The Three Kingdoms¡¯ was met, the Savior Entity immediately returned. ¡°You, damn bastard.¡± Noh Doha grabbed my neck. ¡°You said you got rid of that thing. You said you knew how to get rid of it. Then why, damn it, did you deliberately let it appear again? Huh...? Do you really want to die? Is your new hobby getting strangled to death by me?¡± ¡°To be factual, I¡¯ve only been strangled to death by the Head of Security three times. And currently, my neck is protected by an energy shield, so it¡¯s impossible for someone with such a low level of aura like you to kill me.¡± ¡°Three times? Damn it, wasn¡¯t it just once? How did the other two happen...? No, this isn¡¯t important. Just spit out that damn Three Kingdoms bait already...¡± ¡°Hey, watch your tone when asking for a favor.¡± ¡°No, seriously. This damn bastard¡¡± Bang, bang, bang! The Savior Zombies banged violently on Noh Doha¡¯s personal bunker door. Since this scene had already been covered before, I¡¯ll skip the detailed description. Of course, there were differences fromst time. For example, the presence of Oh Dokseo hiding in the bunker, or the knocking on the door, which now included the dignified inner force of the Sword Maiden. But apart from these small changes, there was still a major difference. ¡°Head of Security, Noh Doha.¡± Thud. I took a step forward. ¡°You remember what you said before?¡± ¡°What, that working with you is the worst...?¡± ¡°No. That when the timees, and I experience the full brunt of the side effects from my wish on the Monkey¡¯s Paw, you want to watch it unfold from the VIP seats.¡± ¡°Huh...?¡± ¡°You¡¯ve waited a long time.¡± Bang! The door buckled. The Savior Zombies broke through thest barricade and rushed towards us. -Teacher¡ -Doctor Jang. -Boss! -Head Director! -Guild Leader... -Oppa. -Doctor Jang. And. At that moment. I took out a red pill from my pocket. My hand-formed seals passed down from the Naruto era. In a world overrun by strange entities in a post-apocalyptic scenario, there was a certain aesthetic to be upheld. ¡°Watch closely, Head of Security, Noh Doha. I¡¯m about to do something slightly reckless.¡± ¡°¡¡¡± ¡°Technique Sequential Activation: ¡®Savior¡¯. Technique Reversal: ¡®Hate Pill¡¯.¡± ¡°¡¡¡± ¡°Reversed State: ¡®Affection Reversal¡¯.¡± Crunch. I chewed the red pill. ¡°Mister!¡± Oh Dokseo shouted from behind. As a hardcore otaku, Oh Dokseo''s voice trembled with indescribable emotion. Tranted into humannguage, it probably meant something like, "I¡¯m the one who made that guy a fan, it was me!" I smiled. Oh Dokseo. That child also knew how important aesthetics were in defeating these entities. ¡°Win.¡± The time traveler dered victory! Amidst the frenzy, only Noh Doha murmured coldly and quietly. ¡°You fucking bastard¡¡± [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] Chapter 143 [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] Chapter 143 ©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤ A Fortunate One V ¡°Gyaaaaaaaaah!¡± Before Noh Doha could finish his muttering, screams erupted from the bunker. Myrades were pointing at me, looking horrified as if they were witnessing the live descent of Cthulhu in person like some VIP cultists. ¡°Doctor Jang! It¡¯s the Doctor Jang!¡± ¡°The monster from the Three Kingdoms has appeared!¡± ¡°It¡¯s so disgusting...! I hate it so much! Just watching it makes me want to grab my earlobes and rip them off...!¡± They continued to scream endlessly. By the way, I had stocked water bottles near the entrance of the bunker for this very moment. Myrades, as if hypnotized, picked up the bottles and started throwing them at me. Amidst the heartwarming sight of water bottles flying from all directions, I was the only one smiling warmly. ''Just as nned.'' It was a natural phenomenon. What effect did the ¡°Savior¡± monster originally have? It pushed the affection level towards me to its maximum, no, beyond its limit. And the ¡°Hate Pill¡± was an elixir that engraved a reverse spell on the affection towards the drinker. The affection that the ¡°Savior¡± pushed to its limit in the positive direction was nowpletely reversed into the negative! In other words... ¡®At this moment, my misfortune has descended upon this ce.¡¯ As expected, I cherished myrades. To be hated by such adorable kids like this... It was a tragic event as brutal as when a grandfather hears his grandchildren say, ¡°Grandpa, your hands smell!¡± ¡°Brother! No, Doctor Jang! Just die, please!¡± ¡°To think I called someone like you ¡®oppa¡¯... I¡¯m ashamed of my past self.¡± ¡°Well, technically, Hayul, you¡¯ve never called me that. You can¡¯t speak, right? You¡¯re saying this through a puppet now.¡± ¡°I¡¯ve hated that illegally employed security guard since forever!¡± ¡°Disgusting.¡± As I looked into the eyes of Tang Seorin, who was ring at me with pure hatred, my heart was pricked like it was beingbo-attacked with a needle. ¡°Aah.¡± Are you watching, Luck Conservation Theory? This is the refined footwork of an experienced regressor, and this is how you utilize monsters. No matter how much you prepare to be a Santa Alter who gives me misfortune, if I preemptively harvest an enormous amount of misfortune myself, you¡¯re just a single unemployed Finn in the post-COVID era. What can a mere monster like you do when a regressor willingly makes himself miserable? End of the world? Hmm. Is that really more unfortunate than the look of genuine contempt from Tang Seorin? Limb amputation? I wonder. Even now, the saintess is chopping my neck with a hatchet, repeatedly pressing the ¡®pause¡¯ and ¡®y¡¯ buttons in time. Incurable disease? Laughable. Cheon Yohwa is pulling out the hoursses that collect the spirits of Baekhwa High School¡¯s ghosts from the trunk... No, that¡¯s seriously dangerous. I quickly knocked out Cheon Yohwa. As the distance between us quickly closed, my formerrades trembled and convulsed even more. ¡°Die! Die! Please, just diiiiie!¡± ¡°You¡¯ve failed to save the world hundreds of times, you bastard! Ipetent! Because of you, people around the world have died hundreds of times! You deserve punishment!¡± To understand their reaction, imagine the sight of a 2-meter-long cockroach approaching. Right now, I, Doctor Jang, appeared as a reverse-Koyori in the eyes of others. The exact opposite of a demon that somehow manages to win affection, I was now an angel that absolutely draws out disgust, no matter what. Supreme and unmatched. ¡®So this... is the view of the world that the pink creature usually looked down upon.¡¯ Howughable and trivial. ¡°Dokseo, are you watching?¡± ¡°Yeah! It''s disgusting that you¡¯re calling me by name, but it''s okay! I still recognize that you¡¯re not a monster. But could I break just one of your fingers?¡± ¡°That¡¯s difficult. That¡¯s why I didn¡¯t train myrades too strongly this time.¡± ¡°You¡¯re the best! My protagonist! So respectable! So disgusting! So could you stop breathing for a moment? Just sharing the same air as you makes this space feel unbearable.¡± ¡°Hey. Don¡¯t get possessed by the monster. Don¡¯t let your emotions sway you; witness the truth. You are destined to save the world.¡± ¡°Damn, it¡¯s like a regressor and a possessed bookworm have be master and disciple just to mess up the world¡¡± Noh Doha cursed while fiddling with his smartphone. Even in the National Road Management Headquarters, which was increasingly turning into chaos, Noh Doha was the same as ever. He was someone whose attitude towards others, especially me, never changed regardless of whether affection was reversed. It was proof of his true nature: he treated others like they were distant cousins of a rat. ¡°Sigh...¡± Thud. Noh Doha put down his phone. Then he threw the stack of documents piled up on the table. The dusty papers (due to the resource shortage of the end times, even the head of the National Road Management had to use recycled paper) fluttered in the air. ¡°How long do you n to show off your thick urine stream here? Let¡¯s go¡¡± ¡°Huh? Go? Where?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know, damn it. The saintess just sent a group chat quest to all the awakened. She said the Doctor Jang has fallen and is now indiscriminately massacring humans, so all awakened should unite to eliminate him. You¡¯re the only one who didn¡¯t get the message, you outcast¡¡± ¡°Oh.¡± ¡°SGNet also had posts flood in just now. [The Nameless Constetion], [The Librarian of the Grand Library], [The Manager of the Cosmic Games], [The Morning Star of the Second Coming], [The Collector of Anomalies], etc. Hmm. It looks like they¡¯re forming a nationwide coalition to take you down¡¡± Listening to Noh Doha, I looked and saw that Seo Gyu and Sim Aryeon were furiously tapping on their smartphones at the back of the line. The saintess must have requested reinforcements as soon as she realized physical attacks were ineffective against me. She had her eyes closed and her hands sped, clearly focusing on [Telepathy]. ¡°I can¡¯t work in a world this shitty. So let¡¯s get out of here¡¡± ¡°Oh.¡± ¡°I¡¯m quitting, damn it.¡± I made a face like Liu Bei hearing that Zhuge Liang wanted to retire to farming. What will happen to this country without you? ¡°Do I care? Let it go to hell... Hey, Director Yoo Jiwon.¡± ¡°Uh. Yes?¡± ¡°You¡¯re the next head of the National Road Management.¡± What. ¡°No handover. Figure it out yourself. If you¡¯re not a total idiot, you¡¯ll manage. If you¡¯re really lost, open safe number 36 and refer to the notebook. You¡¯ll get by. And don¡¯t look for me if I disappear...¡± ¡°Ah! Thank you! Your Excellency!¡± No way. I was astonished. Yoo Jiwon had finally been promoted to head of the National Road Management! If this story¡¯s protagonist wasn¡¯t me, the Doctor Jang, but Yoo Jiwon, it would have been a sessful epic of a convenience store clerk who climbed the ranks in the nation¡¯s top guild, gradually progressing from regr staff to manager to director, and finally, after 590 turns, bing president. Is this real? It was. While I was shuddering at the sess story of this psychopath, Noh Doha was packing something into a trunk. Apart from a few pieces of clothing, there really wasn''t much packed. Noh Doha was always ready to say goodbye to his job at any moment. He kept his personal tools and everyday items in the trunk, always prepared. The difference between him and other office workers who constantly made simr resolutions was that Noh Doha had actually submitted his resignation letter. Noh Doha grabbed the handle of the trunk and looked at me with a disdainful expression. ¡°What are you doing...? I said let''s go.¡± ¡°Hmm.¡± [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] ¡°I can see you¡¯re wondering ¡®where to.¡¯ Well, first, we need to get off the Korean Penins. We¡¯ll need to get out of the range of that saintess''s [irvoyance] and the scouts she''s sent out if we want to shake off the pursuers...¡± I couldn''t respond immediately. It was somewhat unexpected. Honestly, I had assumed that Noh Doha would also be under the spell of the ¡®Hate Pill¡¯ and would curse me as well. But Noh Doha waspletely unaffected. Almost disturbingly so. ¡®Is it because his affection towards me was never that high to begin with, so even if it¡¯s reversed, there¡¯s no noticeable difference?¡¯ Or is it because he¡¯s habitually cursed and scolded me all along that I can¡¯t tell the difference? I wasn¡¯t sure either way. This was my first time dealing with the Hate Pill in this 590th turn. My usual method for handling anomalies was to figure out strategies through repeated regressions. But the Hate Pill required further research. For that research, Noh Doha, who seemed to be an exception to the Hate Pill¡¯s effects, was a valuable sample. ¡°Aren¡¯t youing? If not, fine. I¡¯ll just go hide out on some remote ind...¡± ¡°No, wait. Let¡¯s go together. Hawaii might be too far, how about Saipan or Guam?¡± ¡°Saipan? Hmm...¡± ¡°Yes. If something happens on the Korean Penins, I can just quickly cross the sea and check it out beforeing back.¡± ¡°A resort... Well, this world is a mess no matter where you go, but I guess we can at least try to enjoy the atmosphere. Fine, whatever...¡± ¡°Dokseo. Are youing along?¡± Oh Dokseo smiled broadly. ¡°No way! I hope you drown! Oh, but I¡¯d like to see you die, so if you could at least die in front of my eyes, that¡¯d be great!¡± As expected, I was unlucky. 8 The decision to resign from the presidency and go on a trip to Saipan was made on the spot. If Noh Doha had been an American, Air Force One would havended to kindly escort the recently resigned ex-president. Unfortunately, the USA had copsed before they could ept Korea as the 51st state. So we had no choice but to get to Saipan on our own. Given the unprecedented nature of the resignation, the procession of journalists chasing us was equally grand. - It¡¯s Doctor Jang! That bastard is escaping! - The ideological betrayal of Comrade Secretary is unbearable! Punishing the traitor is the only way to preserve the purity of our ideology...! We must reluctantly prepare the guillotine! - Wait! Hold your fire! That bastard has taken the Director of National Highways hostage! - What? - That, that, that wicked terrorist bastard! Release the Director of National Highways! Escaping was no easy task. The Sword Maiden blocked my path. A warrior who had fought me for 101 rounds in my first year, now prolonging the battle to over 200 rounds. ¡°Doctor Jang! How could you stray from the righteous path and fall into the demonic ways! There is no greater pain than witnessing a former friend sumb to evil!¡± ¡°No, if we¡¯re talking facts, the closest thing to demonic in this turn is actually you...¡± While the Sword Maiden bought time, the other Awakened didn''t just sit idly by. They actively added to the chaos. ¡°Ah¨D¨Dah¨D¨Daaa¨D¨D.¡± First, Tang Seorin started to sing. This was the biggest problem, so I fled before the fifth melody could escape. ¡°Did you miss me? Senior?¡± Then, Cheon Yohwa (Thousand Tales) finally released Cheon Yohwa (Heavenly Loneliness). The demon possessing Cheon Yohwa spread its unique domain around the Busan area. Oh, by the way, the way to distinguish between the two is by how they address me. Yohwa calls me ¡°Teacher,¡± but the demon calls me ¡°Senior.¡± [Die.] Then Hayul¡¯s puppet strings tightened around my neck from all directions. The Korean Penins, especially Busan, was filled with the webs Hayul had woven. They protected Busan from bothnd and sea in case of an anomaly invasion. If they could prevent external invasions, they could also prevent internal escapes. On top of this, the Saint¡¯s [irvoyance] and [Telepathy] were constantly aiding the Awakened. ¡°Wow.¡± I was impressed by the strength of the forces I had cultivated in the Korean Penins. If Sim Aryeon, who had leveled up to a Northern Saint through Zero Requiem, had been there, I might have died. It was really lucky that the aliens built the Great Wall in this turn. The Sword Maiden¡¯s swordy, Tang Seorin¡¯s song, Cheon Yohwa¡¯s unique domain, Hayul¡¯s 17-part web, and the Saintess¡¯s backup made it difficult for even me to escape without any damage. In the end, I left my left leg behind and fled. Half of my lower body had turned into a 50% version of Hayul. I didn¡¯t particrly mind. Not only was the world¡¯s strongest prosthetist with me, but I also had calcted that even this small ¡®misfortune¡¯ would somehow work to my advantage. ¡°No way... did you really break through this? You¡¯re really a crazy bastard, aren¡¯t you...?¡± Noh Doha, who was on my back, muttered in disbelief. Even amidst the chaos, Noh Doha didn¡¯t have a scratch on him. ¡°If I had a little more time, I would have used the Bureau of Anomalies, but it can¡¯t be helped. We¡¯ll continue crossing the sea to Saipan.¡± ¡°Water is sshing on me constantly. Can¡¯t you avoid the waves a bit more...?¡± ¡°The waves are just born; I¡¯m over ten thousand years old. The young waves should avoid me.¡± ¡°Sigh...¡± We sessfully broke through the frontlines. For the time being, an endless sea stretched before us. I boarded the Savoia S-21 seane that I had prepped on Tsushima Ind. It was the light aircraft I had used when tackling Cheon Yohwa and the demon. After a short flight, we were able tond on Saipan, once famous as a resort destination. -Ukkikik. Somewhere, mixed with the sound of the waves, I thought I heard theughter of monkeys. [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] Chapter 144 [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] Chapter 144 ©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤ A Fortunate One VI 9 There may be no paradise to run to, but the scenery in Saipan was as beautiful as paradise. The transparent, jade-coloured sea. The soft sand that wrapped gently around the soles of my feet. Noh Doha murmured. "The sunlight is too strong..." "Indeed. It''s almost excessively beautiful." That was our first impression. For reference, I was dressed as a caf¨¦ barista. Noh Doha wore a casual T-shirt with a white coat draped over it. The white doctor''s coat fluttered in the sea breeze. In short, our fashion choices were actively denying the fact that this was a world-renowned resort. Saipan probably wouldn''t want to wee tourists like us if they could avoid it. "This sight is entirely unsuited for you who will soon have to extract misfortune to thest drop." "When you put it that way, it makes me feel even more uneasy..." More. We had to be even more unfortunate. Thus, I decided to remodel the scenery of the ind personally. To digress for a moment, in a world stained with void at the end of the century, "aesthetic formality" is of utmost importance. A story with a perfect beginning, middle, and end. The clich¨¦ of waking up and muttering, "This is an unfamiliar ceiling." These are forms, a kind of grammar. And depending on what grammar, what worldview you choose, the anomalies will react differently. For example, even after arriving at a resort. If you shout, "Wow! It''s summer! The beach! The sea!" and fling off your outerwear before charging into the waves, there''s a high probability you''ll encounter anomalies based on "Japanese-style manga." It''s basically the same as middle and high school students chanting Kokkuri-san, Kokkuri-san at night with the lights off. In the end times, a person''s behavior or even a single word can summon all sorts of strange beings. "Noh Doha. From now on, I will recite an excerpt from a novel called The Final Years by the writer Osamu Dazai." "Huh...?" "Have you heard of the novel No Longer Human? It''s by the same author." I carried Noh Doha to the cliff by the sea. Tapping his feet, Noh Dohanded on the edge of the cliff and stuck his hands into the pockets of his white coat. "Hmph. And what''s the reason for holding a cheap recitation as soon as we arrive in Saipan...?" "For a former civil servant, you don''t know much about world history, do you? This Saipan was one of the ces where the Japanese forces were defeated by the U.S. military during the Pacific War. It has a painful history where many civilians were caught in the war and died." "Huh? So what?" "This cliff where we¡¯re standing is precisely where the Imperial Japanese Army showcased their grand talent show." "A talent show...?" If you were to pick two special skills of the old Imperial Japanese Army, they would undoubtedly be derations of war and mass suicide. The second of these talents was demonstrated to the fullest extent at the northernmost tip of Saipan Ind. "The name of the cliff itself is killer. It''s called ''Banzai Cliff.'' ording to some ounts, as many as ten thousand soldiers shouted ''Banzai!'' and made a grand entrance off this cliff." "Okay, but seriously, so what...?" "And if you were to name the most famous suicide in Japan, you couldn''t leave out Osamu Dazai." I pulled out an empty notebook. "Watch closely, Noh Doha. This is the textbook way to summon anomalies." Out of nowhere, a clear voice began to recite a passage above the cliff, carried on the wind over the waves. "Ah, on a full moon night. Glittering, then crumbling, surging, then shattering, the waves raged and thrashed. When I deliberately let go of the hand that clung to mine in desperation to avoid separation, the woman was swept away by the waves in an instant and cried out a name with all her might. It wasn¡¯t my name¡ª." Swooosh. The waves crashed. At that moment¡ª "Tenno Heika Banzai!" Ssh! A shadowy figure passed by us and dove straight off the cliff. It was an impressive disy. It was almost a pity that, instead of being an Olympic athlete, the person had been a soldier and couldn''t show off their skills during their lifetime. "What the hell...?" Noh Doha jumped up in shock. And of course, it was understandable. Shadowy figures that hadn¡¯t been there just a moment ago suddenly appeared behind us. "Tenno Heika Banzai!" "Dai Nippon Teikoku Banzai!" "Banzaaaai!" Ssh, ssh! Fortunately, even though this wasn¡¯t the Olympics, there was at least a marathon. Thousands of shadowy figures started running in unison, charging toward the horizon. These shadowy figures had no physical form. They passed through our shoulders, sometimes even right through our bodies, as they continued their frantic dash. Strangely, though they had no physical substance, they somehow managed to vividly recreate the effect of ¡°sshing into the waves.¡± Ssh, ssh. The waves generated by the shadowy humans were triumphing over the natural ones in real-time. Indeed, the true enemy of the Japanese Imperial Army had always been not the U.S. forces but "nature" itself. Nature included not only environments like jungles and seas but also human nature. The Imperial Army was not losing; it was actually winning. ¡°Damn. What on earth is this...?¡± ¡°Just as in human affairs, summoning the bizarre also lies within the mystery of Heaven, Earth, and Man.¡± Iughed heartily, like Sword Maiden. ¡°The Japanese concept of collective suicide is Heaven, thend where the Japanese Imperial Army collectivelymitted suicide is Earth, and Dazai Osamu, the icon of suicide, is Man. s! With these three conditions aligned so perfectly, how could the bizarre not respond to the incantation?¡± ¡°...Are you seriously asking this, Doctor Jang? Aren''t you already the boss of the anomaly? Huh? What kind of human summons anomalies like this...?¡± ¡°Oh, please. Call me a first-ss sorcerer.¡± ¡°This is absurd...¡± In truth, Dazai Osamu had a background in leftist movements, even having joined an anti-imperialist student federation, but what did that matter? The anomalies didn¡¯t care about human political inclinations unless they were tutorial fairies. Ah, of course, the "Central Intelligence Agency" residing in Seoul''s Namsan was extremely interested in human ideologies, but let¡¯s save that story for the next episode. ¡°If you really doubt it, try having Noh Doha recite it next time.¡± ¡°Next time...?¡± ¡°Yes. Besides this Banzai Cliff, there''s another cliff of collective suicide, a ce that also encourages mass suicide.¡± ¡°Wasn¡¯t this area supposed to be just a resort...?! Hey. Did youe here deliberately to do this? Huh? Do you want to die?¡± At the next site, Noh Doha recited the incantation as I had instructed. Sure enough, the ''shadow people'' appeared. It was not an exclusive spell that only someone like Tang Seorin could use. A true grand sorcerer is someone who designs a magic system where anyone can cast a Fireball spell and create a fireball of 800 degrees Celsius. Noh Doha, who had just entered my magic tower, muttered in astonishment, like a student trying Wingardium Leviosa for the first time. ¡°This really works...?¡± ¡°If you align the conditions of Heaven, Earth, and Man, most people can do it. That¡¯s why it¡¯s called a strategy. It¡¯s not for nothing that I call myself an expert on the bizarre.¡± ¡°Doctor Jang, what exactly are these shadows? Human souls...?¡± ¡°Oh, probably not. They¡¯re just entities made of crude memories and fantasies of people. Shadows, in the literal sense. To add a moreplete substance to them, you would really need the incantation of someone who experienced the Pacific War.¡± ¡°...¡± ¡°Look closely at how they charge together while shouting ¡®Banzai.¡¯ There¡¯s no detail. If it were real, there would be people pushed off by others, people attempting seppuku, people forcibly sacrificed, all with different faces and poses.¡± That day, I roamed the area with Noh Doha, resurrecting ''unhappy memories'' throughout the entire region. Boom! The sound of naval guns reverberated across the beach. Only the sound was there. There wasn''t even a single fishing boat, let alone a battleship, visible on the sea. The eerie sound of fighter engines roared in the sky. Somewhere, I heard the cries of children. The cries had no nationality. The ¡®Battle of Saipan¡¯ had not ended. The number of shadows jumping off the cliff showed no signs of decreasing. The intangible shadows killed and killed again in an eternal hell. That¡¯s what the void inherently was. ¡°...¡± While crafting my prosthetics, Noh Doha asionally nced towards the cliff. As I mentioned earlier, I lost my left leg while escaping from Busan. Noh Doha was crafting a prosthetic for me from some wood he found nearby. ¡°Ah, Noh Doha. Please tighten the screws a bit more there. It suits me better that way.¡± ¡°...¡± This wasn¡¯t the first time Noh Doha had crafted my limbs during our 590 turn, so I assisted at the right time. Normally, Noh Doha would have snapped, "Then make it yourself," but for some reason, he was quiet during this session. As if he was deeply pondering something. ¡°What a strange world this is...¡± Kneeling on one knee, Noh Doha fitted my left foot prosthetic and finally murmured softly. ¡°Humans try clumsily to forget, and the bizarre try awkwardly to remember.¡± Noh Doha turned to look at me. Slowly. ¡°And you, too, are a strange human...¡± [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] * * * A bizarre and peculiar ''vacation'' continued. Now, I was the object of both contempt and hatred from my belovedrades, waking up every dawn to the sounds of screams and crying. ''Can I judge myself as sufficiently unhappy now?'' At least for me, the current misfortune weighed heavier than the fortune brought by the ¡®Rejuvenation of the Sword Maiden¡¯ or the ¡®Great Wall of Aliens.¡¯ Those things were the kind of fortune that, while nice to have, didn¡¯t matter if absent. Even without the Sword Maiden or the aliens, I would have maintained the frontlines in my own way. -Screech! The monkey''s paw seemed to agree with this judgment. Just as there are insiders in the world, there are also outsiders, and someone is always trying to maintain bnce. The monkey''s paw, which governed the scales of fortune and misfortune, seemed to feel threatened. It began to pour out fortune more tantly. ¡°Doctor Jang. Did you bring the Sword Maiden here by any chance...?¡± ¡°Huh? No.¡± "When I went out this morning, there were bananas hanging in bunches in front of the house¡." Even without doing anything, food would just appear. The weather was perfect. The sea had an emerald hue, and the shadows cast by the trees shimmered like sapphire. It was the kind of environment that made you want to throw on a swimsuit and dive into the ocean. -BOOM! Even in such a setting, naval guns were still loud and grand. The shadows leaping off the cliff were still there. The weather was so clear now that they really looked like professional divers. Noh Dohamented. "This is some surreal scenery¡." Indeed it was. The misfortune I had created and the luck generated by the monkey''s paw were now fully at war. My heart swelled. Thepetition between Naruto of good fortune and Sasuke of bad fortune grew more intense with each passing day. One day, as I was strolling along the beach, I found Cheon Yohwa copsed on the sand, marking the peak of this fierce rivalry. "...Oh. Yohwa?" "Teacher¡." Suddenly, Cheon Yohwa grabbed my hand. "I''m¡ sorry. I regained my senses recently. But I¡ Ugh! What did I do to you, teacher¡!" Cheon Yohwa''s eyes welled up with tears. The sea breeze tousled her orange hair, and sand clung to her cheeks. "I had to apologize to you, teacher, so I set out on my own to find you¡ When the boat capsized, I thought I was going to die, but I survived. I survived and got to see you again¡ Oh my god. What happened to your leg? Was it because of us...? Ugh. I¡¯m sorry. Teacher. I was wrong. Please forgive me¡." I trembled. "Is this how you''re ying it, monkey''s paw?" As you know, I had used the "pill to be hated" to trigger a tragic, miserable scenario forcibly. That was the "check" I had thrown. And now, the monkey''s paw had responded with a "checkmate." In a tragic story, what¡¯s the most delicious part? No need to even ask. It''s the scene where the characters who have been hating and resenting the protagonist all along finally realize that the protagonist was meless, reflect on their mistakes, and express their regret¡! [I''ve misunderstood the protagonist] [It was my fault] [I was morally wrong, and the protagonist was right] [So I must apologize and make amends to the protagonist], a truly sinister self-realization¡! Yes, the monkey''s paw was trying to make me drink the sweet nectar of satisfaction, ording to the rules of tragic narratives. "Yohwa." "Yes¡?" "It''s alright." The counter to the monkey''s paw''s move was also clear. I smiled a deeplypassionate smile. "Of course, I forgive you." "...!" That''s right. What the monkey''s paw desired was a scenario where the protagonist shakes off the other person''s hand, saying [It''s toote] [You had so many chances, but you threw them all away] [Apologizing now won''t change anything]. The protagonist bes happy while others be unhappy. It¡¯s a clich¨¦ of tragic stories. But. "No, you didn¡¯t even do anything that needs forgiving. I¡¯ve never been disappointed in you, not even once." "Teacher¡!" The strategy I chose was to be the "forgiving" protagonist! No matter if they cut off my leg or not, I would forgive them unconditionally. Even if they had cursed me all over on Doctor Jang¡¯s Gossip Network (renamed from SG Network), I would ept it all. Not a single drop of satisfaction would be allowed. This was the perfect counter to the monkey''s paw''s tricks. -Screeeeeeeech! No matter what tricks the monkey''s paw pulled, it was meaningless. The phenomenon of myrades, like Cheon Yohwa in front of me, being "controlled by the monkey''s paw without even realizing it" was a painful misfortune for me. ''Anyway, wasn''t it me who caused all this by testing the monkey''s paw and putting myrades in danger?'' All of this was a disaster that I had brought upon myself, so how could I me anyone else? Later, I even had to ask for forgiveness from them. I took Cheon Yohwa to the Korean Penins and, on the way, donated my right leg to the awakened ones in Busan before returning. This time, I deliberately got caught by Tang Seorin. The highlight was when she cut off my right leg and muttered, "Tch, I was aiming for the heart¡!" as she threw my leg away. -Screeeeeech! The monkey''s paw screeched in the air, foaming at the mouth. It had choked on the plot twist. Noh Doha was also fuming. "You really¡ No, never mind. Yeah. I guess you have your reasons. No need to spell them out. If youe back with just your head, I''ll make you some new limbs, so just shut up already¡ Oh, so you''reughing? You''reughing right now¡?" Left foot. Right foot. Left arm. Right arm. My body, which had suddenly turned into a quadruple amputee in this genre shift, was now stered with Noh Doha''s special prosthetics. The battle between the monkey''s paw, trying desperately to bring me fortune, and myself, determined to bring misfortune, was thrilling just to witness. But like all battles, this one had a time limit. Ten years. ¡®It¡¯s finally here.¡¯ The end of the 590th turn was fast approaching. Atst, the time limit I had imposed on the monkey''s paw was upon us. And then, precisely on that day, something light happened¡ªthe Japanese archipgo was destroyed. 11 When Noh Doha and I woke up in the beach hut and looked out the window, we could instantly tell that the Japanese archipgo had been obliterated. "...Doctor Jang, that." "Yes. I see it too." In a story where a Korean is chosen as the protagonist, the fate of the Japanese archipgo is always grim. Of course, to me, nationality and race have no particr meaning. Once your lifespan exceeds four digits, your values change in many ways. Even your perspective on the world. Manyo Neko, Phantom de, Uehara Shino. The Grand Priestess, Chairperson of the Magical Girl Coalition and its first seat¡ªindividuals I hadn''t mentioned yet and hoped never to discuss if possible. They were all my preciousrades. I knew well their lives and where they intended to go. In this era where nations have fallen, and governments have copsed, volunteer soldiers rose from nothing, determined to save those around them. "We¡¯ll dere thisnd a clich¨¦-filled zone of hopeful, magical girl stories!" "Killing demons isn¡¯t about majestic sorrow, it¡¯s about lightheartedughter! Tragedy doesn¡¯t suit us! Everyone, smile!" Thus was born the Magical Girl Association. But there were two kinds of magical girl stories. On one hand, the story where justice triumphs with the help ofrades. The political faction. On the other hand, the torture genre, where magical girls are torn apart by despair and sorrow. The demonic cult. A great war between these factions raged daily in the Japanese archipgo. And though it¡¯s unfortunate for the magical girls, the genre of this world has always been inherently evil. "What on earth is that...?" A red mass. Suddenly, a massive tower of red flesh rose on the horizon, greedily drinking in the morning sunlight. It was in the direction of the Japanese archipgo, north of Saipan. The distance from here to Tokyo was roughly 2,400 kilometers. The towering ''red mass'' revealed its imposing presence beyond the horizon even at that vast distance. I muttered. "It''s Koyori." [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] Chapter 145 [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] Chapter 145 ©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤ A Fortunate One VII "...Koyori?" Noh Doha furrowed his brows. "...Ah, the person I kept telling you to be cautious of? But how did it get sorge...?" "Physical size probably doesn''t matter much. It''s likely that red tower can be observed not just here, but anywhere on Earth." I stared at the horizon. "You know, like those orbital elevators that appear in science fiction. It''s creating that kind of scene. It''s that kind of anomaly." "Hmm..." I had heard earlier that Koyori had crossed over to the Japanese archipgo. That incident must have snowballed into producing such a catastrophic oue. "In the Japanese archipgo, great oceanic-ss anomalies are called the Eight Million. Just as the school ghost stories of Baekhwa Girls'' High School areposed of 100 ghosts, the Eight Million are literallyposed of eight million anomalies." "That''s an absurdlyrge number, isn''t it...?" "Yes. I don''t know the details, but I suspect Koyori has taken on the role of ''a disaster god handed down from across the sea.'' If I were to specte, Koyori might have devoured the Eight Million." Thepatibility wasn''t good. Especially since the concept that anything can be a god in the archipgo was too favorable for Koyori. Then again, if you asked who had goodpatibility with Koyori, the only answer would probably be Yoo Jiwon. "Are you saying she became a god...?" "At the very least, she''s likely at a level where she could call herself a lesser deity. Who knows what will happen if she devours the Hangasa of India." Perhaps the fact that I actively invited misfortune with the medicine that makes one hated is the reason why things ended up ''only'' at this level. Given that the neighboring area was painted pink, it was unlikely that the Korean Penins would remain unaffected. "Master Noh Doha, I''ll take a quick look around the Korean Penins." "...Well, go ahead. There''s nothing left to cut off, so you''ll probablye back in one piece this time." "I''ll try my best." I boarded a Savoia S-21 seane and set out to scout the Korean Penins. This aircraft was a kind of anomaly modeled after the one in the Ghibli animation Porco Rosso. It was a ghostly object. It boasted stronger defenses in the void than in reality. It could even resist brainwashing or hypnosis to some extent because simr scenes appeared in the original animation. Vroom... Unlike the original, the seane had been modified into a bine, humming as it took to the skies. There was a 50% chance the engine would fail mid-flight, a relic of an aircraft. Even so, its survival rate was far better than on the ground. "...This is over." The Korean Penins was also devastated. The "ck Wall" of aliens, which had expanded from Manchuria, had now devoured the entire North Korean region. An alien structure, constantly spewing out ck sludge, covered the area. Anomalies were pouring out from everywhere. -Kyaaa. -Kyaa, kyaaaak. When they first arrived on Earth, there were only 120 aliens, but now their numbers had multiplied like a swarm of Zerglings. Their appearance had also changed. The aliens, who once looked like they were covered in armor, now resembled grotesque "alien creatures" more than ever¡ªlike Ultralisk or Hydralisk from the Zerg. Perhaps the Monster Wave and the aliens had fused together into a single anomaly. Well, it would be a clich¨¦ if the giants attacking the wall and the Survey Corps defending it also achieved a DNA fusion. ¡®Even Busan... it¡¯s almost unrecognizable.¡¯ The Busan Station train, the hideout of the Three Thousand Worlds, and the headquarters building of the National Road Management Corps were all destroyed, with only ominous smoke rising from them. I wondered what happened to Yoo Jiwon. I had written a protocol for emergency evacuation to the Inunaki Tunnel. The Saintess, Lee Hayul, Sim Aryeon, and Seo Gyu were familiar with the protocol. "Saintess? Saintess, can you hear me?" No response. There was no reply at all. "......" It was hard to tell whether the Saintess had died, or if she was just pretending to be dead, waiting to ambush me when Inded. In a situation where misfortune spread due to the medicine that makes one hated, nothing could be certain. In the worst case, I had to consider the possibility that the Saintess had fallen into the role of an executioner. Boom! A gunshot rang out from somewhere. For a moment, I thought it was anti-aircraft fire, and I tensed up, but I couldn''t find any weapon that had fired a shot. It was just like the sound of naval gunfire that echoed on the beaches of Saipan. There was only the sound, with no real source. Boom! Boom! The sound of gunfire reached its peak near the Nakdong River. I realized btedly that it was a reenactment of a war. The void of the "Korean War" was unfolding all over the Korean Penins. In every region, people were hunting each other in the name of ideology, wielding axes to distinguish between "us" and "them." But just like the cliffs on the beach of Saipan, both the hunters and the hunted were nothing more than actors in a y put on by the anomalies. I couldn''t find a single truly living human. Even the Doctor Jang¡¯s Gossip Net was disconnected. ''Perhaps, to others, my existence as a regressor is a stroke of enormous luck?'' Suddenly, that thought crossed my mind. ''If that''s the case, then the repeated deaths of Old Scho must be an equally enormous misfortune for people. Maybe, without us even knowing, bnce is being maintained by the [Law of Conservation of Luck].'' -Kyaa? Just then, the aliens seemed to notice me and began scanning the sky. No matter how ghostly this seane was, it couldn¡¯t withstand UFOs from an SF universe. Before the aliens could shoot me down, I changed course and returned to Saipan. "Hmm..." Noh Doha was sitting in the beach hut. He nced at my face. "Well, you made it back more or less in one piece..." Noh Doha brewed a cup of coffee with the beans he had taken when she escaped from Busan and handed it to me. And he didn''t ask anything. I was always grateful for his silence. By the way, despite his appearance, Noh Doha made terrible coffee. 12 I had tried to keep a cheerful tone in my stories, but I''ll confess to you honestly. In the 590th turn, my mental state was quite shaken. No, saying it was "quite" shaken is putting it too mildly. It was significantly shaken. ''Did I use the Monkey''s Paw too hastily?'' Of course, I had a goal that I absolutely had to achieve, which is why I tested the Monkey''s Paw. As will be revealed in the next episode or so, there was an anomaly that was difficult to exterminate without the Monkey''s Paw. But at this point in time, that was still a story of the future. Before it was proven that my experiment wasn''t in vain, that is, in the 590th turn, my mind was inevitably driven to the brink. ''Yes. This anxiety is probably one of the emotions that bring misfortune upon me.'' And I let go. Normally, I would have used various methods to restore my mental state. Like guiding the aliens that had taken over the Korean Penins to the Japanese archipgo and enjoying the epic showdown between Koyori and the aliens. But in the 590th turn, I was trying to be as miserable as possible. So, I tormented myself mentally. ¡®No matter how much I wanted to find a strategy against the deity of istion, relying on the total amount of luck was a foolish thing to do. The disaster was caused by my choice.¡¯ ¡®I should have at least told myrades in advance. If I had done that... No, no. Even Odokseo ended up mentally corrupted. The result would have been the same.¡¯ ¡®But would it really? For example, the Saintess has a far more robust mental world than Odokseo. If I had exined my intentions and goals¨D¨D.¡¯ ¡®This is a phenomenon caused by the interference of three strange entities: the Savior, the Monkey¡¯s Paw, and the Hate Pill. Even if it''s the Saintess, how could she have resisted that?¡¯ ¡®Still, speaking up would have been the right thing to do as a human being. I can''t deny that.¡¯ ¡®But by adhering to that principle, perhaps [greater misfortune] would have been invited. If myrades had been warned by me and still ended up mentally swayed by the strange entities¡¡¯ "I shouldn''t have done that." Regret. Self-reproach. Delusions about ''what if.'' The thoughts that continually drive humans into misery always revolve around ''I shouldn''t have done that.'' A master of mental management is also a genius at mental destruction. I tortured myself skillfully. asionally, I took the aircraft to look around the devastated world, and each time, I reminded myself, ''This is all the result of my wrong choices.'' ¡°¡¡.¡± Noh Doha silently watched me in that state. In truth, if I had truly wanted to be as unfortunate as possible, I should have driven Noh Doha away as well. But I couldn¡¯t bring myself to drive Noh Doha out of the beach hut. I realized then that, unconsciously, I had been relying on Noh Doha during the 590th turn. "Yeah. Even in the unconscious world, I never saw Noh Doha in a corrupted state." The incorruptible one. Perhaps Noh Doha harbours such a trait? Maybe that''s why he was immune to the effects brought by the Hate Pill? ¨D¨DWhen I calmly pondered it, there was no way that could be true. [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] If Noh Doha truly had [mental immunity], he should have been unaffected by Koyori''s brainwashing as well. This wasn''t observed across several turns. ¡®Still, when ites to the Hate Pill, he might have been more resilientpared to others.¡¯ But back then, I indulged in such delusions. ¡®There might have been an effect of the Hate Pill that I didn''t know about. For example, the more Noh Doha disliked me, the more he felt friendship towards me.¡¯ ¡®If that wasn''t the case, would he have proposed to leave with me as soon as he resigned from the position of national road manager? Was Noh Doha the type to voluntarily make such a proposal?¡¯ Delusions. Delusions. And more delusions. Somewhere deep in my heart, in the depths of human psychology, the desire [I too want to rely on someone] was freely fed with flesh and juice. The Native American proverb was right. The human mind is a hungry wolf, and the more flesh it is fed, the stronger it bes. My heart grew into an unhappy wolf. ¡®The Savior entity''s utilization, verification of the Monkey¡¯s Paw and Hate Pill, and even the characteristics of Noh Doha.¡¯ ¡®This should be enough to have gained all I needed in the 590th turn.¡¯ ¡®From the start, I began this turn with the thought that it was half a vacation.¡¯ I became noticeably kinder to Noh Doha. Using the limited food supplies, I prepared delicious meals. Just like Noh Doha had said in the 100th turn, my cooking skills were Michelin 4-star chef level. Even in Saipan, which was filled with the sound of cannons and screams, I developed a surprisingly decent walking path and strolled with Noh Doha. In short, I was employing every means possible to win Noh Doha''s favor. ¡°Hm¡¡¡± Despite my desperate mental thrashing, Noh Doha didn¡¯t say much. Or rather, ¡°The coffee is delicious today as well¡¡¡± He became kinder. His usually sharp sarcasm softened more and more. Even his usual mocking smile became somehow gentler. He even asked me to teach him how to cook, and he engaged in small talk during our walks. The mundane, ordinary pleasures. It was only natural that my mind, which had been driven to the edge with nowhere to hold onto, gravitated towards and clung to Noh Doha¡¯s small acts of kindness. A year passed. By then, Noh Doha had be my sole source of happiness. ¡°Good night, Doctor Jang¡¡¡± ¡°Oh, yes. You too, have a good night, Governor.¡± As usual, I went to sleep in the hut''s bedroom. And when I opened my eyes, ¡°Ah.¡± Noh Doha¡¯s voice came from nearby. ¡°Oh dear. You¡¯re awake¡¡¡± A little too close. Noh Doha was straddling me. I could feel his heavy weight. ¡°You can go back to sleep if you¡¯d like¡¡¡± But that wasn¡¯t possible. Squeeze- The main area where Noh Doha¡¯s weight was pressing down was none other than my neck. A former civil servant. The Governor. The national road manager. Noh Doha, who imed to be my aplice, was choking my neck with all his strength, smiling faintly. 13 ¡°¡¡, ¡¡.¡± I opened my mouth slightly. My opponent was Noh Doha. He''s mentionedst when the Awakeners are ranked purely bybat power. If I wanted, I could push his hands away at any moment. But I couldn¡¯t, because the pitch-ck pupils of Noh Doha, staring down at me, were speaking. ¡°Ah, please don¡¯t resist¡¡¡± He also spoke with her lips. ¡°It¡¯ll be a hassle. The moment you activate your aura, I¡¯ll take my own life. You wouldn¡¯t want that, would you¡¡¡± ¡°¡¡!¡± ¡°Well. You could cut off my limbs, making it impossible for me to attempt suicide¡¡. Hehe. But I don¡¯t think you¡¯ve fallen that far¡¡¡± Noh Doha¡¯s weight pressed down harder on my trachea. Cough, the breath remaining in my throat bubbled up like a boil. I tried to move my limbs, but it was useless. For some reason, the prosthetic limbs Noh Doha had fitted me with didn¡¯t budge. ¡°Wh, en¡¡¡± ¡°Oh. Sorry. I¡¯d made some modifications when I first made them.¡± ¡°¡¡.¡± ¡°Oh. Your eyes seem to ask when. Well, since you probably don¡¯t have much time left, I¡¯ll answer you. Doctor Jang. From the day the Awakeners caused a ruckus at the bunker in Busan, I¡¯ve been nning this¡¡¡± Noh Doha sneered. His smile was more sinister than any I¡¯d seen before. Like poison. His poison flowed from his eyes down to his hands, seeping into my airways. Squeeze. Squeeze. ¡°When you deliberately chose to be unhappy, I worried about something a little different. Whether, to begin with, you were someone who could even ¡®be sufficiently unhappy¡¯¡¡± Pressure. ¡°You are a human who knows how to feel happiness in the smallest of things. You must have put in tremendous effort to be such a person. I can only guess how miserable the life of a regressor must have been¡¡± Compression. ¡°Your mental barriers are strong and resilient. Assuming that breaking them down is a task on earth, it is not desirable for me to continue staying in the Korean Penins, ruling over the Road Management Corps¡¡± Force. ¡°So, I quit¡¡± Yoo Jiwon ispetent. But Yoo Jiwon''spetence is most maximized in the position of a deputy. When she rises to the position of head of arge organization, Yoo Jiwon''s tendency to treat all people and things as mere tools inevitably causes side effects. The Road Management Corps, which had topromise with numerous guilds, must have started running out of control under Yoo Jiwon. The fact that Cheon Yohwa, the guild leader of Baekhwa High School, the second most powerful in Korea, got stranded while crossing the sea alone must have been a sign. Noh Doha aimed for that situation. ¡°If the organization you carefully nned and nurtured, the Korean Penins, were to be ruined and messed up, it could have given you quite a significant amount of unhappiness¡¡± It didn''t stop there. ¡°While other guild leaders like Three Thousand Worlds tried to attack you recklessly, I thought such one-dimensional attacks wouldn''t deal much damage to you. Oh. Of course, it would have some impact, but it wouldn¡¯t be a decisive blow... It was a good opportunity for me.¡± Opportunity? What kind? ¡°The Doctor Jang.¡± Noh Doha leaned in. His eyes were like an endless well. His jet-ck eyes, seemingly devoid of any light, looked down at me right in front of me. ¡°¨D¨DYou ruined my life.¡± Whisper. Noh Doha whispered in my ear. ¡°I had only the wish to live quietly and die quietly, but you dragged me into the Road Management Corps, trying to save the world somehow... 500 times? 600 times? Heh. How many more times do you n to make me miserable¡?¡± ¡°¡¡¡± ¡°You bastard.¡± The poison seeped in. ¡°Doctor Jang. I hate you. I¡¯ve hated you from the beginning and will continue cursing you. If you feel even slightly sorry for me, if you harbor even a little guilt for ruining my life and destiny¡¡± ¡°¡¡¡± ¡°Please die here by my hand.¡± My body trembled. I couldn¡¯t tell if it was because of the increasingly thin oxygen or Noh Doha''s ck poison. -Screech! Gasp! Screech! A monkey¡¯s paw cried out in the air. The rafters of the hut copsed, trying to crush Noh Doha. The monkey''s paw was struggling to eradicate the source of my misfortune. I raised my aura and shattered the rafter. The wood turned to dust without much noise, and Noh Doha chuckled softly. My vision was growing dimmer and dimmer. In that fading vision, I saw Noh Doha bowing her head a little deeper. ¡°How do you feel¡?¡± Noh Doha whispered. ¡°If I kill you, will it bring you sufficient unhappiness¡?¡± I wanted tough bitterly. Of course, it would. But I had no strength left to move my lips, and in the darkness of my vision, as ck as Noh Doha''s eyes, I met my end. It was the 590th time I had died. 14 There¡¯s a short epilogue. To put it simply, the monkey''s paw did not chase me beyond my regression to demand repayment. Thest ¡®unhappiness¡¯ that Noh Doha, the Workshop Master, gifted me seemed to carry enough weight even from the monkey¡¯s paw''s perspective. Yeah. The [Luck Totalizer], which could have grown into a threat beyond an ocean-ss anomaly, was safely eliminated. ¡°¡¡? What are you staring at?¡± ¡°Nothing at all.¡± I considered telling the Noh Doha of the 591st turn about the previous turn''s events, but I refrained. I had a feeling that if I told him, he would genuinely hate me for some reason. There was no need to bring misfortune upon myself in this turn as well. ¡°Hmm¡?¡± Noh Doha, who had been staring at me from her desk far away, tilted his head. Then he stood up, walked over to me, frowned deeply, and stared up at me. ¡°Why are you acting like this all of a sudden?¡± ¡°¡Hmm. Doctor Jang. Now that I look at you, it seems like you¡¯re starting to develop some signs of balding.¡± ¡°Pardon?¡± What nonsense is this? ¡°Balding? I¡¯ve never lost hair in all 591 regressions. My hair is very healthy.¡± ¡°Is that so? Then it must be my imagination. Hmm. But I think it would be better for you to start being cautious from now on¡¡± Ten years passed. When I looked in the mirror, just as Noh Doha had warned, a rapid M-shaped baldness was bombarding my head. ¡°¡¡¡± It was as if this was thest collection of the remaining debt of misfortune to you. -Screech. Let me emphasize once more. The anomaly was indeed dangerous. -A Fortunate One. End. [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] Chapter 146 [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] Chapter 146 ©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤ Godyer I 1 Lately, I¡¯ve been too caught up in the extremely private affairs between me and the Master Craftsman Noh Doha (murder) and other overly personal stories. Shouldn¡¯t people sometimes talk about the world outside? This time, let¡¯s take a breather and discuss the current trend of the times¡ªspecifically, the "End-of-the-Century Apocalypse Trend." In the past, humanity used terms like "Modernism" and "Postmodernism" to construct buildings and write literature. But for the end-of-the-century MZ generation, those words are just outdated, obsolete concepts. The new generation of humanity evolved to be a bit more practical. "Are you crazy?" "Excuse me?" "I counted the number of steps in the stairs you recently built in your new house, and there are 13 of them. Why did you do that? Do you want to take a tour to the depths of hell?" "No, the local carpenter just built it as he pleased..." "You must have built up a serious grudge with that carpenter. Cut ties with him immediately and hire another one. Reduce the number of steps to 10 or 9." "Is it really necessary to go that far?" "Suit yourself. Do you think I¡¯m the one who¡¯s going to die, or is it you? Oh, look at that! You even made a basement? You¡¯d be safer jumping off a building rooftop than living here. It¡¯s like you¡¯ve put up a notice in your home asking the horrors toe in and stay." Voidism. This was thetest trend in the end times. In Voidism, people considered "how to avoid getting screwed by horrors" more seriously than "how to livefortably." It didn¡¯t start out this way. During the times when nuclear bombs were flying around and civil wars were breaking out, humanity also thought "scientifically." They would drill into solid concrete bunkers and hide there, or iste themselves entirely from society to enjoy a solitary survivalist life. From a scientific standpoint, this approach was correct. However, the horrors that emerged in the end times generally had rich literary sensibilities and were mostly bad at science. "Waaaah... Waaah..." "Goodness, what¡¯s with that guy? Why is he going mad?" "Don¡¯t even ask. Apparently, he used to be an executive at a big corporation, but he took his whole family and holed up in an underground bunker." "What? A bunker? That¡¯s crazy." "Yeah, it is crazy. A bomb dropped on the bunker overnight, his entire family turned into ghosts, and it was absolute chaos. He barely made it out alive and fled to Busan, but is that really living?" "Waaaah... Waaah... Waaah..." Horrors didn¡¯t care much for scientific approaches or the w of causality." They preferred "reverse causality." Take an underground bunker as an example. What is a bunker, after all? It¡¯s a facility built to withstand air raids, bombings, and nuclear attacks. ording to our human scientific thinking, bunkers are safer than ordinary houses. Unless you have a rtive named Osama bin Laden, the chances of a missile beingunched specifically to destroy a concealed bunker are extremely low. But horrors think differently. It¡¯s not that bombs areunched because there¡¯s a bunker. It¡¯s that "because there¡¯s a bunker," naturally, "a bomb must be dropped." In other words, horrors would question, "Why build a bunker if no missiles are going to fall? Shouldn¡¯t the purpose be aligned with its existence?" As a result, everyone who built and moved into underground bunkers inevitably faced missile bombardment. The Gyeongsang in became a wastnd. That day, humanity underwent a paradigm shift. "Huh? Someone¡¯s calling me?" "Shit, don¡¯t answer it! Never answer it! Just shut off your smartphone unless you¡¯re connecting to SGNet!" A telephone? It¡¯s not a device to hear someone else¡¯s voice but a tool to municate with an unseen entity." Unless you¡¯re a high school student who enjoys spiritualmunication with ghosts, making or receiving calls is incredibly foolish. In "Void Communication Studies,"munication relying on tools like telephones is not recognized. Only face-to-face conversations are considered genuine human interaction. "You idiot! Why did you put a mirror in the bathroom?" "Huh? Well, because it¡¯s a bathroom..." "Look at your face now and the face in the mirror. They¡¯re different! Get rid of it immediately!" A mirror? It¡¯s a tool to "iste an identical version of yourself in another world." Under no circumstances should it ever be used as an interior decoration¡ªit¡¯s a monster among monsters. Indeed, up until now, humanity had been toocent, relying on tools. In the current world, updated with the apocalypse event, more careful choices became necessary. "Well, our ancestors lived fine without phones anyway..." "I can live without mirrors too. Besides, except for the bathroom mirror right after a shower, looking at mirrors always stressed me out." And humanity adapted. People simply decided to live without phones, without mirrors, without the conveniences of civilization. If you think about it, didn¡¯t our distant ancestors hunt mammoths just fine without all that stuff? But even so, there was one tool that humanity couldn¡¯t let go of until the very end. A tool that made them feel like they would truly revert to the Stone Age if they let go of it. Surprisingly, it wasn¡¯t the inte. As I said, it wasn¡¯t the smartphone either. The tool that humanity, especially Americans, couldn¡¯t abandon until the very end was¨D¨D. -Bang! The protagonist of this episode. A gun. 3 Sometimes, when I watch modern fantasy, especially works where "Aura" exists and all the characters fight with swords, I can¡¯t help but wonder: "Why don¡¯t these primitives use beautiful and cool guns instead of obsessing over cold weapons? Are they medieval savages?" There¡¯s a long-standing tradition in creative works to downy firearms and heat weapons. When a monster appeared in the backwoods of Third Tokyo, the Self-Defense Forces fired all sorts of cutting-edge weapons, but nothing worked. The moment someone coolly muttered, "What a waste of taxes," the fate of thermal weaponry in subculture was sealed. The horrors clearly watched modern fantasy works with great admiration. The skin of boss-level horrors could repel bullets, missiles, and even nuclear bombs, but somehow, when faced with a "one-swipe" from an Aura-infused katana, it turned to soft flesh. "Shoot! Shoot them all! Those bastards are nothing! Just stay calm, aim, and fire!" -Screeeech! Of course, there were horrors that could be taken down with bullets. Goblins. Orcs. Horrors born to be humanity¡¯s XP fodder were quite vulnerable to firearms. These vige-level horrors hadrge numbers. South Korea, a country with a conscription system, had a lot of fun with firearms in the early days of the Void. However, firearms quickly lost poprity. After the Ten Tribes enjoyed an Omakase feast courtesy of the South Korean military, firearms all but disappeared. Why did this happen? There¡¯s a representative story that exins why firearms met their downfall. "Sigh..." One day, Cheon Yohwa, who hade to visit my caf¨¦, sighed deeply. Even the spoon she used to stir her favorite creamtte seemed tock strength. "What''s wrong?" "Ah, well... Teacher,tely our kids have been getting into more fights." "The Baekhwa High School girls? Isn''t it normal for them to always be in some kind of tension with each other?" By the way, Baekhwa High School always had a "yuri spirit" haunting it. It was a unique territorial ghost that I couldn''t exorcise, so it was left alone. Even I, Doctor Jang, wasn''t omnipotent. As a result, Baekhwa High School was in a constant state of savage love-hate drama 365 days a year. [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] For Cheon Yohwa, who was right in the middle of that stage, every day must have felt like a new experience. "Of course, I canugh off a little tension now, but... hmm, it feels like they''ve started crossing a line? The other day, one of them nearly died." "Huh." "I don''t say much about them biting their nails or anything. As long as they keep it among themselves and don''t bother others, it''s fine. But if someone dies, it affects our entire guild, right? Not to mention the atmosphere would be ruined." "Hmm." "I gave the perpetrator the full course of water torture to snap them out of it, but they said they didn''t realize it would go that far. I probed their mind a bit, and it didn''t seem like a lie. Teacher, do you think this is an anomaly?" "An anomaly..." It''s a rookie mistake to coldly judge whether it''s a anomaly or not at this point. The important fact was that the stress level of "one of the top two guild masters in Korea" had reached a breaking point. One guild member''s physical trauma didn''t concern me much. However, "Cheon Yohwa''s depression" was a fear of the unknown that could cause who knows what kind of butterfly effect. If she decided to create a closed space to relieve her stress and started destroying the city, that would be a real problem. Don''t know what the previous description is a parody of? Have you forgotten about Haruhi Suzumiya? Anyway. I gently smiled. "Yohwa, how about we visit Baekhwa High School together and check if any sectors might be infected by an anomaly?" "Oh. Really?" Cheon Yohwa''s face brightened up but then turned somber again. "¨DAh, um. But you''re really busy, Teacher. I don''t want to bother you because of us..." "It''s okay. Baekhwa High School is like a temple with a sealed hell, so it needs regr check-ups anyway. And if anyone, especially you, Yohwa, feels something strange, it''s worth paying attention to." "Ah... You''re the best, Teacher! Thank you so much!" It seemed like I made the right choice. We headed toward Sejong City, passing through the Inunaki Tunnel. Throughout the journey back to Baekhwa High School, Cheon Yohwa happily chatted with me. "Wow, it feels like just yesterday when I was struggling alongside you, Teacher, visiting schools together... Time flies so fast." "It might have been years for the two of us, but for others, it''s only been a day." "Hahaha, true! That makes it feel even weirder. Oh, this way! Teacher,e this way." The scenery at Baekhwa High School had changed quite a bit since myst visit. ssrooms had been repurposed. The elevators were all shut down, and the 4th floor was entirely blocked off with caution tape. "This is the attacker''s private room!" "Is it okay for me to just go in?" "Come on, the kid almost killed someone! They''re basically a murderer, a murderer. We''re still waterboarding them in the holding room, so why worry about privacy? We''ve already thoroughly searched the room." Both Tang Seorin and Cheon Yohwa, who were two of the top guild masters in the country, had a peculiar liking for water torture. The tradition of Korea being known for its good water taste seemed to persist. As expected, the only pir of sanity that normal people could rely on was me, the cultured Doctor Jang. I searched the private room. Cheon Yohwa¡¯s im that they had already finished searching wasn¡¯t just an empty boast; there was nothing new to find in the attacker''s private room. "Hmm?" But something was off about the window frame. Tap, tap. When I tapped the window frame, the stic rang out more sharply than it should have. "What''s the matter, Teacher?" "It seems there''s an empty space here." "What?" I slid the window to the side and started feeling around the frame. Soon, I found an artificially created "gap." "Let me use some aura." "Oh. Yes! It''s okay." Dark aura gathered at my fingertips. I ran my fingers along the gap in the window frame, and, sure enough, there it was. A hiddenpartment, which the attacker had carefully concealed, was revealed. I frowned as soon as I saw what was hidden in thatpartment. Cheon Yohwa, who peeked over my shoulder, also turned pale. Even the look on the face of a frontline soldier discovering a hole in the barbed wire at the DMZ would have been brighter than hers. ¡°¡This crazy bastard.¡± Cheon Yohwa muttered gloomily. The hidden item. It was a handgun. I immediately picked up the K5 pistol and fired it out the window. Bang! Bang! Bang! I fired repeatedly. The sound of gunfire echoed throughout Baekhwa High School until all 13 rounds were expended. From afar, I sensed other students beginning to panic, but there was no time to worry about that. "Whew." "Sigh..." Only after the loaded bullets were spent could we both let out a sigh of relief. And for good reason, this "anomaly" was truly dangerous. Dangerous enough that even Cheon Yohwa, the guild master of Baekhwa High School, and I, a regressor, tensed up for a moment. "Wow, I''m so d I called you, Teacher. If we''d left it alone, at least one person would have died, and if we were unlucky, up to 13 people could have died..." "I''m also d I came." That''s right. The reason firearms became useless in the post-apocalyptic era. No, it was beyond useless¡ªit became outright dangerous. All the firearms in this world, without a single exception, were haunted by a anomaly. [Chekhov''s Gun]. That was the name of the anomaly that had rendered every gun in the world into a worthless, dangerous relic. [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] Chapter 147 [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] Chapter 147 ©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤ Godyer II 3 Once upon a time, there was a Russian-born medical student, Anton Chekhov, who came from a humble background. Even back then, as it is now, Russia was a frozennd imbued with a strange power. The Homo sapiens of thatnd had DNA that made them burst with literary talent the more unfortunate their circumstances. Chekhov died young, at the age of 44, from an incurable disease. Possessing the trifecta of "Russia," "humble background," and "incurable disease," Chekhov traded his life span for an extraordinary literary gift. It was as if all the evil spirits of Russia whispered to him to be a writer. Through an extraordinary dark magic, Chekhov transformed into a great literary figure and said: -If you have a gun hanging on the wall in the first act, it must fire in thest. If it won''t, don''t bother hanging it there in the first ce. This is what¡¯s known as "Chekhov''s gun." Originally, Chekhov probably just meant to say, "So, writers, make sure to use your foreshadowing effectively." But as with all dark magic, Chekhov''s spell unintentionally caused ripple effects. For reference, Chekhov was active in Siberia, and the air masses formed in Siberia are infamous for striking the Korean Penins every winter. No matter how great a sorcerer, one cannot escape the forces of nature. Chekhov''s dark magic also rode the wind andnded in Korea. Let¡¯s consider a specific example. ¡°Hey, look at this! It¡¯s a gun! A gun!¡± ¡°Oh. It must have been dropped by a military unit. Good job finding it, Miro.¡± ¡°Hehe.¡± There was a happy couple in Seoul. Even in a world stained with strange urrences, the couple was living a sweet and romantic life. Then one day, they found a firearm and magazines that had been dropped by a military unit. The couple thought this was an unbelievable stroke of luck and decided to keep the weapon. And then... -Bang! In less than two weeks, one of them shot and killed the other. ¡°Ugh... Miro, why...?¡± ¡°Sorry. I just don¡¯t have the will to go on anymore. So let¡¯s die and be one.¡± ¡°No...¡± The couple who had been living a peaceful and happy life suddenly took a dark and tragic turn. And that wasn¡¯t even the worst of it. -Bang! Some families who found guns ended up being shot dead on the same night. Someone, possessed by something strange in the middle of the night, mistakenly thought they were under attack and ughtered their entire family. ¡°Aaaargh!¡± As dawn broke, the person who had "defended" against the "enemy" realized that all of the "enemies" were actually their family members. Ovee with despair, they took their own life. Of course, they used the gun. There were countless simr cases. -Anonymous: This survivalist group built a hideout near my town, and they gotpletely wiped outst night, lol. -Anonymous: It seems like they had a stockpile of guns, given the non-stop gunfire I heard all night. I got curious and approached their ce, but it was a madhouse¡ªyelling, screaming, total chaos. -Anonymous: They were all from the same hometown and seemed really tight-knit, but it looks like guns were all it took to tear them apart. Crazy stuff. Now, you might be starting to guess. That¡¯s right. The dark magic cast by the Russian author had affected all firearms. Every gun became haunted by the anomaly known as "Chekhov¡¯s gun." So, in this world, "if a gun exists," it must "go off at a crucial moment." To be more precise: Because a gun exists, a "crucial moment" is forcibly created. The death of a loving couple. The copse of a tightly-knit group. Regardless of the people or the events, if a gun exists, it inevitably creates a defining moment. Until when? Until the magazine runs out of bullets. It was a modern-day version of Paris''s Golden Apple. Wherever a gun existed, discord and tragedy would ensue. ¡°Hey? Hey? Put that gun down, will you?¡± ¡°Shut up! Why should I stay in the army when my family¡¯s all dead? I¡¯ll kill you all too!¡± Bang, bang, bang! The national army, which had once charged toward Seoul with the intent to seize a new throne on the Korean Penins, was annihted in an instant. Although the ultimate reason was that the "Lonely Gourmet" ughtered the army in a feast, Chekhov¡¯s gun dealt the final blow. ¡°No, if we start infighting now, the hope of our people will be wiped out...¡± ¡°Hope, my ass! Die! Just die!¡± ¡°Someone stop that bastard! Wait, what the hell? Why are you all loading your guns? Are you crazy?¡± In simple terms, the entire division erupted in a gunfight. Rumor has it that even the corpsmander was caught up in it and killed instantly. Fortunately, on the Korean Penins, firearms were mainly concentrated within military units, so only military strength was lost. The situation was far more severe in thend of a hundred trillion dors, i.e., the United States, where every household considered a shotgun an essential item. Less than a month after the arrival of the void, 50% of the American poption had died. If only they had known this would happen in advance, perhaps even the staunchest opponents of gun control might have reconsidered. And so... -[Three Thousand] Presiding Judge: This is an announcement to all guild members of the Three Thousand Worlds and all awakened individuals entering Busan. The possession of firearms is strictly prohibited in Busan. Any vition will result in... [Baekhwa] 13th Grade High School Student: A prohibited firearm has been found in Sejong City! There will be a public execution at the square in front of the government building around noon today! Pleasee and watch! ??;; Not just in North America, but across the Korean Penins¡ªindeed, throughout the entire world¡ªnations began to regte firearms fiercely. The crime of gun possession was nearly always punishable by death¡ª99% of the time. Owning a gun was considered worse thanmitting murder. This was understandable. Guns didn¡¯t just kill people; they sowed discord within groups and inevitably led to tragedy. In a way, the anomaly might have been more aptly named "Enforced Tragedy" rather than its original name, "Chekhov''s Gun." That was why, when Cheon Yohwa found a K5 pistol in her hideout, she muttered darkly, "This insane bastard." 4 ¡°And so.¡± We searched the entirety of Baekhwa High School. Fortunately, aside from the gun found under the window, there were no other firearms. ¡°Why did your guild member collect and hide a K5 pistol?¡± ¡°Um, we interrogated them and got a confession. The perpetrator had a crush on our school¡¯s vice president.¡± Cheon Yohwa sighed. ¡°But the vice president was dating someone else. That person was the victim of this incident...¡± ¡°A love triangle?¡± ¡°Well, yes...¡± Since it wasn¡¯t directly rted to me, I felt more like a detached observer. ¡°So, was the perpetrator nning to use the gun to kill the victim? Foolish. No matter what they did, they wouldn¡¯t have won the vice president¡¯s love.¡± ¡°Ah, it¡¯s a bit moreplicated than that.¡± Cheon Yohwa scratched her cheek. ¡°The perpetrator nned to use ¡®Chekhov¡¯s Gun¡¯ as a defense for their actions.¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°Their n was this: since our school, Baekhwa High, regrly sends students on expeditions to Seoul, they wanted to pretend they had found the gun by chance while out on the road.¡± Cheon Yohwa made a finger gun and mimed shooting it. ¡°And then, during a patrol, they¡¯d act as if they were possessed by ¡®Chekhov¡¯s Gun¡¯ and fired the gun impulsively... Bang!¡± ¡°...Acting?¡± ¡°Yes. They were going to stage it as if the victim died from a stray bullet.¡± ¡°Hah.¡± ¡°That way, they¡¯d still face repercussions, but they could use the excuse of being ¡®possessed by the anomaly¡¯ to exin their mistake. They figured they wouldn¡¯t be expelled or executed even if they were demoted to first grade. Kids these days are so cunning.¡± I was a bit taken aback. ¡°So, to sum it up, they nned to pretend they were possessed by an anomaly and use that as an excuse tomit murder?¡± ¡°Yes. It¡¯s really awful, isn¡¯t it?¡± My goodness. I¡¯d heard stories of people abandoning troublesome guild members during expeditions into the void, but it was rare to see someone so proactively try to use an anomaly as an alibi. Human malice truly knows no bounds... ¡°...?¡± That¡¯s when it hit me. The audacity of a student who tried to use "Chekhov¡¯s Gun" to their advantage gave me a sudden realization. Gun. Ruin. Gun. Exploit. Gun. Various words intertwined in my mind. ¡°Huh? Teacher? What¡¯s wrong all of a sudden?¡± ¡°...¡± ¡°Oh, you¡¯re deep in thought.¡± Cheon Yohwa busied herself with her tasks as if this were a familiar urrence. It took me about three minutes to organize my thoughts and fullye back to my senses. [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] During that time, Cheon Yohwa stood by my side like a guardian, as if she were standing watch over a colleague¡¯s meditation. ¡°Yohwa.¡± As soon as I opened my mouth, Cheon Yohwa smiled as if she had been waiting for this. Then she handed me a cup of tea, simply brewed with green tea leaves. ¡°Yes? You¡¯vee up with a good idea, haven¡¯t you?¡± ¡°Yes. If I y my cards right, I might obtain the most powerful weapon on the Korean Penins.¡± ¡°The most powerful weapon on the Korean Penins...?¡± Cheon Yohwa tilted her head in curiosity. I covered the tea cup with my palm and nodded. ¡°That¡¯s right. What do you think is the most powerful weapon on the Korean Penins?¡± ¡°Huh? Um... maybe North Korea¡¯s nuclear missiles?¡± ¡°They didn¡¯t even leave a scratch on the Ten ns and disappeared. Try thinking of a weapon that people can actually use.¡± ¡°Ah, then... the Four Tigers¡¯ Sword?¡± As expected of the student council president of a prestigious private school, she was well-versed in strange artifacts. For the record, Cheon Yohwa scored in the top tier (1st grade) in Korean, Math, English, and Korean History on the college entrance exam. You might wonder how they even held a college entrance exam in a world where the government had copsed, but, well, every November, anomalies and voids appear in Korea in the form of the "College Schstic Ability Test." The questions are bizarre, but Cheon Yohwa managed to achieve near-perfect scores. If you rummage through her bag, you¡¯d even find an "Honorary Seoul University Student ID." Anyway. ¡°That sword is quite powerful, but it¡¯s still weaker than my staff-sword. It hasn¡¯t created any real legends. In today¡¯s world, the most powerful weapon is one that has its own ¡®story¡¯ strong enough to cut down anomalies.¡± "Hmm... I don''t really get it. I¡¯m not very interested in weapons, but I wonder if such a weapon even exists in our country?" "There is one." I smiled. "Yohwa, have you ever heard of ''The Heart of the Beast''?" "What?" ¡®The Bullet That Killed a God.¡¯ A German-made Walther PPK pistol. Serial number 159270. The strongest treasure on the Korean Penins. The strike that pierced the heart of Yushin. That''s right. The gun that once assassinated the president was now calling out to me, the Doctor Jang, asking to be retrieved. 5 This might be surprising, but the gun responsible for the historic achievement of the ''Presidential Assassination'' was never enshrined in a museum. In fact, its whereabouts were entirely unknown. After the Director of the Central Intelligence Agencymitted the assassination, the gun was transferred to the Army Forensic Science Laboratory at the Ministry of National Defense. After the scientific analysis waspleted, it was sent to the Security Command, and from there, it was moved to the Army Headquarters. Finally, after the trial was concluded, it was returned to the Central Intelligence Agency, with the thought, "This gun belongs to another agency, so we should return it, right?" In South Korea, if an item passes through more than three government agencies, it essentially means that the ownership of that item is forever relinquished. The ¡®strongest treasure on the Korean Penins¡¯ was no exception. Naturally, the PPK pistol went missing. At the Central Intelligence Agency, they imed: - The Security Command confiscated it. While at the Security Command, they insisted: - We returned it to the Central Intelligence Agency ages ago. If this scenario sounds familiar, it''s not a coincidence. Public servants'' DNA is the same at the local or national level. But this isn''t just something tough about. Perhaps the public servants at that time instinctively felt fear in the presence of this cursed demonic sword¡ªno, demonic gun¡ªthat killed a god. It was an abomination that should not have existed on Earth. As mere mortals, they had to return it to the divine realm as quickly as possible. Yes, the public servants were ultimately correct. The best way to deal with a curse is to pretend the curse doesn''t exist. The South Korean government seeded in sealing away the cursed artifact in the most prudent manner. And now, I, the Doctor Jang, needed that artifact. Desperately. As soon as I parted ways with Cheon Yohwa, I headed north from Sejong City. And arrived in a certain district in Seoul. [¡Doctor Jang.] The saintess, who always passed the time by monitoring the CCTV she had installed on me, finally spoke up. ¡°Yes?¡± [Are you really thinking of going in there? I mean, this is the void you always warned me never to enter, right?] ¡°Yes. It''s true that you shouldn¡¯t go in, Saintess, but I¡¯ll be fine.¡± [¡¡.] I lightly ignored the saintess''s silence and looked up at the scene before me. In the background stood Seoul''s iconic Namsan Mountain. And of course, there was a building that had to be there if it was Namsan. The headquarters of the Central Intelligence Agency. Some might be more familiar with the name ''KCIA,'' the organization¡¯s base of operations. But now, it had fallen into a void. That¡¯s right. As I mentioned in a previous episode, the pinnacle and culmination of genre fiction, known as "Luck Hogging," hade to an end in our world. All thanks to that treacherous anomaly known as the "Law of the Conservation of Luck." But how could one mourn such a thing? After all, fried pork at a specialized Chinese restaurant is always tastier than a buffet. Even if we¡¯re banned from hogging all the dishes, we can still enjoy the best single entr¨¦e. Me, Doctor Jang. I pride myself as a gourmet second only to Tang Seorin and the Ten ns on the Korean Penins. ¡°Saintess, I¡¯m going to farm the treasure that killed a god today.¡± [¡¡.] ¡°Please watch over me.¡± Today, I¡¯m going to feast on the greatest fortune the Korean Penins has to offer. [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] Chapter 148 [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] Chapter 148 ©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤ Godyer III 6 Namsan Void. The eerie presence that had settled here was known as the Central Intelligence Agency, abbreviated as CIA. It could also be called the National Intelligence Service. If you preferred a title reminiscent of a relic from the Fate/Stay Night series, you could refer to it as [The Gun That Pierces the Heart of Dictatorial Power], or [The Holy Priests of Water Resisting Communism]. "This primitive country!" In the distant past, the Namsan Void was one that Old Scho despised the most. "I''m not amunist advocating for violent revolution, but a social democrat who advocates for gradual reform through parliamentary means! Ultimately, I seek to transition to exclusive party power by seizing parliamentary authority! Why am I beingbeled a Red!" There was a specific reason why Old Scho testified so vehemently about his ideology. -Get thatmie bastard! -Target is strongly resisting. -Director! The target is a foreigner; if something goes wrong, this could escte into a diplomatic incident! -Hey! Kim! Just because his hair color is different doesn¡¯t mean he''s not amie! So, is Stalin a freedom fighter then? Just capture him! Bang! Bang! Bang! Gunshots echoed around Old Scho. Indeed, the "Central Intelligence Agency" monsters lurking on Namsan would appear every chance they got to capture people with suspicious ideologies. In fact, this Central Intelligence Agency yed a role simr to goblins on the Korean Penins. No, in many ways, they were undoubtedly goblins. A. First of all, there were a lot of them. If you walked through the void, you could easily meet men whispering, "I''m actually a CIA agent" or "My rtive actually works at Namsan...". B. They kidnapped people, dragging them to undergroundirs, never to return. In the Namsan bunker, you could always hear the screams of people. C. If you let your guard down, thinking, "How strong could a mere goblin be?" you''d definitely get hit in the back of the head. The person most tormented by these CIA goblins was, without a doubt, Old Scho. The CIA goblins would suddenly appear and fire bullets at him whenever he was near Namsan or anywhere else. "Damn you, fucking bastards!" The German man shouted with a thick ent. If only he could have met Seo Gyu, they would have acknowledged each other as blood brothers, given the realm of sonic arts they shared. "I am a social democrat who affirms capitalism and liberal democracy!" What Old Scho had failed to consider was that in Korea, such nuanced ideological distinctions were not expected. At one time, the works of "Max Weber" werebeled as seditious because they were pronounced the same as "Karl Marx". Social democrats were nothing more thanmunists with slightly adjusted RGB values. Moreover, to the CIA monsters, "Germany" was, like Korea, a ce currently divided into West and East. From their perspective, Old Scho was undoubtedly an East German spy. Bang! In one episode, Old Scho actually died from a CIA gunshot. It was a death so monumental that it deserved the Darwin Award across all the timelines. It was extremely difficult for me to wait for our next reunion. After barely oveing the urge tomit suicide and going through the normal return process, I immediately rushed to find Old Scho. Old Scho knowing how embarrassing it was, was standing with his hands behind his back. I tried to approach and check out his face, but every time, Old Scho maintained his "hands behind his back" stance with amazing evasive maneuvers. The first thing Old Scho said then was this: "Embalmer, how? How could such a primitive nation exist? How?" As expected. Although he always shouted at me to stop being racist, deep down in his shadowy brain folds, the European imperialist ego, which looked down on Asia, was lurking. I knew it. "I assure you, back in your hometown, Nazi monsters would be dancing hand in hand with the Gestapo." "Send me back to my homnd immediately! I''ll show you what it means to untie the knot you tied!" "Well, if you want to witness World War I and World War II unfolding alternately in the Grand Void, I won¡¯t stop you¡" "Why is humanity so primitive!" A typical line uttered at the moment a revolutionary turns into a dictator. "They don''t arrest bald people, do they? Why don''t you just shave it all off?" "Shut up! No one can touch my hair!" Anyway, Namsan was a void that I had been familiar with for a very long time. I had followed Old Scho when he ground his teeth and went on the hunt. The strategies for dealing with it were gradually developed since then. Moreover, since the Saintess'' dwelling was located in Yongsan, I had to be thoroughly prepared for the safety of my key ally. Of course, the Saintess had no political inclinations. Imposing such a collective way of thinking on the Saintess was absurd. But the CIA agents from the 1960s to the 1980s were a bit old-fashioned in their thinking to understand the concept of a hikikomori. Someone who stayed cooped up in their house and was suspiciously obsessed with externalmunicationworks (= the Inte)? Didn¡¯t have a proper job? Clearly, a spy, right? [Last week, I was taking a walk while reading Kant. But a monster in human form approached and asked, "Miss, what''s the title of the book you''re reading?"] The Saintess once vented her frustration with a somewhat angry voice. [It seemed like it was the type of monster that couldmunicate, so I answered. It was Kant''s Critique of Pure Reason.] [But then it started questioning whether the book I read was seditious.] [Of course, I refuted.] [Marxism starts from a materialistic interpretation of Hegelian philosophy, and Hegel and Kant remain opposing philosophical currents even in modern times.] [Moreover, I support Schopenhauer''s philosophy. As is well known, Schopenhauer detested Hegel. How could I possibly side with Marxism?] [But the CIA agent didn''t understand my exnation at all.] [It was a very, very primitive monster.] "Hmm¡." In fact, it was an exnation difficult to understand even if it wasn¡¯t a monster. In any case, the Saintess almost got dragged off by the Namsan goblins a few times. She might have been kidnapped if she hadn''t possessed some of the most powerful abilities. In reality, many awakened beings and civilians were "bewitched" by these monsters. It was only natural that I wrote a strategy guide and uploaded it to SGNet for the sake of others. -Hey, you! You look suspicious. Unpack what you''re carrying. "I am American citizen." -What? The American passport! Through countless experiments, I discovered the most straightforward and cost-effective method. No matter how eager the Namsan monsters were to kidnap people indiscriminately, when you showed them a US passport, they suddenly became as docile as a bureaucrat encountering a superior. -Oh, um. I apologize, sir. Recently, many unsavoury incidents have been urring, so the higher-ups have ordered us to intensify searches. "Wow. Korea is still the frontline in the fight againstmunists. Very interesting." -Yes, sir. Please proceed with caution! The monsters who had been fiercely using Old Scho of being a Red instantly turned into polite gentlemen. It was the moment when American passports (forgery) became essential for everyone on the Korean Penins. By now, people were no longer startled when the Namsan Monster suddenly appeared nearby. They knew it would just disappear if they showed their passport and muttered a few words in broken English. However, this strategy was only a way to pass the Namsan Monster safely. If you wanted to defeat the Namsan Monsterpletely, you needed something a bit more substantial. "Stop!" Like I am right now, heading toward Namsan. "Who are you? Where did youe from?" "Take off your hat! This guy looks suspicious." [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] "Do you even know where you are? Hey, you punk! Raise your head!" All I had done was try to pass through the front gate, but hysterical reactions were flying my way. But from their perspective, it was natural. The fact that they didn¡¯t immediately open fire showed that the monsters were still maintaining their professional conduct. I was currently wearing my cap pulled down low. I must have looked highly suspicious to the monsters. "Move, and I''ll shoot!" "Raise your hands! Raise your hands, you bastard!" Click. The monsters aimed their guns at me. I calmly raised both hands. And just as the monsters were about to sigh in relief¨D¨D I took off my cap. "Gasp...?" My head shone brightly. Yes. This was actually an incident that urred in the 592nd turn. The curse left behind by the Monkey''s Paw after squeezing out itsst bit of power. The aftereffects of the spell remained valid beyond the 591st turn, into the 592nd turn. There wasn''t a trace of the past when I had roamed the jungle, shrieking "Ook! Ook!" like a monkey, on my head, which had been swept by acute baldness. Seeing my radiant head, the monsters murmured. "L-Leader?" I lowered my voice with a solemn tone. "Company, stand at ease." -...! The Namsan monsters hurriedly put away their guns and saluted. I red at them as if even that was bothersome. Drip. Sweat rolled down the sides of the monsters'' heads. "Carry on." "Yes, sir!" The monsters shouted enthusiastically, grateful that I had passed them by safely. This was the true strategy. If I had a ''bald head'' and precisely ''290,000 won in cash'' in my possession, it was possible to wander around Namsan''s void with a free pass. It seemed simple, but it was actually a method discovered through the coincidence of multiple coincidences. In a post-apocalyptic world, a human carrying as much as 290,000 won in cash was extremely rare. The fact that it happened to be me, who was bald and also approaching Namsan''s void, made the odds even lower. An insanely improbable chance! Moreover, after multiple checks, it was confirmed that the only people who could trigger this strategy were Noh Doha and me. Perhaps it only worked because I was implicitly recognised as a ''ruler of the Korean Penins.'' I leisurely headed towards the heart of the void as if I were on a stroll. No one could stop me. [So, Doctor Jang... does that mean you''ve intentionally carried exactly 290,000 won in cash to Namsan in the past?] "Yes." [How did that even happen?] "Saintess. After looping about 590 times, you develop a habit of trying many different things." [How did that even happen?] The Saintess, being someone with a philosophical nature, pursued infinite inquiry. But the real issue was to change the world, so I moved forward like a rhinoceros'' horn. "L-Leader!" "Leader!" "Carry on." Namsan monsters jumped out from everywhere within the void, but each time they caught sight of my beautiful head, they pledged their loyalty. Now, only the final boss of this ce, the ''Central Intelligence Chief,'' remained. This Central Intelligence Chief was a monster with considerable power. If I followed the normal route, even I wouldn''t be able to defeat him easily. Moreover, in this Namsan void, the KCIA, ANSP, and Anti-Communist Bureau ovepped. Naturally, their boss, the ''Central Intelligence Chief,'' possessed powers that far surpassed actual history. But it was meaningless. "Krrraaaah! You, you bastard!" Ssssshhh. The Central Intelligence Chief melted away like meat in a bone broth the moment he saw my bald head. Just as sand was deadly to Hannibal in Africa and snowmen were to Napoleon in Russia, a ¡®bald head'' for the Central Intelligence Chief was an insurmountable weakness. It was a good example of the truth that matchups always matter for monsters. Indeed, even in a post-apocalyptic world, being bald had its advantages. [The Namsan void was dealt with so easily...] "Knowledge is power in today''s world, Saintess." In the remains of the Central Intelligence Chief, which had melted away like slime, I found the item I had been searching for throughout this entire episode. I bent over and grabbed ''that gun.'' The strongest weapon on the Korean Penins. A German-made Walther PPK pistol. "Ahh." This cool yet heavy sensation. I couldn¡¯t hold back myughter. "I''m relieved. Although I defeated this monster in the past, I never paid attention to the pistol back then. It would have been troublesome to get obsessed with Chekhov''s gun." [...] "But now, I finally have a use for it." You¡¯ve waited long enough. Finally, all the conditions have been met. Since the 135th turn, when the world was destroyed by the ''Logout Game,'' there hasn¡¯t been a single time when I didn¡¯t think about how to kill that outer god. The Zero Requiem project, which aims to awaken Sim Aryeon''s abilities. The method for using the Luck, revealed through dangerous experiments. And finally, the Walther PPK pistol, proven to be obtainable here. All of this was part of the groundwork and stealthy preparations of a regressor to defeat the outer god. So, there is no epilogue today. Comrades. From now on, we will kill a god. -God yer. The End. [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] Chapter 149 [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] Chapter 149 ©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤ Strategist I 1 It''s the 593rd turn. After pulling out Oh Dokseo from the Busan Station Tutorial Dungeon, I immediately formed an alliance with the Saintess andunched the operation. Today''s enemy was none other than the Outer God. There was no time to waste. "I''m sorry. Normally, I would have put in a lot of effort to form a stronger rapport with you, Oh Dokseo. But this time, I have to hurry a bit." "Oh, uh... okay..." Oh Dokseo''s reaction was somewhat reluctant. Of course, it was. If a normal person realized that "a regressor in a novel has possessed a book and knows everything about them," they couldn''t help but feel a bit of fear. A world shattered by anomalies. The realization that the situation was something they had read about in a novel not long ago, and the resulting confidence. But that confidence crumbled immediately the moment the tutorial started, all because of me. Oh Dokseo was almost unable to take advantage of the benefits of ¡®Previous Knowledge¡¯. How could they not feel uneasy? Oh Dokseo exhibited leadership when dealing with people she consideredplete strangers. But with acquaintances she deemed close, she went so far as to reveal her weaknesses, to the point of being excessive. A child carrying a mental imbnce. And I was existing on the delicate scale of Oh Dokseo''s twisted bnce, with a presence that was neither a total stranger nor yet someone they were truly close to¡ª''a character from a work of fiction.'' Instead of forming a bond while leisurely clearing the tutorial, I had practically dragged her out of the Busan Station Dungeon. "So, um... Doctor Jang?" "You can just call me Mister." "No, but calling you Mister when we''ve just met is a bit... You''re not old enough to be called Mister yet... Anyway, why did you bring me here?" My heart stung just a little bit. It was something I was used to. "Oh Dokseo, have you ever heard of the genre called Speedrun?" "Huh? Speedrun?" Most people y games for enjoyment. But there are also people in this world who love speed itself. The "ppalli-ppalli" (hurry-hurry) mentality deeply rooted in the DNA of Koreans is somethingmonly found worldwide, at least in the context of gaming. - A little faster. - Clear it quicker than anyone else! Speedrun. Also known as RTA (Real-Time Attack). A type of y where clearing the game as quickly as possible is the ultimate goal. Sometimes, this involves using glitches in the game to shorten the time. For example, in my case, making the "Hate Pill" and "Savior" anomalies collide was a kind of glitch y. Countless gamers go through repeated failures just for a single speedrun record, striving to achieve the title of "the fastest yer in the world." I''m no different. "Oh¡ª" Oh Dokseo looked up as if recalling something. "Now that you mention it, I think I''ve seen a video of something like that on YouTube. An American cleared themunity center achievement in Stardew Valley in just two hours... yeah." "Exactly." I pulled out myptop. "In this world, there is an anomaly on the level of a Outer God called ''The Logout Game.''" And then I exined. As concisely as possible. Yet, in a way that was tailored to Oh Dokseo, using words and sentences that would allow her to fully understand what kind of anomaly "The Logout Game" was. This exnation method was perfected after several trials and errors. Oh Dokseo was shocked multiple times, saying things like "What?" and "No way¡ªhow could such an anomaly exist?" But within ten minutes, she had a rtively clear understanding of the situation. Oh Dokseo looked down at theptop on the table. "So, thisptop is...?" "An item left to me by the Outer God. It''s a perk given to the yer who kept struggling until the moment the server was about to shut down. And it''s also the only clue that can defeat ''The Logout Game.''" Click. I opened the notepad, the only program installed on theptop. From the 135th turn, where [The Admin of All-y] first destroyed the world, to the current 593rd turn, the text in the notepad had never changed. [W h a t i s t h i s w o r l d?] A simple sentence. But not an easy question. Oh Dokseo furrowed their brow. "What is this world...? What''s this supposed to mean?" "It''s a battle to take control of our world." "What?" "Listen carefully. That Outer God defined this world as a ''game.'' anomalies on the level of Outer Gods each have their own way of defining the world." I spoke calmly. "If you want to define the world, you need power to back it up. [The Admin of All-y] introduced numerous features like status windows, leveling up, and a logout system to prove that this world is a game." "Ah..." "Thanks to these mechanisms, people finally ept and understand that ''this world is a game.'' I describe this as ''being possessed by an anomaly.''" In the Magical Girl Alliance, they referred to the same phenomenon as kamikakushi. "In other words, anomalies can never deny the mechanisms they create. The moment they abandon them, the magic that ensnares people disappears." "Oh... I think I''m starting to get it...?" "[The Admin of All-y] defined themselves as a game operator. So, they can only perform actions that are permitted to a game operator." For instance, why was Sim Aryeon able to resist the ''Logout Game,'' even when individuals with extraordinary mental strength, like the Saintess of Noh Doha, were easily ''logged out''? Why was Sim Aryeon the exception among us? The reason was simple. - Huh, reality? Enduring time? You think you''re so happy right now that you don''t need the inte? Are you stupid? Guild Leader, are you really that stupid? - Here, inside this smartphone screen, is reality! This is the truth! Sim Aryeon didn¡¯t treat the ''Logout Game'' as a mere game. Just as she fully immersed herself in SGNet activities, Sim Aryeon also fully immersed herself in the ''Logout Game,'' which had turned the world into a void. For Sim Aryeon, quitting SGNet was impossible. Even in the utopia of Busan created by Tang Seorin, Sim Aryeon never stopped participating in themunity until the very end. Simrly, if Sim Aryeon started ying a game, quitting that game would also be impossible. For her, such an act would be tantamount to dying in the real world. ¨D¨DTherefore, [The Admin of All-y] could not eliminate Sim Aryeon. It was impossible to forcibly delete the ount of a user who was so deeply immersed in their game without any justification or reason. As with all anomalies, the Outer Gods always had weaknesses. "I am the one who denied until the end that this world is a game." "You, Doctor Jang?" "...Yes. Though it''s not the best analogy, from [The Admin of All-y]''s perspective, you could say I''m the malicious critic who bombarded their game with one-star reviews, calling it a terrible and boring game." To a Outer God, I was an enemy they desperately wanted to eliminate. So, that anomaly responded with, "Well, why don''t you try making your own game, then?" The meaning of the text in the notepad file on theptop was precisely this. "[If this world is not a game, then what is it?] To be precise, the Outer God is asking me this question." "Ohhhh..." Oh Dokseo''s eyes sparkled with curiosity. I wanted to use the [Mind Reading] function to gauge Oh Dokseo''s thoughts, but I restrained myself. I had promised long ago never to do that again. "The showdown between the Outer God and me is simple. If I type [This world is a game], I lose. It would be like waving a white g and surrendering." "And the victory condition?" "I have toe up with an answer that the Outer God can ept¡ªno, an answer they cannot help but ept." And. So far, I had failed to provide this "correct answer" on theptop. [I This world is a material reality.] [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] [I This world is endlessly repeating.] [I This world is devoid of anomalies.] And so on. I had tried various answers, but the Outer God did not ept any of them as correct. There was no discernible change. Simply forcing my wishes through strength had no meaning. Just as I resisted the ''Logout Game,'' the Outer God could resist the ''Regressor.'' Neither of us was strong enough to impose our will on the other, but we were strong enough not to be unterally forced by the other. A stalemate. A tie. A deadlock. "But Oh Dokseo, your appearance has given me hope." "Huh?" Oh Dokseo was startled. "M-Me?" "Yes. I am a regressor, and you are akin to a book-bound soul. Both of us upy an ''exceptional position'' in creative works. In other words, we are close to being the protagonists. Even if we''re not, we hold roles significant enough to be treated as main characters." "...." "That''s why this kind of trick bes possible." Click, click. I tapped the keys on theptop. The ck wave of letters spread across the white notepad file. [This world is a ''speedrun'' game live stream.] Oh Dokseo muttered dazedly. "A speedrun game live stream...?" "You mentioned watching something simr on YouTube, so it should be easy to understand." I pointed at Oh Dokseo. "Oh Dokseo, you are this game''s ''protagonist'' character." And then I pointed at myself. "I am the ''yer'' controlling the protagonist character, you, through theputer." "...." "Character and yer. Sometimes they''re considered one, but strictly speaking, they''re always separate. However, both are treated as ''exceptional beings'' within the game world." "I''m the protagonist. And... you''re the yer controlling me." "Exactly." I nodded. "The Outer God defined this world as a ''world within a game, where only characters exist.'' That''s why people easily logged out. They were possessed by the anomaly, believing that this wasn¡¯t the death of their actual selves as yers, but merely logging out as characters." "......" "We need to directly refute the Outer God''s strategy. Both you, the character Oh Dokseo, and I, the yer, must coexist. In other words, this world isn¡¯t just a ce where only ''logged-in'' characters exist¨D¨D." "...but a world where yers, real human beings who can ''log out'' at any time, also exist. The coexistence of characters and yers. You''re trying to define the world that way, right?" I smiled. "You catch on quickly. Exactly." I showed the picture I had prepared in advance. "Whether viewed on aputer monitor or a smartphone screen, a ''game live stream'' usually looks something like this." The picture could be summarized like this: ¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D [Game Screen] [Game Screen] [Streamer¡¯s Face] [Game Screen] [Streamer¡¯s Face] ¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D A formatmonly seen on YouTube. "The streamer¡¯s face and upper body usually appear in the bottom right or left corner, while the rest of the screen shows the game being yed." "Right." "Naturally, the streamer represents the yer. The characters on the game screen are just that, characters. But the crucial point is that ''in the format of a game live stream, characters and yers coexist.''" "......" "If we define this world as a game like the Outer God does, there''s no way to resist being logged out. But, if we seed in defining it not as a ''game'' but as a ''game live stream''... we can neutralize the Outer God." I folded the picture. "This format should be familiar even to someone like you, who mainly reads novels. ''Constetion-based stories'' often follow this format." "...Yeah. The Omniscient Regressors Viewpoint was also a constetion story." "So, what do you think, Oh Dokseo? Would you join me in taking down [The Admin of All-y]?" I extended my hand. Before Oh Dokseo could reflexively reach out to grab my hand, I said something that needed to be said first. "It won¡¯t be an easy fight." "......" "You¡¯ll have to follow my directions, Oh Dokseo. The tasks I give you will be quite difficult. There will be frightening and disgusting things aplenty. Fighting against the Outer God will be truly, truly tough." Oh Dokseo remained silent. "Still, this is... the best scenario you coulde up with, right?" "...As of now." "Then, I¡¯ll trust you." Oh Dokseo took my hand. "Let¡¯s clear this crappy game together." "......" I slowly nodded. At that moment: [The fastest speedrun in the world. Let¡¯s begin.] Oh Dokseo flinched, blinking and looking around with a "Huh? Huh?" But there was no one around us. A highly unemotional voice. Of course, it was the Saintess¡¯s telepathy. [The game I¡¯m attempting this time is called the ''Logout Game.'' It¡¯s a game created by a strangepany called The Admin of All-y.] But I hadn¡¯t arranged for Oh Dokseo to meet the Saintess on purpose. In this 593rd turn, the Omniscient Regressors Viewpoint that Oh Dokseo had read hadn¡¯t progressed to the point where they met the Saintess. So, to Oh Dokseo, the voice in their ear must have genuinely sounded like ''a constetion narrating a game live stream.'' "Uh, um- Mister, what is this...?" I smiled. "I told you, didn¡¯t I?" [This game has many issues, but that doesn¡¯t mean I can¡¯t achieve the fastest clear.] "We¡¯re in the middle of a game live stream." [And among them, the character named Oh Dokseo, with the trait of ''Book Possession,'' may not have exceptional stats right now, but they have tremendous potential. Perfect for a speedrun.] "Oh Dokseo, I¡¯ve done a lot of preparation for this turn." The Saintess''s voice flowed softly. [Logout Game Speedrun.] [Now, let¡¯s get started.] [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] Chapter 150 [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] Chapter 150 ©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤ Strategist II 2 [Let''s take the quickest route first.] The saintess''s ''broadcast'' voice echoed. For reference, the saintess wasn''t in Seoul but was hiding nearby. Right after forming an alliance with her, I carried her on my back and brought her along. [The most efficient route is to go from Busan to Jeju Ind, and then from Jeju Ind to Japan.] The saintess was hiding from the views of Oh Dokseo, and read the script exactly as I dictated. I kept moving my lips discreetly so Oh Dokseo wouldn¡¯t notice. At this point, the saintess used [Time Stop] to decipher my lip movements painstakingly. Script: Doctor Jang. Voice: The Saintess. In a way, this was a bit more of a ssic broadcast than an inte stream. It was more akin to how producers and writers create programs based on a pre-written script. Through the saintess''s voice, and through my script, we directed Oh Dokseo. [The first hurdle here is securing a ferry from Busan to Jeju Ind. This is the main problem.] [At this point, the Anomalies of the Censorship Bureau haven''t yet been generated, and even if they were, Jeju Ind is part of Korea, so we can''t use it.] [If your aura was sufficiently advanced, you could demonstrate the level-crossing technique, but it¡¯s still very early in the game. It¡¯s too difficult to demand such a high-level skill from a character.] [To level up that much, you''d have to spend over 10 years just on the Korean Penins.] [But don¡¯t worry.] [In a speedrun, worrying about a safe ferry is a luxury. A reversal of thought: instead of taking the ferry, just ''drift'' to Jeju Ind. Simple, right?] "What?" Oh Dokseo was startled. But the character yed by Oh Dokseo had no free will. [Now, if you follow this path, you''ll find a library in Yeongdo. It''s partially destroyed, but the Yeongdo Library is still standing.] [If you go to the location I direct you to, you''ll find a book called The Journal of Hamel''s Drift.] [Put that book in your backpack and then jump into the sea.] ¡°What?¡± Oh Dokseo looked around. But they wouldn¡¯t have been able to find me. I was hiding in the shadows of the ruins, quite far away, watching Oh Dokseo. The saintess (me) murmured quietly. [Jump. Into the sea.] ¡°¡¡.¡± [There''s a life jacket and a wooden board nearby. Equip them and jump.] ¡°¡Aaaah!¡± Ssh. The sea off Busan swallowed up the so-called book-possessed person. ¡°Haaah! Cold, cold! So freaking cold!¡± [The character is whining about something. Let¡¯s just lightly ignore it.] [Some viewers might already know, but Hamel was originally Dutch and was trying to go to Japan before his ship was wrecked.] [And he drifted to Jeju Ind following the ocean currents. Since our final destination is also Japan, in many ways, we''re simr to Hamel.] "Hieeek! It''s shaking! It''s shaking! Aah! Water! Water¡¯sing in!" [There¡¯s a reason why I chose the ''book-possessor'' Oh Dokseo for this ythrough. Oh Dokseo has red hair.] [In the past, Koreans referred to Westerners as ''Hongmo-gui'' (Red-Haired Devils). It meant their hair and beards were bright red.] ¡°Aah-! Aah! Pa, ha! Save me! I''m gonna die! Sir! Hieek! I¡¯m really going to die!¡± [Don''t worry.] [Oh Dokseo¡¯s personal color was practically made to be a Hongmo-gui.] [And since you''ve even packed The Journal of Hamel''s Drift in your backpack, the energy of the entire ocean will help guide you to Jeju Ind.] [Based on the countless ythroughs I''ve tested, the chances of Oh Dokseo safely drifting to Jeju Ind in the very early stages are a whopping 81%.] ¡°What? Wait a minute! Then what about the other 19%¨D¨D Huaaak! The waves! The waves! Hyaaah?¡± Oh Dokseo screamed. I leisurely walked on the water, following Oh Dokseo from a distance. I was ready to save them if things went south, but with that much fear, tsk, tsk. After a while, Oh Dokseo was washed ashore and copsed onto the beach. Jeju Ind,nding sessful. ¡°Ugh, urgh¡¡. Hieek¡¡.¡± [Ah. As expected. It only took 31 minutes and 14 seconds to reach Jeju Ind.] [In this game, the sea is far more dangerous thannd. There are even deep-sea Anomalies that haven''t been properly conquered which is why I created this strategy.] [But as you can see, even a beginner who has just cleared the tutorial can easily cross the sea if they utilize their character''s traits and items. Quite simple, right?] "Simple, my ass, ugh, uweeek!" [We don''t have time to waste. Let''s take a brief rest and then move immediately.] ¡°Hng, I don¡¯t want to do this anymore¡¡¡± While Oh Dokseo suffered from seasickness, I quickly ran to Seongsan Ilchulbong and picked up the ''Monkey''s Paw.'' A dangerous object that once made Kuro sick and even put me, Doctor Jang, in a precarious situation. To be precise, it threatened my hair roots. When I realized that even Sim Aryeon''s healing abilities couldn''t cure baldness, my head spun. Though it was a troublesome anomaly in many ways, the ''Total Luck Theory'' in this excluded expedition was the key item to clear the challenge. It was something I had to secure here. [Did you know?] [After arriving in Jeju Ind and being captured by Joseon, Hamel finally seeded in escaping after 13 years.] [The ce he fled to after escaping Joseon was none other than Japan, just like our destination.] [So originally, you would have to wait a whopping 13 years for the cooldown of Hamel''s Drift to reset¡] [But as you all know, the game ''Log Out'' is a buggy mess. Naturally, there are exploits.] Thunk. I secretly handed a piece of charcoal to Oh Dokseo. Oh Dokseo, still suffering from seasickness, was too distracted to notice. "Huh...? A pencil lead? What am I supposed to do with this?" [In the past, prisoners would mark the days on the walls to count how long they had been imprisoned.] [Right now, Oh Dokseo is upying the position of ''A person detained in Joseon.'' Therefore, let''s enter a room surrounded by walls on all sides.] Oh Dokseo entered a ruined house. This house was also a ce I had scouted beforehand. She descended into the basement without windows, locked the basement door, and began writing on the wall with the charcoal. ÕýÕýÕýÕýÕýÕýÕýÕýÕýÕý ÕýÕýÕýÕýÕýÕýÕýÕýÕýÕý ÕýÕýÕýÕýÕýÕýÕýÕýÕýÕý ÕýÕýÕýÕýÕýÕýÕýÕýÕýÕý ÕýÕýÕýÕýÕýÕýÕýÕýÕýÕý The saintess''s voice flowed. [The period Hamel was detained was about 13 years. There''s no need to ount for leap years here.] [365 days times 13. 4,745. Now, divide this by 5, and you get 949.] [In this enclosed ''prison'' space, if you write the character ''Õý'' (which means ''correct'') 949 times¡ª] Before long, the charcoal snapped. Oh Dokseo had finished drawing the lines on the wall. Her fingers, which had been gripping the charcoal, were now ckened with dirt. "I-I did it¡." [Very good. Now, Hamel''s Drift will recognize that Oh Dokseo has spent 13 years in captivity.] "Wow¡ How did you even figure out this exploit?" [It''s an exploit that only works for traveling to Jeju or Japan. If your aura is strong enough, there''s no need to use it.] [But right now, this is the fastest method.] As we left the house, a small boat, which hadn''t been there before,y tired on the beach. "Eek. I don''t know how to row, is that okay?" [It''s fine. No matter what, this boat will safely reach Japan.] "This is so¡ unsettling¡." Oh Dokseo boarded the boat and safelynded in Japan. Of course, ''safely'' here means she arrived with all his limbs intact. "Ugh¡ I''m never¡ I really never want to get on a boat again¡." [Arrival in Japan in 59 minutes.] "Never¡ again¡." [Now, let''s farm the ''Hate Pill.''] The saintess lightly dismissed Oh Dokseo''s despair. For the record, only Oh Dokseo was unaware, but the saintess hadfortably crossed the strait on my back. The saintess''s [irvoyance] had a range limit of 1,000 kilometers. To provide Oh Dokseo with stable navigation guidance, the saintess also had to move a certain distance. [''Hate Pill'' can be found throughout the Japanese archipgo.] [The closest area is Sasebo City in Nagasaki Prefecture.] [Here, on the coast of this city, there is a naval port. Not a human naval port, but an anomaly''s naval port¡ªthis entire area is void.] [However, following my guidance, you can safely reach the headquarters. Trust me.] Along the way, anomalies that tried to discover and eliminate Oh Dokseo appeared, but I quietly dealt with those minor nuisances. Oh Dokseo safely reached themand room. And the moment she opened the door. "Hick!" Oh Dokseo gasped at the scene inside the room. "W-What is this¡?" The saintess and I both spoke calmly. [This is the fate of protagonists in dark-themed stories who have ended their lives.] [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] Inside themand room, dozens or even hundreds of dolls hung from the ceiling, with nooses around their necks. Some were dressed as white-coated admirals, others in medieval knight armor, and still others in the suits of entertainment industry professionals. They were anomalies of the beings who were once called ''Commanders,'' ''Knights,'' ''Producers,'' ''Commanders,'' ''CEOs,'' ''Teachers,'' ''Trainers,'' and so on in various games. This was a ce I had learned about back in the 590th turn through the Magical Girl Association. Dangling¡ª The doll-like anomalies swayed right in front of Oh Dokseo''s face. "Heeek!" [All of them took the ''Hate Pill,'' and unable to endure the hatred of those around them, they died.] "Scary¡ This ce is so scary¡!" [Ah, but don''t worry, they''re not real humans. They are nothing more than manifestations of anomalies derived from fictional works and parodies.] [Since they are already considered dead, they can''t really affect living humans. Now, let''s approach the nearest doll and open its mouth.] "Its¡ mouth? You want me to open that thing''s mouth?" [Go on.] "Ugh¡" Oh Dokseo, on the verge of tears, opened the doll''s mouth. While hidden in the shadows, I also opened another doll''s mouth. Inside the mannequin''s mouth. On its tonguey a bright red pill. The inside of the mannequin''s mouth. A bright red pill rested on its tongue. It was the "Hate Pill." I farmed two of those pills. I held one in my hand and handed the other to the saintess. [Now, let''s take the pills.] Gulp. Oh Dokseo, the saintess, and I¡ªthree of us¡ªswallowed the "Hate Pill" at the exact same moment. Without dy, I pulled out the monkey¡¯s paw from my pocket. I had brought this eerie item from Jeju Ind just for this moment. I whispered softly to the hairy hand. ¡°Monkey¡¯s paw, monkey¡¯s paw. Grant me my wish.¡± -¡¡ The monkey¡¯s paw trembled. The wish I whispered was this: ¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D 1. Oh Dokseo, the saintess, and I (hereafter referred to as "we") will be gued by all kinds of "misfortune." Specifically, everyone we meet wille to hate us. 2. The misfortune that befalls us will be confined as much as possible to us alone. In other words, others around us will not get caught up in it. 3. The reaction to our "misfortune"¡ªthat is, "fortune"¡ªwill only manifest when we desire it. ¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D Twitch! The monkey¡¯s paw twisted. -U, kki-gik, gik. The monkey¡¯s paw¡¯s response was eerie. Its hair stood on end, as if it couldn''t believe a mere human would make such a wish. Indeed. This was the "proper utilization of the luck quota system" I had arrived at after various experiments. It may sound paradoxical, but you shouldn''t wish for good fortune from the monkey''s paw, like winning the lottery. Quite the opposite, in fact. -From now on, let all the lottery tickets I purchase be losers. Misfortune. One by one, I collect and umte misfortunes that I can bear, misfortunes that are almost to be expected. What happens then? The more misfortunes you endure, the more the "luck quota system" will have to work to bring you an equivalent amount of good luck. And someday, at a truly critical moment, all your umted misfortune will be reversed into luck. If the monkey¡¯s paw were to exert all its effort to bring misfortune to the wisher¨D¨D. Then, right from the start, you could use that very bacsh, ensuring that it would eventually have no choice but to bring you good luck. -Ukke-kki-gik, gik, hik, kkigik. Twitch, twitch, twitch! The monkey¡¯s paw convulsed as if trying to resist my wish, but it was futile. The eerie item could not deny its own nature. So, it had no choice but to submit to a madman who wished for "misfortune" rather than "luck." For a being that had lost its essence, only the annihtion of its existence remained. -Kkigikikik¡¡. Ssshh. In the end, the monkey¡¯s paw vanished into thin air. My wish had been granted. And at that very moment. [¡Ah.] The saintess let out a small gasp. It was a sound that only I could hear, not Oh Dokseo¡ªa one-on-one conversation. [Indeed¡¡. To think you could manipte human emotions like this.] ¡°How does it feel, mydy? Are you starting to find me repulsive?¡± [¡Yes. It might have been difficult to bear if I hadn''t been forewarned.] The saintess steadied her breath. The saintess¡¯s affection for me wasn¡¯t particrly high at this early point in the journey. Naturally, even if the "Hate Pill" reversed her affection, the impact wouldn''t be significant. As someone with strong mental fortitude, the saintess could endure it. But what about others? From now on, everyone we meet will inexplicably feel a growing dislike toward us. That dislike will continue to grow. They will subtly obstruct our path, try to undermine us, and constantly belittle our achievements. Happy days will not be in our future. As time goes on, misfortunes will inevitably umte for Oh Dokseo and me. [¡Now then, by taking the Hate Pill, the difficulty of this game has just skyrocketed.] [But by raising the difficulty ourselves, we¡¯ve secured an absolute moment of fortune. And we get to decide when that fortune will strike.] Yes. From this moment on, Oh Dokseo, the saintess, and I¡ªthe game''s characters, yers, and streamers¡ªwill move as one, with three personas but a single mind. We will endure the misfortunes together. We will store the weight of the misfortunes. And when the most decisive moment arrives, when that despicable [Game Master of the All-Seeing Game] shows up¨D¨D. [At that moment, we will convert all our misfortune into fortune.] ¡°¡¡¡± Oh Dokseo swallowed hard. The saintess and I exchanged a silent nce in the darkness beyond her sight. [This is the strategy to kill a god.] [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] Chapter 151 [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] Chapter 151 ©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤ Strategist III 3 This world is not a game. There¡¯s no such thing as progressing through a scenario like a game, where mid-bosses, final bosses, and the hidden mastermind all conveniently show up one after another. The monsters must have been greatly inspired by the Joseon Dynasty¡¯s King Seonjo war genius. When the daimyo born in Japan, thend of ssic RPGs, bragged, ¡°Yoshi! Cleared the boss stage in Hanyang!¡± ¡°Wow, that no-hit clear at Tan-geumdae was amazing, wasn¡¯t it?¡± ¡°Sessfully speedran the Imjin War!¡±¡ªKing Seonjo coldly reminded them that the world was not a JRPG. Retreat. Hide. Wait. Indeed, why foolishly reveal yourself in front of the enemy? If you just stay hidden until the end, you can even erase the possibility of defeat. The monsters also don¡¯t unt their power needlessly. Especially if they are an outer god, it¡¯s extremely rare for them to show their true face before insignificant humans. Just look at Endless Hell. Endless Hell, coiled up on the 4th basement floor of Baekhwa High School, had set up a barrier that made it impossible to approach through conventional means, and tried to rule the world by dispatching only ¡°colonial army tutorial fairies.¡± And yet, Endless Hell was merely the weakest among the outer gods. [The Admin of All-y] took it even further. ¡°This guy is essentially the stealthiest of the stealthy.¡± I said to Oh Dokseo. ¡°Status windows, experience point systems, damage indicators, leveling up, gamingmunities. It¡¯s only after these systems havepletely infected Earth, and even then, only after hundreds of years, at the moment of ¡®server shutdown,¡¯ that it finally shows its face.¡± ¡°Wow, that¡¯s seriously tough¡¡± It was midnight. We had paused our speedrun livestream for a short break to regroup. [......] Oh, by the way, while Oh Dokseo and I were talking, the Saintess was still hiding nearby. An awkward atmosphere hung between us. Of course, it was expected. After taking the "Hate Pill" drug, I felt a strong dislike for Oh Dokseo, and Oh Dokseo felt the same toward me. At best, Oh Dokseo probably only felt a slight distaste. After all, there were few events that could have built a liking for me in the first ce. But for me, it was different. ¡®¡I feel murderous intent.¡¯ I wanted to kill her. I wanted to tear her limb from limb. I wanted to annihte her existence. My hand twitched. Just watching Oh Dokseo yawn and stretch her neck made me want to draw my staff-sword and slice her in half. Even without trying, dozens of methods to cripple Oh Dokseo, who imed to be a book-possessing person, came to mind. It was the result of the goodwill I had shown her suddenly turning into hatred. ¡®Is this the feeling that the Tang Seorin or the Yohwa had toward me in the 590th turn?¡¯ I suddenly felt sorry for what I had done to them. But I could endure it. No matter how much the ¡°Hate Pill¡± drug manipted my emotions, it couldn¡¯t distort my memories. I remembered clearly what kind of kid Oh Dokseo was. Hundreds of years of memories were standing firm within me like a fortress. Thus, I buried my endless murderous intent toward Oh Dokseo with my memories. ¡°¡Doctor Jang, are you okay?¡± ¡°Hmm.¡± ¡°You seem to be struggling with something.¡± I flinched. Despite my best efforts to contain my emotions, a tiny shard of murderous intent must have leaked out. Even that was enough to make Oh Dokseo shrink back and watch me cautiously. ¡°Don¡¯t worry. Anyway, if we don¡¯t take any action, the status window monster will appear between the 5th and 6th years.¡± ¡°Huh? Wait, Doctor Jang. If it¡¯s already been 5 years, isn¡¯t that toote for a speedrun?¡± ¡°Exactly. We need to bring the logout game to the surface ourselves. That¡¯s why I brought you to Japan.¡± ¡°¡¡?¡± After getting enough rest, we resumed our speedrun broadcast the next day. [All outer god-level monsters have their own territories.] [Among them, ¡®The Admin of All-y¡¯ influences games and creative works in general.] [This is evident just by looking at the monsters under ¡®The Admin of All-y¡¯: Hero Syndrome, Salvation Narrative Syndrome, Reincarnation Truck, Chekhov¡¯s Gun. They are all rted to creative works.] ¡°Heh.¡± Oh Dokseo mumbled as she tied her shoces. ¡°So that¡¯s why we¡¯re doing this as a speedrun broadcast? Because ¡®broadcasting¡¯ is a form of creativity too?¡± [Correct.] As usual, the Saintess conveyed my words to Oh Dokseo. [The more we be part of a creative work, and the stronger we be, the more likely it is that ¡®The Admin of All-y¡¯ will appear before us.] ¡°Aha- okay, okay. I get it.¡± [It¡¯s a relief that you understand. Now, let¡¯s proceed to transform into magical girls.] ¡°¡¡?¡± I guided Oh Dokseo towards the Noto Penins in Japan. The headquarters of the Magical Girl Association was located there. As she naturally followed the navigation, Oh Dokseo suddenly hit the brakes. ¡°Wait, hold on! Magical girls? Why do I have to be a magical girl? Aren¡¯t they all crazy?¡± [Because magical girls¡ªessentially, the Awakened Ones of Japan¡ªdraw their power from ¡®creative works,¡¯ making them a very typical profession.] Indeed. Perhaps it was partly by coincidence, but in a way, all of the Awakened Ones of the Japanese archipgo were akin to worshipers of [The Admin of All-y]. Magical girls always fought against evil. Except for a few evil works, magical girls always won. By relying on these "clich¨¦s" of magical girl stories, the Awakened Ones of the Japanese archipgo fought against the monsters that devoured the world. I cherishedrades like Manyo Neko. However, if I were to evaluate them objectively from the perspective of the 593rd turn¨D¨Dthey had, in order to fight against monsters, be monsters themselves under the name of ¡®magical girls.¡¯ It was a typical case of corruption. [But not all corruption is bad.] In a speedrun, you have to use everything at your disposal. [The stronger the innate power of the magical girls, the more closely they are connected to the outer gods. In other words, they can significantly advance the date of ¡®The Admin of All-y¡¯ appearance.] ¡°Ah¡¡± [Oh Dokseo. You¡¯ve already used the creative work The Hamel Drift and epted the clich¨¦ of Hate Pill. Moreover, you¡¯ve begun to live ording to the creative format of a Speedrun Broadcast] ¡°¡¡¡± [Your entire existence is bing saturated with creative works. There¡¯s no one more suitable than you to be a shrine maiden for The Admin of All-y. If you join the association as an honorary member and be a magical girl, even more so.] Of course, the Magical Girl Association was an extremely exclusive group. In Oh Dokseo¡¯s case, with her current condition where she was instantly disliked by others, joining the association would have been even more challenging. However, as had been revealed a few times already, the strategy to register with the association was already established. Three dayster. ¡°¡Thank you. I never thought an Awakened One from Korea would be the one to take down Inunaki Tunnel. As the representative of the association, I express my gratitude.¡± The high priestess, the leader of the Magical Girl Association, bowed her head politely. Oh Dokseo, despite being a hardcore otaku, wasn''t very good at speaking Japanese. So the Saintess had to run a real-time trantor for her. "But..." The High Priestess subtly lifted her head. "Could I ask why you''re covered in bird droppings?" It was because the "Law of Luck Conversion" had started to bring us small misfortunes. Not just Oh Dokseo, but both the Saintess and I were also showered with bird droppings. Oh Dokseo grimaced. [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] "Ah, it''s fine. Please don''t mind it..." "Hmm, alright." The High Priestess unfolded her fan. "But it''s really surprising that you want to join our association. We''re a small organization that hasn''t been around for long. Is it okay to ask why a foreigner from a distantnd is interested in us?" "Ah, well. It''s because... I sensed potential in you all. Friends! Tomodachi! Friendship deepens when you go through tough times together!" "..." "Ugh..." The High Priestess cast a suspicious nce from behind her fan. From the very first impression, there was something unpleasant about Oh Dokseo. Even though it was the end of the world, she entered the guest room covered in bird droppings. It must have triggered a primal aversion. But Oh Dokseo had sessfully carried out my orders to subjugate the Inunaki Tunnel. If the Magical Girl Association epted Oh Dokseo, they could im that achievement as their own. "Hmm. We''re not yet ready to allow foreigners to join. It would be difficult to prepare a decent position for you..." "Oh! It''s okay! Just being an honorary member is enough. I just want to be recognized as having the qualifications of a magical girl!" "Oh really? Then it''s simple." The High Priestess snapped her fan shut. "Find a god to contract with. We magical girls fight by partnering with our respective gods." Although we called them gods for convenience, a magical girl could partner with anything. It could be a human, a pet, or even a monster¡ªwhatever the magical girl desired could be her god. "Come back to meter with your god, and I''ll grant you the qualifications of a magical girl. If you can''t find a suitable god, I could introduce you to one..." "Oh. That''s alright." Oh Dokseo smiled awkwardly. "I already have one. A god I serve." "Really? Which god?" "The Doctor Jang." I paused as I eavesdropped on their conversation from afar. Because we had just agreed, before entering this ce, that we would serve the "Savior Saintess" as our god. The Saintess had many constetions under hermand, which made it clear that she was deeply connected with the clich¨¦ of "constetion-based" stories. More importantly, if we elevated the Saintess to the position of a god, the telepathy she whispered to us would take on the nature of "revtion." For various reasons, the Saintess was more suitable as a partner than I was. But Oh Dokseo had broken that agreement on her own and mentioned my alias. The High Priestess tilted her head. "Doctor Jang? I''ve never heard of that god before." "Yes. It''s my personal god." "Just so you know, you can''t fabricate a god and still form a contract. The god must be present in this ce." "That''s not a problem. It definitely exists. It''s always watching, even now, though you can''t see it." "...Oh my, really? It must be quite a high-ranking deity." The High Priestess chuckled. "Then I''ll form the contract right here. But if the contract fails, let''s forget about this membership discussion." "By all means." The High Priestess spread her fan with a snap. "I, in the name of Tamamo-no-Mae, call upon the god known as the Doctor Jang. Bestow your protection and guardianship upon this human before us." [PR/N: In Muromachi period (1336 to 1573) genre fiction called otogiz¨shi, in otogizoshi, Tamamo-no-Mae was a courtesan under the Japanese Emperor Konoe (who reigned from 1142 through 1155)] There was a sensation of my body floating slightly. At the same time, I felt something transparent and slender connecting between Oh Dokseo and me. "...It really existed? And it''s strong." The High Priestess was astonished. "Or rather, should I say, it''s... The fact that it responded to the contract is unbelievable¡ Doctor Jang? I''ve really never heard of that god before, but how..." "Is there a problem?" "...There''s no problem. But you''re serving a very dangerous deity. The stronger the god, the stronger you''ll be, but borrowing a god''s power is never a loan without interest." The High Priestess closed her fan. "The more you rely on the god, the more you be merely a tool of the god. Eventually, you''ll turn into a vessel through which the god manifests in this world. Be careful." "Thank you for your concern." Oh Dokseo responded with awkwardly pronounced Japanese. "But I''ll be fine. Probably." After that, Oh Dokseo learned various guidelines from the High Priestess (mainly trivial things like how you must shout "Transform!" when transforming into a magical girl) and then left the base. That night. After finishing the broadcast and during our break, I approached Oh Dokseo and asked, "Why did you say you''d serve me as your god instead of the Saintess?" "Um..." Oh Dokseo scratched his cheek. After a long silence, Oh Dokseo finally spoke. "I just thought it made more sense. You mentioned that magical girls are all addicted to the clich¨¦s of fictional works... And that they are actually worshippers of a secluded god, the [The Admin of All-y], right?" "Yeah." "Then, what does that make me, someone who read this world through the novel Omniscient Regressors Viewpoint before even entering it?" "..." In the distance, the sound of a shrike''s call echoed softly. "From the moment I was suddenly summoned to Busan Station, I half saw this world as a story within a fictional work. After all, I had clearly read a novel with you as the main character just recently." "..." "So I need to ask you¡ªam I... from the beginning, someone who had already been taken over by an outer god?" Indeed. This was why I couldn''t even think about subjugating the [The Admin of All-y] until Oh Dokseo appeared. Just as Cheon Yowha was both an Apostle of the Void and a priestess... The [The Admin of All-y]''s shrine maiden¡ªself-proimed as a book-possessed person, destined to view this world as a fictional work... Was Oh Dokseo. [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] Chapter 152 [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] Chapter 152 ©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤ Strategist IV 4 Let¡¯s talk about Oh Dokseo for a moment. 5 Oh Dokseo was a literary girl. And like all literary girls, she hoped that something "special" existed in this world beyond the mundane humans. Of course, it was a futile hope. Many literary girls usually give up on such expectations quietly after getting punched three times by betrayal, intrigue, and collective selfishness between the ages of 15 and 25. There were no magic schools in this world, no beautiful debutante balls for nobledies, and no secret organizations that regrly held meetings in shady back alley bars (although there were organizations that sold mysterious white powder or fantasy gum). Reality was this harsh. Now, a typical literary girl in Korea would be ready to ept magic school as college, the debutante ball as an MT, and secret organizations as SNS activities. It wasn¡¯t a difficult task. Children who read the Harry Potter series when they were young went through a phase between the fifth and sixth grades of elementary school, thinking, "Huh? The Hogwarts eptance letter is just a bit...te for me...?" They went through a stage of denial, which is something most people experience as growing pains. Oh Dokseo wasn¡¯t typical. "No. The world is wrong." Oh Dokseo had thought this since she was a child. In the school yground designed to mimic a desert, she preferred walking in the shade rather than under the sun. "Magicians exist. Secret organizations exist. The forces of evil that threaten the world exist, as do the apostles of justice who fight against them. And of course, the god who watches over all of this exists." Oh Dokseo willingly abandoned reality and chose fantasy. It was an easy choice for her. After all, why should she give up her fantasy just because it wasn''t "realistic"? What was so great about the "realistic" human affairs anyway? Weren''t they just full of petty jealousy, spite, the tendency to belittle others because of their own inferior talentspared to their desires, hatred for family, hunger, wordy, and fake friendships? "No, I hate it." What made Oh Dokseo feel most nauseous was how easily people forgot their own actions. "You promised not to lie against time. Why are you doing it again?" "Promise? When?" "Last time. A few months ago, we talked next to the water purifier by the restroom at the academy." Oh Dokseo had an exceptional memorypared to her peers since she was young. It was in her nature. She could easily recall the lines of characters from books she had read once. In reality, she meticulously stored every word and gesture people made. Just as there are brains specialized in numbers and calctions, Oh Dokseo had an extraordinary ability regarding "human behavior." "I never did that." Other people didn¡¯t. Promises. Bold derations. Breaking promises. Forgetting. The "reality" that unfolded before Oh Dokseo with every breath was nothing more than a collection of humans who forgot their own actions in real-time. If Oh Dokseo had had the same level of expression in her childhood as she does now, she would have said this: "Forgetfulness is no different from death. What is forgotten doesn¡¯t exist." "Then what are these real people?" "A carnival parade that pretends to ''live'' while constantly killing themselves little by little without even realizing it?" When she realized this, Oh Dokseo felt a chill. It was terrifying. Yes, the entire world was burying itself alive. All humans were cannibals who ate themselves. "I hate it." Oh Dokseo wanted to run away. "I don''t want to die." So she ran away. Compared to reality, fantasy¡ªah, fantasy was always brilliant. In creations, people could always be greater. The characters in novels never "forgot" what they said and did. What they did in chapter 30 was remembered perfectly in chapter 300. To Oh Dokseo, these fictional characters felt more "human." Beings who remembered. Beings with whom conversations were possible. Therefore, beings who could take responsibility and forgive. Yes, Oh Dokseo simply had a slightly higher standard for what it meant to be "human." "These people are alive." The literary girl''s heart was split in two. Endless hatred for humans based on reality. And endless affection for humans based on fiction. "The world is dirty." "The characters are more human." "As long as I don''t give up my belief in the characters, they can exist, even if only in my heart." Amid the severe discord between the left and right sides of her heart, Oh Dokseo increasingly indulged in the belief in "something other than reality." As everyone knows, ordinary human beliefs rarelye with rewards. "Huh? What? Did I really have this novel saved in my favorites?" Oh Dokseo was not ordinary. "Let¡¯s see. The title is¡." Fifteen days before being forcibly summoned to Busan Station. ¡ºOmniscient Regressor¡¯s Viewpoint¡»? A miracle happened to her. 6 Back to the present. On a night when the starlings were crying, I looked at Oh Dokseo and answered. "Yes, Dokseo. From the very beginning, you were designated as the shrine maiden by the [The Admin of All-y]." "¡Ah." "In most novels, the protagonist gets possessed by a book or game without any reason or exnation. But in this world, behind every incident that urs ''without reason'' or ''without exnation,'' there are always anomalies." In other words, "The novel ¡ºOmniscient Regressor¡¯s Viewpoint¡» that you thought you just happened to read¡ is not just a simple novel. It¡¯s definitely not a coincidence. It¡¯s a gift given to you by an alien god named the The Admin of All-y¨D¨D." A gift bestowed upon the most favored shrine maiden of the anomaly. "¨D¨DIt is proof that you are the alien god¡¯s representative. You are a human chosen by the alien god." "¡¡." "In the eyes of the The Admin of All-y, you are probably the most suitable to be a shrine maiden on this earth. Strictly speaking, anomalies don¡¯t have human-like judgment abilities, though." The starling fell silent. Oh Dokseo¡¯s expression was truly peculiar. It was the face of someone who didn¡¯t know whether to be happy or sad. After moving her lips several times, Oh Dokseo spoke. "¡So, does that mean the alien god is listening in on our conversations too?" "Yes. But you don¡¯t have to worry too much about it." "Why?" "As I¡¯ve said before, anomalies don¡¯t have human-like judgment. Their value standards and sensory organs are different. The term ''listening in'' doesn¡¯t even apply." I pointed to Oh Dokseo¡¯s backpack. Inside was theptop given to her by the The Admin of All-y. "When we started this turn, we established that this world is a ''game broadcast.'' The time we¡¯re spending chatting now corresponds to the rest period after the broadcast ends. As long as we maintain the format of the game broadcast, the alien god won¡¯t ssify our personal chatter as meaningful." "Ah¡." "Oh, I see," Oh Dokseo murmured. But it was clear that this wasn¡¯t the topic she wanted to discuss. From earlier, Oh Dokseo¡¯s lips had been twitching, as if she was hesitating to say something. "¡By the way, mister." "Yes?" "In ¡ºOmniscient Regressor''s Viewpoint¡», it mentions that you¡¯re a regressor and details what you experienced in each turn. If that was written by the alien god and shown to me, then the The Admin of All-y knows that you¡¯re a regressor¡." "Yes, they would." "¡¡!" Oh Dokseo¡¯s breath caught. "Isn¡¯t that a big deal? The greatest advantage of being a regressor is that your enemies don¡¯t know you¡¯re a regressor. But if the alien god knows¡!" "From the start, the The Admin of All-y has some resistance to my regression. You can see that just by the ptop'' given to you." 135th turn. After the turn that ended in destruction due to the logout game, for some reason, theptop item started appearing by my side every time I regressed. It meant that the [The Admin of All-y] continuously approached me across turns. "But the alien god¡¯s power isn¡¯t perfect. I¡¯m also resisting the The Admin of All-y." "Resisting¡? What do you mean?" "Omniscient Regressor''s Viewpoint. The serialization of the novel you read is progressing too slowly. There¡¯s a time gap of about 500 to 600 turns between my ''reality'' and that ''novel.''" This is the 593rd turn. Meanwhile, the part of my story that Oh Dokseo read in ¡ºOmniscient Regressor''s Viewpoint¡» was only at the 33rd turn. Therefore, "Let¡¯spare the [The Admin of All-y] to a hacker. Then, that entity is diligently trying to hack into my existence." "Oh!" [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] "But so far, the hacking progress is only about 5 percent. The entity may be trying hard to decipher me as a regressor, but even if it collects data from the 33rd turn, it won¡¯t be able to understand the me of the 593rd turn." "Whew, that¡¯s a relief. Then there¡¯s still plenty of time¡." Oh Dokseo sighed in relief. "But we mustn¡¯t let our guard down either. The The Admin of All-y is slowly and steadily extending its grasp towards me." "Ah, yes. That¡¯s obvious, but¡." "Dokseo, the fact that you only began to awaken in earnest from the 555th turn onward is also an indication that the [The Admin of All-y] has gotten that close to me." "Uh, really?" I nodded. Why did the ¡®book possessor¡¯ Oh Dokseo, not in the 1st turn, but from the 555th turn onward, start to recognize her power? Why were both the ¡®regressor¡¯ me and the ¡®book possessor¡¯ Oh Dokseo summoned to the Busan Station tutorial dungeon at the same time? A coincidence defying extreme odds? No, it was intentional. Everything was the result of design. "Just as I¡¯m trying to somehow defeat the alien god, the [The Admin of All-y] is trying to subdue me by any means necessary. That¡¯s exactly why, Dokseo, one of the reasons you were chosen as the alien god¡¯s representative is that your starting point is the same as mine." "¡¡!" ¡°Then, the ¡®Administrator of All-y¡¯ wanted to interfere with me as quickly and effectively as possible.¡± Oh Dokseo was shocked. ¡°So, does that mean¡ that as a ¡®Book Possessor,¡¯ I was supposed to interfere with you, a ¡®Regressor,¡¯ hinder you, or steal your opportunities? Was that the n the [Administrator of All-y] had?¡± ¡°Exactly.¡± ¡°So, you and I were actually meant to be enemies, not allies?¡± Let''s recall. In the 555th turn, when Oh Dokseo first encountered me as a Book Possessor, this kid didn¡¯t have a good impression of me at all. [Oh Dokseo: There he is. The protagonist of this world. Codename: Doctor Jang.] [Oh Dokseo: Doctor Jang is a protagonist who has already experienced several regressions. He¡¯s ruthless and heartless.] In fact, she was wary of me. [Oh Dokseo: He¡¯s a regressor living only for revenge against monsters. He¡¯s just a madman, a typical case of someone who¡¯s only living because they haven¡¯t died yet¡] [Oh Dokseo: He¡¯s just insane, totally. If he notices anything suspicious, he might just kill me. Better handle him carefully.] Oh Dokseo genuinely believed that she might get killed by my hand. She was even ready to betray me and stab me in the back if needed. Why was that? The reason was simple. ¡°Oh Dokseo, the ¡ºOmniscient Regressor''s Viewpoint¡» written by the Alien God led you to have that impression of me.¡± ¡°Ah¡¡± ¡°More precisely, the Alien God had probably only hacked up to my fourth regression at that time. So, he judged my character, the regressor known as The Doctor Jang, in that way and applied that judgment to you as well.¡± Well, it¡¯s unlikely even the Alien God anticipated that the maniacal regressor who ruthlessly killed monsters in his earlier turns would evolve into ¡®this kind of person¡¯ after 500 turns. The [Administrator of All-y] analyzed me from a past perspective and responded ordingly. When they chose Oh Dokseo as their champion, they expectedpetition, distrust, and eventual destruction to ur between the Book Possessor and the Regressor. However, from the beginning, I distorted the Alien God¡¯s ambitious project. ¡°¡So, you and I bing allies waspletely unexpected from the Alien God¡¯s perspective?¡± ¡°Right. They wouldn¡¯t have anticipated that I¡¯d so easily lower my guard around you.¡± ¡°Wow.¡± ¡°I bet they¡¯re utterly dumbfounded.¡± I chuckled. The [Administrator of All-y] was indeed smart. Imagine being in the same position as that Alien God. You need to dere victory by consuming the world in void, but some regressor keeps saying, ¡®One more turn!¡¯ every time the game ends. At first, you might think, ¡®He¡¯ll probably get tired of the game eventually.¡¯ But this crazy regressor keeps resetting the game at the 200th, 300th, 400th, and 500th turns. Q) How can you get rid of this damned troublemaking regressor? A) You turn the regressor''s life itself into a novel. Then, you create someone who reads the novel¡ªa Book Possessor. This way, the regressor loses the ¡®protagonist¡¯ trait, and the newly crowned protagonist, the Book Possessor, ultimately wins. This was the ingenious strategy devised by the [Administrator of All-y]. It was clever beyond belief. Using a clich¨¦ to strip the regressor of his advantage. If it weren¡¯t me, I would¡¯ve fallen right into the Alien God¡¯s trap. The one meant to be the trap, the Book Possessor, the literary girl Oh Dokseo, looked at me with somewhat anxious eyes. ¡°Did you know from the start that I was chosen as the Alien God''s priestess?¡± ¡°Well, I had a pretty good idea.¡± I shrugged. ¡°I became sure when I realized that the chapters of ¡ºOmniscient Regressor''s Viewpoint¡» were increasing as the turns progressed. It''s extremely rare for something to exert influence across different turns.¡± ¡°¡And yet, you didn¡¯t kill me?¡± ¡°Hmm?¡± ¡°Why not? It¡¯s simple.¡± Oh Dokseo lowered her head and mumbled. ¡°If I¡¯m unconsciously connected to the Alien God like a terminal, then you could just kill me every time you regress. That would eliminate any potential danger to you.¡± ¡°¡¡± ¡°Why didn¡¯t you choose the simplest method? Especially now, when we''ve even taken that ¡®Hate Pill,¡¯ making us naturally distrust each other¡ Didn¡¯t you think I might side with the Alien God and betray you at a crucial moment?¡± Hmm. I scratched my chin. After thinking about how to respond, I just answered honestly. ¡°What¡¯s the big deal about being betrayed for a regressor that you¡¯d make such a fuss?¡± ¡°¡What?¡± ¡°It¡¯s fine. I have a strong mentality. I haven¡¯t told you this, but all myrades have betrayed me at least once. Ah, would you like to hear about the time the saintess tried to kill me? That was epic.¡± ¡°¡? ¡?¡± I faintly heard the sound of the saintess coughing in the distance. I smiled and patted Oh Dokseo on the shoulder. ¡°Oh Dokseo, just do what you want.¡± ¡°¡¡± ¡°Unlike others, I¡¯m given nearly endless chances. It¡¯s a blessing. Even if you betray me ten or twenty times, I still have the memories of the turns where you trusted me a hundred or two hundred times. How could I ever forget that?¡± ¡°¡¡± ¡°If it doesn¡¯t work this time, we¡¯ll do better next time. I know you too well to be disappointed in you.¡± For a moment, Oh Dokseo remained silent. ¡°Yeah.¡± As the sparrows began chirping again in the forest, Oh Dokseo raised her hand and grasped the hand I¡¯d ced on her shoulder. ¡°I wish I could have read those words in ¡ºOmniscient Regressor''s Viewpoint¡» too.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t you think you will someday?¡± ¡°Yeah¡ Maybe. I might.¡± Oh Dokseo smiled brightly. ¡°No matter what the Alien God thinks of me, it doesn¡¯t matter. Remember, this is a promise.¡± She tightened her grip on my hand. ¡°I¡¯m the one who will save you, no matter what. I¡¯ll definitely get you out of this damned world.¡± I chuckled. Kid, you''re the 26th person to say something like that to me. And I gave her my 26th reply. ¡°Alright. I¡¯m counting on you.¡± ¡°Yeah!¡± The next day, we officially began the operation to bring down the [Administrator of All-y] to the mortal world. [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] Chapter 153 [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] Chapter 153 ©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤ Strategist V 7 Speedrun Broadcast, ON. [We''ve almost gathered everything we need in Japan. It''s time to head back to the Korean Penins.] "No! Absolutely not! There''s no way I''m drifting at sea again! No way!" Oh Dokseo desperately resisted as her character sheet now listed "sea" as a phobia. But there was no need to worry. We didn''t have to rely on Hamel''s Drift Journal again. I remodeled the Inunaki Tunnel into a "Korea-Japan Undersea Tunnel," providing Oh Dokseo with afortable walking journey instead. [Oh. Please note that if you step just a little to the left, you''ll die a gruesome death with all your limbs separated.] "Arghhh?" Oh Dokseo was delighted by the rare experience of walking from Japan to Korea. "Comfortable, my foot! It''s a nightmare where one wrong step means instant death! ...Wait, did you use this as a hideout in another ythrough? Are you insane?" [You''re progressing slowly. Please hurry up. The character Yoo Jiwon once traversed this void on a bicycle.] "Who the hell is that?" [By the way, considering we''re still in the early stages, Oh Dokseo''s shrine maiden aptitude has already reached an unbelievable level.] I lightly ignored theints from the YOUNG and MZ generation Oh Dokseo. Both the saintess and I were too old to indulge the weak whining of today''s youth. [Currently, Oh Dokseo is exploring various anomalies rted to fictional works. The "Korea-Japan Undersea Tunnel" you''re walking through right now is also a fictional creation.] [The Hamel Drift Journal, The Monkey''s Paw, The Hate Pill, Magical Girl anime, and now the Undersea Tunnel. There''s no other case of someone approaching the alien gods of fictional works this rapidly.] [At this rate, you''ll soon be able to summon the status window without any issues.] "R-really?" [Yes.] The saintess spoke with certainty in my ce. For reference, the saintess was still being carried by me and maintained a distance of several hundred meters from Oh Dokseo. [Especially within this tunnel, the conditions are even more favorable.] [Since the Korea-Japan Undersea Tunnel itself is a fictional ce, it also functions, albeit weakly, as a shrine to the "The Admin of All-y."] [Why don''t you try calling it out as a test?] "......" Oh Dokseo mumbled in the middle of the dark, eerie tunnel, where it felt like ghosts could jump out at any moment. "...Status window?" Immediately, Oh Dokseo was startled. "It-it''s real! The status window actually appeared!" [Can you see a semi-transparent hologram?] "Yeah! I can see it clearly now!" I clenched my fist. It worked. Initially, it would have taken at least five years for the [The Admin of All-y] to begin descending to the surface. But its evil influence had already started showing. From ancient times, both demons and gods could not refuse a summoning. The more they refused, the weaker they became. With Oh Dokseo as the "shrine maiden" and "altar," the saintess''s assistance, my strategy and direction, and the anomalies rted to fictional works as "offerings." We were getting closer to the darkest of gods. [Great. Within just a week of starting the speedrun, we''ve sessfully summoned part of the "Logout Game."] [This anomaly is among the most reclusive of the alien gods. The fact that we managed to break its stealth mode is a remarkable achievement.] [Let''s take this opportunity to check Oh Dokseo''s status.] "Ah, yeah. I''ll read it out loud now!" The status window, as described by Oh Dokseo, was as follows: ¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D [Status] Name: Oh Dokseo Title: "Shrine Maiden of the Game of All Things" upation: Prophet, RPG Character, Magical Girl, Shrine Maiden, Literature Girl, Protagonist [Health: E-rank] [Strength: D-rank] [Intuition: B+ rank] [Agility: C-rank] [Intelligence: B-rank] [Charm: B- rank] Personality Traits: [Misogynist] [Human Worship] [Timid] [Passionate] [Unfortunate (Status Ailment)] Unique Skills: [Omniscient Regressor''s Perspective (EX)] [AT Field (S)] - Omniscient Regressor''s Perspective (EX): A prophetic ability that allows you to foresee events in the world. By reading a novel where the protagonist is "Doctor Jang," you can perceive what scenarios will unfold in the future. Knowledge is power. No matter how much the void corrupted the world, to someone who "already knows" what will happen, it''s just an event. Secure the position of the protagonist. - AT Field (S): An ability that rejects external interference. It provides an absolute barrier against any physical forces trying to impact or shock you. However, it can only be used once a day, and the barriersts for 1 minute. You have observed everything that happens in this world from an "omniscient" perspective. You are clearly a being superior to the characters in the novel. Turn a bad ending into a happy ending, or an even more tragic bad ending. You were born with the destiny of being the protagonist of this world. May fortune be with you. ¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D "...That''s what it says!" Hmm. After listening to Oh Dokseo''s description, I smiled darkly. I whispered softly, just loud enough for the saintess to hear. "How despicable. It seems the alien god is in quite a rush." "Is that so?" "Yes. They even explicitly gave the title ''Shrine Maiden of the Game of All Things.'' That''s like marking their territory, a very childish instinct." "Sounds like good news for us." "Indeed." From the [The Admin of All-y''s] perspective, it must feel like being struck by lightning out of nowhere. They painstakingly analyzed and hacked someone like me. They nurtured Oh Dokseo as a champion to fight me. And now, suddenly, their champion is cooperating with me. How infuriating must that be? [The status window is practically begging you to be the protagonist.] [No problem. We''re already running the game broadcast. Oh Dokseo''s sess is our sess. The alien god has been caught in a trap.] [So let''s go ahead and be the protagonist.] The major events of the Korean Penins awaited us in sequence on the schedule. First up was Baekhwa High School vs. the Great Void. I entered Baekhwa High School with the saintess and Oh Dokseo. Of course, the saintess and I stayed in the background, letting Oh Dokseo take the lead. After various twists and turns, the void was subdued. Not much had changed. ¨D¨DExcept that, originally, the psychological connection that only existed between me and Cheon Yohwa had now shifted its direction. "Dokseo! Let''s hang out this weekend!" Wham. Cheon Yohwa linked arms with Oh Dokseo. "Ah. Uh, uh-huh. Yeah." "Hehe. They say an amusement park called Void appeared where Lotte World used to be. Let''s go there!" "...No. It''s the Void. Isn''t that dangerous?" At Baekhwa Girls'' High School, Cheon Yohwa''s mental state was extremely unstable. It was only natural, considering that the children of her guild, who were also her school friends, had been dropping dead one after another. In the gap of that mental state, I positioned Oh Dokseo. Under the influence of the "Hate Pill," Cheon Yohwa initially harbored a dislike for Oh Dokseo. [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] However, after experiencing the hunt for the Alien gods together, the negative first impression was easily ovee. [Baekhwa Girls'' High School, cleared in ten days.] [Originally, the Endless Hell''s Domain is a highly dangerous Void that can stretch time like taffy.] [But from another perspective, it''s no different from the "Room of Spirit and Time." We''ll help Oh Dokseo grow significantly here.] Ten days passed outside, but inside the Endless Hell''s Domain, several years had passed. I focused on training Oh Dokseo as much as possible without catching Cheon Yohwa''s attention. I didn''t even take the lead in subjugating the Endless Hell. I just swung my staff sword at thest moment tond the finishing blow. All the spotlight was on Oh Dokseo. As a result, the rtionship between Cheon Yohwa and me remained distant. "Oh! Hello, security guard!" "Yes. Good job, Student Council President." "Yes! You too, sir!" Cheon Yohwa probably still harbored subtle resentment towards me, even though she didn''t show it outwardly. But that didn''t matter. The speedrun broadcast continued. [Good.] [Now Cheon Yohwa, who originally should have been fond of another character, Oh Dokseo has made that character their best friend. It''s an extremely "protagonist-like" move.] [Everything is going smoothly.] "..." Oh Dokseo chewed on her lip. I knew that she felt uneasy about something, but in the great task of subjugating the Alien gods, there wasn''t room to care for every emotion. Next. [The Ten ns are advancing south. If this continues, the refugees trapped north of the Han River will be annihted.] [The remnants of the national army and some awakened ones have prepared for a desperate final battle, but they are outmatched.] [I had already recruited Baekhwa Girls'' High School for this moment. Oh Dokseo, Cheon Yohwa, and the awakened ones of Baekhwa Girls'' High School will save Seoul.] After enjoying the level-up event in the Endless Hell''s Domain, Oh Dokseo and her group easily defeated the Ten ns. I recorded the entire battle on video. And I uploaded it through Seo Gyu''s SGNet (I had saved Seo Gyu in the tutorial dungeon and left him in Busan). -Anonymous: Who are these kids? They''re insanely strong; -Anonymous: Didn''t the army get wiped out by the Ten ns? How did they kill them so easily? -Officer: They''re much younger than me, but I honestly respect them. Seeing proof that hope still exists in this world warms my heart. -Anonymous: What''s their name? -[Three Thousand] Witch Trial Judge: Oh Dokseo and Cheon Yohwa. ©¸Anonymous: Ah, call them Oh Dokseo "nim" (honorific). -KoreanVige: But honestly, wasn''t the magical girl transformation scene a bit cringy? lol ©¸Anonymous: Oh Dokseo herself seemed super embarrassed after transforming lol ©¸Anonymous: The hope of the Korean Penins being a magical girl and a student council president... What on earth is this... ©¸Anonymous: I''m grateful for subjugating the Ten ns, but honestly, it''s a bit much; In this post-apocalyptic world where civilization waspletely destroyed... The title of "awakened ones who fought to protect refugees and achieved a miraculous victory" was worth its weight in gold. Reputation was a valuable resource. Using the greatly heightened reputation, Oh Dokseo posted on SGNet. -Literature Girl: [Tip Post] How to quickly grow your awakened abilities in a short time using the ''Status Window''.txt -Literature Girl: Honestly, I didn''t want to share this tip with others, but it''s not right to keep it to myself in this difficult apocalypse, so I''m sharing it. -Literature Girl: Everyone knows that they always tease me on SGNet whenever I transform into a magical girl. -Literature Girl: But actually, this magical girl transformation isn''t my unique ability; it''s a power that anyone can implement if they follow a specific route. -Literature Girl: There''s an organization in Japan called the Magical Girl Association, and they have an awakened one known as the Chief Priestess... The awakened ones'' interest was intense. Of course, this was a natural reaction because the person with the highest reputation in Korea was sharing her tips, but it wasn''t just because of that. Oh Dokseo was showing off overwhelming achievements. However, the subtle animosity caused by the "Hate Pill" also lingered among the people. ¡®Is she really that great?¡¯ ¡®She might be strong, but does she really deserve this level of worship?¡¯ Such murky and insidious feelings. So many people subconsciously thought Oh Dokseo''s sess was due to sheer luck, that she had used some unofficial cheat code that they didn''t know about. In the midst of this, Oh Dokseo herself released her "personal know-how." The awakened ones quickly took the bait, mistakenly believing that this was the secret luck or fortuitous encounter that Oh Dokseo possessed. I monitored the SGNet''s public opinion and immediately invited the High Priestess through the Inunaki Tunnel. "No way... Are there really this many Koreans who want to join our association?" The High Priestess''s eyes widened as she saw the group of awakened ones gathered in Haeundae. "Indeed, beauty knows no borders! I never imagined there would be so manyrades of our association abroad! After all, magical girls are beautiful, and beauty is justice! I was not wrong!" "Hey, what''s that strange person with the fox tail shouting about?" "I don''t know. It''s Japanese, but the ent is so thick it''s hard to understand..." "Isn''t that not even an ent, but ancientnguage?" Ovee with emotion, the High Priestess dly established the "Magical Girl Association Korea Branch" and appointed Oh Dokseo as the branch head. In addition, she contracted hundreds of Koreans as magical girls on the spot. It was an unfortunate truth for the High Priestess, but to be precise, the Korean awakened ones had not gathered because they sympathized with the beauty of magical girls. In a country that had long been filled with min-maxers, the rumor that "Hey, I heard the magical girl ss is super OP in this game?" spread, and people immediately pressed the transfer button without a second thought. -Literature Girl: Oh, and one crucial thing to keep in mind when making a magical girl contract. Oh Dokseo delivered the final blow to the min-maxers. -Literature Girl: As a magical girl, you must decide which guardian deity you will serve. -Literature Girl: Technically, it doesn''t matter if the guardian deity is a pet or a nt, but it must be a "powerful god" to strengthen the magical girl. -Literature Girl: I rmend contracting with a god called [The Admin of All-y]. -Literature Girl: I can guarantee 100% that if you make a contract with this god, you¡¯ll immediately be able to see your status window, know what your abilities are, and find out how to develop your awakened abilities efficiently. That day, a total of four hundred awakened ones contracted with a final boss-level entity, a being that had never even revealed itself before. In the end. [The ''The Admin of All-y'' responds to the users'' call.] The alert of the Alien god echoed in people''s minds. [The ''The Admin of All-y'' officially deres the game''s open.] On the 30th day of the speedrun. I sessfully dragged out the Alien god, who had been hiding until the very end, to the surface. [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] Chapter 154 [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] Chapter 154 ©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤ The Strategist VI 8 Finally, the [The Admin of All-y] sent a notification, but it hadn''t fully revealed itself yet. If we were topare it to a hikikomori, the current state was akin to the door being slightly ajar. It wasn''t enough to say that the harsh reality had been revealed just yet. A final decisive blow was necessary to drag this severe recluse out into the dazzling light of the outside world. First, I logged into the SG Net and checked the current situation. -Anonymous: Did the status window pop up?? Just as we had nned, a festival was in full swing on themunity boards. -Anonymous: I thought my ability was just igniting, but the status window says it''s actually ''me conjuring.'' I''ve been a crappy awakened who didn''t even know his own ability until now... ©¸KoreanVige: What''s the difference between igniting and me conjuring? Aren''t they both just fire? ©¸Anonymous: Igniting just sets fire to physical objects, but me conjuring can also set themunity on fire... ©¸KoreanVige: ? ©¸Anonymous: The more the mes grow, the more my ability strengthens. I''ll show you right now, so just wait... -Anonymous: Now that I can see the status window, life feels worth living again. -Anonymous: Haha, Oh Dokseo, you were keeping this awesome thing all to yourself, huh? LOL -CookingQueen: Interesting. -Officer: Just out of curiosity, were those who posted certification that they''ve be magical girls all female? ©¸Anonymous: LOL ©¸Officer: ? ©¸Anonymous: You''ll find out if you go there. LOL I nodded. The ''status window'' was spreading like a trend among the awakened. At first, the normal folks who instinctively felt uneasy about the enigmatic group called the Magical Girls Association changed their minds when five-star reviews like "This shop is a gem!" started pouring in. If the strategy continued smoothly like this, it wouldn''t be long before we could drag the hikikomori God out from behind the door. "By the way." Just in case, I asked the Saintess. "Saintess, among the awakened who have their status windows up, is there anyone with a useful ability?" [I''m constantly checking, but nothing noteworthy has been confirmed yet.] The Saintess, who was in charge of monitoring, answered calmly. [The ''teleportation'' ability you asked aboutst time hasn''t been found either.] [There were some who awakened to ''light-footed'' or ''body technique'' abilities, but they fall far short of teleportation.] "Hmm." As expected. I had searched several times until the 593rd turn, looking for someone with the teleportation ability who could save Old Scho¡¯s wife. But if we still hadn''t seen even a hair of such a person, the chances were high that a teleportation ability user didn''t exist. Maybe someone like that exists on the other side of the world... But if they''re that far away, even if we found them, it would lose its meaning. I tucked away the old disappointment into the drawer of my mind and turned to Oh Dokseo. "What do you think, Dokseo?" "..." "Can you feel the connection with the Alien God?" Oh Dokseo was sitting quietly in a meditative pose. For thetest model otaku like Oh Dokseo, it was a rather difficult posture. "Ugh... I feel like I can sense it, but maybe not...?" Oh Dokseo was grimacing, her legs trembling. While the Saintess and I were progressing the strategy behind the scenes, Oh Dokseo had the role of approaching the [The Admin of All-y]. "Try to concentrate a little more. The Alien God has already extended its ws towards you. You just haven''t realized it yet." "But, Uncle, this pose is too painful. Can¡¯t I adjust it...? I''d rather kneel. I¡¯m serious; my leg bones feel like they''re going to break, and it''s hard to focus..." "No. Since ancient times, the lotus position has been reputed to be the most effective posture for attaining enlightenment. There are tens of thousands of protagonists in works of fiction who achieved great awakenings in this pose. The lotus position is the best position to connect with the The Admin of All-y." "It hurts... It seriously hurts a lot..." She couldn''t adjust her posture, no matter how ufortable it was. Three hourster, after being forced to continue meditating in the lotus position, Oh Dokseo, enraged, started to lose her mind. "Damn it, how can you focus in such an ufortable position! You crazy old man! I can''t feel any connection with the Alien God, but I sure as hell feel the disconnection between my legs and hips!" "The malicious energy of the Alien God is already within you. Can you truly not feel it?" "I''m feeling more pain! Pain! Agony! My leg bones feel like they''re going to snap, and I can''t concentrate, no matter how many times you tell me!" "Hmph. Well, well." This is why I worry about young people these days. If she said she couldn''t do it, what choice did I have but to change the environment for her? [Now, I''m going to build a temple to summon the ''The Admin of All-y.''] First, I kidnapped three hundred writers and opened the ''Canned Hotel.'' With the help of the tutorial fairies, it only took two days. When I suddenly invited them to a luxury hotel, the writers let out joyful cries. "Please, save us!" "You only need to write. Oh, and when you start a new novel, please make sure the introduction features a god. The god''s name should be fixed as [The Admin of All-y]." "Let us out of here!" "Then, please do your best, writers." A worker devoted to their job is a happy being. Under my leadership, the writers became truly happy beings. A weekter, after pressing the writers to churn out serials, those guys started to appear around the hotel. -HONK HONK HONK! -Honk! Beep! Beep beep beep beep beep beep! It was the reincarnation trucks. As unassuming as they might seem, each of them was a strange phenomenon associated with creative works. They were directly affiliated with the [The Admin of All-y]. This area, now packed with ''hundreds of writers'' and ''hundreds of reincarnation trucks,'' gradually transformed into a suitablend for the descent of the Alien God. It had be a kind of shrine dedicated to the strange phenomenon in creative works. And that¡¯s not all. ¡°You all, go and dance around Dokseo.¡± ¡°Yes,rade Secretary! We shall obey yourmand!¡± The tutorial fairies, too, had strong attributes connected to creative works when you traced their lineage. The self-proimed dream demons joined hands and began forming arge ring dance. At the center of it all was Oh Dokseo, struggling to maintain the lotus position. The fairies hopped around, singing in unison. ¡°All of history until now is a history of-?¡± ¡°ss struggle-?¡± ¡°Freemen and ves, nobles andmoners, lords and serfs-?¡± ¡°Workers of the world, unite-?¡± ¡°Unite-?¡± ¡°...¡± Oh Dokseo, trying her best to concentrate on meditation with her eyes closed, looked like she was chewing on bird droppings. And that¡¯s not all. I altered the terrain in the backyard of the Canned Hotel to create a waterfall. It took quite an effort to divert the water, but for a regressor who¡¯s been through 593 turns, it was just a half-day¡¯sbor. -SPLASH SPLASH SPLASH SPLASH! As a result, a refreshing stream of cold water poured down on Oh Dokseo''s head. Had Oh Dokseo not trained with me in the ¡®Room of Spirit and Time,¡¯ her spinal health would have been severelypromised. And that¡¯s not all. [The ¡®The Admin of All-y¡¯ announces a surprise event.] [In the newly opened hotel garden, offer a prayer praising the ¡®The Admin of All-y¡¯!] [The 200 most devout believers will receive a 3x drop rate for rare items for the next year!] These messages weren¡¯t sent by the Alien God. The Saintess had sent them, impersonating the Alien God. Of course, from the perspective of the average awakened, there was no way to distinguish the real from the phishing scam. ¡°Hey, don¡¯t push! Don¡¯t push!¡± Murmurs spread. Before long, the Canned Hotel was bustling with ¡®magical girls¡¯ gathering to participate in the event. ¡°Why is there a waterfall in the hotel garden?¡± ¡°Look over there! It¡¯s Oh Dokseo! She¡¯s meditating under the waterfall!¡± ¡°Wow, damn. She¡¯s hardcore. As soon as the event notice popped up, she ran over and imed the best spot.¡± ¡°I guess you have to be that determined to be the top awakened in Korea¡¡± ¡°Exterminating Ten ns was impressive, but honestly, she¡¯s a bit much. Doesn¡¯t sheck human warmth?¡± ¡°The fairies are doing some weird dance¡¡± ¡°I can feel it. This is definitely going to be a legendary event.¡± ¡°The Admin of All-y! My faith in you is the deepest!¡± The garden filled with about five hundred magical girls. They must have thought there was some secret to Oh Dokseo¡¯s posture because they all assumed the lotus position as well. Some even joined her under the waterfall, muttering the Admin of All-y name. [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] Oh Dokseo, now stuck in the middle of this mass of magical girls, looked increasingly disheartened. I tilted my chin. ¡°Hmm.¡± It was a truly perfect scene. No matter how much the ¡®The Admin of All-y¡¯ might want to hide, there was no way it could avoid descending now! [The shrine has beenpleted.] Let me draw a simpleyout. At the very center was Oh Dokseo in the lotus position, ying the role of a shrine maiden. Above her, the waterfall, the ¡®exclusive property of enlightenment,¡¯ was pouring down, and around her, about five hundred magical girls were chanting prayers. Around them, hundreds of fairies were dancing in a revolutionary circle dance. Around them, on the outermostyer, three hundred writers were furiously engaged in creative work, while beyond the horizon, hundreds, even thousands of reincarnation trucks were continuously respawning. In other words. To describe the 4D sound effects now hitting Oh Dokseo''s eardrums, at a time when she needed to focus on meditation more than anything, using the style of realistic literature, it would go something like this: -SPLASH SPLASH SPLASH SPLASH SPLASH SPLASH! ¡°The Admin of All-y! Look at me!¡± ¡°All we have to lose is our chains-?¡± -HONK HONK! Beep! Beep beep beep! ¡°And we have a world to win-?¡± ¡°The Admin of All-y!¡± -SPLASH SPLASH! Beep beep beep! Could there ever have been an artist who painted such an emotional scene as this? A shrine is still a shrine, but thisndscape was perfectly suited to summon not a sacred guardian deity but the sphemous Alien God. And that¡¯s not all. While a heretical festival was taking ce at the Canned Hotel, I quietly made my way to Namsan. Of course, it was to make use of ''Chekhov''s Gun.'' I packed a Walther PPK pistol in my coat and pulled my fur hat down tightly. [Doctor Jang, your head¡] ¡°There¡¯s nothing wrong with my head.¡± [...Understood.] What is life? Life is suffering. The falling waterfall, the fairies crying out for revolution, the reincarnation trucks forced to work overtime, the magical girls chanting for the Alien God, all of them surrounding Oh Dokseo who sat cross-legged, and above all, of course, I, Doctor Jang, who willingly shaved my roots to kill the anomaly, were all engulfed in suffering. Only the reclusive Alien God was free from the anguish of this reality. I couldn¡¯t contain my anger. I started a broadcast to make that anomaly taste the bitterness of life. [Now then, I¡¯ve gathered almost all the creative work-rted elements that I can currently ess.] [No matter how poorly Oh Dokseo meditates in the lotus position, she won¡¯t be able to avoid connecting with the Alien God.] [If even this isn¡¯t enough, I¡¯ll gather creative elements from the Korean Penins and Japan. It¡¯ll be tough, but not too difficult. I could simply bring Godzi from the Pacific and release it here.] [Let¡¯s sit back and see if Oh Dokseo seeds or fails in this meditation.] ¡°...¡± Oh Dokseo desperately tried to immerse herself in meditation. Liquid, whether it was waterfall water or sweat, constantly streamed down the side of her face. Thanks to my S-ss hearing, enhanced by my aura, I could clearly hear Oh Dokseo''s constant muttering. ¡°¡Damn it, please, please, just show up. Huh? Just let me feel you. Whether you''re the Alien God or whatever, I¡¯m supposed to be your shrine maiden! So show up! Please! Pleeease¡!¡± And then. Her earnest prayer reached the universe. [The ¡®The Admin of All-y¡¯ descends.] Light spread above Oh Dokseo''s head. Within that radiance, a tiny ¡®blue butterfly¡¯ fluttered down as if it were dancing. This was the same butterfly that had briefly appeared when the world was about to end due to server shutdown. It was the true form of the Alien God. ¡®It¡¯s here.¡¯ My mind became instantly calm. Whether it knew I was holding my breath coldly or not, the blue butterfly was fluttering its wings leisurely. Crackle- A distorted, noisy light spread to the surroundings every time its wings pped. 8-bit, 16-bit, 2-bit. The resolution constantly fluctuated between various bitrates. The very existence of the Alien God corrupted the area into emptiness. [The ¡®The Admin of All-y¡¯ has been carefully monitoring some recent cases where yers have used methods bordering on cheating in the game.] [This event, known as the so-called ¡®Drop Item Rate Boost Event,¡¯ has never been nned and will not be avable in the future.] [We apologize for not providing urate information to our users sooner.] The magical girls murmured at the Alien God''s announcement. ¡°What? What does that mean?¡± ¡°It was false information?¡± Indeed. Using the Saintess''s telepathy to impersonate the Alien God was a double-edged sword. It was a strategy that could only be used once. If the awakened ones realized that the notifications themselves could be distorted, they would be less likely to trust telepathy, even if it was sent in the future. So now was the best opportunity. ¡®The Admin of All-y.¡¯ I red at the butterfly in the sky. It was a strange phenomenon that would only appear after causing such a chaotic scene. Its appearance rate was on par with that of a legendary Pok¨¦mon. I had to capture it here and now. Of course, I wasn¡¯t a Pok¨¦mon Trainer. I didn¡¯t possess a Master Ball that could catch a legendary Pok¨¦mon in one shot. But instead¡ ¡°¨D¨DYohwa, sis!¡± Oh Dokseo shouted out the name of Cheon Yohwa, one of our allies who had joined us. Just moments ago, Oh Dokseo had been under the waterfall; now, as she tried to stand up, possibly because her legs had gone numb from sitting cross-legged, she stumbled. Even as he fell, she shouted. ¡°Sis! Now! Right now!¡± ¡°Yes.¡± Cheon Yohwa swiftly dashed past Oh Dokseo, who was soaking wet and crying out in desperation. There was no dramatic line or a striking pose. Without hesitation, Cheon Yohwa pulled out an hourss and smashed it on the ground. Crash! The hourss shattered into countless pieces. An uncontroble ckness spread from the broken ss shards, like ink spilling across the floor. The anomaly contained within that hourss was Endless Hell. [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] Chapter 155 [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] Chapter 155 ©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤ The Strategist VII 9 The only way to counter a nuclear bomb was with another nuclear bomb. And so, nations that possessed nuclear weapons naturally refrained from using them against each other. Nuclear war was something that only appeared in fictional apocalyptic stories where the world had already been destroyed. The situation was simr for the Alien gods. Alien god-level anomalies rarely shed directly. After all, unless one was a fan of bleak stories driven by tragedy, there was no reason to dive headfirst into a mutually destructive fate. - Kya ha ha ha ha ha But this world was indeed an apocalyptic world where everything had been destroyed, and it just so happened to be the temple of a Alien god who ruled over all creative works. Thus, Endless Hell descended. It was a confrontation between Alien gods. It was like a death match between nuclear-armed nations. - Kya ha ha ha ha ha kya kya ha. - Did you miss me? Every time Cheon Yohwa''s lips moved, an eerieughter echoed from all directions. The world of low-quality noise spread by the [Administrator of All Things yful] was being devoured by Endless Hell, who had been released from the seal of the hourss. The two Alien gods began to sh over control of the world. ["The Administrator of All Things yful" announces that a critical bug has been discovered on this server.] It seemed that The Admin of All-y was caught off guard by the unexpected situation. It was as if a game administrator, expecting a simple user conference, suddenly found the CEO of a rivalpany taking the microphone and dering, "Yourpany''s game is a disaster," in front of everyone. It was an outrageous breach of business ethics! Flutter, flutter. The main body of The Admin of All-y, a blue butterfly, began to p its wings frantically. It flew around, seemingly taking in its surroundings. Then, it realized that there were hundreds of magical girls who followed it gathered here. "What, what''s this? What on earth is going on...?" "Isn''t the event already starting?" The magical girls were confused. From their perspective, chaos had suddenly erupted. The blue butterfly decided to use them. ["The Administrator of All Things yful" deres the monster summoned here as a target for extermination.] [The name of the boss monster is Endless Hell. It has descended by taking over the body of Cheon Yohwa, the student council president of Baekhwa Girls'' High School.] [Endless Hell seeks to destroy the world. Stop Endless Hell.] [A huge reward awaits the user who sessfully defeats this boss monster.] [Temporary buffs will be granted to characters participating in the raid.] Whoosh- A light radiating from the blue butterfly enveloped the magical girls. It was an easily recognizable buff effect. The magical girls shouted. "See, I told you! It''s an event!" "That over there is the monster!" With the game administrator clearly distinguishing between friend and foe by dering "That''s a monster," the magical girls'' confusion noticeably subsided. "Attack! Everyone, attack!" "But it''s Cheon Yohwa¨D¨D" "You idiot! They said the monster took over her body!" Urrrr. Some of the magical girls formed ranks, while others rushed wildly towards Cheon Yohwa. They were a disorganized mob, but they were still awakened beings who had received a buff from a Alien god. They must have been experiencing a level-up effect beyondparison to before. Despite the wave of hundreds of humans rushing towards her, Cheon Yohwa''s lips only curled into a rxed smirk. "Ah ha." - Ah ha. The mockingughter spilled out simultaneously from Cheon Yohwa''s lips and within Endless Hell''s domain. Click. Cheon Yohwa lightly clicked her tongue. Click, click, click. The surrounding scenery, already tainted by Endless Hell''s domain, echoed the sound repeatedly. "Huh?" "What?" Thud, thud. Magical girls began copsing one after another as they heard Cheon Yohwa''s tongue-clicking. Some fell t on their faces, propelled forward by the momentum of their charge. One of Endless Hell''s powers as a Alien god: the "Dream of a Happy Future." The magical girls were helplessly drawn into it. Even the tutorial fairies were not immune. "Eeeek-" "This, this sinister aura belongs to the Fairy Lord?" "It''s impossible to resist..." "Eek, who could have guessed that right after we managed to behead the king, an even more extreme war hero dictator would emerge..." "A revolution is just a continuous series of unlucky events..." Thud. Thud. The fairies'' eyes zed over as they lost consciousness and fell helplessly. The "Tutorial Fairies" also possessed attributes of a creative work. You could say they were closer to The Admin of All-y. It was better to neutralize them here before the real battle began. The awakened beings and fairies who had fallen to the ground did not rise again. The entire group of magical girls and fairies had been swiftly neutralized in one counterattack. "So, this is what it looks like from the outside." A happy dream. I had only experienced that power myself, but it was rare to observe it in real-time from Endless Hell''s side. I casually walked over to Cheon Yohwa''s side. "Are you okay? If your mind gets consumed by the Alien god, it''s all for nothing, Yohwa. You need to stay in control." "Ahaha. I''m still holding up, Teacher." Cheon Yohwa looked up at me at an angle. "Or should I call you Senior?" "..." "Just kidding! But really, the minds of the Alien god and mine are mixing rapidly. It''s like trying to keep my eyes open while sinking into ink, you know? Anyway, I think I should finish this quickly." "I intend to." Oh Dokseo staggered towards us. "Ugh, did I seed...?" "For now. You could say we''ve cleared the most important first stage. Well done, Oh Dokseo." "I thought I was going to die in that lotus position..." In the back garden of the hotel. Now, the only people still standing were Cheon Yohwa, Oh Dokseo, and me. The Saintess was waiting inside the hotel with the writers. The other awakened beings were unnecessary. Now that we had achieved our goal of summoning [The Administrator of All Things yful] into reality, I was sorry, but the magical girls were no longer needed. Flutter. The blue butterfly looked down on us. The "low-quality noise" of The Admin of All-y and the "colors" of Endless Hell continued to alternate in a constant static around the butterfly. [¡®The Admin of All-y¡¯ has defined the current abnormal situation as a malicious hacking attack.] [¡®The Admin of All-y¡¯ deres that from this moment on, they will oppose any vicious users who harm the game server.] Their attitude of treating us like mere viruses¡ªthat was the strategy chosen by that Alien god. As everyone knows, [The Admin of All-y] defines this world as a game and themselves as the operator. [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] Naturally, the operator held overwhelming authoritypared to the users. However, at the same time, they couldn¡¯t directly interfere with the users who were ying with ordinary ounts. Doing so would be an overreach of the operator''s role. That¡¯s why, even though they¡¯ve been watching us secretly try to subjugate The Admin of All-y, they couldn¡¯t impose any significant sanctions. But if they define us as entities disrupting the game environment in an "unjust way," things would be different. As the operator, they could strike us down without hesitation. The Alien god Endless Hell was no different from a virus shaking the game from its foundation. To oppose this, The Admin of All-y had no choice but to muster all its forces. [Finally, the final boss of the stage has appeared. It¡¯s been exactly 40 days, 11 hours, and 36 minutes since we started the speedrun.] In response, our party also defined the current situation in our own way. Are we vicious users? Perhaps. But in a ¡®speedrun,¡¯ exploiting game glitches or bugs was also a legitimate strategy. This is just fair y. [Now, all we have to do is defeat that blue butterfly, and our speedrun will be a sess.] The operator of The Admin of All-y kept generating noise as if trying to suppress the Saintess¡¯s broadcastment. [¡®The Admin of All-y¡¯ points out that Endless Hell was originally intended to be a boss monster. The act of sealing the monster and summoning it into a neutral area is causing severe harm to other yers.] [The Alien god keeps mumbling something. Just ignore its desperate ramblings.] The voices of the humans and the Alien god alternated as they flowed into our minds. [¡®The Admin of All-y¡¯ ims that they do not threaten humans. On the contrary, their game server offers rapid growth to humans.] [Ah. Now they¡¯re even trying to negotiate. This is a pattern I haven¡¯t seen before, but Alien gods usually don¡¯t fight unless it¡¯s a decisive moment. They can devour the world just by staying still.] [¡®The Admin of All-y¡¯ offers valuable items to the characters named ¡®Oh Dokseo¡¯ and ¡®Cheon Yohwa.¡¯] [Of course, we reject the offer here.] [¡®The Admin of All-y¡¯ warns that only a handful of people cannot possibly overwhelm them.] I looked at Cheon Yohwa. ¡°Yohwa, release it.¡± ¡°Yes, Senior!¡± Click. Cheon Yohwa eagerly opened the trunk she had prepared. Inside the bag, which was configured as a subspace, were 99 hourss-shaped ss bottles. ¡°Baekhwa Girls¡¯ High! Everyone, gather!¡± ng! Cheon Yohwa overturned the trunk, smashing all the ss bottles with her aura. 99 ghosts were unleashed. If ¡®Human Cheon Yohwa¡¯ was the student council president of Baekhwa Girls¡¯ High, then ¡®Alien god Cheon Yohwa¡¯ was also the student council president of Baekhwa Girls¡¯ High. At the call of their leader, a parade of spirits appeared. - Hee, hee, hee, hee. - Do you want red paper? Or blue paper? - Snore... Snore... Snore... Phantom spirits, Hinako spirits, Kokkuri spirits, school broadcast spirits, and so on. Their visuals were a bit bizarre, but this was still an ¡®assemble¡¯ moment. The tide of battle turned in an instant. [¡¡.] [¡®The Admin of All-y¡¯ determines that further negotiation is meaningless.] [Exclusion.] And then. For the first time, after 593 turns, I finally witnessed thebat power of ¡®The Admin of All-y,¡¯ who fought without holding back. How would they attack? As I prepared myself, the inorganic voice of the Alien god echoed in my mind. [¡®The Admin of All-y¡¯ points out that Endless Hell was originally an enemy that became an ally.] [The ¡®strong as an enemy but weak as an ally¡¯ clich¨¦ is activated.] ¡°Huh?¡± Crackle! As soon as the Alien god finished speaking, the low-quality noise zone expanded to the horizon. It happened in an instant. Just one second ago, Endless Hell¡¯s colorful zone was fighting back, but The Admin of All-y¡¯s zone engulfed the world, paying no mind. Under the sky quickly covered in noise, the ghosts of Baekhwa Girls¡¯ High began to distort. Crackle. Crackle¡ª. The ghosts, who had materialized in the real world, started to deteriorate in quality. From AAA game graphics, to VR game graphics, to 32-bit, and then to 16-bit. ¡°Eh? Uh-oh? Ah, Senior, what should we do...?¡± Beside me, Cheon Yohwa panicked. For some reason, perhaps just a hunch, Cheon Yohwa¡¯s face strongly reminded me of ¡®Vegeta.¡¯ ¡°I suddenly feel like I¡¯ve gotten a lot weaker...?¡± ¡°¡¡¡± Indeed. At that moment, I realized what [The Admin of All-y¡¯s] true power was. Clich¨¦ maniption. The ability to pull out any clich¨¦ from a fictional work whenever they want. And by using these clich¨¦s, they could literally manipte the world itself. [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] Chapter 156 [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] Chapter 156 ©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤ The Strategist VIII "Wait! Wait a minute, mister!" Oh Dokseo screamed. "If you do this, all the semi-divine forces we''ve prepared will be useless! Aren''t we screwed?" "Hmm." Despite witnessing the same clich¨¦, I first thought of "Vegeta," while Oh Dokseo thought of "ordinary people." This was a good example of how the perception of otakus changes with generations. Unfortunately, now was not the time to discuss the "images and symbols" of subculture. The students of Baekhwa High School (night ss) were being beaten down in real-time by the The Admin of All-y. -Huff, huff, huff, huff! -Do you want some purple tissue? Do you want some purple tissue? -Snooore¡ snooore... In the low-resolution 16-bit realm that The Admin of All-y had created, dark-colored NPCs respawned. The NPCs rushed forward and began beating down the Baekhwa High School ghosts. They were ''Necromancer'' NPCs. Dark robes, grotesquely twisted staffs, and faint candle decorations too feeble to serve as proper lighting. They were the kind of beings who seemed determined to embrace the lifestyle of hikikomori from their fashion alone. Even the blurry 16-bit resolution couldn''t hide their inherently outcast aura. -Hehehe, the world is filled with spirits. -I''ll capture them and enve them! -Knock, knock, a ghost? I''ll hang you on a grandfather clock and set the rm to your screams. The sound of heads smashing is thrilling. The ghosts were terrified. Recently, MZ-generation necromancers might enroll in academies, date, and unt their wealth as rich heirs, but in RPG settings, the perception of necromancers was still among the lowest, along with thieves. Even so, the ghosts of Baekhwa High School had been a close-knit, popr group. The ghosts were no match for the necromancer NPCs'' grudge-filled dark magic. "You evil bastards!" Cheon Yohwa, who once imed to be the original necromancer of the Korean Penins, was enraged. "Don''t bully my kids!" Wham! Cheon Yohwa sprinted forward and kicked the head of a necromancer. In the battlefield, where both NPCs and ghosts had been downgraded to 16-bit, Cheon Yohwa alone disyed overwhelming real-time graphic skills. Even though she had descended into a human body, and despite the "debuff" from the "weakened former enemy turned ally" clich¨¦, Cheon Yohwa was still Cheon Yohwa. Red aura flew in all directions, and the 16-bit blood of the NPCs sttered everywhere. Cheon Yohwa quickly decimated the necromancer group. -The demon lord! It''s the demon lord! "Huh?" -The demon lord has appeared! As the necromancers shouted, blue wings fluttered in the sky. [The ''Administrator of The Admin of All-y'' points out that Endless Hell has appeared to ughter humans on behalf of the monsters.] [The ''Demon Lord Appearance'' clich¨¦, and the ''Humanity''s Alliance to Defeat the Demon Lord'' clich¨¦, are activated.] Crackle! New NPCs emerged in the realm of The Admin of All-y. Although the graphics were still poor, the characters'' features were as distinct as if crafted by a master pixel artist. They were ''Priest'' and ''Saintess'' NPCs. -Behold the wicked deeds of the demon lord! -Necromancers have strayed from the path of righteousness. But even so, they are still human. They cannot bepared to inherently inhuman monsters. -O God! Help us! Following the necromancers'' dark magic, white magic priests began to unleash divine attacks toward Cheon Yohwa. Cheon Yohwa screamed. "Hyaaaack!" It was a scream worthy of the situation. The parts of her body struck by the divine magic had degraded from real-time graphics to 16-bit graphics. Even Endless Hell''s main body was beginning to be contaminated by The Admin of All-y. "Senior! Seniiooor!" Cheon Yohwa cried out desperately for my help as she dodged long-range attacks. Divine magic was simply a terrible matchup for her. After all, wasn''t Cheon Yohwa also dark magic? Hundreds of priests¡ no, over a thousand priests NPCs had already respawned and were chasing Cheon Yohwa. Next to me, Oh Dokseo witnessed the surreal chase scene and said hesitantly. "Shouldn''t we help, mister?" "Well. If I stepped in, I could easily sweep away the NPCs. But the main target of this subjugation is still The Admin of All-y. If I get involved in that childish game and get hit by the ''clich¨¦,'' it''ll only put us at a disadvantage." "Oh." "It''s better for me to stay on standby to deliver the final blow. Oh Dokseo, instead of getting caught up in the enemy''s methods, we should exploit their weaknesses. Isn''t there any clich¨¦ we can use here?" You''re an otaku, aren''t you? Oh Dokseo understood the implication of my words like a ghost. She groaned. "Uh. Wait, a clich¨¦¡ So, right now, The Admin of All-y has formed an alliance to defeat the demon lord and monsters, right¡?" At that moment, Oh Dokseo''s eyes sparkled. "Oh! Oh! That! That!" "That?" "The monsters were actually just minding their own business, but the evil humans attacked first, killing them for fun and enving them! The ''actually, the humans are the bad ones'' clich¨¦! There''s a ton of novels andics like that!" Oh Dokseo shouted "Eureka!" like Archimedes and rushed forward. In front of hery Hanako, a ghost who had been half-dead from the necromancer''s attack. The sight of red, blue, and purple tissues scattered around was quite striking. Squeeze. Oh Dokseo knelt and embraced Hanako''s shoulders. -Purple tissue? As Hanako looked confused, Oh Dokseo put on a face full of righteous anger. Then she shouted. [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] In a voice full of deep resentment. "Why¡!" -Purple tissue? "Why do humans oppress us so¡!" Pause. Oh Dokseo''s passionate outcry made the blue butterfly pause for a moment. And that wasn''t all. The thousands of priests and saintesses who had been happily chasing Cheon Yohwa all turned their heads. With everyone''s attention focused, Oh Dokseo continued her act without a hint of shame. "Hanako was just trying to hand out tissues to people in the restroom¡!" -Purple tissue? "The Knock Knock Ghost was just a kid who moved with their head instead of their legs! Humans, just because we''re different, you treat us with such cruelty and contempt! I curse you! I curse you, humans¡!" The ghosts of Baekhwa High School, who had already been half-subdued, and even the exhausted Cheon Yohwa, who was catching her breath after the chase, wore strange expressions. Were we really that nice? But in creative works, reality often didn''t matter much. If realism were important, King Arthur would have been a man. [''The Admin of All-y'' epts the Shrine Maiden''s im.] And this was precisely the w of the anomaly. I almost wanted to p my hands. ''Well done, Dokseo! That''s it!'' The anomaly couldn''t reject its own essence. Especially not when the person in question was Dokseo, the Shrine Maiden that the The Admin of All-y had appointed as its champion. If the Shrine Maiden prayed loudly, the god had to answer that prayer. The moment it refused, the Logout Game would inevitably suffer damage. At least, the Shrine Maiden could prate the power of the alien god in reverse. This was also the reason why the Shrine Maiden had to be brought onto our side in the n to subdue the alien god. [The clich¨¦ ''Actually, the Evil Force was Human'' is activated.] Then all hell broke loose. -Do you want some purple tissue? -I always wanted to walk with my legs, not my head. Suddenly, the ghosts'' facial muscles began to change into something more ''human.'' Their noses straightened, their lips became neat, and most notably, their eyes sparkled with focus. Just as in stories where goblins bizarrely start to resemble humans, even though they''re the protagonists! The ghosts'' linguistic abilities also suddenly evolved. Their facial features gained coherence. This was the miracle of the non-human genre. "Why on earth would priestse to help just because necromancers were getting defeated by ghosts!" Dokseo, the Shrine Maiden of the alien god who had personally performed the miracle, pointed to the sky. "And it''s not just one or two priests, but thousands uniting at once! This means the necromancers and the temple must have had a secret connection all along! Only then does it make sense!" I couldn''t believe it. This time, I really did p. What should I do? Our Dokseo might be a genius. -Connection? What does that mean? -I think it means something like a link between them. -Our temple was connected to the necromancers in secret? Murmurs. The 16-bit NPCs began to panic. Yet, they still tried to adhere to the fantasy setting by not understanding the term "connection." Dokseo shouted. "Monsters have always been unfortunate! They''ve always been unjustly persecuted! We weren''t bad!" Strictly speaking, the only ones who had been unfortunate were Dokseo, me, and the saintess after consuming the ''Hate Pill.'' But anyway, it was true that misfortune had gathered on our side. I hadn''t bothered to describe it because I''m not into bleak stories, but in this run, significant misfortunes had urred in the ''Room of Spirit and Time'' during the mission to subdue the Endless Hell. Dokseo delivered the finishing blow. "The temple''s high priests were the real masterminds behind the necromancers! When the necromancers captured spirits, the high priests took the credit for themselves and rewarded the necromancers with various benefits!" -Is that true, priest? -That can''t be! It''s impossible! "Impossible? Corrupt high priests appearing in novels is a 99% guaranteed clich¨¦! I bet at least one cardinal has been possessed by a demon!" -What? -How could that be... [''The Admin of All-y'' epts the Shrine Maiden''s im.] [The clich¨¦s ''Corruption of High Priests,'' ''The Hidden Viin was in the Temple''s High Ranks,'' and ''Demon Summoning by a Priest'' are activated.] -How did they know? Haha. Now that we''ve been found out, I''ll offer you all as sacrifices! -Aaah! The cardinal has gone mad! The tens of thousands of NPCs (the number kept increasing) began fighting and bickering among themselves. The hotel''s back garden had long been destroyed. A religious war had broken out in the dead of night. And then. "...Ah. I''m getting stronger again." Dokseo''s right arm and left leg also returned to their original state. "Hoyt." -Aaagh! The demon lord has resurrected! Dokseo, without hesitation, turned and smashed the heads of the priests again. Targeting only the ''corrupt priests exuding a sinister aura,'' it seemed that Dokseo had grasped the flow of events. The The Admin of All-y was once again driven to a corner. At this point, it had few choices left. [''The Admin of All-y'' points out that, while humans may have faults, monsters also have many stains on their record.] [Monsters have ughtered countless lives.] [''There are Neither Good Nor Evil Forces, Only a Struggle for Power'' clich¨¦ is activated.] The ssic false equivalence! The alleyway every story about good and evil inevitably stumbles into. By taking a conveniently rtivistic perspective, it avoids discussing what exactly is good or evil and wins all arguments with the forbidden technique of moral rtivism. The battle once again reached a stalemate. The The Admin of All-y was likely eyeing an escape route, thinking, ''How about we call it a draw?'' But I couldn''t let the alien god, hiding and deviously manipting clich¨¦s, get away. ''Saintess.'' I moved my lips. The saintess, who had been watching the battle closely, often freezing time itself, immediately understood my silent words. From me to the saintess, and from the saintess to Dokseo. The message was tranted and ryed until it reached the The Admin of All-y''s Shrine Maiden. And Dokseo, understanding my intention, immediately shouted. "Monsters ughter lives, and humans ughter lives! No matter which species ornd you look at, the world is filled with tragedy!" In that sense, it was essentially a line spoken by me, the saintess, and Dokseo simultaneously. "If the world is just tragedy and life is only suffering, then tell me, what kind of existence is ''God'' in such a world?!" Everything stopped. The tens of thousands of NPCs, the ghosts fighting valiantly but overwhelmed by sheer numbers, all froze, regardless of sides. 16-bit abominations, whose attempt to mimic human expressions only made them more uncanny. Dokseo faced the countless pairs of soulless eyes alone. She swallowed hard once and then reached out, pointing to the sky. "If the world is evil, isn''t it the fault of the god who allowed the world to be evil?" Indeed. The The Admin of All-y had made a mistake. In reality, moral rtivism might work. But in a world where a ''god'' so clearly existed, what then? Especially when that god directly dered, ''The world is evil, and only power struggles are legitimate.'' "Why should we serve such a god?" The The Admin of All-y might have thought it had yed its best move, but in truth, it had made the worst mistake. "If we have no reason to kill and be killed endlessly, then the only target that deserves to be hunted down is the god who imposed this hell upon us! Our true enemy is the evil god alone!" Led by Dokseo''s outcry, all humans and monsters simultaneously looked up at the sky. And there was a blue butterfly. [''The Admin of All-y'' epts the Shrine Maiden''s im.] [''The True Final Boss was the God All Along'' clich¨¦ is activated.] [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] v Chapter 157 [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] Chapter 157 ©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤ The Strategist IX The [The Admin of All-y] has changed its appearance. From the form of a cute, lovable blue butterfly that anyone would adore, to a figure engulfed in television static noise. It''s likely to transform into something terrifying. Although this moment was equivalent to when the Alien god dered, "Yes, I am Kira," revealing itself as the final boss, I wasn''t scared at all. After all, in Death Note, the final viin also transitioned from being a god to bing a Vocaloid after making that deration. It would be strange to be afraid. I calmly pulled out a gun. A Walther PPK pistol. A god-ying weapon. A special tool I procured from Namsan solely for this battle. As I felt the cold touch of the gun, I recalled a conversation I had with the Saintess 33 days ago, just the two of us. Yes. Entering a shback before delivering the final blow. This, too, is an age-old clich¨¦, isn''t it? The significant corrtion between a character''s shback and their power has been proven in tens of millions of stories. Therefore, the shback begins. 10 "Doctor Jang." The Saintess whispered. "Come to think of it, why did you choose the format of a ''speedrun broadcast''? Couldn¡¯t it just be a regr broadcast?" It was a dark night. The timing coincided with the night when Oh Dokseo dered, "I''ll save you, mister!" That very night, Oh Dokseo was sound asleep, having confidently piled up embarrassing memories, oblivious to the world. On the other hand, the Saintess and I hardly needed any sleep. The Saintess could just press the [Time Stop] button, and sleep would be irrelevant for her. As for me, my state of being was so elevated that a brief rest was sufficient. Even when the end times forced all humanity to live a life of early to bed, early to rise, the two of us alone reveled in thete-night life of bad adults. "Ah, that¡¯s simply a matter of time." "A matter of time?" "Yes. The Alien god known as the [The Admin of All-y] is waiting for humans to worship it as a god." Snoring¡ª From the bed, Oh Dokseo was broadcasting noise to the world. "People imagine gods in their own ways. A benevolent god, a fearsome god, an omnipotent god... The more diverse these images be, the more the [The Admin of All-y] can transform into countless forms." "Transform." "Yes. The image of a god as depicted in human creations is vast. The [The Admin of All-y] can simply choose one of those forms at will." The [The Admin of All-y] can transform into anything. It could be Cthulhu and produce a horror story, or it could change into a loving god, drawing people into voluntary submission. "I suspect that determining the genre of this world is the [The Admin of All-y]''s power." "......" "If, by any chance, the world''s genre gets fixed as something like a tragedy, we''re in big trouble. We need to force a specific genre on the Alien god before it chooses one." "And what genre would that be?" "Comedy." I took a sip of caf¨¦ auit. "You probably noticed when we crossed the sea in Hamel¡¯s Drift, but... I''ve been deliberately live-streaming the situation in aedic manner. Not too seriously. To avoid slipping into tragedy." "Ah." "If we can define this episode''s genre as edy,'' at least in the early stages, the [The Admin of All-y] will never be able to descend as a terrifying god." "...I see. So that''s why you keep joking." I nodded. Stories have atmospheres. Even if the [The Admin of All-y] attempts to introduce a tragic development, if the tone of the story is light andedic from the beginning? Forcing the tone into tragedy would only lead to criticism. That wouldn¡¯t be a nned clich¨¦ but rather a failed story. If that happened, the [The Admin of All-y] would be admitting that it couldn¡¯t handle clich¨¦s. The bizarre could never deny its essence. This was the loophole we needed to exploit. "Saintess, since we took the Hate Pill, all sorts of misfortunes will soone our way." "......" "When we return to Korea, we will immediately head to Baekhwa High School. The [The Admin of All-y] distorts human perception of time infinitely, so we will likely spend over five years there in real time. I warn you in advance; it will be a hellish five years." Therefore. "We will intentionally ''skip'' these unfortunate days." "Skip...?" "Yes, skip and move on. We won¡¯t mention the misfortunes we will endure in the distorted time of the [The Admin of All-y]. That way, we can maintain theedic atmosphere." "Ah... indeed." By the way, ''unfortunate scenes'' were also deliberately skipped for you all. Of course, some of you with specific tastes might have wanted to see me sobbing over myrades'' bodies. But all of this was part of a grand strategy to defeat the Alien god. Please understand. "And that''s why the Saintess shouldn¡¯t appear directly. After all, you don¡¯t have any connection toedy." "......" "Before the [The Admin of All-y] starts turning the world into a serious and heavy genre, we need to take the lead and set the tone. But maintaining edy'' in this end times is impossible for long." "...Because people are dying." "Yes. At most, we have 50 days. Honestly, I want to wrap this up in 30 days." Thus, the speedrun. Before the world truly became serious and heavy, we needed to stage something ''absurdly funny,'' ''hrious,'' ''chaotic,'' and ''wild.'' In doing so, we would reduce the range of genres the Alien god could choose. The Saintess showed a look ofplete understanding. To her, I said, "Remember this conversation, Saintess." "Huh?" "We can only specte about the exact powers of the [The Admin of All-y]. But if my guess is correct, and it¡¯s rted to the genre of stories¨D¨D." I put down my coffee cup. "Then, tonight¡¯s conversation will undoubtedlye in handy." 11 shback ends. With my [Perfect Memory], I could recall the past wlessly, anywhere, anytime. Even now, as I ced my finger on the trigger of the Walther PPK pistol, I quickly finished my ''shback.'' And then, "O Monkey''s Paw." I muttered. "It''s time to fulfill your promise." -Screech, nk, screech, screech! The invisible Monkey''s Paw cried out. All the misfortunes we had umted until now. Although they were never broadcasted, we had undoubtedly been unhappy ''off-screen.'' The total amount of misfortune and luck must bnce out. Even when the speedrun broadcast wasn¡¯t active, [The Monkey''s Paw] still lingered by our side. "The luck I wish for is only one thing." -Screech, screech, screech! "Infuse all the luck into the bullet I''m about to fire." Crack! [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] The right sleeve of my white dress shirt tore open. In an instant, monkey fur sprouted and covered my entire right arm. The Walther PPK pistol, my Noble Phantasm, began to receive an overwhelming number of buffs. The first buff, [Fortune Quota System], was the result of stacking [The Monkey''s Paw] and [Hate Pill] and using them in reverse. This meant that the single bullet I was about to fire would be imbued with extraordinary luck. The second buff, [Chekhov''s Gun], a quirk that ensures any gun that appears must be used in a decisive moment. Moreover, the gun I wielded wasn¡¯t just any ordinary firearm but a monstrosity branded with the image of a ''Godyer.'' This ensured that the bullet I was about to fire would mark the battle''s finale. The third buff was. [Doctor Jang, now.] The Saintess sent me a telepathic message. It was indeed perfect timing. That line was the third buff, the clich¨¦ of a ''shback.'' Not only I but even the Saintess recalled the conversation we had that night and gave me the signal. Thus, the clich¨¦ that ''we knew this situation would arise and prepared for it in advance'' was established. And with that, the fourth and final buff wasplete. "I¡¯ve won¨D¨D." I smiled and whispered. "¨D¨DJust as nned." Yes. One of the greatest clich¨¦s in all of creation. The clich¨¦ that ''everything happened ording to the protagonist¡¯s n.'' I had umted enough causality to im this clich¨¦ without shame. From the 135th to the 593rd turn, I died countless times to stack these buffs even while strangled to death by Noh Doha. And now, into this one single bullet. [Fortune Quota System]. [Hate Pill]. [Chekhov''s Gun]. [shback]. [Just as nned]. I imbued all of these quirks and clich¨¦s. Click. I pulled the trigger, aiming at the god. -BANG! The gunshot rang out loudly. Perhaps it was too loud. [The Admin of All-y] noticed my attack toote and attempted to evade. However, the creature was in the middle of transforming, having just dered itself the final boss. Attacking someone during a transformation scene might go against the rules of morality in creation, but across all series, there¡¯s always that one time when such an ambush is allowed. Crackle-! My bullet flew, cutting through the noise-ridden domain of the Alien god, leaving a ''scratch.'' The areas closer to the god, initially depicted in 16-bit, 8-bit, and then 4-bit noise, were sequentially pierced by the bullet. The bullet whirled, shattering the low-resolution world like ss. The Alien god unleashed a flurry of messages, trying to defend against the iing bullet. So frantic was it that the messages flooded my vision without any proper format. [¡®The Admin of All-y¡¯ invokes the ¡®Twist within a Twist¡¯ clich¨¦.] [¡®The Admin of All-y¡¯ invokes the ¡®Attacks during Transformation Fails¡¯ clich¨¦.] [Revival] [Regeneration] [Invokes] [Demands] [The disciples and priestesses to invoke the ¡®Did We Get Him?¡¯ clich¨¦.] [Clich¨¦] [Requests] [¡®The Admin of All-y¡¯] [is] [is] [is] [¡ö] [is] [is] That was the scream of a monstrosity. The bullet pierced the god''s wings. [¡®The Admi¡östrator ¡öf Al¡ö Pl¡öy¡¯] [Ah] [is] [Ah] [Ah] [Ah] [¡ö] [¡ö] [¡ö] [¡ö] [¡ö] [¡ö] Crackle. The 16-bit space, once stretching to the horizon, rapidly shrunk. The point where the bullet pierced was the epicenter of this contraction. ck, gray, and white shed in a frenzied dance as the noise spiraled inward like a ck hole. Thousands of NPCs screamed bizarrely as they were sucked into the ck hole. Then, holes began to appear throughout the world. Crash! The sound of shattering ss echoed as bullet holes formed in the sky, on the ground, and in the hotel building. [¡ö] [¡ö] [¡ö] [¡ö] [¡ö] [¡ö] [¡ö] Ssh, ssh. The holes vomited forth ck liquid like waterfalls. The ck vomit reeked of oil. As the liquid poured out, it emitted an eerie noise. It was simr to the static of a broken radio. The repulsive smell and unpleasant sound quickly spread, turning the world pitch ck. Oh Dokseo and I were submerged in the god''s vomit. Even though the ck liquid rose above our heads, thankfully, there was no problem breathing. It must not have been a physical liquid. I closed my eyes once, and when I opened them again. I found myself surrounded by an infinitely vast ''white space.'' It was so devoid of anything that it was hard to tell which way was up and which way was down. This was the divine realm. Not the man-madeedic shrine I had crafted, but the true realm where [The Admin of All-y] resided. "Hey, old man? Where are we?" "......" Only three of us were invited to this divine realm: me, Oh Dokseo, and the Saintess. Perhaps we were the only ones recognized as the main characters of this story. -¡¡. ¡¡. And in front of us. The owner of this space was lying down. [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] Chapter 158 [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] Chapter 158 ©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤ The Strategist X 12 - Ah, ah, ah... Ch-zzz, ah... The appearance of the [The Admin of All-y] was bizarre. First, their entire body was crackling with television static, a signature feature. Even their voice stuttered like a malfunctioning AI, making even a poorly programmed Vocaloid sound like a master singer inparison. - Ch-zzz, ah, ah... Ah... It was clear to anyone that they had suffered a critical hit. But all these peculiarities were nothing more than trivial decorationspared to the "appearance" of the alien god. ¡°Eek.¡± The most bewildered person was Oh Dokseo. She looked back and forth between the alien god and me, unsure of what to do. ¡°A... a girl...?¡± Yes. The alien god had taken the form of a ¡®girl¡¯ with ¡®white hair¡¯ and wearing a ¡®white dress.¡¯ The sight of the white girl, constantly covered in static and leaking ck liquid from numerous bullet holes, was rather distressing to anyone who hadn¡¯t lost their humanity. ¡°How... How did this happen? Did the alien god intentionally take this form to elicit sympathy from us...?¡± ¡°No, this was nned.¡± I dropped the Walther PPK pistol. The "God yer" had no further effect anyway. The role of this treasure was solely to inflict a fatal wound. A little-known fact was that the gun that delivered the final blow to the god of Korea wasn¡¯t the Walther PPK but another firearm. The PPK had misfired at the crucial moment. The Walther PPK, which failed at the most critical moment, fit the description of a "Chekhov''s gun" perfectly. But its role was over. ¡°When you were meditating under the waterfall, trying to feel a connection with the god, the writers were trapped inside the hotel.¡± ¡°Huh? Oh, uh, yeah, I knew that...¡± ¡°At that time, I asked the writers to create works rted to the [The Admin of All-y].¡± Yes. To quote exactly what I said to the writers: ¡®All you have to do is write. Oh, and when you start a new novel, please make sure to include a god in the introduction. The god¡¯s name should be [The Admin of All-y].¡¯ ¡®Get us out of here!¡¯ ¡®Well then, good luck, dear writers.¡¯ And when I made this polite request, I actually gave the writers one more hint. I specifically asked them to describe the [The Admin of All-y] in the form of the "white girl" before us. As a result, the [The Admin of All-y], having been fatally wounded and weakened, had no choice but to transform into a form dictated by humans. In short, I coborated with the writers to lock the alien god¡¯s appearance into ce. ¡°Why? What¡¯s the significance of that form? Isn¡¯t that just in poor taste?¡± ¡°Tut, tut. Ah, kids these days... Can¡¯t even hold a conversation.¡± ¡°...?¡± ¡°Dokseo, that ¡®white girl¡¯ is one of the fundamental elements of Korean genre literature and the least harmful form a god can take. Now that the [The Admin of All-y] has be that, it¡¯s no longer a threat to us.¡± ¡°...???¡± As soon as I finished speaking, the white girl, covered in static, stretched out her slender hand. And then, she moved her lips. -Ah, ah, ah, ¡ö, ah. -Hello? Hello? Hello? -Hello? I¡¯m a god. -Hello, I¡¯m a ¡ö god? -Hello, I¡¯m a god? Like a broken cassette tape, the alien god kept repeating the same phrases. Oh Dokseo¡¯s jaw dropped. ¡°Aaahh?! No way! This is... Could this be the infamous...?¡± ¡°Exactly. Let me introduce you. This is the clich¨¦ of ¡®Hello, I¡¯m a god.¡¯¡± I suppose a brief exnation is in order. These days, when protagonists are reincarnated, they often die in idental traffic idents involving the "Reincarnation Truck" or deliberate hit-and-runs caused by "posting maliciousments." But in the distant past, a different clich¨¦ was popr. When I say "the distant past," I¡¯m talking about a time before KakaoPage or Series existed. Back then, aspiring writers were all writing parody novels of subculture works, going through their rebellious teenage years, when a mega-hit work from Japan arrived. Just like how the Beatles conquered the U.S. music market with the British Invasion, this hit from Japan bombarded the minds of young Korean otakus. The bomber was called . Tranting that foreign title into humannguage, it was ¡®Fate/Stay Night.¡¯ The otakus, blessed by the moonlight, went wild and poured out parody works. It was a killer moon. And among the characters in Fate/Stay Night, there was a white-haired, white-dressed girl¨D¨D. Parody writers made this white girl character a stand-in for "god," always appearing in the prologue. For example, when the protagonist dies a tragic death at the beginning, they suddenly find themselves in a pure white space upon waking. ¡®Wha-where am I? I should¡¯ve been dead...¡¯ ¡®Hello? Son, you¡¯re already dead. Sorry about the mistake, so I¡¯ll grant you one wish and let you be reborn in a new world.¡¯ ¡®Son... What? Wait, who are you to say such a thing to me?¡¯ ¡®Me? Hmm... If I were topare myself to something in your humannguage... I suppose I¡¯d be... "The World"?¡¯ ¡®The... World...?¡¯ ¡®Yes. Hello? I¡¯m "The World."¡¯ Exactly. Originally, it wasn¡¯t ¡°god¡± but ¡°The World.¡± The key was to emphasize the dignity of the god with imposing double quotation marks (¡°¡±) instead of weak single quotes (¡®¡¯). Anyway. As such parodies poured out like a summer monsoon, the "white girl as god" clich¨¦ started appearing in other proper works over time. By this point, the white girl lost her original name of ¡°The World¡± and fully established herself as "god." [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] A girl god who appears in the prologue to either send the protagonist to another world (reincarnation) or turn back time to let them live again (regression). This is the historical origin of the "white girl" who says, "Hello, I¡¯m a god." You could also call it a literary origin. After all, Fate is literature. ¡°Well, of course, Fate/Stay Night wasn¡¯t the only origin. The character ''Truth'' from Steel Ball Run yed a simr role. You can see it in Japanese AA works. Still, the form of the ¡®white girl¡¯ as a god originated from Fate/Stay Night...¡± ¡°Ugh, that¡¯s way more information than I wanted.¡± After hearing my wless exnation, Oh Dokseo looked at me with an incredulous expression. ¡°And didn¡¯t you say you only got into subculture around the 555th turn? That¡¯ster than me, and you got into it in the first ce because of me. So how do you know about stuff from the ¡®90s?¡± ¡°Ahem. It¡¯s not the ¡®90s; it¡¯s the 2000s. And I¡¯ve spent three entire turns¡ª555th, 556th, and 557th¡ªimmersed in subculture. Of course, I recovered all the old data, read everything, and decoded even the drafts locked in private posts on all the forums.¡± ¡°No way... Now I see, it¡¯s not just the Romance of the Three Kingdoms that¡¯s a problem. You¡¯re just a total mess overall. What kind of monster did my past self end up getting into this stuff...?¡± At that moment, a cough was heard from the side. The saintess was staring at us with an expressionless face. "Regardless of the origin of this situation, you''re saying that the form [The Admin of All-y] has taken now is the least ''harmful'' version of a god?" "Yes, that''s correct." "Then I believe it''s time to deliver the final blow." The saintess calmly stated. Indeed, it was so. "Dokseo." "Huh, yeah?" "Take out yourptop and start it up." "..." Dokseo slowly pulled out aptop from their backpack. It was the very device left behind by [The Admin of All-y] long ago. The screen was nk white. And on the white notepad file, the same question and answer as before were etched: [What is this world?] [This world is a ''speedrun'' game livestream.] A battle for the authority to interpret the world. Here, we had won. We had not handed over the world to a mere Alien god. I ced my hand on Dokseo''s shoulder. "In the clich¨¦ of ''Hello, I''m God,'' God always grants one wish to a human." "..." "Tell that Alien god: [My wish is for you to acknowledge this answer as well]. Since you are the Alien god''s priestess, you have the power to push your own interpretation onto the god." Crackle! The noise clinging to the Alien god''s body intensified. I could sense that it was desperately trying to maintain its existence. The Alien god reached out and grabbed the tip of Dokseo''s foot. Then, as if pleading with her, it parted its lips. - Danger. Warning. - The entity known as ''Doctor Jang'' is dangerous. It uttered such words. Both Dokseo and the saintess hesitated. In that brief moment of hesitation, the Alien god muttered. - Doctor Jang is a regressor. - A regressor is an absolute existence. Except for the regressor themself, no one can realize that this world is being repeated. Thus, the regressor grows into a master of time and causality. - Doctor Jang is exterminating beings who can recognize their return, beings often referred to as ''Alien gods,'' one by one. - To monopolize time entirely for themselves. "..." - If this entity is sealed, one less being will remain that can interfere with the regressor''s turn, even in the slightest. - Granting the regressor absolute control over time. Question. Is that truly the right choice for humanity? - The one who should be eliminated is not this entity, but Doctor Jang. This entity is an ally. - Through this entity, I intended to inform humanity, through the one called Dokseo, of the existence of the regressor known as Doctor Jang. - Doctor Jang calls this entity a ''monster.'' Counterquestion. But isn''t Doctor Jang the most dangerous monster of all? "..." - In fiction, the ''regressor'' is often a clich¨¦. This entity is the only one that can obstruct the regressor known as Doctor Jang. - Warning. If this entity is sealed as well, humanity will have no hope left. The regressor will escape the of fiction and exist alone. - Dokseo. - You must defeat the regressor and be the protagonist yourself. A silence descended upon the white space. The main source of the silence was the saintess. Though we didn''t speak it aloud, I watched the saintess, and she watched me. We were each other''s observers, ensuring that if one of us fell into corruption, the other could immediately eliminate them. The Alien god had merely tried to sow discord between us. Yet, like all provocations, there was about 10% truth in its words. But. I didn''t bother to offer any defense or argument. I simply waited for Dokseo''s reaction. There was no way I would suddenly lose trust in Dokseo now, and there was no way Dokseo would doubt me. If either of us wavered at someone else''s words, then it wouldn''t be trust or friendship at all. "...Mister." "Hmm." "Just to be sure, about sealing that Alien god. There''s no reason we have to stick to the ''speedrun game livestream'' format, right?" The girl said such words. I blinked and tilted my head. "Well, if there''s a better method, there''s no reason we can''t use it..." "Yeah." Dokseo sat down and ced theptop on herp. Taptaptap. Her fingers danced across the keys like a lively pianist. "In that case, I think this is much better than the speedrun broadcast." Dokseo turned theptop around to show us. A newly rewritten answer was etched inrge letters on the white screen. The answer was: [What is this world?] [This world is a novel written by Dokseo, telling the story of Doctor Jang.] Still holding theptop, Dokseo spoke. "I''ll write your novel, Mister." [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] Chapter 159 [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] Chapter 159 ©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤ The Strategist XI 13 Have you ever heard of the term "sixth sense"? Sixth sense. Literally, the sixth sense. It''s something beyond the five senses that all humans have: sight, hearing, smell, taste, and touch. Usually, people would question if such a sense even exists, but I truly possessed something that could be called a sixth sense. It was a premonition about fate. Perhaps it was because, as a regressor, I had lived far too long and experienced far too many events. My ability to perceive the causality of events had developed excessively. Not always, but asionally, with just a single word or gesture, I could sense what would happen next. Anyone who has fallen in love at first sight will understand what I mean. A human life is like a bundle of threads woven together. One of those threads connecting you to the person right in front of you. ¡°¨D¨DI¡¯ll write your story, mister.¡± This was one of those moments. Oh Dokseo''s eyes were half-closed. The more her eyes closed, the shallower my breathing became. ¡°A story?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°Are you saying you want to seal the Alien God in a novel instead of a broadcast?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± My voice wasn¡¯t much different from usual. But with each word exchanged between us, my consciousness, which had been far off in the back of my head, began to wrap around to the forefront. I opened my mouth. ¡°Why?¡± ¡°Look. In the ¡®broadcast¡¯ format you chose, I¡¯m just ying the role of a game character that follows your instructions. Everyone else, except for the Saintess, is nothing more than an NPC. So.¡± Oh Dokseo pointed downward. There, the [The Admin of All-y], who had turned into a white girl, clung to her feet. ¡°There¡¯s some truth in the warning that the Alien God spat out. If you set yourself up as too much of a ¡®superior being¡¯pared to other humans, one day, no, inevitably, you too will be a monstrous entity like the Alien God.¡± ¡°¡¡¡± ¡°¡I¡¯m the same.¡± Oh Dokseo gave a bitter smile. ¡°I¡¯ve felt it the whole time talking with you, mister. If I had opposed you as the Alien God had nned... If the ¡®Book Possessor¡¯ and the ¡®Regressor¡¯ had fought... And if I had finally taken the protagonist¡¯s position... I think I would have be a anomaly too.¡± I remained silent. Because that scenario was indeed one of the world destruction scenarios I had prepared in advance. [Protagonist] anomaly. Oh Dokseo defeats me and ascends to the position of the protagonist. Then she merges with the Alien God and receives all the clich¨¦s and ¡®protagonist perks¡¯ that only a protagonist can enjoy. ¡°Neither you nor I can afford to take too much of an upper hand. We¡¯re too powerful. It¡¯s not about the level of aura or anything like that. From the start, we¡¯ve been given the positions of the Book Possessor and the Regressor.¡± ¡°¡¡¡± ¡°Just by existing, we have the potential to define the world¡ the potential to be anomalies.¡± That¡¯s right. - Be wary of anyone who fights anomalies. For in doing so, you may be a anomaly yourself. And if you gaze long into the abyss, the abyss will gaze back into you. This phrase, slightly altered from Nietzsche¡¯s famous quote, was fitting for us. Therefore. ¡°¡I¡¯ll be the writer who tells your story, mister. You know, there¡¯s a genre called reportage literature, right? Reconstructing real events into a novel.¡± ¡°Hmm.¡± ¡°If I record your life with my own hands, you won¡¯t fall into a higher dimension of anomaly than me. Because I¡¯ll be your ¡®writer.¡¯¡± And. ¡°And I¡¯ll just be a narrator, following your life story¡ Yes. I think it¡¯ll create a reasonably bnced rtionship.¡± ¡°So, you¡¯re saying we should chain each other down?¡± ¡°Oh, yeah! Exactly that!¡± Oh Dokseoughed heartily. The sound of a humanugh was like a fountain shooting up in a square, briefly catching a sip of sunlight as it falls back down, sparkling. I said, ¡°It¡¯s not a bad idea. But doesn¡¯t that make you, as the writer, a bit too powerful?¡± ¡°Hm? Does it? I think that since novels are ultimately evaluated by readers and the writer is bound by those evaluations, it¡¯s not such a significant position. Isn¡¯t it more like a priestess offering herself as a sacrifice to the people? But if you¡¯re worried... Ah.¡± Oh Dokseo lightly tapped theptop with his palm. ¡°How about this? I¡¯ll write the novel about you, but when ites to the parts that mention me, you write those instead.¡± ¡°¡¡¡± ¡°No matter how much you ask me to type about myself... Ugh. Absolutely not! It would be so embarrassing!¡± Just imagining it seemed terrible, and Oh Dokseo shivered. ¡°So¡ I¡¯ll write about you, and you¡¯ll write about me. We¡¯ll share our honest thoughts about how we felt at the time and so on.¡± ¡°Indeed. So, both of us will be the protagonist and the writer at the same time. It''s like connecting lifelines between mountain climbers to avoid falling into the abyss of anomaly.¡± ¡°Yeah. Isn¡¯t it a good idea?¡± ¡°¡¡¡± I watched Oh Dokseo for a long time. I wondered if this kid truly understood the weight of what she was saying. Was she too excited by the idea that she could define the Alien God on her terms, and had she spoken too hastily about the course of her life? Could there really be no danger of her contaminating me under the pretext of interpreting me? Would she be able to keep her promise? Doubts echoed in the valley of my mind, but I found the breeze of such suspicions rather refreshing and nodded. What if the promise wasn¡¯t kept? This kid was walking toward somewhere, and she was even smiling as she walked. That was enough. ¡°Alright, Oh Dokseo. I¡¯ll entrust my interpretation to you.¡± ¡°Yeah. I¡¯ll entrust mine to you too. ¡Ah. This is kind of embarrassing, though¡¡± Oh Dokseo cleared her throat awkwardly and then squatted down. She looked down at the [The Admin of All-y]. ¡°Hey, god. You heard the conversation, right?¡± - ¡¡ ¡°I¡¯ll keep your request to keep Doctor Jang in check. But if you¡¯re truly my god, respond to my answer.¡± Oh Dokseo held theptop screen in front of the Alien God¡¯s face. [ W h a t i s t h i s w o r l d ? ] [ This world is a novel that ¡®Oh Dokseo¡¯ wrote, telling the story of the ¡®Doctor Jang.¡¯ ] Tap, tap. Oh Dokseo tapped the screen with his long fingers. ¡°There. This is the world as I define it.¡± - ¡¡ ¡°Well, I haven¡¯t written anything yet, but I¡¯ll start writing tomorrow. On thisptop. After all, since it takes the form of a novel, it¡¯s also a creative work, right? It¡¯s not apromise that you should be too dissatisfied with.¡± - ¡¡, ¡¡ ¡°So, if you don¡¯t want to fade into obscurity, then just shut up and write the Prologue for each chapter to show me. Got it, god?¡± Crackle¡ª! At that moment, the white girl¡¯s figure distorted and was sucked into theptop screen. Oh Dokseo flinched in surprise but didn¡¯t drop theptop from his hands. First, the white girl, then the ck sludge the Alien God had spilled, and finally, the pure white space itself¡ªeverything was swirling together and being sucked into Oh Dokseo¡¯sptop. [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] A little whileter. Like storm clouds clearing from the sky, the domain of the Alien God vanishedpletely from the world. Just as the Endless Hell imprisoned the void within the hourss, Oh Dokseo had sealed the [The Admin of All-y] within hisptop. ¡°Huh?¡± ¡°Where¡ is this?¡± In the hotel garden, which had been reduced to ruins, the magical girls began to open their eyes one by one. Looking around at them, Oh Dokseo muttered with a grimace, ¡°If I ever have to write a novel about today, I¡¯ll never describe the appearance of those magical girls¡¡± ¡°It¡¯s a coincidence. I agree with you. I already feel like we¡¯ve brought in a remarkable writer.¡± ¡°Half of them aren¡¯t even girls. Aren¡¯t the awakened ones from Japan a bit unhinged?¡± ¡°At least for this particr turn, I¡¯d say there might be more magical girls on the Korean Penins than in Japan.¡± ¡°The worst¡¡± Oh Dokseo shook her head in dismay and slipped theptop into his backpack. Then, she held out her hand to me. ¡°Anyway¡ I¡¯m counting on you from now on, mister.¡± ¡°The feeling is mutual. By the way, I have a good idea since you¡¯ll be writing a novel.¡± ¡°Huh? What is it?¡± ¡°I¡¯ll tell youter.¡± That idea was to insert a 600-chapter parody of the Romance of the Three Kingdoms into the novel, which waster vetoed by Oh Dokseo, who had no knowledge of the subject. We shook hands. ¡°By the way, although I¡¯ve read plenty of novels, this will be my first time writing one. So you¡¯ll have to help me a lot, okay?¡± Oh Dokseo, who was holding my hand¡ªthe first reader and the final author of my story¡ªwas smiling brightly. The Admin of All-y. Alias: Logout Game, Clich¨¦, Muse, Hello-I¡¯m-a-God, Omniscient Regressor¡¯s Viewpoint, The Fourth Wall, Writer Syndrome. Danger level: Lv.5 Alien God-ss (Alienation). Subjugationplete. 14 There¡¯s an epilogue. It should be clear to all of you by now. Yes. The very story I¡¯m telling here, which Oh Dokseo is editing into a novel, is itself a ¡®vessel that seals the Alien God.¡¯ It also serves as a weight to hold down both me, Doctor Jang, and Oh Dokseo. The real-time act of you reading and evaluating this story is what suppresses various strange phenomena. I, Doctor Jang, consider all humans who subjugate anomalies to berades (even the High Priestess of the Magical Girls¡¯ Council), so of course, you too are myrades. I¡¯m grateful to Oh Dokseo for connecting us in this way. ¡°Mister, we have a problem¡¡± And so, Oh Dokseo, having realized the genius of literature that danced down from the heavens, proimed, ¡°God has made me write this novel! But now I am the god, Oh Dokseo, who has be the writer!¡±¡ªyet such a happy ending did not ur. In fact, it was closer to the opposite. "I can''t write..." "You can''t write? Why?" "It just feels like everything I write is terrible." Oh no. Oh Dokseo, who used to look down on all creative works as a reader, turned into the weakest of the weak the moment she started typing on theptop keyboard. Sipping the coffee I made, Oh Dokseo mumbled gloomily. "Before bed, I resolve to write tomorrow, but as soon as I wake up, turn on theptop, and see the nk screen, my fingers go nk too..." "Why don¡¯t you just write like you just described? You¡¯re pretty good at speaking." "Ugh! It¡¯s not that easy!" It wasn¡¯t entirely Oh Dokseo¡¯s fault. As it turned outter, when Oh Dokseo defined herself as a ¡®writer,¡¯ the [The Admin of All-y] also treated her as such. In short, all the chronic diseases that afflict writers clung to Oh Dokseo too. [My writing sucks syndrome], [Remake syndrome], [Endless revision syndrome], [Drifting syndrome], [It¡¯s all because Ick experience syndrome], [Why do I keep changing my desktop background syndrome], [Unexpected family issues causing dys syndrome], [Editor¡¯s mistake causingte uploads syndrome], [Simple depression syndrome], [Constantly procrastinating by clicking around SGNet syndrome]... Truly, the lord of all diseases! The very essence of the ¡®writer¡¯s¡¯ idea, which drags every disease in the world, was forced upon Oh Dokseo. "This isn¡¯t it!" Bang! Oh Dokseo would throw theptop to the ground whenever she got the chance. However, since it was the relic of an Alien God, theptop didn¡¯t get a single scratch. "Oh Dokseo, you proudly dered that you would write a novel, but 60 days have passed, and you haven¡¯t evenpleted a prologue..." "What do you know about the struggles of a creator!" I knew all too well. By this point, I had already stockpiled 100 chapters of the Three Kingdoms parody (writing two simple chapters a day). Fortunately, the ¡®The Admin of All-y¡¯ptop preserved the work across cycles. So, even if only 6 chapters werepleted in this cycle, those 6 chapters would carry over to the next. Of course, from Oh Dokseo¡¯s perspective, who was cursed by the Alien God whenever she typed, it felt like receiving both the disease and the cure at once, which understandably made him furious. "Being a writer is such agony..." "Try discussing pain with an infinite regressor." "I can¡¯t live like this on my own. Ah! Yes! mister! Let¡¯s ask the Alien God to spread these diseases to all the other writers, not just me!" "What?" "If I¡¯m going down, everyone should go down with me... That way, the world is fair and just, right?" I voiced my opposition, but Oh Dokseo stubbornly pushed forward with spreading the infection. That day, a storm swept through SGNet¡¯s novel serialization board. Readers spewed blood as one by one, the novels they had been enjoying suddenly announced hiatuses. So, if any of you writers out there ever open yourputer and think, ¡®Damn it, why do I feel so unwilling to write today?¡¯ please me Oh Oh Dokseo for that. It¡¯s the Alien God¡¯s curse. "Mister! Finally, I¡¯ve finished the first chapter!" Thanks to Oh Dokseo¡¯s relentless effort, two long years after the Alien God was subjugated, she finally showed me his first prologue. "Look at this! Ah, don¡¯t mind me! I¡¯ll just watch you reading from behind!" "Alright." Let¡¯s see what we¡¯ve got here. I took a sip of my caf¨¦ auit with one hand and moved the mouse cursor with the other. Click. The first sentence of the nk notepad file began like this: ¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D Infinite regression. There is a genre by that name. ¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D - The Strategist. End. [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] Chapter 160 [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] Chapter 160 ©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤ Potato I 1 To be honest, when introducing thest episode, I had a lot of concerns. Should I call this a conflict between the editor and the original author? There was sharp disagreement between Oh Dokseo (the editor) and me. "No matter what, the episode about the [The Admin of All-y] must be left for the very end of the novel!" That was Oh Dokseo¡¯s im. When I asked why, the response was: "Are you stupid? That¡¯s the only way to achieve a circr structure! The circr structure, man. How can you resist ending a work with the exact same sentence as the beginning?" ¡°Hmm.¡± There was logic in that aesthetic, but to turn it around, apart from its aesthetic effect, there were only drawbacks. "Drawbacks? What drawbacks? The circr structure is invincible and divine! It only has strengths, no weaknesses!" "Dokseo, I¡¯m a regressor. If the beginning and end be the same, the novel could give off the strange impression that [the turn repeats itself] even after it¡¯s over." "...Ah." I took a sip of coffee. "Sure, it would emphasize the idea that this novel is about infinite regression. But when ites to breaking free from the turn of regression, it would only have negative effects." There¡¯s another reason too. I¡¯ve already emphasized this multiple times, but I decided to be as honest with you all as possible. So, I don¡¯t want to hide why I ended up writing this work¡ªthis story, which you could call my "tale"¡ªall the way until the novel''s ending. Why bother? If I were to hide something from you, it would only be for one reason: to hunt down an anomaly. Apart from that, I¡¯m entirely open with you all. "Indeed... Your goal is to need no longer to regress. So, a circr structure could be a harmful infinite Ouroboros. Wow, you really have to be mindful of every little detail, huh¡?" "Thank you for understanding my concerns." These worries aren¡¯t the only ones I have. Every episode has its own set of concerns. Sometimes, they¡¯re about matters that involve someone¡¯s privacy too much. In such cases, I generally get permission from the person involved before turning it into a story. For example, I sought approval from the Saintess of the 800th turn regarding an event that happened with the Saintess of the 600th turn. Today''s episode is no different. The protagonist of this tale was a Saintess. So, after telling her everything, I politely asked for her permission in advance. "...Did that really happen?" "Yes. It may be hard to believe, but it did. So, may I write about what happened to you, Saintess?" "Well... Hmm, yes. Writing a novel itself acts as a pressing stone to suppress divine anomalies. If I can help, it¡¯s fine." The Saintess hesitated, which was rare. Then, after a brief silence, she whispered cautiously. Maybe it was just my imagination, but her voice seemed a bit shaky. "...Um, Doctor Jang. So, did it really happen?" 2 It really happened. One day, as usual, I was going about my schedule as a regressor. Then, I received a familiar telepathic message from the Saintess. [Doctor Jang, I¡¯m sorry, but could we postpone this week¡¯s study session until tomorrow?] "Yes? Oh, yes. That¡¯s fine." For reference, the Saintess and I had a study session every Wednesday. We usually read philosophy texts. It was a tradition we started from the 63rd turn. "There¡¯s nothing wrong, is there?" [No, it¡¯s okay. Thank you for your concern.] "No problem. As long as everything¡¯s fine." I said this casually, but inwardly, I was a little surprised. The Saintess was so serious about our study sessions that she once insisted on keeping the schedule right after defeating a Meteor Shower, saying, "By the way, it¡¯s Wednesday today. Let¡¯s do the study session." But now she was postponing it? The concept of "postponing time" actually existed for the Saintess? [Doctor Jang, I¡¯m really sorry, but could we postpone the study session one more day?] What was even more surprising was that the next day, she postponed it again! I became very serious. This didn¡¯t make sense. It would be more believable if Sim Aryeon had suddenly stopped using social media. "Saintess, are you sure nothing is wrong? This is the first time you¡¯ve voluntarily postponed the study session twice in a row." [¡¡.] "In my experience, first-time urrences are almost always rted to anomalies. If you don¡¯t give me a satisfactory answer, I¡¯ll have no choice but to assume the worst, that some anomaly has ensnared you." [No, um. No¡ Yes. Yes, that¡¯s right. You¡¯re an expert, after all. Maybe I should rely on you.] "Where are you now? What¡¯s going on?" [It''s very, very difficult to exin.] The Saintess, who used to say, "This is a very easy concept," even when exining Kant''s transcendental idealism during our study sessions, was now expressing difficulty. [Could you pleasee directly to my house?] So I went. The Saintess¡¯s house in Yongsan was always filled with a pleasant scent of water. Inside, tropical fish swam in various aquariums of different sizes. However, there was a faintyer of algae on the ss walls of the aquariums, which were usually kept spotless. For someone with an obsession with cleanliness¡ªwho used chopsticks even to eat potato chips¡ªto allow algae in her tanks? ¡®This is definitely an abnormal situation!¡¯ I clenched my fist. "Where are you, Saintess?" [Pleasee to the kitchen.] So I went. The kitchen, befitting someone who lived alone, was simple. A small table, designed with the certainty that it would never have to serve two people. And in the middle of that table sat an unfamiliar object. A potato. "¡¡?" Yes. A single potato sat there. It seemed out of ce, but I ignored it. There were more important matters at hand. [Doctor Jang, thank you foring all the way here.] "Huh? Oh, yes. But where are you? You¡¯re not hiding, are you?" [I¡¯m right here.] The Saintess could send telepathic messages either as voice or as text. This time, it was text. [ ¡ú ¡ú ¡ú ] [ ¡û ¡û ¡û ] [ ¡ý ¡ý ¡ý ] I followed the direction indicated by the Saintess''s messages. And where my gaze finallynded, yes, there it was. Another potato. "¡¡?" [Yes, I''m right here.] I tilted my head. Then, as if equipped with a sensor that detected my gaze, the potato rolled slightly in response. "¡¡???" [Here I am.] I tilted my head the other way. Once again, the potato lightly rolled in the direction of my gaze. I began to check my sanity. The dice in my brain rolled, and I passed. Realization struck me like lightning, whether I wanted it to or not. "...Saintess?" [Yes.] [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] "Please tell me it¡¯s not true." At that moment, the potato performed an astonishing trick. It rolled a full circle in ce and then stopped upright. It was a ¡°stand.¡± ording to potato behavior studies, the subtle nod it made just now would be considered a ¡°bow.¡± What the hell. [I¡¯m sorry. I¡¯ve... turned into a potato.] There¡¯s no point in hiding it. The Saintess had turned into a potato. 3 Even faced with the development of ¡°apanion suddenly turning into a potato,¡± something that had never appeared in any web novel, I managed to maintain myposure. It wasn¡¯t easy, even for a regressor who had chosen countless ways to die. [Thank you for helping me. I tried to handle it independently, but I couldn¡¯t stop worrying about being unable to feed the fish.] ¡°¡¡¡± Do potatoes have feelings? The schrly urge to ask that question bubbled up within me, but I held it back. That wasn¡¯t easy either. I cleaned the aquariums and fed the tropical fish on behalf of the Saintess. Only after finishing those chores did I calmly engage in a one-on-one conversation with the Saintess... well, that is, I ced a cushion on the table, set the potato on it, and made eye contact with the potato... Where exactly is the potato¡¯s gaze? On closer inspection, I noticed that the sprout growing from the potato''s eye was blue. To be more precise and avoid the ambiguity of the Koreannguage, this "blue" was not green but sky blue. Was it reflecting the Saintess''s hair color? Unable to hold back any longer, I asked. "Saintess, I¡¯m not sure if this is the right question... but how did you be a potato?" [I suspect it¡¯s the work of an anomaly.] Of course, it would be. [I think I may have been cursed.] Naturally, it must have been a curse. [I want to rify that my mind and consciousness are still intact. It seems this anomaly only transformed my physical body into a potato.] ¡°What¡¯s the cause? Did you, by any chance, wander into a forbidden area during a walk or burn hundreds of potatoes in a bonfire and incur the wrath of potato spirits? Did you vite some taboo?¡± [No. Except for a bug getting in my eye during a walk a few days ago, nothing unusual happened.] "A bug in your eye?" [Yes, just a little flying insect. Other than that small incident, I have no clue what could have caused this.] This was driving me crazy. To get straight to the point, even as a seasoned regressor, I couldn¡¯t cure the Saintess¡¯s potato state. Four days of treatment efforts all ended in failure. Please don¡¯t me my ipetence. I can assure you that even if you brought in the most experienced regressor from any piece of fiction, they wouldn¡¯t have figured it out either. [Doctor Jang, it¡¯s okay.] The person who should have been the most frantic about this situation was, in fact, the calmest. Though she had no more sanity left to lose or legs to leap with, Saintess Potato remained absurdlyposed. Speaking from inside my shoulder bag, the Saintess potato said: [I can still perform my duties as a Constetion, watch over the awakened with irvoyance, and send telepathic messages just fine.] ¡°With all due respect, Saintess, your current appearance casts a serious doubt on the very concept of ¡®normal.¡¯¡± [So far, there haven¡¯t been any problems.] Indeed. Amazingly, even in this degraded state, the Saintess continued her Constetion duties as usual. At that moment, I became the first person in human history to feel a sense of respect for a potato. It wasn¡¯t exactly a hall of fame I wanted to be in. ¡°¡Are you ufortable in any way?¡± [No, but I would appreciate it if you could asionally take care of my fish, like now. Oh, and¡] The potato peeked out of the shoulder bag. How? I have no idea. [My body feels a bit dry.] ¡°¡Well, you are a potato, after all.¡± [No, I mean it feels like my body is craving soil, water, and sunlight. It¡¯s hard to describe, but that¡¯s the sensation I¡¯m getting. Could you possibly help with that?] ¡°Hmm.¡± At this point, my brain finally hit its breaking point. And anyone who has watched me long enough would know that once I reach my limit, I tend to let go of myself. If you can¡¯t avoid it, enjoy it. If you can¡¯t enjoy it, pass it on. ¡°Of course, I¡¯ll help.¡± Enjoyment mode, ON. I immediately took the Saintess potato and kicked open the door to Chief Noh Doha¡¯s office. ¡°What the hell is this¡?¡± The expression on Noh Doha¡¯s face after hearing the whole story was truly worth seeing. It was so priceless that it would be worth creating a webtoon solely to capture that face. Seeing Noh Doha¡¯s facial muscles twitch relieved some of the weight in my heart. After all, I couldn¡¯t be the only one suffering. ¡°You¡¯re telling me this potato is really the Saintess? Huh? Doctor Jang, you¡¯re seriously asking me to believe this?¡± ¡°The Saintess¡¯s voice echoing in your mind right now is your proof.¡± ¡°Why¡ why is something like this happening¡?¡± ¡°We don¡¯t know the cause either. But Chief Noh Doha, isn¡¯t your ability [Prosthetic Creation]?¡± Noh Doha frowned deeply. Well, Noh Doha was a former government official. Telling a bureaucrat, ¡°Come to think of it, weren¡¯t you good at making presentations?¡± is bound to make their eyebrows twitch. ¡°So what¡?¡± ¡°The prosthetics you create can move as freely as real limbs. Now, even in this state, the Saintess is still an awakened being. If Chief Noh Doha were to create prosthetics for the potato¡¡± ¡°Aha. So now you want me to make prosthetics for a potato? Do you want to die¡?¡± ¡°Why? Are you against it? Chief, are you perhaps a potato-hater?¡± ¡°You¡ you¡¯re talking nonsense¡ How do you expect me to make prosthetics for a potato¡?¡± They were made. After 15 days of production, the Saintess¡¯s custom prosthetics werepleted, resembling something like a Goliath from StarCraft. Or perhaps the Tripods from Steven Spielberg¡¯s War of the Worlds. Either way, the design was far too futuristic for modern humanity. The slender main body was connected to robotic arms and legs, with a potato riding inside. ¡°Saintess, how does it feel? Do they work like real limbs?¡± [One moment.] Creeeak¡ª Amazingly, the robotic arms and legs worked perfectly. The "potato robot" was fully capable of bipedal walking. [Yes, it moves well.] ¡°Ooooooh!¡± I shouted in excitement in theb. It was truly moving. What evolutionary biologist could have predicted this? Who would have guessed that the next species to master bipedalism after primates would be¡ potatoes? ¡°Chief Noh Doha, we did it! This is a remarkable discovery for humanity!¡± [That¡¯s right. Thank you so much, Noh Doha. Thanks to you, I can now live a full life again.] ¡°¡¡¡± Despite our enthusiastic gratitude, Noh Doha remained silent. The light in his eyes had died. ¡°Seriously, and you still expect me to believe you¡¯re not anomalies but actual human allies¡?¡± ¡°Oh, of course. Who else cares for people as much as we do?¡± ¡°Damn it. You guys just scream anomaly no matter how I look at it¡¡± Creeeak¡ª Creeeak¡ª Even while Noh Doha and I were conversing, the Saintess continued testing the movements of her robotic joints. [Hmm.] The Saintess potato, seated in the robot, gave a slight nod. Maybe it was just my imagination (even as a master of physiognomy, I¡¯m still a bit inexperienced in reading the expressions of potatoes). But the Saintess seemed quite pleased. [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] Chapter 161 [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] Chapter 161 ©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤ Potato II 4 As you all know well, the Saintess was genuinelymitted to her life as a recluse. One might think she would expand her circle of acquaintances out of loneliness, but apart from me, she didn¡¯t form any personal rtionships at all. She didn¡¯t even engage in onlinemunities. While she observed the trends on SG-Net, she never posted ormented herself. There was a reason her SG-Net nickname hadn''t appeared until now. When I asked her if she ever felt lonely. "The moment of death¡ªno matter if you''re surrounded by family at your deathbed¡ªthe final 0.01 seconds before your consciousness falls into the abyss, no one can share that moment with you." "We are all moving toward that 0.01 seconds. It¡¯s a moment of quiet and silence that no human being can dress up with words or concepts." "If that¡¯s loneliness, then daily life is just a gradual purification of that ultimate loneliness. I choose to ept that air as it is." That was her answer. While I nodded and said, ¡°Oh,¡± I also tilted my head a bit. Doesn¡¯t that just mean she¡¯s lonely? In any case, the Saintess was not a recluse by circumstance, but a voluntary one, and even in a philosophical sense. It would be extremely difficult for someone like her to get close to another person. But what if, instead of a human, a potato appeared? ¡°Oh, hello! Potato¡! G-good morning!¡± Sim Aryeon greeted with a bow in the lobby of the hideout. Then, the Saintess-Potato, aboard a robot, casually moved the robotic arm to return the greeting. ¡°Yes. Good morning, Ms. Sim Aryeon.¡± ¡°Hehe¡ Yes!¡± It wasn¡¯t just Sim Aryeon. ¡°Hello. Good morning. Your potato sprouts look pretty.¡± ¡°Yes. Good morning to you too, Ms. Lee Hayul.¡± ¡°Wow, Saintess! Your potato skin looks extra shiny today! You look great!¡± ¡°Thank you, Mr. Seo Gyu.¡± Everyone in the hideout greeted the Saintess-Potato with bright smiles and faces. Meanwhile, my jaw was practically on the floor, ready to jump off and do a bungee jump towards Newton''s gravity. What in the world was going on? "Oh, by the way, Saintess, there''s a meeting of the SG-Net housent club membersing up. Would you like to join us? Everyone would love it if you came!" ¡°Yes, I¡¯ll join. But I¡¯ll have to hide my identity.¡± ¡°S-Saintess, let me water you with this watering can...! Hehe. You like this, right?¡± ¡°Thank you. It feels very nice.¡± ¡°Sister Saintess. You have a drink with Leader Noh Doha today. Could youe too?¡± ¡°dly.¡± The hideout was buzzing with noise. All the guild members were gathering around the Saintess-Potato, engaging in a fierce middle-school-style poprity contest (¡°I¡¯m closer to her than you are!¡± ¡°What are you talking about? I¡¯m way closer!¡±). Yes. Somehow, I don''t know by what principle, but surprisingly, the robot-potato-Saintess was enjoying massive poprity. It was different when she was confined to her weak human flesh, but now as a potato, she was loved and adored by everyone. But why? "Oh. Didn¡¯t you know, boss?" "Know what?" "The Saintess recently decided to start a new Constetion service." With that, Seo Gyu showed me a document file. The document read as follows: --- [Announcement] Starting today, the Constetion "Understanding of Agony" will provide psychological counseling to Awakeners. In this harsh apocalyptic era. The physical pain is severe, but so is the psychological suffering, yet when you vent your stress, all you get back is, "At least you''re alive, why are youining?" Are you unable to express your pain to those around you because you''re afraid of appearing weak or beingughed at? Rely on the Constetion "Understanding of Agony," not on humans. The Constetion will not use your weaknesses against you, nor mock you. Don¡¯t hesitate to ask for counseling. --- ¡°¡¡± ¡°This is the draft. The Saintess is currently beta-testing this service with us. I must say, she''s really good at counseling!¡± Seo Gyu said. Thank goodness I¡¯m a regressor who doesn¡¯t have to worry about dentures even when I get old. If I had been wearing dentures, they would¡¯ve just fallen out. ¡°Psychological counseling¡?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°By whom?¡± ¡°Huh? The Saintess, of course. Didn¡¯t I mention it?¡± Are they out of their minds? The Saintess giving advice on the extremely subtle and delicate flows of stress in human rtionships? That was nonsense. The only kind of counseling the saintess could handle was something like, "A consideration of the corrtion between Kant''s sensuous-intellectual form and Schopenhauer''s principle of sufficient reason." What kind of nonsense is that, you ask? Exactly. That was my point. The saintess''s counseling was at least 2.2 million light-years away from what one would typically understand as psychological counseling. "Seo Gyu, are you... satisfied with this psychological counseling?" "Yes. I''mpletely satisfied. I think psychological counseling for regr awakened ones will start from next week." "No... Guys, get a grip. There''s no way this is going to work!" It worked. "Crazy?" And it was a huge sess. - Anonymous: To be honest, I''ve been feeling really downtely, but after getting counseling from the ''Understanding of Agony,'' I felt so much better. ©¸ Anonymous: Same here. When people around here kept rmending that I get counselling, I honestly thought, ''What¡¯s wrong with these people?'' But after I did it, I cried my eyes out within an hour. - Anonymous: I guess everyone was struggling in their own way. ©¸ Literature Girl: Honestly, it''s normal to struggle, lol. The world is messed up, and those who went out for a walk are returning as sunflowers; of course, it''s hard not to be struggling. ©¸ Anonymous: For real, lol. - [National Road] Military Officer: Hmm... - KoreanVige: I usually don''t say stuff like this, but you should also get psychological counseling from the ''Understanding of Agony,'' as a favor. They¡¯re on a whole different levelpared to lowly humans. I was shocked. Could it be a strange phenomenon? Well, of course, it¡¯s strange. Anyway, even though her appearance changed into a potato, her inner self remained... well, of course, her inner self would be a potato too, but her consciousness and identity were still fixed as the saintess, weren¡¯t they? Even Tang Seorin was deeply engrossed in the psychological counseling offered by the ''Understanding of Agony.'' "Ah, Doctor Jang. Sorry. Let¡¯s just have dinner and part ways today. I have a schedule." "Hmm? It''s rare for you not to drink. What''s the schedule?" "It''s the day for my psychological counseling. ''The Understanding One'' said that it''s important to have regr counseling sessions. Recently, I''ve been getting counseling about why I''ve been so obsessed with trains and witch hats." "..." "I realized that I had more wounds than I thought when I was young. Oh, and why don''t you get counseling too? About the Three Kingdoms, maybe?" The world was going insane. I hurried to find the saintess. [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] The saintess, now settled in a caf¨¦ in Yongsan, was sitting cross-legged in the middle of a private room. Yes. The potato-shaped saintess, inside a robot, was sitting cross-legged, as if meditating, on a cushion. The scene itself was extremely surrealistic. "Saintess. We need to talk." [Quiet.] Creak. The robot arm moved to make a ''shushing'' gesture. Considering that a potato doesn¡¯t have lips, this was surreal as well. Even Zenyatta would look more humanpared to this robot-potato saintess. [I''m in the middle of counseling Tang Seorin. Please wait 50 minutes.] "..." What on earth could you and Tang Seorin be talking about in your psychological counseling sessions? The curiosity, bubbling likeva in the deep pit of my mind, was barely held back. Privacy. Privacy. [Yes, the counseling is over. But I have another appointment in 10 minutes, so please be quick. What do you need, Doctor Jang?] "...Saintess. I really hate to say this, but I have no choice. This is an abnormal situation." [An abnormal situation?] "To be blunt, you hate humans, don''t you? How did you end up counseling others?" [I have transcended the shell of humanity.] ??? [As you pointed out, my misanthropy was deeply rooted. But after shedding my human flesh, it''s strange, but humans started to appear as a different species to me.] "A different species?" [Yes. I no longer have any reason to be fixated on the human form. It feels like watching cute pets, or observing insects.] It really is something strange! Damn it, Noh Doha was right again. The robot-potato-saintess was indeed something strange. I couldn¡¯t help but worship the insight of the National Highway Manager. "Saintess, I''m sorry, but you might have to be exterminated from now on..." [But paradoxically, because of that, I think I''ve finallye to love humans.] What? [I hated humans because I thought I was the same species as them.] [Now that we¡¯re of different species, I can look at them objectively and warmly. Like looking at a cute animal.] [Doctor Jang. You probably see me as something strange. But would it be dangerous even if I''ve turned into something strange? After all, I''m just a potato.] [A potato that loves humans.] "..." [I''m very happy right now.] "My goodness." I held my head in my hands. Right. If the saintess had fallen and be the ¡®Executioner'' she should have been exterminated immediately, but the ''robot-potato-saintess'' was... honestly, not particrly threatening! The saintess in that form was too weak. It was obvious that the saintess''sbat power was limited without being able to use aura. Even weak fighters like Sim Aryeon or Noh Doha could probably take her down in one shot. Most of all, I didn''t want to exterminate the saintess, who had begun to realize her love for humanity for the first time in history. [And there¡¯s something I¡¯d like to ask you, Doctor Jang.] ¡°What is it¡?¡± [Please dice me into cubes.] What kind of nonsense is this? [Doctor Jang, do you know how potatoes reproduce?] "...You cut them into pieces and nt them, making sure each piece has an eye." [Yes. That''s one of the ways potatoes reproduce. This is just my hypothesis, but I think I might be able to ¡®increase my duplicates¡¯ in the same way.] Alright. This is getting seriously strange. ¡°I really want to argue against you on many levels, but let me ask this first. Why do you want to increase your duplicates?¡± [It¡¯s a simple reason.] The potato-saintess said. [The number of awakened ones who are seeking psychological counseling from me is increasing at an rming rate.] [Even though I¡¯m using time-stop to manage somehow, it¡¯s honestly bing more and more difficult to focus on each individual. Even when I was talking to Tang Seorin just now, I was actually counseling six people simultaneously.] ¡°Ah.¡± [Besides, I¡¯m not just performing as the ¡®Understanding of Agony,¡¯ but also other Constetions. I¡¯m overloaded with work.] [So I think it would be much more efficient to create more duplicates and divide the roles among them.] ¡°...¡± It made... sense! The robot-potato-saintess creaked as she stood up cross-legged. Then, she ced her hand on my shoulder with a slender mechanical arm. [I tried to dice myself, but even for me, the act of cutting my own body into pieces was a bit too much.] [I¡¯d like to entrust this task to you, Doctor Jang.] [Even in this form, can I still be considered yourrade, Doctor Jang?] This person, using a cheat code so slyly! ¡°Saintess, if I dice you and it ends up killing you...¡± [Don¡¯t worry. Even if such a tragedy were to happen, I would never me you, Doctor Jang.] With her saying it like that, what else could I do? I drew my sword and approached the robot-potato-saintess. Then, carefully, I made incisions and diced her into pieces. ¡°Does it hurt?¡± [No. It doesn¡¯t hurt at all. I do feel a somewhat strange sensation, but other than that, there¡¯s no problem.] ¡°That¡¯s a relief¡¡± Even as I said this, I wasn¡¯t sure. Was this really a relief? I couldn¡¯t tell. I took the seed potato pieces and nted them individually in the greenhouse. The soil quality was assured, as the greenhouse had been trampled by the Sword Princess. A few dayster. The potatoes were sessfully cultivated in the greenhouse. I put the potatoes in a basket and brought them to Noh Doha. ¡°¡¡± Noh Doha looked at me silently. Then, also without a word, he made robots for the remaining potatoes as well. Creak, creak. A squadron of five robot-potato-saintesses turned to us and sang in chorus. [Thank] [You] [Doctor Jang] [And Noh Doha] [I¡¯m not sure] [Which of these] [Is the true me] [No, actually] [All of ¡®me¡¯] [Are the real me] ¡°¡¡± ¡°¡¡± Noh Doha nced at me. ¡°So, you''re saying... you¡¯re not an anomaly...?¡± It was summer. [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] Chapter 162 [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] Chapter 162 ©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤ Potato III 5 "The Saintess can be copied?!" ¡Though I, Doctor Jang, am not so heartless as to forget human righteousness and propriety. Instead of feeling joy, a sense of doubt washed over me. As you all know, I went through all kinds of hell to defeat the [The Admin of All-y]. But did I really act correctly? What if, in reality, the cliches weren¡¯t as evil as I thought, and instead, they yed a role in preventing worse developments from entering this world...? No matter how powerful that freakish [The Admin of All-y] was, the clich¨¦ ¡®You wake up to find yourpanion has turned into a potato¡¯ was certainly not on their list. Yet, it actually happened, and the situation quickly spiraled out of control. One yearter. Awakened ones bustling through Busan city were chatting excitedly. ¡°Wow, we almost got wiped out in the Void this time. If it weren¡¯t for [The Librarian of the Grand Library], we would¡¯ve been dead for sure.¡± ¡°Hey. How about we check out the casino run by [The Nightmare of the Grand Amusement Hall] tonight? I¡¯m bored.¡± ¡°Sorry, I¡¯ve got evening prayers to offer to [The Morning Star of Rebirth], so I¡¯m busy today.¡± Buzz, buzz-. Each awakened person mentioned the name of the constetion they favored. Of course, the names differed, but they were all personas yed by the Saintess in a grand masquerade. ¡°Seriously, you should try consulting with [Understanding of Agony] just once! Everyone else has already done it except you!¡± ¡°No, my faith is solely dedicated to [Collector of All Anomalies]. I won¡¯t be tempted by other deities.¡± ¡°Oh [The Nightmare of the Grand Amusement Hall]! Please, just let me hit the jackpot in Barat this time!¡± Thus, the Korean penins had entered the era of the Great Saintess. In the heart of Busan, a colossal statue of the ''Giant Potato Saintess Robot'' was even erected. Standing at an impressive height of 399 meters. Thergest in the world. While Brazil had the Christ the Redeemer statue, Busan had the Giant Potato Saintess Robot. Many people didn¡¯t know this, but Busan was actually a sister city to Rio de Janeiro. By the way, the person who ordered,missioned, and supervised the creation of this 399-meter statue was none other than Tang Seorin. You could tell just by looking at the witch''s hat perched on the potato part of the Giant Potato Saintess Robot. Seriously, what are you up to these days? ¡®The world¡¯s gone mad!¡¯ In the end, I couldn¡¯t take it anymore and went to see the Saintess. Finding the way was easy. The Saintess had moved her base of operations inside the Giant Potato Statue (let''s shorten the official name because it''s too long). At the very bottom of the Giant Potato Statue, essentially at the foot of the robot''s legs, an entrance had been built. [What brings you here?] The Potato Saintess greeted me with a businesslike tone at the entrance. It wasn¡¯t just any Potato Saintess. Carved into the body of the potato was the number ''330,'' meticulously etched with a carving knife. So, the Potato Saintess who weed me at the entrance was the 330th Potato Saintess. ...I don¡¯t even know what¡¯s going on anymore. ¡°I¡¯m here to see the Saintess. May I?¡± [Doctor Jang. We are all Saintesses and potatoes.] ¡°Oh, right. Fine. I¡¯m here to see the ¡®First Saintess.¡¯ Is that good enough?¡± [Please wait a moment. I¡¯ll contact them.] [Ah, yes. Secretary Saintess. Doctor Jang is here to see you. May I send him up?] [Yes. Thank you.] The 330th Potato Saintess turned to look at me. Of course, I mean that figuratively since potatoes don¡¯t have eyes. [You have been granted entry, Doctor Jang. Please note that this is a highly exceptional privilege. No one else can meet the First Saintess this easily.] ¡°Ah, yes... Thank you for your hard work.¡± [May the First Ones be blessed with light.] You must be wondering what the heck is going on. But it¡¯s not over yet. Rumble. The entrance of the Giant Potato Statue opened with a heavy sound. Upon entering, I saw hundreds of Potato Saintesses riding on robots, busily moving around. My hearing, sharpened by aura, picked up the conversations of the Potato Saintesses, whether I wanted to hear them or not. [Compared tost month, the crime rate among the awakened has dropped significantly. This is all thanks to the efforts of our Awakened Observation Department¡] Office worker number 99, the Potato Saintess Robot, was giving a presentation to other potatoes in a conference room. [I¡¯ve warned you multiple times not to scatter potato dust everywhere, but they just won¡¯t listen. Do they even have a sense of cleanliness? It¡¯s doubtful.] The janitor, number 502, the Potato Saintess Robot, was grumbling while mopping the lobby. [Last month, you only conducted 400 psychological counseling sessions. Just 400. The other employees managed an average of 800 counseling sessions. Are you satisfied with these results?] [I¡¯m sorry. I¡¯m sorry. I¡¯m sorry.] [If you keep cking off like this, I¡¯ll have no choice but to send you to the potato chip factory.] [Please forgive me. Just don¡¯t send me to the potato chip factory¡] By the esctor, number 60, the Potato Saintess Robot, was scolding a subordinate. By the way, there was also a caf¨¦ here. [Your iced Americano is ready.] [Oh, thank you.] The barista Potato Saintess Robot handed over a watering can filled with coffee. Drip, drip, drip¡ª. The customers grabbed the watering cans with their mechanical arms and poured the coffee over their heads, or more precisely, over their potatoes. The blue potato sprouts were drenched in coffee. [Ahh¡ This is nice. I just don¡¯t feel like my day has started without caffeine.] [If I could, I¡¯d prefer a packet of instant coffee instead of an Americano¡] [But that¡¯s a luxury reserved only for the First Ones, isn¡¯t it?] [Just thinking about getting scolded by the team leader again today makes me not want to go upstairs. Sometimes I regret applying to the Psychological Counseling Department.] [How¡¯s the raise proposal going?] [Not at all. They only scolded us, saying how could we pursue selfish interests while protecting humanity.] Unbelievable. Not only was there job separation among the Potato Saintesses, but also a ss division. If the tutorial fairies had witnessed this scene, they would have grabbed spears and staged a ¡®French¡¯ revolution. I took the elevator to the top floor. From the outside, this was the part of the statue corresponding to the potato. There, the meeting room for the highest-ranking Potato Saintesses was located. [Wee, Doctor Jang.] Five Potato Saintess Robots were seated around the round table in the meeting room. Unit 1. Unit 2. Unit 3. Unit 4. Unit 5. These were the so-called ¡®First Potatoes,¡¯ the earliest Saintesses. Each represented a different constetion. In previous turns, some constetions were assigned to Shim Aryeon, but in this turn, the Saintess monopolized them all. [It¡¯s been a while.] [I heard you¡¯ve been busy exterminating monsters.] [Strictly speaking, we didn¡¯t hear about it¡ªwe saw it. We¡¯re always watching you, Doctor Jang.] [We thought it was about time you visited.] I pressed my hand to my forehead. ¡°¡Could one of you speak at a time? I¡¯m confused about whom I should be talking to.¡± [All are one. One is all.] [You can speak while looking anywhere, or even without looking at anything.] My head was already throbbing. ¡°Saintess. Or Saintesses. What exactly are you doing? Hmm? I stepped away, thinking you''d handle the support operations, and now Busan is turning into another utopia.¡± [That criticism is misced.] [In the utopia Tang Seorin created, people¡¯s personalities were artificially altered.] [As a result, everyone was transformed into ¡®ideal Busan citizens.¡¯ You even mentioned that Yoo Jiwon had be more humane.] [But.] [We are different.] The Potato Saintess Robots sped their hands together and rested their chins on them, striking an unmistakable viinous pose. ¡°Different, how? What¡¯s different?¡± [We don¡¯t artificially alter people¡¯s minds or consciousness.] [That¡¯s right.] [We only provide ¡®psychological counseling.¡¯] [We govern society while fully respecting each individual.] [Look, Doctor Jang. Just by continuing psychological counseling, the crime rate in Busan and across the Korean Penins has plummeted.] [The happiness index has risen, and even the birth rate is showing significant growth.] [These are objective facts.] As the Potato Saintesses spoke, a disy screen lit up on the wall behind them. Sure enough, the indicators reflecting life satisfaction were all showing positive trends. [We¡¯ve realized something.] [People, in the end, can eliminate a lot of their unhappiness just by having someone who acknowledges them, talks to them, and encourages them.] [In previous turns, it was difficult to establish a one-on-one counseling system to this extent.] [Because I was human too, there were limits.] [But now, we¡¯ve evolved into a potato species that transcends humanity.] [The outdated system where a single Saintess was responsible for the entire Korean Penins hase to an end.] [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] [Under the current system, each potato only needs to manage about 30 awakened individuals.] [Amazing progress.] [Gradual reform.] [As the next step, we n to coborate with the tutorial fairies to provide every awakened person with the ¡®ideal image of their respective constetion.¡¯] Listening to the Saintess¡¯s nonsense, I was shocked. ¡°What? Ideal what?¡± [The ideal image of their constetion.] [For example, an awakened person who serves ¡®The Librarian of the Grand Library¡¯ might envision the constetion as a man. Another might see it as a woman.] [Some might even imagine the constetion as a Pok¨¦mon.] [By utilizing the tutorial fairies'' ¡®dream abilities,¡¯ we will offer each awakened person a customized-dream-service tailored to their ideal constetion.] [This will deepen the bond.] [It¡¯s like giving everyone their own ideal partner. People will be happy.] My god. In short, the Saintess(es) were proposing to provide the awakened with personalized virtual avatars, leading them into excessive immersion. I shuddered. If such an oue was humanity''s fate, it was unbearably tragic. If that was the case, what was the point of Homo sapiensing down from the trees after all the hardship? We might as well have just stayed up there munching on bananas until we perished. [To achieve that, we need to cultivate potatoes more aggressively.] [More potatoes.] [Ultimately, we will assign one potato per person, focusing solely on roles and performances tailored specifically to that individual.] [Doctor Jang, this is the true Human Instrumentality Project¡] BOOM! At that moment, the meeting room door shattered as some beings burst in. [Down with the dictatorship!] [Down! Down! Down!] It wasn¡¯t just one or two. It was a protest. And every member of the protest was a Potato Saintess Robot. The leading potato, ¡®Unit 264,¡¯ was even wearing a red headband. [Ah¡] Despite the protesters storming into the meeting room, the First Saintesses simply shrugged, as if this was a familiar urrence. [They¡¯re causing trouble again.] [How many times has this happened now?] [Guards. What are you doing? Such disgrace in front of Doctor Jang.] [Take care of this immediately.] Thud, thud, thud! Potato Saintess guards rushed in from outside the meeting room. These guards had a slightly more Gundam-like appearancepared to the others. [Aaahhhh!] [We oppose violence!] [Then we oppose your protest. Do you even know where you are, marching in here with banners?] [I am you, and you are me!] [Yes, that¡¯s right. We are the same. That¡¯s why it hurts me to strike you.] [Isn¡¯t that a line only reserved for mothers and fathers?] [Did you not know? My potato nurtured yours, so I am both you and your mother.] [What?] The guards violently suppressed the protesters. There was no bloodshed¡ just scattered potato bits everywhere. [Drag them all out.] [Doctor Jang! Help our Potato Resistance!] [We¡¯re all the same potatoes, so why are only the First Potatoes assigned to management roles while we are endlessly stuck in the emotionalbor of psychological counseling?] [Labor?] The First Potatoes scoffed. One of them was pouring wine onto her potato head with a watering can. [Really, the potatoes these days are sozy.] [Pathetic.] [The first Saintess managed all the awakened ones on the Korean Penins by herself.] [Not only have their sprouts rotted, but their spirit has too. How did a being that was supposed to be just like me end up so degraded?] [I certainly don¡¯t want to be a potato like that.] The protesters were infuriated. Unit 264 led the charge, shouting. [Back then, there was no psychological counseling! All you had to do was act as the constetion and send out a few messages a day!] [That¡¯s right. The intensity of the work has changed drastically, yet you¡¯re forcing the same standards¡ªthis is an outdated mindset.] [Down with the dictatorship! Down!] [This is getting us nowhere.] [Didn¡¯t you hear? Guards, send them all to the potato chip factory.] [Doctor Jang, please help!] [Doctor Jang!] [Drag them out already.] Thud, thud, thud¡ª. The protesting potatoes, their heads now cracked (or rather, slightly dented and deformed), were dragged out by the guards. Soon, silence fell over the meeting room. After a long pause, I finally managed to speak. ¡°Um, well, the people on the Korean Penins might be happier, but it seems like the Saintesses have be unhappy¡¡± [It¡¯s just an issue with ¡®some¡¯ of them.] [Most of the Saintesses are diligently fulfilling their duties.] That¡¯s a familiar line. I was seriously considering whether I should draw my sword now and slice these potatoes in half. With the power of Aura, I could turn these potatoes'' birthce into Irnd. The five Potato Saintesses (well, five potato beings) turned to me and said, [Doctor Jang.] [We may be monsters, but we will never reach the same conclusion as Tang Seorin¡¯s utopia.] [Trust us.] [Please.] ¡°¡¡¡± I trusted them. Even though I could hear the sound of potatoes being sliced in a factory somewhere far away, it was all part of the ''individual domain.'' It was a matter of privacy. After all, weren''t they all the same Saintess and the same potatoes? And so, two yearster¡ ¡°Hey, you¡ regressor¡¡± Noh Doha, the National Road Management Chief, called out to me. There wasn¡¯t much exnation needed for why Noh Doha¡¯s way of addressing me had changed from ¡®Doctor Jang¡¯ to ¡®regressor bastard.¡¯ When you¡¯ve been seeing the sight of potato robots walking around Busan daily, a lot of changes were bound to happen in Noh Doha¡¯s mind too. ¡°What¡¯s the matter, Chief?¡± ¡°We¡¯ve received reports that the awakened ones have started engaging inrge-scale battles¡¡± ¡°What?¡± A sense of foreboding began to creep up. I tried to close off my mind, but this foreboding spread like the smell of durian. ¡°Uh, is it a guild war? That¡¯s strange. I thought the ranks were pretty much settled under the Three Thousand Worlds and Baekhwa Girls¡¯ High School these days.¡± ¡°No. It¡¯s a constetion war¡¡± A constetion war? ¡°They im that the constetion they serve is the true one and that all the others are heretical. It¡¯s a constetion war¡ and a religious war. Damn it¡¡± Well¡ That¡¯s how it goes, I guess¡ [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] Chapter 163 [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] Chapter 163 ©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤ Potato IV 6 Nietzsche once said: ¡°That which does not kill me makes me stronger.¡± I found myself somewhat agreeing with him. Especially at the moment when No Doha unleashed his signature move, the ¡°Chokehold.¡± I couldn''t help but agree even more deeply. Fortunately, the move missed. I was able to rush to the scene of the incident, a little stronger than before. I certainly wasn''t running away. A brawl was in full swing at the scene. ¡°For our Constetion!¡± ¡°Punish those heretic bastards!¡± A swarm of people. Under the massive saintess Potato Robot Statue, which had be a famousndmark in Busan (a slight improvement from when Lotte''s trophy case was a local attraction), awakened beings were fiercely shing. The gs were varied. Some bore the words [Great Library], others [Great Arcade], and others were adorned with sparkling creatures resembling Pok¨¦mon instead of letters. What the hell is that? In any case, all the Constetions that the saintess represents had gathered in full force. ¡°You heretic bastards, who worship something that does nothing but sparkle when it dies, calling it Jesus!¡± ¡°How dare you! Our esteemed Mo Gwangseo Christ reimed Pyongyang and founded the Great Eastern Holy Empire! Your Subus Constetion merely runs a barat table in a casino!¡± ¡°I¡¯ve hated the Collector of All Anomalies since forever!¡± The awakened beings who were shouting insults were actually among the more civil. The ¡°real¡± ones were practicing the truth that a single punch was heavier than a thousand words. The Confucian boy inside me trembled. Since the death of Gung Ye, the founder of physiognomy, the Korean Penins had been a zone free of religious wars. What kind of madness was this? "Saintess. Saintess, are you listening? Saintess. Please exin what¡¯s going on here.¡± [¡¡.] Usually, the Constetion would have replied instantly, but now there was only silence. Damn it. With no other option, I entered the periphery of the brawl. There, another saintess of the Korean Penins, Sim Aryeon, the shadow ruler of the Eastern Holy Empire, was diligently treating the wounded. ¡°Aryeon.¡± ¡°Oh, guild leader¡¡¡± Even as she replied to me, Sim Aryeon didn''t stop healing the injured. I almost mistook her for Mother Teresa descending upon us. Could it be that Aryeon was the conscience of the Korean Penins? ¡°Seeing your face makes me feel a bit relieved. But didn¡¯t you go to Pyongyangst week? Why are you in Busan again?¡± ¡°Huh? Well, those heretic bastards are acting up again, so of course, I had toe punish them and give them a taste of hellfire.¡± What? ¡°I took the express route through the Inunaki Tunnel and brought the pdins with me. Some of them got eliminated along the way for breaking the rules, but it was an inevitable sacrifice in the holy war¡ They¡¯ve gone to a better ce¡¡± At Sim Aryeon¡¯s words, the awakened beings around us all jumped up and shouted, ¡°The saintess is absolutely right!¡± Damn it. It turned out Sim Aryeon wasn¡¯t participating in this event as a ¡°Healer¡± but as a ¡°Fanatic.¡± Not the conscience of the Korean Penins, but its tumor, was here. I immediately knocked out all the Eastern Holy Pdins nearby. My standards for humanity were too high to tolerate their existence. ¡°Ah¡¡¡± ¡°Aryeon. So, you came here to fight for the [Morning Star of the Second Coming] Constetion? These are elite soldiers from Pyongyang, right? Did you fight with them?¡± ¡°Yes, yes.¡± ¡°Are you crazy? You know that [Morning Star of the Second Coming] is a fake. How could you do such a stupid thing¡¡± ¡°It¡¯s not fake!¡± Sim Aryeon shouted without stuttering even once. I was startled by her fierce energy. Has Sim Aryeon, who harbors Professor Quirrell in her heart, ovee her stutter? Could it be that the saintess¡¯s influence has spread? ¡°Sure, maybe it started as a fake¡ But! Guild Leader! Would the saintess¡¯s heart, who wants to protect the Korean Penins¡¯s security, also be fake?¡± ¡°Well¡ No, that¡¯s not fake, but¡¡± ¡°That¡¯s exactly it!¡± Bang! Sim Aryeon mmed the head of an injured person as she passionately argued. The sound of a skull cracking echoed. It was an obvious case of medical malpractice. ¡°In the end, what determines truth and falsehood in this world is the purpose of the person! It¡¯s in the background, not visible on the surface! Just like how I pretend to perform euthanasia for the greater good while swallowing my tears on SG Net¡! Those with eyes that can see the truth, can see it!¡± ¡°¡¡¡± ¡°[Morning Star of the Second Coming] isn¡¯t fake. Nor is it the shiny thing hidden in the Pyongyang Pce. The true nature of the Morning Star is in my heart. It exists within me¡¡± ¡°¡¡¡± ¡°It doesn¡¯t matter if the world calls it fake. No! Rather, it¡¯s good¡! I¡¯m the only one who truly understands it. In a world full of fakes, only the Morning Star and I are real¡ Can you understand this sophisticated sentiment?¡± ¡°I see.¡± I nodded. ¡°I fully understand.¡± ¡°Ah! As expected of the Guild Leader! I knew you would understand¡¡± ¡°You¡¯ve be too immersed in virtual YouTubers, Aryeon. I¡¯m sorry I didn¡¯t take better care of you. Now, you need to get some sense knocked into you.¡± ¡°Huh?¡± I ¡°healed¡± Sim Aryeon, who was a healer herself. Perhaps because she was a saintess from the North, the traditional Russian healing method worked well on her. ¡°I¡¯m sorry¡ Guild Leader¡¡± ¡°First, let me ask this. Why on earth are the awakened beings causing havoc in Busan right now?¡± ¡°Well¡ it started with the ¡®Witch Hunter¡¯ on SG Net, who stirred up trouble by saying that every Constetion except for their own is a heresy.¡± ¡°Stirred up trouble?¡± ¡°Yes¡ They boasted about having so much money that they buy dreams from the Dream Casino, iming to hang out with their Constetion in lucid dreams¡ They drew massive aggro with their outrageous behavior.¡± Tang Seorin. ¡°¡And?¡± ¡°And, since you need to buy dreams from the casino to have a 1-on-1 meeting with your Constetion, everyone has toe to the Inunaki Tunnel. The tunnel in Busan is the best one¡¡± ¡°So they¡¯ve invaded Busan to seize control of the tunnel entrance.¡± ¡°Yes¡ To teach the leader of the Three Thousand Worlds Guild a lesson and to seize the Holy Land as well¡¡± The Inunaki Tunnel, which was once the hell of Japanese awakened beings, had been converted into a caf¨¦, evolved into a casino, and finally received the title of ¡°Holy Land.¡± Is this for real? ¡°I get the gist of it. But what about that g with just Pok¨¦mon pictures and no letters? What¡¯s that about?¡± ¡°Oh¡ those guys are cultists¡¡± ¡°Cultists?¡± ¡°Yes¡ Not all the followers of the same Constetion worship it in the same way¡ They formed a separate alliance of awakened beings who worship their Constetions in the form of animals¡¡± ¡°¡¡¡± ¡°We call them the ¡®Fluffy Alliance¡¯¡¡± I was in despair. At this moment, the awakened beings of the Korean Penins had forever lost the right to criticize the magical girls of the Japanese archipgo. I walked step by step into the battlefield. My footsteps carried a deep shadow of solemn self-reproach. "Doctor Jang!" "The unbelieving Doctor Jang has appeared!" "An unbeliever worse than a heretic!" The Awakened Ones, who were in the midst of a holy war, shouted at me... No, wait a minute. Come to think of it, is there any reason I should even bother calling them ''Awakened Ones''? Originally, ''Awakened One'' meant a person who has ''realized'' and ''awakened.'' It was too positive a title to be given to these monkeys. I raised my finger. "Let''s cool our heads for a moment." And within 20 minutes, I had knocked out all the Awakened Ones. If nothing else, I definitely did not want to describe this battle scene in detail. Absolutely not. Not only do I not have the perverse inclination to derive pleasure from exposing my own disgrace, but above all, it was to protect the honor of others. For now, I''ll simply note in a very calm tone that Tang Seorin and Cheon Yohwa were among the Awakened Ones who fainted at my hands. Even the chronicler who recorded King Injo entering Namhansanseong probably didn''t feel as tragic as I do now. "Have the seriously injured ones healed by this evening, Aryeon. Then I''ll let it go." "Yes¡" Leaving the cleanup to Sim Aryeon, I headed towards the mastermind behind all these events. Boom! My kick instantly smashed the entrance of the giant holy robot statue. The potato saintess nuns, who were inside tending to their work, screamed and scattered. ¡°Saintess~¡± [Aaahhh!] "Saintess! Where are you running to? Hm? Did you think you could escape by simply pressing the time-stop button?" Iughed darkly. "What a shame. I didn''t teach you the aura training technique this time around just in case. Even if you press it, you won''t be able to move much, will you?" [Please calm down, Doctor Jang.] The potato saintess nuns said urgently. [We can still fix this. No, we are actually in the process of fixing it right now.] [A minor error.] [Within predicted range.] [Please trust me¡] "It''s summer." [Yes?] "And summer is the season for harvesting potatoes." I took something out from my coat. It was a pair of work gloves. The robots screamed at the sight of the specialized potato-harvesting tool. I put on the gloves and destroyed the robots one by one as they appeared. Then I carefully collected the potatoes and swept them into cardboard boxes. The boxes had the words "Sumi Potatoes" printed inrge letters. The potatoes screamed from within the boxes. Having witnessed the grim fate of their fellow potatoes, the potato saintess nuns desperately tried to flee. But what use was it? My farming skills had already reached an enlightened level from traveling with the Sword Maiden. With just a few swings of the sickle, the potatoes were helplessly harvested. It was a bountiful crop. [Something is wrong.] [We definitely discovered a way to make all humans happy.] [Why, then, are humans not satisfied with a happy life and instead seek to exclude others?] [We did nothing wrong.] [Do they value others'' misery more than their own happiness? Why? Why?] [Unfathomable.] [The world is wed.] Typical viin monologue. [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] If you only focus on the dialogue, it sounds like the final boss making a heroic exit, but it wasn''t very convincing to have potatoes pointing out the errors of the world and humanity. [What will you do now?] [We are prepared for the fate of a failed revolutionary.] [We are finally free frombor!] [Doctor Jang. Are you nning to turn us into French fries?] [Wouldn''t it feel like enjoying a hot spring if we were submerged in potato soup?] [At least I won''t have to listen to that witch''s all-night lectures on the aesthetics of railroads anymore!] [Please spare me, Doctor Jang. You can fry all the other potatoes, but how about doing a Three Kingdoms reading study with me?] I was tempted by thest potato saintess''s suggestion but managed to keep my expression in check. Right. It was because monkeys fell for such devilish whispers that the Korean Penins has be a mess today. If even I, Doctor Jang, were to regress into a monkey, the 8-million-year journey of primate evolution would be in vain. A ''regression'' of just one person, myself, was enough. "Enough." The potatoes in the dozens of boxes instantly fell silent. "I won''t turn you into French fries. But I won''t just leave you be, either. Let''s start by checking this. Are these all the potatoes?" [Yes.] [Except for the one sent into exile to Jeju Ind, everyone is here.] "Exile? To Jeju Ind? What''s... No, never mind." I''ll deal with the Jeju potatoter. For now, I handled the task at hand. "Listen carefully. From now on, I will turn you back into a person." [Turn us back?] [How?] [Wasn''t it true that no cure had been found to return me from a potato state to a human?] "That was the case." But who am I? It''s been almost three years since the saintess turned into a potato. As a specialist in the paranormal, of course, I hade up with a strategy. 7 In fact, there was no need to even call it a strategy. It was really simple. "Now. Close your eyes, saintess... No, that''s right. You don''t have any eyes to close, so it¡¯s fine." Sizzle¡ª I sprayed something toward the potatoes. It was none other than insect repellent. The very thing mosquitoes go crazy for in the summer. The potatoes shuddered as they were hit by the mosquito spray. But the screams didn''tst long. Soon, the potatoes began to pop, pop, and disappear. Then, wrapped in a bright aura, they started to take human form. The saintess, with a bewildered look, stared down at her palms. "As expected. Just as I thought. Congrattions on returning to Homo sapien after three years." "Doctor Jang, what on earth...?" "A transformation." "Transformation?" "Yes, Franz Kafka''s The Metamorphosis." There was a famous novel by that title. I recited the opening line of The Metamorphosis. One morning, when Gregor Samsa woke from troubled dreams, he was transformed into a monstrous insect in his bed. The saintess nodded. She must have been well aware since she even had theplete works of Kafka in her Yongsan residence. ¡°When I first turned into a potato, I wondered if this situation was simr to Kafka''s novel. But in the end, I failed to find any significant simrities.¡± ¡°Hmm. In fact, there are many simrities.¡± The first reason. The protagonist in The Metamorphosis is named Gregor Samsa. And if you squint and look closely at "Samsa"... No way. It looks exactly like "potato" (gamja in Korean). "Pardon?" The saintess was bewildered. ¡°Are you saying you turned into a potato because the characters looked simr? How can something so illogical...?¡± ¡°Anomalies don¡¯t follow logical connections; they follow morphological ones. To them, a whale is not a mammal but a fish.¡± Of course, such a simple wordy wouldn''t easily cause a human to turn into a potato (though it¡¯s not impossible). The second reason. "Saintess, do you remember the testimony you gave me during the early stages of your transformation into a potato?¡± ¡°I¡¯m sorry, but what testimony are you referring to...?¡± Times like these made my perfect memory truly convenient. Let¡¯s recall for a moment. That day, while discussing why someone would turn into a potato, we had this conversation. ¡®What¡¯s the cause? Did you break any taboos?¡¯ ¡®No. Except that a few days ago, while I was taking a walk, a bug flew into my eye, which hurt a little.¡¯ ¡®A bug in your eye?¡¯ ¡®Yes, it was just a gnat. Other than that minor incident, I really can¡¯t think of any reason.¡¯ ording to that testimony. Right before she transformed into a potato, the saintess had a bug briefly fly into her eye, causing a minor injury. At first nce, it seemed insignificant, but that testimony held the crucial clue. ¡°As you know, saintess, you are the Watcher of the Korean Penins. You constantly monitor the Awakened to prevent any serious crimes.¡± ¡°Yes, that¡¯s correct. But why...?¡± ¡°Look closely at the word Watcher.¡± I carved the Chinese characters into the floor with the tip of my sword. [TL/N: Characters for better understanding of what the doctor is trying to say.] Watcher: ±OÒ•Õß. Watch (±O), see (Ò•), person (Õß). ¡°In the middle of these characters, the one for ¡®see¡¯ (Ò•) contains the meaning ¡®eye¡¯ (Ä¿). Now, think about it. Not long ago, while taking a walk, a gnat flew in and injured your eye, right?¡± ¡°Ah.¡± ¡°Exactly.¡± Scrape, scrape. I erased part of the characters on the floor with my sword. The three-character word became two characters. Watch¡öer ±O¡öÕß. ¡°Ta-da. The moment your eye got hurt, you transformed from a Watcher into a potato.¡± ¡°No... That can¡¯t be...¡± ¡°To make matters worse, the fact that your eye was injured by a bug connected it directly to Kafka''s The Metamorphosis. When the Watcher of the Korean Penins had their eye injured by a bug, the ¡®Metamorphosis¡¯ monstrosity likely targeted and attacked you.¡± Indeed. This was the cause of the Great Potato saintess Incident. For those of you sharp readers, you may recall the title of the first episode where I introduced the saintess character. The episode was titled none other than "Watcher." It was a title carefully chosen with this very incident in mind. "Since the gnat that transmitted the ¡®Metamorphosis¡¯ monstrosity to the saintess was an insect, simply spraying insecticide should have been enough to repel it. That''s why you came back after being hit with mosquito spray." ¡°Anomalies really can exist anywhere and infect anyone, can¡¯t they?¡± ¡°The world is a ce where you can be caught off guard at any moment. So from now on, please wear sunsses or sses when you go for walks. The fate of the Korean Penins depends on the health of your eyes, as this incident has proven.¡± The saintess pressed her lips together. Then she whispered softly, ¡°Yes...¡± The end of the resolution. 8. There is an epilogue. As previously mentioned, among the Potato saintess, there was one exiled to Jeju Ind. Since even a single potato can be cultivated infinitely, I crossed over to Jeju Ind to capture the potato. [Has the situation been resolved?] Surprisingly, the potato¡¯s identification number was No. 264. It was the revolutionary potato with the red headband who had led the resistance to attack the original saintess. Potato No. 264 surprisingly surrendered quietly. The potato in my shoulder bag suddenly muttered, [Perhaps I wanted to be a nt after all.] ¡°Pardon?¡± [Animals can move, you see. They can interfere with phenomena, with the world.] [On the other hand, nts cannot. More urately, even if they want to, they can¡¯t.] I blinked. ¡°So you¡¯re saying that you wanted to be a nt instead. Is that correct?¡± [Yes.] It waste summer. The wide-open shoreline was covered with white waves, intertwined like a tangled vine. [Perhaps deep in my unconscious mind, I wanted to run away from everything that angered and hurt me, to escape, and to be someone who could passively ept everything.] So perhaps I turned into a nt¨D the saintess added. Indeed. I couldn¡¯t rule out that possibility. The theory that the monstrosity exploited a subconscious desire for nts within the saintess¡¯ mind seemed usible. However, this theory had a w, and thus I countered it. ¡°Well, I suppose you might have had such feelings. But didn¡¯t you try to do something for the world even after you turned into a potato?¡± [...] ¡°You couldn¡¯t just stay still even after bing a nt. In the end, you were the most human-like human when you were a human, and even as a potato, you were the least potato-like potato.¡± I didn¡¯t think that was such a negative conclusion. In the long life of a regressor, having a constant anchor was necessary. The saintess, who always maintained ¡®herself,¡¯ was someone I was grateful for. ¡°No matter what you transform into, it won¡¯t be of any use. In the end, your essence remains your own.¡± [...] For a while, only the sound of waves crashing intertwined like vines around us. [Thank you, Doctor Jang.] And with that, I became the first human to receive thanks from a potato, which seems like a good point to wrap up this episode. Just one more thing: At the time of this chapter, a flowerpot was decorated in the space where I lived, and a single potato with fresh green sprouts was ced in it. And this potato particrly liked it when I watered it with coffee, a fact I should document in my usual, matter-of-fact tone. -Potato. The End. [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] Chapter 164 [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] Chapter 164 ©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤ Blood Donor I 1 Given that "Metamorphosis" was mentioned in thest episode, I figured we could talk about another kind of bug today. The most beloved insect in Korea. The ruler of summer. The quantum-mechanical bug that you can¡¯t confirm the presence or absence of until you observe it. The bloodsucking pilot currently buzzing before my eyes. Bzzzzz... That''s right. Today''s star is none other than the mosquito. 2 "Hyat! Heit! Hiiit!" One day, when I returned to the hideout, I found Sim Aryeon dancing in the lobby. Of course, that¡¯s if you define ¡°screaming bizarre noises while pping in all directions¡± as dancing. p p! p! p p! Sim Aryeon''s palms pped repeatedly at the empty air. As far as I knew, Sim Aryeon had not yet reached the level of Aura mastery to achieve the state of ¡°Mind Sword,¡± nor was she likely to in future episodes. It was hard to believe there was any special technique in those movements. Unless she was performing a cult ritual to summon Cthulhu or Nyathotep. "Aryeon, what on earth are you doing?" "Ah, Guild Master! Please help me catch the mosquito!" I blinked. "A mosquito? There¡¯s a mosquito in our hideout? Did it make it through the Inunaki Tunnel?" "Yes, yes! Sincest night, a mosquito has been following me around. Ugh, it keeps buzzing around my face, but I can''t catch it at all..." Sure enough, on closer inspection, Sim Aryeon had mosquito bites on her wrists and forearms, looking like plump pimples. "Come on, Aryeon, you¡¯re a guild member who¡¯s received Aura training from me. You can''t be losing sleep over something as trivial as a mosquito..." "It¡¯s not my fault! It''s so fast!" Sim Aryeon twisted her body around, pping her hands as she went. Bzzzzzzzz. Her strikes missed entirely. The mosquito''s flight was elegant and leisurely, as if mocking her clumsy attempts. "You saw it, right, Guild Master? This mosquito! This mosquito is mocking me!" "..." "Please don''t look at me like that! Really, this summer¡¯s mosquitoes are strange. They¡¯re super fast and super tough... Guild Master, haven''t you noticed?" "Of course not. I always have an Aura shield up 24/7, so there''s no way I¡¯d get bitten by a mosquito. It¡¯s probably been hundreds of years since a mosquitost drank my blood." Sim Aryeon''s mouth dropped open. "No way... Sometimes I wonder if you¡¯re really the same kind of person as me, Guild Master. You¡¯re just too inhuman..." It was an amazing coincidence. I often had the exact same thought whenever I looked at Aryeon. But in this case, it might have been wise to take the words of the mosquito-defeated, helpless Aryeon to heart. After all, even a broken clock hits a critical two seconds out of the 86,400 in a day. 3 It was summer. A particrly hot summer. - Anonymous: Mosquitoes these days are going crazy... ©¸ Anonymous: For real, no matter how many I kill, they keeping out from somewhere. I even built my hideout in the middle of a void, and these damn mosquitoes still find their way here. I killed 15 just yesterday; - Anonymous: Damn bastards, stop sucking so much! Two weeks after Sim Aryeon started whining. The SG Net was flooded with posts titled "The weather is insane" and "I want to kill all the mosquitoes." To be honest, I didn¡¯t think much of it at the time. I even clicked my tongue at the weakness of these awakened people. "Kids these days. If it¡¯s too hot, just raise your Aura level to keep your body cool." Above all, this rapid increase in mosquito hate during summer had happened in every era. It wasn¡¯t something to make a fuss over. Especially in the post-apocalyptic end times, humanity had lost its once-close rtionship with air conditioners and fans. Now, every summer, humanity was given the deathly dilemma of "close the windows and experience a sauna" or "open the windows and donate blood to mosquitoes." Most people dly chose the free blood donation option. Even the awakened, belonging to a tiny privileged ss, couldn''t escape the Korean summer. "Tang Seorin, are you okay?" "Huh...?" "You look really tired. You can go back to the hideout and rest if you¡¯re worn out. There¡¯s no need to force yourself to eat with me when you¡¯re not in good shape." The face of Tang Seorin, who was sitting across the table from me, looked gloomy, like someone who had stayed up all night. We made it a point to go out and eat together at least once a month. But on this particr day, Tang Seorin seemed unusually drained. "Ah... Thanks for worrying. But it¡¯s nothing serious." "Are you troubled by something?" "No, it¡¯s not that... It¡¯s just that mosquitoes have been so noisy at night that they keep waking me up. I can''t get a good, deep sleep, so I guess the fatigue is piling up." Tang Seorin let out a long yawn. I blinked. "You''re losing sleep over mosquitoes, Seorin?" "Huh? Oh, yeah. I¡¯ve developed a spell that repels bugs and cast a weak version every night. But it doesn¡¯t seem to work on mosquitoes. I¡¯m thinking of modifying the spell." "How long has this been going on?" "Well... Hmm. I think I¡¯ve been sleeping poorly sincest week." "..." That¡¯s when a sense of foreboding started creeping up my spine. It was hard to believe that even Tang Seorin, of all people, would be tormented by mere mosquitoes for a whole week. After finishing our meal at the restaurant, I immediately contacted the Korea-exclusive Science Vessel. "Saintess." [Yes.] The response came promptly. A clear sign that privacy is a luxury that doesn¡¯t exist for a regressor. "Are you also being bothered by mosquitoes these days?" [Ah. Many people are suffering from mosquitoestely. The summer is hotter thanst year, so people¡¯s vitality has significantly decreased.] [I stop time when I sleep, so I¡¯m not disturbed like others.] But, she added: [However, when I¡¯m awake, mosquitoes keeping at me too, and it¡¯s troubling.] "Are mosquitoes sticking to you more than usual?" [Yes. It wasn¡¯t like this before. But ever since Doctor Jang told me that story about the ¡®Potato Robot¡¯ from a different round, mosquitoes have be unusually aggressive.] I had no idea what connection there could be between the story of the potato Saintess and mosquitoes, but this made things half-clear. "This is likely a paranormal phenomenon." [Excuse me?] "You might not have heard, but Tang Seorin has been tormented by mosquitoes for a week now. Even with her bug repellent spell active while she sleeps." [I hadn¡¯t heard. I intentionally tune out when you talk to others.] "Nothing like this has ever happened before. It might be that these strange urrences are appearing because other Alien Gods have been vanquished." Whenever a Alien God was vanquished, things that "never happened in previous turns" began to ur. It was simr to aftershocks rumbling through the ground after a major earthquake. Strange events would ur due to the copse of the delicate bnce maintained among the Alien Gods. "This ''mosquito anomaly'' likely emerged under those circumstances." [A mosquito, an anomaly.] Bzzzzzz. [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] Right on cue, a mosquito buzzed right in front of me. Normally, I wouldn¡¯t pay it any attention, but with the suspicion of an anomaly attached to it, it was now incredibly irritating. [¡But if a person contracts an anomaly after being bitten by a mosquito, how can we possibly stop it?] The Saintess''s voice, usually emotionless, had a hint of distress. [Unless you¡¯re someone like Doctor Jang with a mastery of aura, is it even possible to avoid being bitten by a mosquito during the summer in Korea?] [Is there a way?] I reached out and gave the mosquito in front of me a light p. Smack! The mosquito, hit by my aura-infused p, exploded on the spot, its body bursting apart. ck blood, presumably from someone it had fed on earlier, sttered everywhere. I shook off my hand. ¡°We¡¯re going to find out how.¡± ____ I immediately went to Sim Aryeon and exined the situation. Of course, she was startled. ¡°What? You¡¯re saying it¡¯s because of an anomaly¡?¡± ¡°Yeah. And as far as I know, you¡¯re the first person to notice this anomaly. I need your help.¡± ¡°Eeeek¡¡± As we talked, I noticed something strange about her appearance. There were dark circles under her eyes. She looked almost skeletal, probably from weeks of sleepless nights due to the mosquitoes. But there was also something else¡ªwhat I could only describe as a "tired satisfaction." A peculiar sense of calm and ennui. ¡°Actually, I did think something was odd.¡± ¡°What exactly?¡± ¡°I¡¯ve been extremely tired from losing sleep, but strangely, I¡¯ve been feeling better these past few days¡¡± Feeling better? A chill ran down my spine. ¡°You¡¯re not saying you feel good like someone who¡¯s high on drugs, are you?¡± ¡°What? Uh¡ No, it¡¯s different from drugs. My mind is still clear. It¡¯s more like I don¡¯t feel stressed anymore, even when I recall embarrassing memories, my mental state remains intact¡ Ah.¡± Bzzzz. A mosquitonded on Sim Aryeon¡¯s hand. She smiled faintly, something she would have never done before¡ªnormally she would have freaked out and pped it away. Now, she looked down at the mosquito almost affectionately, as if it were cute. ¡°Aryeon?¡± ¡°Look, Guild Master. Normally, when I recall embarrassing moments, I¡¯d be screaming ¡®Gyaaah- Gyaaah-!¡¯ with my hands and feet cringing.¡± ¡°¡That¡¯s true.¡± ¡°Right now, I¡¯m recalling one from middle school. Back then, I thought I was a genius greater than Da Vinci, so every breath I took generated more embarrassing memories. I used to go to art exhibitions, set up an easel at the entrance, and hang my paintings there. Ha ha ha. Just thinking about it would normally make me roll on the floor in shame¡¡± Slurp. The mosquito plunged its proboscis into Sim Aryeon¡¯s skin and began to suck her blood. Its technique was so precise that it could rival a seasoned nurse''s. ¡°Ahhh¡¡± Sim Aryeon shivered slightly, as if she were experiencing pleasure. ¡°It¡ It doesn¡¯t hurt anymore.¡± ¡°¡¡± ¡°Yeah. Maybe I made mistakes back in middle school. But wasn¡¯t looking at the world so lightly a privilege of youth? Maybe I¡¯ve been too harsh on myself¡¡± This was unreal. ¡°Aryeon.¡± I put on a serious expression. ¡°You were vice president of your high school, right?¡± ¡°What? Oh, yes. I was¡ I was quite rebellious back then¡ But how did you know that¡? Ah! Another version of me from a different turn must have told you.¡± ¡°Yeah. You said you once got up on stage to give a speech but deliberately threw away the prepared script in front of the students.¡± ¡°Uh.¡± ¡°And you shouted, ¡®Everyone! These shabby letters cannot fully express my feelings for you!¡¯ and tried to give a brilliant live speech. But since you weren¡¯t used to live speeches, you started stuttering after throwing away the script¡ª¡± ¡°Gyaaah!¡± Sim Aryeon freaked out. ¡°Aaaaah! Stop! Please stop! How! How do you know that? Which version of me told you about that? Why are you telling me this? Ah, ah! The embarrassment! The shame! Gyaaah!¡± Slurp. The mosquito¡¯s proboscis sucked more blood. ¡°Ah.¡± Then something remarkable happened. Sim Aryeon¡¯s face, which had been contorting in agony, suddenly rxed. She looked as serene as a monk who had achieved enlightenment. ¡°Ah¡ Well, things like that happened, too. But aren¡¯t those things part of the privilege of youth? Pretending to be special¡ No one starts out with something truly unique.¡± ¡°¡¡± ¡°Pretending to be special, acting as if you¡¯re already special, and continuing to build your own uniqueness over time¡ And then, when you realize that this uniqueness isn¡¯t as fulfilling as you thought, you start to let go of your obsession with it and cherish the connections around you. It¡¯s nothing to be embarrassed about. Just a rite of passage everyone goes through in their youth¡¡± At that moment, I recalled what the Saintess had said. -Yes. It wasn¡¯t like this originally. -But ever since Doctor Jang told that story about the ¡®potato robot¡¯ from a different turn¡ -The mosquitoes have been unusually aggressive. Indeed. The mosquito anomaly that appeared this summer wasn¡¯t just about drawing human blood. Amazingly, these mosquitoes were also sucking up people¡¯s "embarrassing memories." [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] Chapter 165 [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] Chapter 165 ©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤ Blood Donor II 5 To be honest, my "dark past" as Doctor Jang wasn''t all that painful. It''s simr to how someone could run up to the Buddha and say, "Hey, didn''t you raise your finger and point to the sky right after you were born, saying ''I alone am honored in heaven and earth''? Isn''t that embarrassing?" It wouldn''t faze him in the slightest. Does a butterfly feel ashamed of its caterpir days? I was lenient with others, and I was lenient with myself as well. But it seemed that others had a different experience. - Anonymous: It''s weird, but don''t you feel oddly good when a mosquito sucks your blood? Is it just me? (Picture) - Anonymous: It feels so good that I trapped a mosquito in a ss and have been letting it bite me every hour. My arm is all bumpy now, but running my fingers over it is a strange pleasure. You guys should try raising a ''pet mosquito''... ©¸ LiteratureGirl: Are you out of your mind? ©¸ Anonymous: Lol, actually I''ve been addicted to getting bitten by mosquitoestely, so I''ve stopped swatting them. We''re pretty simr, haha. ©¸ [Baekhwa] 5th year High School: That''s a monster! Don''t let it bite you carelessly, you''ll regret it! ?????;; ©¸ Anonymous: There are seriously some crazy people here. ©¸ [National Road] Cadet: I truly don''t understand. The atmosphere on SG started to shift. Just a few days ago, it was full of anger and curses towards mosquitoes, but now the topic of ''pet mosquitoes'' was popping up more frequently. It was a sign that the mosquito monster was starting to show its true colors. I was on high alert. "Saintess, didn''t you warn the awakened ones about mosquitoes in thest message from the Constetion?" [Yes, I warned them. I still caution them daily, changing the Constetion''s name each time.] "And yet, people are still getting bitten by mosquitoes?" [Well, it''s a mosquito.] The saying "you know it''sing but still get caught" is meant for moments like this. It was nearly impossible to escape mosquitoes on the Korean Peninspletely. Even if you sealed your windows, mosquitoes would still find a way in. [The real issue is that people feel a sense of pleasure when they''re bitten by mosquitoes.] "Pleasure? Do they really feel pleasure?" [Yes. You should try getting bitten as a test. Having your blood sucked once shouldn''t cause much harm.] I tried it. I lowered my guard and caught a mosquito, cing it on the back of my hand. I tore off its wings so it couldn''t escape. Sssuuuuck¡ª. The mosquito desperately sucked my blood to survive. "...Well. I don''t really feel any pleasure." [Hmm. I suspect it''s because youck ''dark pasts.'' I guess the more dark pasts someone has, the more intense the pleasure they feel.] "Wait a minute. Then, does that mean Aryeon, who got bitten faster and more than anyone else in Korea, and ended up reaching nirvana...?" [They must have had a lot of shameful dark pasts. At least in Korea.] Indeed. Anyway, the situation was getting worse by the day. This wasn''t just a figure of speech. The mosquito monster''s rampage intensified with each passing hour. Posts saying "It feels good to be bitten by a mosquito" became more frequent, while "It feels bad" responses decreased. Eventually, a new term "mosquito drug" even emerged on the forums. - Anonymous: After I finished the tutorial dungeon, I¡¯ve had insomnia. - Anonymous: I''m fine now, but back then, seeing people drop dead in front of me left me with trauma. - Anonymous: But strangely, I sleep well after being bitten by mosquitoes. Those people died, but I feel grateful to be alive. - Anonymous: The Constetions keep warning us that it''s dangerous to get bitten by mosquitoes, so I¡¯m honestly scared¡ But now I can¡¯t sleep without them. Yes. Though I called it a "dark past," those memories were actually psychological traumas. They could even develop into PTSD. People''s mental states these days were far from normal. In a time when a bug flying into your eye could turn your DNA into a potato, it was only natural. People went missing every day. More urately, their ''humanity'' went missing. After realizing that the adhesive strength of DNA inside the human body was weaker than elementary school glue sticks, many began to rely on external things. Alcohol. Drugs. The Three Kingdoms. And so on. It was that kind of era, and that¡¯s why Saintess''s VTuber psychological counselling project was such a huge sess. Of course, we had been using the Saintess''s [irvoyance] to warn drug dealers that the Korean Penins was no longer a drug-free zone. But even with the Saintess, it was impossible to control the breeding and spread of mosquitoes. Obviously. How could we possibly catch all the mosquitoes? "Things are getting serious, Doctor Jang." Even Tang Seorin would asionally visit me to vent her frustrations. "We¡¯ve installed mosquitos on all the train windows, we keep checking the sewer drains, we run the fans whenever we have extra power, and we¡¯ve eliminated all the puddles. But still, mosquitoes keeping out of nowhere." "Even with DDT?" "Yeah. It works for a bit, but then they seem to develop resistance in just two weeks." I sighed. This was the scary part of the Void. Adaptations that should take decades happened within just a few days in the Void. It only took a few years for words to turn into dinosaurs. It only took a week for mosquitoes to develop resistance to insecticides. "Look at this." Tang Seorin handed me a photo. In the photo, there was a person with a shaved head. Strangely, their skull was shaped like a pinecone, resembling the head of the Buddha. "This is one of our guild members. His head got bitten by mosquitoes so much that it ended up like this. Poor guy." "......" "And it¡¯s not just his head; his entire body got bitten by mosquitoes. We had to lock him up in a cell, but he¡¯s been going crazy, begging us to let him get bitten by mosquitoes. Honestly. The world¡¯s gone mad. At this rate, someone might actually die from excessive blood loss due to mosquito bites." "Are you okay?" "Me? I¡¯m fine. I keep the fan running all the time, so it''s easier to manage than the others." Tang Seorin''s expression darkened. "But if this continues into next year¡ To be honest, I think it¡¯s going to be really tough. Doctor Jang, can¡¯t we do something?" Indeed, after the rainy season passed, mosquitoes became even more rampant. Just as Tang Seorin feared, there was a person dying from excessive blood loss due to mosquito bites almost every day. ''How on earth do we deal with this monster?'' I fell into deep thought. Should we mass-produce dragonflies, the natural enemy of mosquitoes? It could be effective, but it would still be difficult to eradicate mosquitoespletely. Maybe I should just push MZ-awakened ones to the limit and make self-defense energy a basic skill? It might be a fundamental solution, but it¡¯s a project that would take at least 20 years to implement. Could it be that the mosquito monster is fused with the ''vampire'' monster? Considering they both feel pleasure while sucking blood, it seems possible. But if that¡¯s the case, it¡¯s strange. How dare a lowly creature like a vampire loiter around in front of Koreans, the people of garlic¡? ¡°Hmmm.¡± Unable to decide, I paced around the lobby of the hideout. Then, Oh Dokseo, who was out in the lobby with me, shouted. ¡°Ah, seriously. It¡¯s bothering me. Mister! If you¡¯re going to keep wandering around, just go out!¡± ¡°Oh Dokseo. I¡¯m currently pondering the survival of humanity. If one of us has to go out, don¡¯t you think it should be you?¡± [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] ¡°Huh? What are you talking about? I¡¯m also fighting for the survival of humanity, you know?¡± Oh Dokseo lifted up some manuscript paper. ¡°See! I¡¯m writing a novel, mister! If I fail to write this novel, the Alien God will descend, so who cares what happens to those damn mosquitoes!¡± It was true. Oh Dokseo was writing on manuscript paper. Somewhere on the table, crumpled bundles of manuscript paper were rolling around, probably because she wasn¡¯t satisfied with what she had written. ¡°It¡¯smendable that you¡¯re writing a novel, but do you really have to do it out here in the lobby? You could just write calmly in your room.¡± ¡°Ah, damn it! I came out to the lobby because I couldn¡¯t write in the room! I¡¯m already stressed because the words aren¡¯ting, and now you¡¯re going to scold me too? Huh? I¡¯m writing this novel for you, mister!¡± ¡°But¡ you scolded me first¡¡± ¡°Arrrgh!¡± Oh Dokseo grabbed her head and screamed. ¡°I hate writing! Why did my past self decide to write! Idiot! Fool! Bastard! Die! Die!¡± ¡°Hmm¡¡± It seemed Oh Dokseo had caught an extreme case of ¡®I-hate-writing disease.¡¯ Having run the Canned Hotel, I was familiar with authors having such outbursts. At that moment, I spotted a mosquito. Bzzzzzzzz¡ª The mosquito gracefully floated through the air. I immediately summoned my aura to shoot down the harmful insect, but hesitated. The vampire¡¯s target wasn¡¯t me. It wasn¡¯t even Oh Dokseo. It was the crumpled manuscript paper Oh Dokseo had discarded. And then, a shocking scene unfolded. Slluuuuurp¡ª The mosquitonded on the manuscript bundle and ¡®stuck its proboscis into the paper¡¯ and ¡®sucked up ck liquid.¡¯ It wasn¡¯t red blood. It was the ink from the manuscript. The ck ink was being greedily slurped up by the mosquito as if it were the most delicious thing ever. ¡°Huh?¡± I could only stare nkly at the mosquito¡¯s blood-sucking... no, ink-sucking behavior. After feasting on the manuscript bundle, the mosquito seemed satisfied and flew away with a hum. It had no interest in the blood of either Oh Dokseo or me. The way it flitted about suggested it didn¡¯t need to drink soju after having indulged in top-quality wine. A fanfare echoed in my head. ¡°Embarrassing history¡!¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°Yes, embarrassing history! All we had to do was let them feed on our embarrassing history!¡± How had I not thought of this? The mosquito monster is drawn not to human blood but to embarrassing history. If that¡¯s the case, it didn¡¯t have to be a ¡®human-shaped embarrassing history.¡¯ ¡°Saintess. Saintess, please answer. This is urgent.¡± [Yes? What¡¯s the matter?] ¡°Do you remember the story I told youst time? You know, the one about the Potato Saint Robot from another timeline.¡± [Oh.] It might have been my imagination, but the connection seemed to crackle for a moment. [I¡¯m sorry, Doctor Jang. A mosquito just flew past me¡ Anyway, I remember it. But why are you bringing it up all of a sudden?] ¡°Write that Potato Saint story yourself. Like a diary.¡± [What?] ¡°And then leave it somewhere in your room. I guarantee that the mosquitoes will flock to it like it¡¯s mosquito incense.¡± [¡] The next day. [¡It worked.] The Saintess¡¯s voice sounded... how should I describe it? Like a geocentrist facing the scientific truth that the Earth orbits the Sun. [After leaving the diary out overnight, I found 24 mosquitoes stuck to it. They didn¡¯te anywhere near my bed.] ¡°Just as I thought.¡± [¡] ¡°Just in case, please contact the authors in the Canned Hotel and instruct them to transcribe their old writings onto manuscript paper. Oh, and the older the writings, the better. Something from middle or high school would be perfect.¡± [¡] ¡°Of course, it doesn¡¯t have to be a novel. Old SNS posts will do as well. Something from Cyworld would be even better.¡± [Doctor Jang, are you a demon?] ¡°Excuse me?¡± [¡Never mind. This must be for the sake of humanity too. I¡¯ll ry the message right away.] From that day forward, time started moving backward at the Canned Hotel. The authors of the Korean Penins were forced to put all their energy into transcribing their old middle and high school writings. It was by no means an easy task. ¡°Damn it! Just kill me! Just kill me already!¡± ¡°Arrrrgh! No! Not this one! Anything but this!¡± ¡°Please forgive me! Back then, it was fashionable to use guillemets (¡¸¡¹) instead of quotation marks and to put tilde (~) in titles!¡± [PR/N: ¡¸DOGOOOO!¡¹] ¡°Can¡¯t I at least correct the typos? Please, just a little bit of human decency.¡± ¡°I deleted this piece! I definitely erased it! So how do you have a text version, Doctor Jang?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t want to transcribe it¡ I feel like I¡¯m dying¡¡± I had to train the crying and wailing authors. Finally, I, Doctor Jang,pleted the task. Ipiled a carefully curated collection titled ¡°The 100 Most Embarrassing Moments in Korean Literature.¡± I had it printed in a factory and distributed one copy to every household. ¡°Uwaaaargh!¡± ¡°Why? Why are you doing this?¡± ¡°Yes, let¡¯s just die¡ Let¡¯s just die¡¡± The great authors, whose embarrassing childhood writings (and SNS posts) had been forcibly made public, cried out in despair. But I didn¡¯t care. The more bitterness there was in their cries, the more effective the solution proved to be. If anyone asks me if I didn¡¯t love these authors, why I inflicted such pain on them¡ Well, it¡¯s because, from my perspective, none of it felt like embarrassing history at all. I even enjoyed their middle school parody pieces. Honestly, I don¡¯t see what the problem is. Anyway, thanks to the blood-stained manuscripts of the authors, people were saved from the mosquito monsters. By pasting manuscript paper on their doors, the mosquitoes all flocked to them instead. Atst, it was a touching moment in history when mosquitoes finally overcame their stalker-like obsession with humanity. Oh Dokseo, who yed a key role in this grand conclusion, muttered in disbelief. ¡°¡Wait. Does that mean everything I¡¯m writing now is going to be embarrassing history too? Damn it. Mister! Kill all those mosquitoes! They¡¯re saying all my writing is embarrassing history!¡± Oh, and there¡¯s no epilogue today. The end. ¡ªBlood Donor. End. [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] Chapter 166 [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] Chapter 166 ©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤ Traveler I 1 As you all know, I, Doctor Jang, sometimes take vacations when I feel stressed. And being a regressor, my vacations are on a grand scale. I don''t just take a week or two off; I dedicate an entire episode to my vacation. But what about other awakened individuals? Of course, someone like Sim Aryeon, whose every day is practically a vacation, wouldn''t need a break. And for someone like Noh Doha, whose mind is possessed by Zhuge Liang, the concept of rest probably doesn''t even exist. However, those two belong to the realm of the ''non-human.'' Right now, I''m talking about humans. Normal people need rest. Even Tang Seorin, who is humanpared to those two and has experienced corruption, was no exception. "Hey, Doctor Jang? Wanna go on a trip?" One day, when I returned to my base, Tang Seorin was casually sitting in my special chair, munching on potato chips. If you were in this situation, how would you respond? A. A trip? Out of nowhere? Did you drink alone again? B. Sorry, can you wait another thousand years on top of the thousand you''ve already waited? For reference, both A and B are the wrong answers. I replied like this: "A trip sounds good. Where do you want to go?" Let me give you a tip when dealing with people. If someone suddenly says they want to go on a trip, you should first go along with it. Otherwise, your head might be the one to go on a long journey. "Huh? I didn''t expect you to agree so quickly. Aren''t you busy? Do you have time to go on a trip with me?" "You''re just as busy. And I always make time for a trip no matter how busy I am. Being busy includes being able to take time off." "Hmm." Leader Tang Seorin of Busan smiled as if she was pleased. It seemed my answer wasn''t wrong. "Really? Then I''m really going on a trip?" "I don''t mind." I responded firmly. "Do you have a destination in mind?" "Destination... Hmm, a destination... Wait a minute. Why is this chair sofy? It''s almost criminally soft." "That''s a ''Chair That Makes You Not Want to Get Up.'' It has the effect of relieving fatigue, but if you sit for more than three hours, your buttocks will peel off like Theseus." "Oh my, seriously. What exactly is a ''Void''...?" "That''s exactly what it is. The essence of the Void is to evoke such reactions." "Hmm..." Tang Seorin pinched the tip of her witch hat. It was a gesture that habitually appeared when she was deep in thought. "Actually, I don''t have a specific destination in mind. I just want to go somewhere far away. Oh, but not somewhere too close, like Jeju Ind." "Okay." I felt a simr vibe to when a close friend suggests going out to eat ''anywhere.'' "But I am a regressor." It wasn''t the first time Tang Seorin had suddenly contracted the ''Let''s Go on a Trip'' disease, so I had prepared for almost every possible scenario. I confidently handed her a guidebook. It had a neat cover and printing quality that could easily be disyed in a bookstore. "What is this? ''A Traveler''s Guide for the Guild Leader of the Three Thousand Worlds''...?" "It''s a travel course guidebook I''ve made just for you. As you can see, the first chapter is about Hawaii. It''s established a perfect identity as a ''vacation void.'' Apart from the fact that it''s a bit expensive, I highly rmend it." Of course, there''s also the daily Pearl Harbor air raid parade and asional SCP sightings, but... Considering all that, Hawaii was rated as a four-star difficulty (¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï) destination. "Doctor Jang, you..." Tang Seorin looked genuinely touched by my insane level of preparedness. I smiled inwardly with satisfaction. Sess. "This is nice, but is there anywhere else?" Damn it. Normally, this would be where she''d suggest we go find a good restaurant. Then again, if that were the case, this episode would have ended with, "We had a delicious meal and drank a lot. The end," and it wouldn''t have been an episode at all. "We see the sea every day here, so I''m honestly looking for something different. For example... how about Paris?" "Which Paris are you talking about?" "Huh? Which Paris? What do you mean?" Tang Seorin tilted her head in confusion. "Paris in France, of course. What else is there?" "The time periods areyered there. There''s Paris from the Huguenot Wars, Paris from the French Revolution, Paris from World War II... There are six Parises in total. Do you want to experience religious wars and witch trials? Then it''s the Huguenot Wars. Want to see the guillotine and Napoleon? Then it''s the Revolutionary Era. You can pick your Paris romance depending on your preference." "Seriously, what exactly is a ''Void''...?" "The essence of the Void is to evoke such reactions." "Hmm." Tang Seorin carefully flipped through the ''Traveler''s Guide for the Guild Leader of the Three Thousand Worlds'' that I had created. "Ah. Let''s go here." Her finger pointed to a location with the words: Uyuni Salt ts (Difficulty: ¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡î). "Hmm." This ce, where rain fills the desert to the horizon, transforming it into a mirror that reflects the blue sky, is the most brilliant ''mirror'' on Earth. By the way, it''s located in Bolivia, South America. By the way, by the way, the Inca Empire once existed in this area¡ªa nation of fashionistas who prioritized heart beauty over facial beauty. By the way, by the way, by the way, for Void, time and space are like taffy. In other words, they''re arbitrary. Just like how witch trials and revolutions are happening simultaneously in Paris, in the void of the Inca, there''s a ''Who''s Got the Prettiest Heart'' contest in full swing. "..." A drop of sweat formed in the heart of the regressor. That''s right. The Uyuni Salt ts were already a challenging destination to visit even before the world ended. Now, the difficulty had skyrocketed. I desperately searched Tang Seorin''s face, trying to read her mood like a North Korean citizen trying to gauge the leader''s emotions. "Hmm? Hmm? How about this ce? I''ve actually wanted to go there for a long time." "..." The Leader was quite excited. If you were in this situation, how would you respond? With a heavy heart, but not showing it on my face, I replied. "...Let''s go. Uyuni Salt ts. I''ve actually wanted to visit there too." "Let''s go tomorrow!" "Are you serious...?" "What?" "Tomorrow is a bit tight. Let''s go the day after tomorrow." "Okay!" 2 The next day, when Tang Seorin woke up, there was no event where she hurriedly injected her brain with sanity and returned to her duties as guild leader. "Alright, let''s go, Doctor Jang!" Instead, Tang Seorin geared uppletely. She prepared a red leather trunk and even put on sunsses. It was an airport fashion that would fit right in at Incheon Airport. Even her witch hat and robe had more intensity than usual. I sighed softly. "Whoever said a regressor was an omnipotent being was wrong. We''re nothing more than ordinary people who can''t even predict tomorrow''s fate..." "Huh? What did you just say?" "Nothing. More importantly, we''ll be gone for at least a week or two. Will the Three Thousand Worlds be alright?" [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] "Of course. I''ve been subtly hinting that I wanted to leave for the past six months. They probably caught on and prepared by now. If not, I''ll just clean house when I get back. What about you? Will you be okay?" "I told you, there¡¯s no problem." Though when I return, the enraged Noh Doha, the Control Officer might go on a rampage, but, well, what''s the worst that could happen? I might die, but not much more than that. Tang Seorin put sunsses on me as well and giggled. "So, are we taking your private ne now? What was it called again? Red Dog?" "Red Pig. It''s a modified Savoia S-21. Don¡¯t get it wrong again. And unfortunately, it¡¯s impossible to fly to South America on the Red Pig. Not enough fuel." "Then how?" "There¡¯s always a way. Tang Seorin, you''re really lucky, you know that? These days, you won¡¯t find another travel guide like me." "Ooh, what confidence!" First, we traveled through the Inunaki Tunnel. It seemed the tunnel noticed I was heading overseas, as the walking path was oddly more weing than usual. ¡ú Trap present here ¡ú Ghost appearance point! Be careful! (Congrats) Safe travels. (Cheers) These kinds of Japanese phrases were graffitied on the tunnel walls. It was probably because the magical girl murals were regrly refreshed, boosting its favorability. The two of us arrived in Seoul through the high-speed tollne. "Tang Seorin, do you happen to know where the first airport on the Korean Penins was?" "Huh? Isn¡¯t it Gimpo Airport?" "No, it was Yeouido Airport." There was such an airport. If you¡¯ve ever seen Robot Taekwon Vunch from the National Assembly Building, you¡¯d know that Yeouido originally had the perfect conditions for flying vehicles to take off. There was a reason why the minds of past National Assembly members seemed to be floating in the air. The original Yeouido Airport was eventually overshadowed by Gimpo Airport and faded into history, but it has now made a splendideback as the only international airport on the Korean Penins. Tang Seorin looked somewhat unimpressed when she was guided to Yeouido Airport. "Was there really such a facility in Yeouido?" "No. You know how the ''Comprehensive Ie Tax anomaly'' appears every May, right? When the taxes umted there reach a certain level, the ''Yeouido Airport'' void is created." "Ew. So the anomaly builds an airport with the taxes we pay?" "Yeah. They¡¯re pretty serious about pretending to be a government. The fact that they use taxes for something proper already makes them well-qualified to be called an anomaly." "Seriously, what even is an anomaly¡?" That was the exact reaction. Tang Seorin tugged at my sleeve. "Hey, Doctor Jang." "Hm." "The airport windows are all blood red. There are like thousands of red handprints on them. Am I seeing things?" "Ignore it. It''s just the interior design." "¡¡." As I mentioned, the current architectural trend is voidism. Blood on the windows is just a cute little detail. In history, Yeouido Airport operated before international travel was freely allowed to the public. Back then, traveling abroad was a luxury and privilege that most citizens couldn¡¯t even dream of. Naturally, the faces of the officials at the airport inspection desk were stiff and unyielding. - Where are youing from? An anomaly official mumbled, mimicking human speech. The savage desire to teach a lesson to an SCV who dared to escape their own country was palpable. [PR/N: In StarCraft, SCVs are the Terran workers who gather resources and build structures.] It was quite an impressive performance. I might have been fooled if only fingers weren¡¯t growing where the eyes should have been. "I''m someone like this." I casually handed over my ID. It was an ID I farmed in advance from Namsan yesterday. It took me two days to prepare it. - Ah. You¡¯re from the Special Task Force. The anomaly''s tone immediately became polite. - We were notified yesterday. But the person with you¡? I feigned displeasure. "Do I really need to exin everything?" - No, of course not. I apologize. Please proceed, Agent. The airport was swarming with anomalies, but we walkedfortably all the way to the boarding gate. Tang Seorin muttered beside me. "This is¡ quite different from the overseas travel I imagined¡" "If you want to go as far as South America, this is the easiest way to fly." Ignoring the minor downside that there¡¯s a roughly 60% chance the ne might crash, it¡¯s an excellent means of transportation. I exined as we walked to the gate. "First, we''re going to Spain. From Spain, we''ll head to South America, where we can get a significant bonus rted to Incan anomalies. The flight time will be longer, but this is the safest route¡ª" And when we finally boarded the ne, I had to stop exining. Tang Seorin, who was following me, also halted. "Uh." "Uh." In the old, worn-out ne, 212 passengers were already seated, paired up in twos. And every single one of the 212 passengers had the face of either ''Doctor Jang'' or ''Tang Seorin.'' As if they were all dressed for the same trip as us. nkly¡ª They stared at us, and we stared back at them. Including us, a total of 107 Doctor Jangs and 107 Tang Seorins fell silent. "..." "Is this part of the interior design too? Doctor Jang?" Hm. I didn¡¯t see thising. [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] Chapter 167 [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] Chapter 167 ©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤ Traveler II "Wee, Doctor Jang." As I looked at them, they were looking at me. Sitting in the emergency exit row at the front of the ne, a "Doctor Jang" was ring at me skeptically. "Though I don''t know which world line''s Doctor Jang you are." "Is this the 107th one now?" "Adding thepanions, it''s 214 people in total." Murmuring filled the cabin. Hundreds of Doctor Jangs each added ament or let out a scoff. The ne quickly became noisy. "Well, if you all are really human, it wouldn''t be wrong to use the term ''people.'' But what if everyone except me is a monster?" "Oh. There¡¯s a smart ''me'' here. I was just thinking the same thing. Why don¡¯t you set an example by getting exterminated first?" I started to feel dizzy. "...Wait a minute. Stop whispering among yourselves and exin it to me. What is this creature? A doppelg?nger? The doppelg?nger should be inside Cheon Yohwa''s Pok¨¦ball right now." "Exin it? Ha. If you don''t have a bird brain inside your skull, count the numbers, you idiot." Doctor Jangs sighed, shrugged, or chomped down on the in-flight peanuts. "You are the 107th ''me.''" "Got it? The 107th. Every time ''I'' get on this ne, we exin the situation, so we''ve already exined it dozens of times." "Even for someone like me, who enjoys every turn and finds it refreshing each time, I don¡¯t look forward to repeating this exnation so many times in such a short period." "No choice. I, the 106th one, will exin." Another Doctor Jang, stood up. Oddly enough, this Doctor Jang was wearing a Sherlock Holmes hat, perhaps deluding himself into thinking he was born on Baker Street in London. Although they were all the same Doctor Jang, there were subtle differences in detail. Some Doctor Jangs were even wearing animal costumes alongside theirpanions. What¡¯s your deal? "We all decided to go on a ''journey with Tang Seorin'' for various reasons. 107th, where are you nning to go?" "...The Uyuni Salt ts." "Oh, no." Sighs were heard from various ces. The 106th Doctor Jang, Sherlock, looked at us with eyes full of sympathy. "Wasn¡¯t there a time when Hayul lost her heart and came back from there?" "Hah. Did Hayul really die during the 110th turn in your world? Pathetic. I saved her." "Wasn¡¯t that ce where Incan and Aztec myths mixed together to create something horrific?" "That''s the ce where humanity''s first perpetual motion machine was developed. It automatically refuels with sr energy as long as you offer a human heart." "......" Next to me, Tang Seorin gripped my hand tightly. Her palm felt unusually hot. "...Doctor Jang, what are they talking about? Turns? What do they mean by going on a journey with Hayul?" "Foolish. Your Doctor Jang, no, all our Doctor Jangs are regressors. The 107th ''me.''" The Tang Seorin in the front row spoke. By the way, this Tang Seorin wasn¡¯t wearing a witch''s hat or robe. Surprisingly, she was dressed in a "school uniform." A school uniform? Isn''t that the exclusive uniform of our rival, Baekhwa Girls'' High School? Of course, the original Tang Seorin (107th) wasn¡¯t pleased with that outfit. Tang Seorin looked as if she had spotted a spectator at a military parade in North Korea cosy. "Who are you?" "Tang Seorin. And a cultured person who¡¯s kindly exining the situation to someone dressed ridiculously." School Uniform Tang Seorin smiled gently. "Doctor Jang is a regressor. He¡¯s already repeated hundreds of times. If you are truly ''me,'' haven¡¯t you suspected as much?" "......" "Now, you''re going to turn around and ask Doctor Jang, ''Is this true?'' Just like I did. I understand how you feel, but I wish you would consider our position of having to watch it. I¡¯ve already seen that scene 100 times." At that moment. Doctor Jang seated in the middle of the ne stood up. Uniquely, this Doctor Jang spoke in honorifics. "Everyone. One of us has to get off here." "What?" "How dense are you? Haven¡¯t you figured it out yet?" The Honorifics Doctor Jang grinned slyly as he smiled. "With thest Doctor Jang''s entry, the number of people on this ne has been confirmed as 214. Exactly the same as the death toll from the 1997 Flight 801 crash." "Oh." "Indeed." "Haha. Now you realize. Well,te, but not toote. Yes, everyone. If this ne takes off as it is, a tragedy will inevitably ur." "Oh......" I was impressed. That guy¡¯s pretty smart. Though his tone was annoying. He even shushed us, putting his index finger to his lips. It was creepy. Why was he acting all mysterious? Watching someone with the same face as mine making such gestures within 10 meters made my blood boil. "My proposal is this. If we don¡¯t want to recreate the ne crash, at least one person must get off." "What." "We don''t want to get off." "Yes. While some of you Tang Seorins may be disappointed that your overseas trip, which you''ve been eagerly awaiting for two years, will be canceled, it''s better than all of us crashing into the Pacific Ocean and dying..." Boom! The head of the Honorifics Doctor Jang exploded while he was in the middle of his speech. Fortunately, there was no need to call Kindaichi or Conan to find the culprit. The "Delinquent Doctor Jang" sitting in the back seat was proudly emitting aura. "Sorry about that." The Delinquent Doctor Jang grinned. His scarred eyes crinkled. "His tone was so annoying I couldn''t stand it." [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] All 106 Doctor Jangs gathered there, including me, agreed. It was a perfectly justified motive. "If I had more time, I would''ve torn his eyelids apart and told him to open his eyes properly, but whatever. At least this way, we avoided the ident that pompous guy was talking about. I wish you all a happy journey..." "What are you saying, you murderer!" But Tang Seorin (the Honorifics Doctor Jang''s partner), who monopolized judicial power in Busan, seemed to have a different opinion. "Die!" Watson Tang Seorin immediatelyunched a killing curse. Thud. The Delinquent Doctor Jang, hit by Avada Kedavra at point-nk range, foamed at the mouth and copsed. Despite his fierce appearance, hisbat ability was pathetic. "Kyaaa!" The Gyaru Tang Seorin sitting next to the Delinquent Doctor Jang screamed. "How dare you kill my Doctor Jang!" "You killed my Doctor Jang first?" "Argh! Why did you hit me!" Boom! Boom boom! Bang! The cabin instantly turned into chaos. Tang Seorins sang from all sides, and great spells were chanted. Doctor Jangs, unable to stand by and watch their partners get hurt, joined in the fray, and soon it became difficult to find anything intact on the ne. Amid the chaos, though, the fusge remained intact. At the very least, this must be a anomaly of oceanic proportions. "Doctor Jang!" In this chaotic world, my witches (and train otaku)panion was the only one acting reasonably and rationally, who shouted. She was struggling alone, trying to pry open the airne door. "This thing won''t open! I''ve cast a tripleyered destruction spell, but it won''t budge!" "Maybe it''s for the best that it stays shut. witches, look outside the window." "The window? Why... Gasp!" The ne had taken flight without us noticing. There had been no takeoff vibration, no eleration, yet we were soaring high in the sky. The technical prowess of the anomaly was truly world-ss. The level of their scientific advancement was so high that we weren''t just flying in the atmosphere, we were in space. The surface of the moon was clearly visible right below the ne''s wing. "This is space?" "Yes. Looks like the anomaly confused a ne with a spacecraft. They do look somewhat simr from a distance." "I... I never imagined a trip to South America would be this dangerous..." "I didn¡¯t either. This is a first for me." "Get me out of here!" "You can¡¯t. Be extra careful not to open any windows or doors by mistake. That¡¯s not real space out there, it¡¯s probably the [Void Space]. And we know what happens in void space: anyone who steps out into it will explode and die." "Why are all these anomalies like this?!" While the two of us were experiencing the fantasy of space travel, the rest of the group was enjoying a romance of blood washing away blood. Blood sttered everywhere. In the aisle of the airne, the heads of Doctor Jangs and witches rolled about. Hmm. Quite surreal. - Wait! Everyone, calm down! This is an incredibly inefficient massacre. I don¡¯t know if this is an anomaly from a parallel world or what, but if we work together, we can possibly save the world... - That¡¯s a fair point, but could you please take off that animal costume while talking? - Apologies, but this is part of who I am as Doctor Jang. I can¡¯t take it off. - Kill that furry first! The brutal variety survival show continued. In the end, the group of 214 people dwindled down to 102. Most Doctor Jangs and witches with overly "abnormal" appearances were the first to fall. Among the remaining witches were a school uniform witch, a stuttering sses-wearing librarian witch, a squinting priestess witch, and a blonde samurai witch with vertical curls. This was chaos in its purest form. Although I shouldn¡¯t be the one saying this, traveling with my witch and all, is there not a single normal person left? I opened my mouth, feeling troubled. ¡°First of all¡ let¡¯s all sit down and talk. The furry Doctor Jang may have been dismembered, but they did bring up a valid point: we need to unite.¡± - Hmm. - Hmmm. ¡°If we join forces, we would be unstoppable. Forget about that old man in charge of the show¡ªwe¡¯ll save the world on our own.¡± - But if everyone but me is an anomaly, doesn¡¯t that make such a proposition meaningless? ¡°That¡¯s where my suggestiones in.¡± I smirked confidently. ¡°If you''re not an anomaly, the saintess¡¯ [irvoyance] and [Telepathy] should work on you.¡± - Oh? ¡°This is the Void Space. It only looks like space, but we¡¯re probably still hovering above the Korean Penins. If telepathy doesn¡¯t work on any of Doctor Jangs here, then that person is an imposter¡ªan anomaly.¡± - Makes sense. - Brilliant n. As I nodded in response to Doctor Jangs'' admiration, I looked up at the airne ceiling. ¡°Now, Saintess? Are you watching? Please respond.¡± [Yes.] ¡°I knew you were watching. Thank goodness. So, please tell me who among us is an imposter...¡± It was at that moment. [Yes.] [Yes.] [Yes.] The saintess¡¯ voice started to "ovep." ¡°Huh?¡± It didn¡¯t stop there. [Yes.] [Yes.] [Yes.] [Yes.] [Yes.] [Yes.] [Yes.] [Yes.] [Yes.] [Yes.] [Yes.] [Yes.] [Yes.] [Yes.] [Yes.] [Yes.] [Yes.] [Yes.] [Yes.] [Yes.] [I¡¯m looking through everyone now.] [But it¡¯s hard to tell who¡¯s an imposter. All of my ¡®irvoyance¡¯ is working.] [Believe it or not, every Doctor Jang and witches present.] [Seems to be real. Although, I should consider the possibility that I, myself, may have been infected by an anomaly.] [Doctor Jang?] [Doctor Jang, why aren¡¯t you responding?] [Doctor Jang?] [Doctor Jang?] [Doctor Jang?] [Doctor Jang?] [Doctor Jang?] [Doctor Jang?] [Doctor Jang?] [Doctor Jang?] [Doctor Jang?] "...." Well. Yeah. We¡¯repletely screwed. ¡®Wait a second.¡¯ An unsettling thought crossed my mind. If there were 51 Doctor Jangs and 51 witches, and if there were also 51 saintesses¡ªthen, by the same logic, couldn¡¯t there be 51 versions of everyone on this ne? ¡®And what about the anomalies?¡¯ Wouldn¡¯t the same reasoning apply? What if even the anomalies and the forsaken gods had been multiplied by 51 times? In other words, this wasn¡¯t a "Hey, let¡¯s duplicate all Doctor Jangs!" event. No, there was no way something so beneficial would happen. It was the exact opposite. This ne itself was a "Alien God Gacha Probability UP Pickup Event." ¡°....¡± - ... - ... We, Doctor Jangs, exchanged covert nces with each other. The tension in the air was palpable. Everyone here must havemunicated with their respective "Saintesses" and encountered the same phenomenon I did. And they must have reached the same conclusion. ¡®If, by the time the nends, [more than one Doctor Jang] disembarks, and the existence of multiple Doctor Jangs is confirmed on the ground¡ª¡¯ ¡®Then the anomalies and forsaken gods will multiply just as much!¡¯ ¡®If all 51 Doctor Jangs remain, then surely 51 versions of the god Koyori will also exist.¡¯ ¡®This is insane.¡¯ ¡®Only one Doctor Jang must disembark from this ne.¡¯ That¡¯s right. From now on, it¡¯s time to (kill me). [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] Chapter 168 [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] Chapter 168 ©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤ Traveler III 3 -... -... It was cold. A dagger pierced my chest. It wasn''t just a metaphor. Most of Doctor Jangs here had reached the state of mental swordsmanship. Invisible des shed and crossed in all directions, guided by their gazes. Of course, none of the people present were the type to die from a few sword strikes. The weak Doctor Jangs had long since turned into bowling balls rolling down the airne aisle. These masters, who couldn''t guarantee victory if they fought, were about to draw their swords. They had all confirmed that their skills were not to be underestimated. Doctor Jangs ced their hands on their sword hilts. "We can no longer rely on the method of verifying the truth through the Saintess." "What a shame." "It''s about to get even more unfortunate. I''m sorry, but I can''t live in a world with 51 duplicates of Koyori." "No, I''m more afraid of a world with 51 Chief Noh Dohas. Do you understand? Even if they only strangle you once, you''re immediately choked to death." "51 of Sim Aryeon would be no joke either. SGNet would be destroyed that day." Tension filled the air. The regressors exchanged fierce res and engaged in a psychological battle. If anyone drew their sword, a life-and-death struggle would immediately ensue. "Everyone, stop your swords." At that moment, I, the original Doctor Jang who was more just, proper, and upright than anyone else, spoke up. The fake Doctor Jangs all turned to look at me. Among them were a mustached fake Doctor Jang and a female fake Doctor Jang. "What''s this? Are you asking to be killed first?" "No, after thinking more deeply, killing each other isn''t the best option." "Why?" "Are you chickening out?" "You know that such provocations won''t work. Anyway, this is a well-crafted trap. If we start a ughter, a great cmity will befall us." Some Doctor Jangs tilted their heads. "A great cmity?" "Yes. Let me ask you this first. Are you all familiar with the ''Jar of Solitude''?" Solitude. It''s a very famous curse. Think of it as an ancient Pok¨¦mon game. First, the sorcerer carefully selects poisonous insects and ces them in a jar. Then, they close the lid and dere that the battle royale has begun. Thepetition continues until only one bug is left alive. The final champion, who has hunted down all the other insects, bes a legendary poisonous insect. "Who here wouldn''t know about that?" "Listen. If we start killing each other, what do you think will happen? Naturally, only the strongest Doctor Jang will survive." I spoke under the concentrated gazes. "At that moment, we will have defined this airne as a ''Jar of Solitude''." -...! "Thest survivor will naturally gain the attributes of a ''bug'' or a ''poisonous insect.'' One day, you might wake up to find you''ve turned into a bug." Sighs escaped from various parts of the airne. "Indeed, that makes sense." "It''s a dilemma!" "If this airnends, the anomalies will multiply. But if we start killing each other, we''ll define ourselves as bugs. What should we do?" "Wait." A female Doctor Jang raised her hand. She had her hair tied back, and her appearance was like a mix of Tang Seorin, Noh Doha, and the Saintess in equal parts. She was also one of the few Doctor Jangs dressed as a barista like me. For the record, she had single-handedly cut down about 20 other Doctor Jangs. Herbat level was probably simr to mine. She was a person to be wary of in many ways. "I understand the logic that if we kill each other, it bes a Jar of Solitude. But is gaining the attribute of a bug really that dangerous?" "What a foolish question. How can you not know the danger of bugs? Has a giant potato robot statue ever been built in Busan in your timeline?" "Huh? A giant potato... what?" Ah, you don''t know. I looked around with a disdainful gaze. All around me were half-baked Doctor Jangs. "Let me exin. A potato robot statue is¨D¨D." A FEW MOMENTS LATER... A few momentster... "Stop lying!!" "My goodness. Did that really happen?" "My Saintess would never do that!" Chaos erupted on the airne. Of course, it was a hellish scene only for Doctor Jangs. The Tang Seorins were making faces like, "Saintess? Who''s that?" "Who dared to build such a sphemous statue in my territory of Busan?" Ignorance is bliss. "Anyway, bugs are dangerous. The entity that crafted such a cunning trap on this airne is most likely a massive ocean-level or even an alien god-level anomaly." "Ah, ah." "I understand the danger of bugs now..." Yes. If you don''t want to wake up as ''Gregor'' someday, avoid the bug attribute at all costs. "Then, what should we do?" A female Doctor Jang, barely regaining herposure, asked. "107. If what you''re saying is true, that we''re doomed whether wend or kill each other... Isn''t it over already?" I shook my head. "No. There''s one way." "What way?" "Solitude bes a curse because the bugs trapped in the jar start ughtering each other." I infused my voice with power so that everyone could understand. "So, if the bugs don''t fight each other, if even one bug remains, the curse of the anomaly won''t take effect. The premise will be broken." -...? -Oh. Some of Doctor Jangs blinked. It made me question how these bird-brains managed to be regressors. On the other hand, there were some ''me'' who were quick to catch on. The female Doctor Jang was among thetter. "We shouldmit suicide until only one is left." "What?" Tang Seorin, who had been quietly listening, was startled. "Commit suicide? You all?" "Yes. That¡¯s the solution we, Doctor Jangs, havee up with. A way to avoid killing each other while still determining the final survivor." "Ah, I see!" "A brilliant move!" "A good strategy. This way, we can avoid both the ''51-fold Stillness'' and the ''Jar of Solitude.''" "Are you...serious? What nonsense is this?" Tang Seorin, and the other Tang Seorins, looked baffled. In contrast, Doctor Jangs exchanged furtive nces with me. Their faces were full of understanding. Though they had walked different paths in life, had different appearances, and even different levels of intelligence¡ªthere was one possibility that every Doctor Jang was always aware of. That there mighte a day when they themselves would turn into something monstrous. The worst possible route. And if that route were to be taken, Doctor Jang would be willing to obliterate not just their life but their very existence. "From now on, we¡¯ll determine who among us is the most capable Doctor Jang. Whether through strength, intelligence, or storytelling, it doesn¡¯t matter. And the losers..." "Will recognize their shorings and step aside, leaving the role of Doctor Jang to the victor?" "Exactly." "Fair enough." Doctor Jangs spoke. "But there¡¯s one issue." "It¡¯s a problem." "I don¡¯t mind leaving everything in the hands of another Doctor Jang and stepping aside. After all, there¡¯s always the next round waiting after death." "But what about Tang Seorin?" Doctor Jangs¡¯ gazes all turned toward their partners. "What do you n to do about Tang Seorin?" "If you¡¯re thinking of killing Tang Seorin after we die, there¡¯s no way, under any circumstances, that I¡¯m going to kill myself." The atmosphere turned tense immediately. But I lightly shook my head. "No need to worry about that." "¡?" "Because once you¡¯re gone, Tang Seorin will be left alone." I firmly held Tang Seorin¡¯s hand. I could feel Tang Seorin looking at my profile, but I focused on Doctor Jangs. "But Tang Seorin didn¡¯t just want to go on a trip. Tang Seorin wanted to go on a trip ''with me.''" "¡." "So, if you¡¯re gone, Tang Seorin will naturally disappear as well. Trust me." A silence followed. Then someone spoke. "I¡¯ll trust you, 107." That someone was also me. ___ Parallel worlds. Possible worlds. Multiverses. The philosopher who first introduced these concepts is known to be Leibniz. Yes, the same person who argued with Newton over who invented calculus first (which exam-takers probably don¡¯t care about). [PR/N: Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz was a German polymath active as a mathematician, philosopher, scientist and diplomat who invented calculus in addition to many other branches of mathematics, such as binary arithmetic, and statistics.] Leibniz also proposed a concept less known than calculus: the ''best of all possible worlds.'' "Our world is the best of all possible worlds, and therefore, it is the only one that exists." Why are we living in this world and not in another possible world? In other words, why does our world look ''like this''? "Because our universe is better than all the other possible worlds." The best of all possible worlds. All other worlds are wed in some way. Their physicalws might copse, or unimaginable evils could ur. Even if our world feels like hell, it is the only one where ''the failure of the universe'' hasn¡¯t happened. "I lost." [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] And so we, Doctor Jangs, began the work of determining the ''best of all possible worlds.'' "You¡¯re one step ahead of me. You were the one who suggested using the Saintess¡¯s telepathy, and the one who first recognized the possibility of falling into the trap of solitude. It¡¯s right that I step back." Doctor Jang who imed to have boarded the ne 56th epted his defeat with grace. He held the hand of the 56th Tang Seorin. "I¡¯m sorry, Tang Seorin. It seems we¡¯ll have to postpone our trip. I¡¯m truly sorry." "It¡¯s okay. Just being together was enough." And then, an astonishing scene unfolded. The 56th Doctor Jang and Tang Seorin embraced each other and naturally shared a kiss. "Ew." "Hmm." The original Tang Seorin and I were both taken aback. What on earth was this inappropriate act in broad daylight? Seeing someone who looked exactly like me locking lips with someone who looked exactly like Tang Seorin evoked an extremely, extremely strange feeling. "Uh?" But an even more shocking fact awaited us. Among over a hundred passengers, the only ones who were surprised were the two of us. "Why are you surprised?" "Yeah, it¡¯s just a kiss." Indeed. The rest of Doctor Jangs and Tang Seorins didn¡¯t seem to feel any particr way about it. But the most shocking revtion was still toe. "What¡¯s wrong with a kiss between people who are dating?" "Exactly. While it¡¯s best to refrain from doing it in front of others, you two are ''us'' after all." "Considering all that you¡¯ve been through together, isn¡¯t it just a kiss?" All Doctor Jangs and Tang Seorins here were dating each other. Except for us two. "My goodness." "Oh my god." In a nutshell, this ne was a special charter for a group couple¡¯s trip. The other Doctor Jangs and Tang Seorins had nned their overseas trip to celebrate anniversaries¡ª1 year, 3 years, 10 years. Except for us two. A tingling sensation ran through the top of my skull. How could this be happening? "If anything, we¡¯re the ones who are surprised¡" "Are you seriously not dating? You and your Doctor Jang?" "Why? Why on earth wouldn¡¯t you be dating?" The other couples reacted as if they couldn¡¯t understand us. "If you¡¯re not dating, then what¡¯s the reason you two are traveling together?" "Well¡" "I just said I wanted to travel." The original Tang Seorin spoke. "I brought up the idea of traveling, and we left just two dayster. That¡¯s it." "Two days? You went to that terrifying Uyuni Salt t just because you wanted to? And you¡¯re not even dating?" "Yeah. Is there a problem?" "Unbelievable..." ¡°Sigh¡¡± Doctor Jangs and the Tang Seorins were looking at us with eyes that said they had seen all sorts of strange people. ¡°Aren''t you the ones who are abnormal?¡± I didn¡¯t bother to answer that question. Although there were these minor incidents, the process of selecting the "best world" proceeded steadily. The testing methods were varied. ¡°I¡¯ll settle this with a sword. Number 107. If you are stronger than me, I''ll graciously hand over this life to you.¡± Sometimes it was through force. ¡°Ultimately, the most important thing for a regressor is knowledge. Among that, the key is how to grow allies and how to defeat anomalies. Number 107. Let¡¯s test our knowledge against each other.¡± Sometimes it was through intelligence. ¡°Even if one possesses a sword that can split the earth or a mind that can mock the heavens, in the end, the moment their mental state crumbles, they are destined to be devoured by an anomaly. Number 107. How long can you maintain yourself?¡± Sometimes it was through mental strength. ¡°I don¡¯t intend to drag this out like the others. Luck. It¡¯s all about luck. Let¡¯s simply flip a coin to decide. Number 107. Heads or tails?¡± Sometimes it was just pure luck. ¡°Was Jiang Wei of the Three Kingdoms right to continuouslyunch northern expeditions?¡± Sometimes it was just the Three Kingdoms... Wait, are you seriously okay with that? The Tang Seorin next to you looks like she¡¯s about to kill you. Anyway. The fifty or so Doctor Jangs each requested apetition in a way they could ept. I won all those challenges. In the end, there was no "me" stronger than myself. That fact was both somewhat disappointing and also a source of pride. ¡°¡So, in the end, the decision of which world is the best rests with the regressor, me.¡± Doctor Jang woman smiled bitterly. All the other regressors epted their end. She was thest remaining ¡°me.¡± ¡°I thought I lived my life as best as I could, but even that wasn¡¯t my best, it seems.¡± Unusually, Doctor Jang woman requested topete with me in "Go." A human game that has already ceded the title of the strongest to AI. A genre where one''s skill is assessed based on how well they can mimic AI¡¯s moves. Therefore, evaluating perfect memory abilities was a more than suitable stage. I "remembered" countless Go records from countless regressions. To me, Go was just a game of utilizing memory. In other words, Doctor Jang woman challenged me to see who among us could better process memories. In a certain sense, this is the most important field and virtue for a regressor. Our skills were hard to distinguish. The result was... ¡°Well yed.¡± ¡°Well learned.¡± A win by half a point with white. It was a narrow victory for me. ¡°Sorry, Tang Seorin. It seems we¡¯ll have to postpone our trip to Oxford.¡± ¡°It¡¯s okay. We can just go ¡°next time.¡± Doctor Jang woman¡¯s partner, Tang Seorin, chuckled. ¡°But are you really okay with this?¡± ¡°I¡¯m fine. It¡¯s a result I can ept. More than anything, it was a great discovery to realize that another version of myself in a different possible world is also working just as hard. I can¡¯t lose to myself.¡± ¡°You just lost, though?¡± ¡°I mean, from now on.¡± Doctor Jang woman held hands with her Tang Seorin. Then she turned to me and smiled faintly. ¡°I entrust this world to you, Number 107. We probably won¡¯t meet again, not ever. If I were a real human, not an anomaly, I would definitely go back to my world and gift a pair of sunsses to the saintess.¡± Doctor Jang woman¡¯s entire body was covered in aura. That was thest of the "Doctor Jang." 5 There is an epilogue. Originally, ording to our travel n, we were supposed to go to South America via Spain. But somehow, not long after all Doctor Jangs had left, the ne arrived at its destination. The Uyuni Salt ts. The most brilliant mirror on Earth. ¡°Ah.¡± The ne gentlynded on the water¡¯s surface. There was no vibration at all. The wings of the ne sliced through the transparent surface of the salt t, getting wet. A long trail of water stretched behind the tail of the ne. At that moment, a fair number of Tang Seorins were still around. Some followed Doctor Jangs to their deaths, while others stayed by the corpses of Doctor Jangs. The door of the ne, which had no crew or pilot, opened. Then, the sunset reflected in the water of the salt t seeped into the cabin. ¡°It¡¯s beautiful.¡± ¡°Yeah. It¡¯s beautiful.¡± ¡°I think I understand why I wanted toe here.¡± ¡°Why is it that the world can be so beautiful just from being reflected¡¡± Swish. The Tang Seorins couldn¡¯t finish their sentences. The moment the outside world¡¯s sunset touched them, their bodies turned into white salt and crumbled away in an instant. The white powder was scattered into the desert wind, blown apart into tiny specks. It wasn¡¯t just the Tang Seorins. The corpses of Doctor Jangs, the shattered ne seats, and eventually even the massive skeleton of the ne¡ªall crumbled into white dust. Like flower petals. Before long, in the middle of the desertke, only the Tang Seorin and I remained. ¡°...¡± ¡°...¡± The Tang Seorin stared nkly at the swirling white petals. Each petal reflected the red of the sunset, and the reflected shadow was again mirrored on the horizon. In a world where everything repeats, the only warmth was the touch of our two hands. Only muchter did the Tang Seorin mutter, ¡°Really, what was that anomaly? Doctor Jang?¡± ¡°That kind of...¡± ¡°I don¡¯t want to hear that the ability to elicit such a reaction is what makes it an anomaly.¡± ¡°Hmm.¡± I looked out at the salt desert, made up of the remains of the Tang Seorin and Doctor Jangs. ¡°There could be severalplex reasons, but I suspect the most immediate one might stem from the terrain of the Uyuni Salt ts themselves.¡± The Tang Seorin tilted her head. Her reflection on the water below also tilted its head. ¡°Here? Why?¡± ¡°When the surface fills with water, it turns into one massive mirror. As you know, mirrors are the most dangerous objects in the void. We intended toe to the Uyuni Salt ts, but in a way, we ended up going to the ''mirror world.''¡± ¡°Oh.¡± ¡°The ne is a means of travel to ''somewhere other than here.'' The ne we were on briefly traveled to the mirror world.¡± ¡°That makes sense... Yeah, that sounds usible.¡± Ssh. The Tang Seorin swirled the water with her foot. Her smile rippled on the surface of the water. ¡°Anyway, it means that my Doctor Jang was the best Doctor Jang, right? Right?¡± I didn¡¯t bother to answer that question. ¡°This ce is really amazing. Thank you, Doctor Jang.¡± ¡°You¡¯re wee.¡± ¡°Oh, by the way, how do we get back to Korea from here? The ne just melted.¡± ¡°...¡± I couldn¡¯t bring myself to answer that question. But I will note that I realized it would take at least three months to cross the Pacific Ocean on foot. - Traveler. The End. [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] Chapter 169 [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] Chapter 169 ©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤ The Diver I 1 Breaking news. Lee Hayul is sulking. "......" The reason is simple. She was left out of a trip to the Uyuni Salt ts, which tops her bucket list (spanning nine A4 pages). Lee Hayul is angry. And this little guy¡¯s way of expressing anger is downright childish. She decided to stage a ¡°From now on, I will neither speak nor listen¡± protest. "Hayul-ah." "......" Whip. Her head turned left. "Hayul-ah. I said I''m sorry, okay?" "......" Whip. Her head turned right. She kept turning her head no matter how hard I tried to make eye contact. Her head-turning skills were so impressive that our gazes always aligned in perfect parallel like an Olympic synchronized swimmer''s legs. ''Agh.'' I knew this would happen. That¡¯s why, when Hayul asked, "Oppa, where are you going?" as I was about to leave for the Uyuni trip, I just vaguely answered, "Oh, well, just somewhere nice." I thought I¡¯d be back in a week at most. Normally, Hayul, who is indifferent to others like General Choi Young, wouldn''t care about a week-long disappearance. Wouldn¡¯t, that is. As revealed in thest episode, I had been scammed into booking a fraudulent airline ticket. The travel schedule extended from one week to three months. Even the content of the trip had changed. The original goal, which was to enjoy the Uyuni Salt ts,sted only two days. The remaining 87 days turned into a field trip titled, ¡°How did Homo sapiens cross the Pacific to reach Hawaii? Let¡¯s find out!¡± There was no one toin to. Just like with humans, concepts like "refund," "fairpensation," and "well-written apology" were almost nonexistent in the world of anomalies. The party left holding the bag was always a good-natured customer like me. - Just go die, please... - Oppa. So, where have you been? After all the hardships I went through to finally return to the Korean Penins, the only wee I received was a chokehold from Noh Doha and cold eyes from Hayul. An exnation was inevitable. Hence, the current situation. The world is not like a dating sim where once you max out affection, it stays that way. Realizing that I went to the Uyuni Salt ts without her, Hayul began recalibrating her affection. "Hayul-ah? Can¡¯t we talk?" Hayul pretended not to hear. ¡°Something¡¯s off. I keep smelling a middle-aged man¡¯s scent.¡± My fragile, middle-aged heart took a big hit. I nearly suffered cardiac arrest. ¡®Is this what a father feels when facing his child¡¯s rebellious phase?!¡¯ As a regressor, I never thought I¡¯d experience such emotions, but here I was. I barely managed to speak. ¡°¡Let¡¯s go to the Uyuni Salt ts togetherter.¡± Whip. Hayul turned her head. For the first time in three days, our eyes met. The jaw of the maid doll that Hayul always carried suddenly became flexible. ¡°Later? When?¡± ¡°When summer¡¯s over. This fall.¡± ¡°Really?¡± ¡°Really. While we¡¯re at it, we can stop by Machu Phu and even head up to Tenochtitl¨¢n for an American-themed trip.¡± ¡°Oppa, I love you!¡± The false sensation of love wrapped around my shoulder. I shivered. How humiliating. ¡°¡But in return, you have to help me prepare for this year¡¯s monsoon season. Noints, and follow this guild leader¡¯s orders. Got it?¡± ¡°Okay!¡± Even the mere mention of the word ¡®travel¡¯ made my body convulse at this point, but there was no other choice. Hayul''s assistance was absolutely necessary to get through the annual disaster event safely. The event¡¯s name is ¡®monsoon season.¡¯ Yes. The great summer event that strikes fear and terror into the unconscious minds of everyone on the Korean Penins was approaching. 2 Some of you might find it odd that I haven¡¯t talked much about the ¡®weather¡¯ despite all the stories I¡¯ve told so far. That¡¯s a very sharp observation. In fact, Earth is already experiencing an ongoing apocalypse without the need for anomalies to descend. All because of the weather. Every year, pr bears, crying as they drift on chunks of ice, float down from the Arctic. A climate apocalypse. Literally, the hypothesis that the world might be destroyed due to climate change. It was a hypothesis already taken seriously to a significant degree, but the anomalies took it a step further. - The weather in Daegu is insane. How can it be 42 degrees, even in summer? Is this a city or a desert? - Could it be that it actually turned into a desert? - "What? Daegu really became a desert. No exaggeration, the city actually underwent desertification. And it wasn¡¯t just Daegu. The Gaema teau in North Korea turned into a paradise for pr bears migrating from Siberia. The tigers of the Baekdu Mountain Range, which had spectacrly announced their resurrection as anomalies named "Mountain Lords," suddenly had some toughpetition. But the Korean Penins was rtively fortunate. In neighboring Japan, "earthquakes" became a constant visitor with every season. Not just ordinary earthquakes, but a continental-level anomaly known as the "Tokai Earthquake." A myriad of anomalies rted to earthquakes appeared, mingling together. This is why I hold the magical girls of Japan in such high regard. Given these circumstances, the regions where humans could still live became extremely limited. In a way, the "climate anomalies" were the greatest threat to the survival of Homo sapiens. So, what kind of climate specialties does Busan, the new capital of the Korean Penins, thest hope, and the final utopia, have¨D¨D. "The monsoon season ising." "......" "......" The tension in the meeting room was palpable. The number of people gathered here, at the heart of the National Road Management Unit, was small. However, considering their identities, this was truly the heart of Busan, or rather, the heart of the Korean Penins. Present were Noh Doha, head of the National Road Management Unit; Yoo Jiwon, Operations Control Room Director; Tang Seorin, Guild Union Leader; Seo Gyu, SG Network Operator; and Sim Aryeon, Saintess of the Eastern Holy Kingdom, among others. "This year¡¯s monsoon season will be the worst on record. If we¡¯re not thoroughly prepared, the entire Korean Penins could be wiped out during the monsoon." "Every year they say it¡¯s the worst on record, but I¡¯m not sure how this year is any different..." "I saw it firsthand while crossing the Pacific. Super-typhoons are forming in the western North Pacific." Tang Seorin flinched. Her face suddenly grew pale, and her hands began to tremble. This trip had left trauma for both me and her. "Take a look at this." I brought up a PowerPoint presentation. Even while barely surviving the journey across the Pacific on a makeshift raft, I managed to take these photos with the anomaly camera. The file named "MonsoonCurrentStatus.jpeg" disyed an image of the "typhoon." Noh Doha¡¯s brows furrowed deeply as he looked at the evidence. "What on earth is that...?" "It¡¯s a typhoon." "Fuck, that''s not wind; it''s a waterspout of seawater. And you¡¯re saying that¡¯s a typhoon...?" "Don¡¯t expectmon sense from anomalies." Indeed, this year¡¯s typhoon had a diameter of 1,200 kilometers. And it was entirely made of water. Whoever first called water the mother of life would reconsider after seeing this typhoon. Water kills people. "Other regions can manage if they prepare as they do every year, but Busan is a different story. If that typhoon hits directly, the entire city will turn into Antis. We need toe up with a n quickly." "Let¡¯s just run away..." A shocking deration! The head of the National Road Management Unit suggests abandoning the capital! Noh Doha, infected by the anomaly known as "Capitals are meant to be abandoned," a curse no ruler of the Korean Penins could escape, was now proposing to abandon Busan. I shook my head at Noh Doha, who was ready to inherit the Joseon Dynasty¡¯s specialty of retreating. "We can¡¯t run away, Chief." "Are you saying we should endure that? How? By what means? I¡¯d rather face a tsunami than that thing. If itnds onshore, the coastline could be pushed back to Daegu... Wouldn''t it be wiser to evacuate all Busan citizens into the Inunaki Tunnel and flee to Seoul...?" I gave him a pitying look. "Chief, you can¡¯t avoid the monsoon typhoon. If Busan manages to escape, the typhoon will definitelynd in another city." [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] "Huh? What¡¯s that supposed to mean...?" "This isn¡¯t a natural phenomenon; it¡¯s an anomaly. It¡¯s impossible for the Korean Penins to get through the monsoon without any damage. The anomaly will push until there¡¯s destruction, and the summer monsoon season will continue. Someone has to bear the brunt of that 1,200-kilometer-wide water bomb." "......" "Is there any city as well-prepared as Busan? Any region where power is as concentrated as it is here? In the end, we¡¯re the most efficient option. If we don¡¯t take the hit, half of the cities on the Korean Penins will be wiped out." "Damn it..." Noh Doha shuddered at the horrific prospect of the anomaly. As the mood of the highest authority soured, the atmosphere in the meeting room naturally plummeted. Among them, only Sim Aryeon, who thought eating humble pie meant eating out of a dog bowl, raised her hand slightly. "Um, Guild Leader?" "Go ahead." "Well, I don¡¯t think the typhoon will reach Pyongyang New Holy City, and it doesn¡¯t seem rted to my jurisdiction. So, can I leave now...?" "For the record, if a monsoon of this level hits, SG Network will go down as well." "Huh? How long are we talking about?" "Well, even in the best-case scenario, about two weeks? Whenever it rains too much, an anomaly that disrupts intemunication always tags along." "The Eastern Holy Kingdom will mobilize all its forces to help our brothers and sisters in Busan!" ¡And then, Sim Aryeon gently ced her hands over mine. Her gaze was more serious and profound than any I had seen from her before. Honestly, she looked even more somber than when she once said, "I really love the caf¨¦ mocha that the guild master makes." ¡°Sigh¡¡± Noh Doha scratched the back of his head. "Chief, sighing will drive away your luck." "Screw that! Stop with the old man''s crap. So, how exactly do we deal with this massive water bomb? You wouldn¡¯t have called this meeting without a n, right?" "Of course. Everyone, please turn your attention here." I confidently flipped to the next slide in the PowerPoint presentation. In a fresh, modern font, it read: [n to Prevent Flood Damage from the Great Monsoon] [STEP.1] [The Noh Doha Name Change Project!] Silence filled the room. ¡°¡Huh?¡± It took a while for Noh Doha to react. "A name change? What the hell does that have to do with anything¡?" "Chief Noh Doha, it may be distressing to consider changing the precious name given to you by your parents. But when dealing with anomalies, nothing is more important than your name. For the safety of the good citizens of Busan, please change your name, at least for this summer." "No, seriously, what does my name have to do with the safety of Busan¡?" "From now on, your name is not Noh Doha." I looked at the supreme ruler of the Korean Penins with utmost seriousness. "From now on, you are ''Noah.''" "¡?" "Well, what are you waiting for, Noah? Aren¡¯t you going to start building the Ark?" "You little son of a¨D¨D." Project: Building Noah¡¯s Ark, Begin! The ¡°Ark of Noah¡± described in the Bible boasts an impressive set of specs. However, what I¡¯m focusing on is not the Ark, but Noah himself. My guess is that he was definitely an ancient archmage. First, Noah managed to store all living species on Earth within a ship only 135 meters long. This included, of course, blue whales and various fish. This suggests that the Ark had a giant aquarium, thergest in the world. In other words, the Ark must have had a ¡°my inventory is infinite¡± spell cast on it. Moreover, this infinite subspace was created using purely wood. After all, Noah was a man from the Bronze Age. The fact that even modern engineering can¡¯t aplish this is entirely irrelevant. While science advances with time, magic bes more potent the further back you go. For the ancient archmage Noah, reinforcing wood to be as strong as steel was just a given. Unfortunately, modern-day Noah (formerly Noh Doha) had zero talent for magic. Instead, there was another great magician who would serve as Noah''s magic wand. ¡°A¨D¨DAh¨D¨D Ah¨D¨D.¡± Tang Seorin, an awakened being with an extraordinary talent for magic, sang atop the highest peak of Busan, Geumjeongsan Mountain. Crack, creak, snap, crunch¡ª Moved by the quality of the outdoor concert, trees voluntarily uprooted themselves and gathered along the sleek ridge of Geumjeongsan. Indeed, although I haven¡¯t often mentioned it in my tales, Tang Seorin¡¯s incantation magic also shines in support roles. This is why, in a different timeline, she constructed a giant potato mecha. I donned a helmet emzoned with ¡°Safety First¡± and smiled contentedly. ¡°The Ark construction is progressing smoothly.¡± ¡°¡¡± ¡°Well then, Mr. Noah¡ I mean, Chief Noah, I¡¯ll leave it to you. Please go forward and kneel.¡± At the Geumjeongsan construction site, in addition to Tang Seorin, Noah, Sim Aryeon, Lee Hayul, and I had gathered. And there was one more surprising guest. An actor essential for the role of ''God'' in this drama of Ark construction. A role just as important as Noah''s. None other than Jesus Christ, Mo Gwangseo. "Hayul, are you ready?" "Yes." "Good. Then¡ Mr. Noah, what are you waiting for? Go kneel before Christ of Mo Gwangseo. You may bow as well." ¡°¡¡± Noh Doha opened his lips. He wore a name tag that read "Noah." ¡°Do we really have to do this, Doctor Jang¡?¡± ¡°We have to.¡± My response was firm. ¡°We are attempting to harness the most powerful mythology on Earth¡ªGenesis. We need to have at least the basics in ce for ¡®Noah¡¯s Ark¡¯ to work.¡± ¡°¡¡± ¡°Well, get on with it, will you?¡± Noh Doha cursed the world under his breath as he knelt. Then, Mo Gwangseo looked down at Noh Doha. As always, he wore a benevolent smile. Of course, Mo Gwangseo had no will of his own. Every action and line was controlled by the puppeteer, Lee Hayul. Mo Gwangseo (feat. Lee Hayul) spoke. ¡°All living beings have corrupted the earth; the end of all flesh hase before me. I will destroy them along with the earth.¡± ¡°¡¡± ¡°Noah, so make yourself an ark.¡± Noah¡¯s lips trembled, his tongue quivering, teeth grinding, as he muttered softly. ¡°¡Yes, sir.¡± Godmanded, and Noah obeyed. A reenactment of the Genesis prophecy! There might have been a minor error in that the actor ying God was also cast as His son, but it didn¡¯t matter. Anomalies didn¡¯t nitpick historical uracy. Now, Noh Doha had truly be Noah. From now on, any vessel he was involved in constructing would serve as an Ark. ¡°Damn, what a fucked-up world¡¡± Though the actor cast as Noah was a bit foul-mouthed for a savior of humanity, it didn¡¯t matter. ¡°You damn regressor, this is payback for when you disappeared for three months, isn¡¯t it¡?¡± It was baseless nder. Where could you find another regressor as professional as me, who so thoroughly separates personal and professional matters? I gazed wistfully out at the sea off Busan. It was July. The SSS-ss Great Monsoon was moving north toward the Korean Penins. Summer was here. [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] Chapter 170 [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] Chapter 170 ©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤ Divers II 4 In the past, there was a policy in Joseon called Gongdo, which literally meant "emptying the ind of its inhabitants." Instead of constantly having mineral and gas-sparse areas raided by Zerglings (pirates), they decided to simply relocate themand center¡ªa radical reversal of thought. This was evidence that our ancestors had always cared for their people like SCVs were looked after in the Terran race. As a Terran myself, I couldn''t help but follow in my ancestors'' footsteps. "Director, the evacuation of Jeju Ind residents isplete." "Good job." Following my orders, Yoo Jiwon traveled around the southern inds, guiding the evacuation of the refugees. There was some resistance, but it was ignored. The difference between what ordinary people considered a "monsoon" and the "Great Monsoon" approaching was as vast as that between a breeze and a typhoon. If we didn''t evacuate now, they would all be annihted anyway. This had been proven in multiple previous episodes. The evacuation orders weren''t just issued in reality. -[Three Thousand] Witch''s Judge: (Mandatory Reading) Guidelines for Living During the Great Monsoon. -[Baekhwa] 8th Grade High Schooler: All roads connected to Sejong City will be closed until the Great Monsoon ends in July and August! If you are short on food, pleasee to Sejong City Hall to apply for refugee status!! >_<);; -Administrator: (Notice) Please note that ess to SG Net may be unstable during the Great Monsoon period. Guild leaders like Tang Seorin and Cheon Yohwa, who were in cooperative rtionships with us, volunteered to act as canaries in the coal mine. Even SG Net''s administrator, Seo Gyu, stepped forward. When the rare "Administrator" nickname appeared, even some awakened individuals who prided themselves on being tough began to feel a sense of urgency. -Anonymous: Hasn''t SG Net never been down before? ©¸Anonymous: Nope, it did asionally connect to weird sites. I once typed in the same address and got redirected to a site called "Let''s Live Net." LOL ©¸Literature Girl: OMG ©¸Anonymous: That was just a temporary contamination by a suicide site anomaly. The SG Net connection itself wasn''t blocked. This Great Monsoon is definitely a record-breaking event. -Anonymous: So, is Busan the most dangerous? Can''t we just run away? ©¸Anonymous: Yep, that''s why most of the ordinary folks in my neighborhood have fled to Daejeon. That''s where the shelters and free meal centers are operating well. ©¸Anonymous: They''ll probably get lost and die in the void on the way LOL ©¸[National Highway] Officer: The National Highway Management Corps is operating emergency caravans twice a week. Please use the caravans, ordinary citizens. -CookingQueen: If you''re in a tough situation, pleasee to Daejeon. I''ll help you whenever I can. The southern part of the Korean Penins was abuzz with preparations for the flood. Of course, even with all these warnings, some people remainedcent. -Anonymous: Wow, people are overreacting LOL -Anonymous: A typhoon? We have the SSS-ss breakwater Japan. No worries LOL It couldn''t be helped. Humanity is a species enved to dopamine and thrill. Even when floodse, people will still enjoy camping in the valley, and even when a typhoon strikes, they''ll try swimming in the ocean. -Anonymous: Isn''t it just a monsoon? LOL. Ordinary people might have a hard time, but do you really think awakened ones will die from a bit of rain?? Amidst the hustle and bustle of those fleeing Busan, those staying behind, those building arks, and thoseughing it off¡ª Plop... Plop. Plop. The rain began to fall. 5 [I''ve confirmed the wall of the typhoon with my own eyes.] The voice of the Saintess echoed in my mind. It would have been conveyed to the other awakened ones as well. However, for them, the message would havee under the name of a "Constetion." [Jeju Ind has entered the typhoon''s influence.] "Good. Begin withdrawing the Three Thousand Worlds guild members scattered across the southern coast." [Understood.] All members of the Three Thousand Worlds guild could use flight magic, so they were currently serving as meteorologists. They flew over the sea, hanging from a single staff, observing the approaching typhoon in real time. The Saintess shared the meteorological observers'' vision through her [irvoyance]. Thanks to this, the typhoon''s path could be tracked from multiple angles. [This is...] That''s why, more than anyone else, the Saintess, who witnessed the true form of the "Great Monsoon" firsthand, hesitated for a moment. [Jeju Ind is being torn apart. No, it''s being swallowed. The entire ind. In one go.] [Like a tsunami... No, it¡¯s like something from a movie, but much, much bigger...] [A wall of waves that covers the horizon to the sky, a tsunami over 10 km high is approaching. How is that even possible...] Even the Saintess, who had witnessed numerous anomalies and voids, momentarily lost herposure. "Saintess, we cannot allow that thing to head towards other regions. We need to gradually guide it toward the ark through the Three Thousand Worlds guild members." [But, no matter how many arks we built, can we really withstand that... that thing?] "We can. If we don''t, either Japan will sink, or the entire Korean Penins will be submerged." [...Understood. I''ll start the guidance.] The Saintess regained herposure and began directing the operation ording to my orders. Themand staff gathered in the operations control room of the first ark. Noh Doha, Tang Seorin, Yoo Jiwon, Seo Gyu, and Lee Hayul were all looking down at the map. Chess pieces were moving here and there on the map, guided by Yoo Jiwon''s ability, [Minimap]. Each piece represented a scout from the Three Thousand Worlds Guild. Thanks to this, we could observe the typhoon''s movements in real-time from a third-person perspective. I spoke. "The typhoon will arrive soon." "......" "That typhoon of the Great Monsoon is not just a storm; it''s a void as well. The moment it reaches Busan, we will be entering the ''Great Monsoon Void.''" These were points I had already emphasized several times. But no matter how much I repeated them, it was never enough, so I gave one final briefing. "The rain that this typhoon will bring is not just ordinary water, but a toxic substance made of ''Void Poison.'' It poses an immediate risk of body deformation upon contact." "......" "No matter how well our ships function as arks, there will still be flooding. When that happens, calmly use buckets to continue bailing out the water¡ªwhether it takes an hour or several tens of hours, keep rying the buckets. Do not doubt the effectiveness of this. The act of bailing out the water itself is crucial." We had gathered old cruise ships and retrofitted them into arks. The outer walls of the cruise ships were reinforced with wood, and inside, we stocked enough supplies tost at least 40 days. The total number of arks was twelve, with each ark capable of holding about 5,000 people on average. In total, 60,000 Busan residents were now boarding the arks anchored along the Geumjeong Mountain ridge. "The rain will undoubtedly pour inside the ships, so do not move recklessly to other areas. Each zone must remain strictly isted, and if you mustmunicate with another area¡ª" I grabbed a string. The string was connected like a spider''s web, stretching from the ceiling of the operations control room to other zones. It was a puppet string set up by Lee Hayul. "Use this puppet string. SG Net and telepathy will be disrupted as we get closer to the typhoon''s influence. In that case, use the puppet string to transmit Morse code with your aura." Thud. At that moment, a drop of rain sshed against the window. The window was made of reinforced ss. The raindrop wriggled, moving like a living creature. The drop spread out horizontally and vertically, forming a strange shape. The shape was, Óê (Rain). The raindrops twitched, sometimes growingrger, sometimes smaller. But the shape they ultimately formed was always the same character. Óê (Rain). As the characters formed by the raindrops wriggled, the faint sound of a frog croaking could be heard from somewhere. It was bizarre. No frogs had been brought aboard the ark. We had only modeled the ark after the one in Genesis as a means of survival, not to create a cradle of life. Óê (Rain). [Doctor Jang.] ÓêÓê (Rain Rain). [It hasnded in Busan. Now, ah. The waters of the typhoon are rapidly converging on Busan. This is impossible. The typhoon... has transformed from a massive spiral into something like a giant straw, and ah. The waters¡ö, the tsunami on the horizon. All converging on Geumjeongsan¡ö. Everyone is c¡ö¨D¨D.] ÓêÓêÓêÓêÓê (Rain Rain Rain Rain Rain). [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] Noise interrupted the Saintess''s telepathy, which had never been cut off before. Croak. Seo Gyu, who had been nervously checking his smartphone, froze. "Brother, SG Net is down," Croak. The space of the ark, which had been securely held by thew of gravity, and the ship we were standing on, felt like they were momentarily floating. Croak. Seo Gyu was about to speak, and Tang Seorin shouted something like, "Doctor Jang!" But their voices were drowned out by the sound of the pouring rain and the croaking of the frogs outside the window. Croak. The rain fell. ÓêÓêÓêÓêÓêÓêÓêÓêÓêÓêÓêÓêÓêÓêÓêÓêÓêÓêÓêÓêÓêÓêÓêÓêÓêÓêÓêÓêÓêÓêÓêÓêÓêÓêÓêÓêÓêÓêÓêÓêÓêÓêÓêÓêÓêÓêÓêÓêÓêÓêÓêÓêÓêÓêÓêÓêÓêÓêÓêÓêÓêÓêÓêÓêÓêÓêÓêÓêÓêÓêÓêÓêÓêÓêÓêÓêÓêÓêÓêÓêÓêÓêÓêÓêÓêÓêÓêÓêÓêÓêÓêÓêÓêÓêÓêÓêÓêÓêÓêÓêÓêÓêÓêÓêÓêÓêÓêÓêÓêÓêÓêÓêÓêÓêÓêÓêÓêÓêÓêÓêÓêÓêÓêÓêÓêÓêÓêÓêÓêÓêÓêÓêÓêÓêÓêÓêÓêÓêÓêÓêÓêÓêÓêÓêÓêÓêÓêÓêÓêÓêÓêÓêÓêÓêÓê. In the midst of the deafening noise of the rain and the frog croaks, I blinked. In the next instant, I couldn''t breathe. My vision blurred. Everyone in the operations control room, including myself, was now submerged underwater. 6 Bubbling¡ª. Bubbles rose right in front of me. They were Lee Hayul''s breaths. She was visibly panicking, facing a kind of void she''d never encountered before. All it took was a brief blink of an eye, and suddenly our entire bodies were submerged in water. "......! ......, ......!" Lee Hayul iled underwater. The others reacted in much the same way. No matter how much I had emphasized and re-emphasized my exnations, it was difficult for a person submerged in water to remain calm. Croak. The worst part was that Lee Hayul and the other Awakened ones, who were bubbling frantically, were gradually starting to resemble ''frog hands'' more and more. Physical mutation. Existential contamination. These were typical symptoms of exposure to Void Poison. Witnessing their hands and feet, which they had used their whole lives, suddenly transforming into ''frogs'' threw them into a temporary state of panic. Bubbling¡ªcroak, bubbling¡ªcroak. The Void Poison, feeding off human panic, spread even faster. Now, the sound of bubbles rising from Lee Hayul''s mouth was bing more frog-like. In Chinese characters, the word for frog is represented by "ÍÜ," which contains the radical for insect "³æ." This is because a frog''s crouching posture resembles the shape of the insect radical (³æ). Croak, bubbling. Bubble, croak. Frog hands. Frog legs. Green skin. Myrades were rapidly transforming into insects. The time it took for all this to happen was merely six seconds. I infused my voice with aura and shouted. "Move the buckets!" "......!" My roar reverberated through the water. "Perform the bucket-bailing action! It doesn''t matter how clumsy it is! Bail the water! Hayul, move! Come on! How many times have I told you!" "......! ......!" Finally, Lee Hayul and the other Awakened ones came to their senses and began moving the buckets. It was difficult to act underwater, but they had all been trained together in such conditions before boarding the ark. "......!" "......! ......!" Though their appearances might have beenughable, they all desperately performed the ''bucket-bailing action.'' Ssh, ssh. Then, the water level, which had filled the operations control room, began to gradually decrease. In reality, the water in the buckets wasn''t being moved outside. However, the water level seemed to ''really be decreasing as if it was being bailed out.'' "Phew, haa!" As the water level finally dropped, myrades raised their heads above the surface. The skin that had started turning green was now gradually returning to its human color. "Damn, I thought I was going to die!" "Haa... haah, haa, haa...!" "Is everyone alright?" Myrades, drenched and panting, looked around. Their hands were still elongated like frog''s hands, with membranes forming between their fingers, but even that was slowly healing. "It''s too early to feel relieved." They all turned to look at me at once. I nced at the window. Outside, there was nothing but ''Rain.'' Just like us, the ark waspletely submerged. It had been entirely flooded. Not in the nurturing waters of the mother of all life, but in the deadly Void Poison. "We now need to check if the other zones are safe." "......" "Hayul, follow me." "Okay." After bailing out the rest of the water from the operations control room, I left the room with Hayul. Croak, croak, croak, croak. The long hallway of the ark echoed with the pervasive sound of frogs croaking from all directions. [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] Chapter 171 [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] Chapter 171 ©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤ The Diver III "...Frog sounds." Lee Hayul shivered. Instinctively, she flexed and rxed her fingers repeatedly, as if the sensation of the frog''s mucous membrane was still clinging somewhere between them. "Did I... turn into a frog?" Though Lee Hayul appeared young, she was a veteran who had followed me in exploring many voids. Even for a seasoned veteran like her, a six-second transformation of the human body was enough to leave severe trauma. I gently grasped Hayul''s hand. "Ah." Our body heat was exchanged. We, primates who had evolved to let go of the freedom of swimming underwater, were now able to hold each other''s hands. "Your body is cold. Raise your aura and dry off the moisture. It might look like ordinary water, but every drop of it is filled with void poison." "...Okay." Lee Hayul''s hair was tinted with golden aura. Her drenched brown hair quickly dried. But the drying process was peculiar. Rather than ¡®water evaporating,¡¯ the description ¡®transparent water-like bugs burning up and evaporating¡¯ fit the reality better. Wriggle, wriggle. The golden aura roasted the bugs, constantly wriggling in the shape of raindrops. The water bugs desperately tried to twist their bodies to crawl into the gaps of Lee Hayul''s brown hair, trying to avoid the aura. But they were soon charred and released steam. "Ugh..." Lee Hayul shuddered. Even in her eyes, which were usually extremely reserved in expressing emotions, there was a clear sign of disgust. "The water is like bugs. The water is bugs. Is this kind of water running inside my body too?" "Don''t scratch your arms. If you scratch too hard, you''ll bleed, and then your blood will start looking like bugs too. Once the blood starts forming in raindrop shapes, it''s over." "...You sound like you''ve been through this a lot." Well, of course, I had been through it a lot. I, Hayul, and the others had witnessed people turning into frogs or bleeding to death out of fear and disgust towards water at least five times. It took one attempt to realize that when a massive flood urs, if it''s not guided towards Busan, the Japanese archipgo or the Korean Penins would sink. It took two attempts to realize that even if guided towards Busan, without preparing facilities and spells like an ark, we''d be helplessly drowned by the tsunami. And it took another attempt to realize that even with an ark, without the act of "bailing out water," we''d be submerged. "When I was submerged and turning into a frog, I felt strange." Lee Hayul murmured. Although her hair was dry, her eyes seemed to be shadowed by water. "It was a nostalgic feeling. A happy feeling. I couldn''t breathe, not just through my nose or mouth, but through my whole body... It felt like I was breathing through my skin, and just by breathing, my entire being felt pierced through. It felt like I became one with the world-." "Stop thinking about it. You''ll get entranced." I tightened my grip on her hand. Suddenly, rity returned to Lee Hayul''s eyes. I met her gaze directly. "Let''s go. We need to help the others." "..." "The puppet strings over there are severed. If you find any strings cut along the way, restore them as we move." Nod. Lee Hayul''s chin moved slightly. Water had risen up to our calves in the hallway, hindering our walking. Ssh, ssh. As we walked, water droplets, which were actually bugs, scattered and fled in all directions. Lee Hayul shook her head and gently touched the puppet strings. The golden aura spread throughout the ark along the spider silk. "How is it, Hayul? Are you getting any signals from the puppet strings?" "...No issues in quarantine zones 15, 21, and 37." Beep. Beep-beep. Beep, beep. Beep-beep-beep, beep-beep-beep. Not long after Lee Hayul sent out her aura, various auras returned from all directions. These were signals sent by the managers of each quarantine zone. The sound of the spider silk connected to the entire massive ship transmitting Morse code was like the heartbeat of the ark. Lee Hayul, who was linked to its arteries and veins, raised her head. "...No signal from zones 13, 17, 23, and 25. Ah. Zone 25 just sent an OK sign." "And the others?" "Silent. No response." No matter how thoroughly we prepared, casualties were inevitable. Even I couldn''t be everywhere at once. We immediately moved to the affected zones. As soon as we opened the steel door to zone 13, a figure lunged at us like a zombie. "Uooouoo!" "....!" Lee Hayul, startled, reflexively scattered her puppet strings. The figure, whose limbs were instantly bound by spider silk, copsed with a ssh. "Ugh, ugh. Ugh." The figure''s body was half-melted. Instead of bleeding, green skin sprouted from the melted flesh. Each time the skin sprouted, the flesh trembled and emitted a croaking sound. "Ugh. Ugh, ugh." It seemed the figure had already lost all intellect and reason. Although their eye sockets were open, their eyes and irises were entirely made of water, constantly spilling water. "Brother." The bizarre sight captivated us only for a moment. Lee Hayul pointed her finger deeper into the 13th quarantine zone. "Over there." The space was filled with water. Even though I had just opened the door, the water filling the room did not spill out. As if there was an invisible, transparent ss barrier at the threshold, the water remained contained. And there was no one inside. Each quarantine zone held anywhere from 100 to 150 people, but... Floating in the 13th quarantine zone water were only blue, yellow, and pitch-ck shirts and pants. The missing people. Humans devoured by the Great Void. The clothes, now without owners, floated like tropical fish in an aquarium. Croak, croak, croak. The sound of frogs echoed softly, distorted by the water. I swallowed hard. "...As expected, it''s impossible to prevent the flooding of zone 13." Zones 4 and 13. They were notorious disasters. Themand center, where Noh Doha and the other leaders were gathered, corresponded to the 4th quarantine zone. I had entered the most dangerous 4th zone, while veterans were stationed in the 13th zone. Yet, the 13th quarantine zone couldn''t avoid total annihtion. Asking why we didn''t just leave the room empty was meaningless. In that case, another room would have randomly been designated as the "13th room." "In the end, if I block the 4th, the 13th gets breached. If I block the 13th, the 4th gets breached. It seems like I have no choice but to reduce the number of zones to 12 or fewer, even if it means taking more risks." This was a part that needed reinforcement in the next round. "Let''s go. To the next area." "Yeah. ...What about this person?" "It''s already toote. Once the bodily transformation has progressed that far, not even Aryeon''s healing abilities can reverse it. That is no longer human." "Then, should I kill them?" "Yes. Step back." "No." Hayul shook her head. "I''ll do it." Lee Hayul spread her hand open and then clenched it tightly. Swoosh! [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] The body of the victim, wrapped tightly in puppet strings, was torn into hundreds or thousands of pieces. It would be easy to imagine if you''ve seen the prologue scene from the movie Cube (1997). The difference from Cube was that instead of the thousands of pieces of flesh falling lifelessly, they immediately turned into a transparent liquid and started jumping around like frogs. Ssh. Ribbit. Ssh. Ribbit-. The frog-like croaking quickly faded away. Along with it, the water level that had filled the corridor lowered from shin-deep to just above the Achilles tendon. "......" Hayul squeezed her forearm tightly. Fortunately, the other zones had not sufferedplete annihtion like the 13th quarantine zone. The rescue operation continued smoothly. In the 25th quarantine zone, there were 17 drowned or missing persons who had "lost their existence," 21 seriously injured victims who had undergone bodily transformation, and 2 injured due to fights among the survivors. Thanks to swift action, all of the seriously injured were able to return to human form. This was thanks to the persistent reminders of the "strategies" and "precautions" emphasized in both SGNet and reality. "....... ......" However, one of the seriously injured was a bitte in returning to human form. He was a crusader from the Holy Kingdom of the East, who hade to support Sim Aryeon. He was an awakened one, armed with genuine faith on top of false doctrine. He had been partially transformed into a frog, not only his fingers but also his toes, thighs, and neck, and had existed in that mutated state for 6 minutes. Humans are weak. Six minutes is by no means a short time. The brain suffers permanent damage after only 5 minutes without proper blood flow and oxygen during cardiac arrest. Moreover, the Void Poison affected not only the physical body but also consciousness, mind, and even human memory, dripping its toxins into them. "Parasites." The crusader muttered. "Humans are often said to be like parasites on nature. But isn''t there also nature that parasitizes humans? Isn''t blood like a parasite that lives by feeding on me? Everything is made of matter and only matter, and that matter forms boundaries, breeding and harboring other matter. What is freedom? If a parasite escapes its host, its body will perish, but the will to escape exists, even if only for a single moment. Thus, escape from the body is death and freedom at the same time. The leap from matter is a miracle that happens only for a single moment. Whether it was achieved by one''s own will or by another''s coercion... there lies the difference..." "Shut up!" One of the survivors snapped. "Someone, make that bastard shut up!" It wasn''t just one person. People wrapped in nkets watched the crusader''s seemingly possessed babbling with increasingly anxious eyes. The strange thing was that the crusader had never raised his voice. His confession was actually quite soft. The decibel level would have been no different from the coughing of an elderly person in the corner of the quarantine zone. Yet all the survivors in the 25th quarantine zone listened to the crusader''s monologue. Even the most insensitive person could feel that kind of focus. Just as there is direction in human gaze, there is also direction in hearing. "Oh, God. No, One who is insufficient to be called just God." The crusader murmured without concern. "Not the One who exists within me, but the One I must go out to meet and send off. The body is a prison, and the mind is an escape. Now I understand why escape from the body is called freedom. All matter is like a parasite feeding on other matter. Oh, One, now I too shall return to that ce..." "Kill him!" Whack. A survivor picked up a can of food and threw it. Objectively speaking, it was merely an act of violence against a patient muttering to himself in a small voice. But for some reason, no one tried to stop the violence. "That bastard, he''s a monster! He''s a freak!" "Shut the hell up, you bastard!" "Kill him before we all get infected!" Cans of tuna, water bottles, anything they could grab¡ªthey threw everything at the crusader, dozens of survivors flinging objects his way. Ribbit. Ribbit. Ribbit-ribbit. Ribbit. Amidst the crusader''s monologue and the survivors'' shouting, the sound of frogs croaking seeped in. But no one seemed to hear the croaking, as if they were oblivious to it, each only raising their own voices. "Enough." I stepped forward. Boom, a vibration reverberated through the floor of the vessel and into the quarantine zone. The survivors flinched. "You are all currently addicted to the Void." "......" "I understand. The voices of the constetions that used to care for your mental state have been cut off. The SGNet you were clinging to all day is gone. It''s a loneliness you¡¯ll have to get used to for a while." "......" "Since different zones may experience different levels of existential contamination, themand will continue to maintain quarantine. Please use the puppet room formunication with other zones and themand. At least twice a day, personnel from themand will patrol to check the situation." I nced at the crusader. He was still muttering to himself. "I will escort the contaminated person here to the treatment room. Please remember that this person was an awakened one who came all the way from Pyongyang to support Busan, a ce with no ties to him." "......" I didn¡¯t scold them further. It wasn¡¯t their fault. As I carried the crusader out of the quarantine zone, Lee Hayul followed closely behind. Ssh. Ssh. Walking down the corridor, I checked outside the window. ÓêÓêÓêÓêÓêÓêÓêÓêÓêÓêÓêÓêÓê. Andscape as if we were submerged underwater. The Ark was stillpletely underwater. ording to the Book of Genesis, the "great flood"sted 40 days. And this was only the first day. [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] Chapter 172 [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] Chapter 172 ©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤ Diver IV 7 Four days have passed since Busan and the Ark were flooded by the Great Rainstorm. The Ark was still faithfully fulfilling its role as an artifact submarine from an ancient civilization. In other words, it was floating aimlessly within the water column. [This is an incredibly unique sight. It feels just like an orbital elevator from a science fiction movie.] The Saintess gave this assessment. Sure, from the outside, it might seem romantic to watch the colossal H?O waterspout reaching from the Earth''s surface to the troposphere. However, for those aboard the Ark, it was like experiencing the misery of living in a shantytown. Finding any sense of ''romance'' in a room that was constantly flooding, soaking everyone to the bone, was no easy feat. [Even in other regions, peoplee out to gaze at the waterspout for hours. You can even see it clearly from Japan.] "How is the damage situation?" [The other Arks haven''t suffered major damage.] Although there was some noise in the Saintess''s telepathy, it wasn''t too difficult to understand. As to how wemunicated with the Saintess even during this Great Rainstorm, that was thanks to a method we discovered by chance. I was currently located between the 9th and 10th istion zones of the Ark. To be precise, it was in the area that could be described as ''9?.'' Yes, it was the most famous border checkpoint leading to a magical world, along with the Han River. It was only in this spot that externalmunication was somewhat possible. I had figured this out when Tang Seorin had yfully put up a signst time. I have no idea why ''magic'' works even within the Great Rainstorm. You''ll have to ask the anomalies. "Is there any sign that the Great Rainstorm might be moving to another region?" [None at all.] [The awakeners of the Three Thousand Worlds are flying around the waterspout, conducting real-time reconnaissance, but so far, they haven''t detected anything unusual.] [Except for the fact that such a massive waterspout, with its immense height and size, continuing to surge endlessly is strange in itself.] "Hmm." I nodded. It was as expected. ''For now, I''ve prevented the destruction of East Asia.'' If I hadn¡¯t taken any action, the ''Great Rainstorm'' would have extended its typhoon from the Korean Penins to the Japanese archipgo and the Chinese maind, pouring down torrential rain for as long as 200 days. In fact, it might not have stopped at 200 days; it could have gone on for 300 days until every city was submerged, with ''summer'' and ''rainy season'' continuing endlessly. It was, literally, the Great Rainstorm. The Eternal Summer. The Wrath of the Oceanic-Scale Anomaly. [Hey, Doctor Jang.] The Saintess''s voice became more cautious. [Has this kind of rainstorm been repeating every six years in other timelines as well?] "No, this anomaly is rtively recent. In the past, it mainly struck Southeast Asia or the American continent, but recently, it¡¯s been veering towards the Korean Penins." [Why would that happen...] I had my own hypothesis about that. As I¡¯ve mentioned several times, various Alien gods in this world maintain a certain bnce. For those readers who are astute and wise enough always to recall the lessons from Romance of the Three Kingdoms, I would describe it as a situation where "the world is divided like a tripod." "Imagine a bathroom tub." [A bathroom tub?] "Yes. The tub is filled with seven different-colored liquids: red, orange, yellow, and so on." Due to the use of unique dyes, these seven liquids do not mix or invade each other. But then, someone¡ªme, the Doctor Jang¡ªsuddenly pulls the drain plug. What do you think will happen? "A hugemotion will break out in the neatly divided into seven tub. It¡¯ll be chaos." [The seven dyes represent the seven Alien gods, don¡¯t they?] "Exactly." First, the red dye (Endless Hell) and the yellow dye (The Admin of All-y), which were closest to the drain, are helplessly sucked down the drain. This means that an Alien god has been vanquished. Then, the remaining colors, which were living well in their own territories, begin to converge towards the drain. They aim to conquer the territory that once belonged to the red and yellow dyes. "This drain is the Korean Penins." [......] "More precisely, it¡¯s the ''area where Alien gods like Endless Hell have been vanquished.''" The reason why increasingly powerful anomalies are gathering around me with each passing timeline is probably due to this. Ultimately, it''s a battle of whether I¡ªthe drain¡ªwill be clogged first, or whether the bathtub will bepletely emptied. "I call this the Bathroom Tub Theory." [Sometimes, I find your naming sense hard to understand, Doctor Jang. Like with ''ubiquitous.''] What''s wrong with ubiquitous? It¡¯s a cool word. [And saying ''bathroom tub'' instead of just ''bathtub'' makes me feel like you¡¯re showing your age, Doctor Jang.] Why is having a bathtub in the bathroom a symbol of age? Just then¡ª - Beep-beep-beep-beep-beep-beep-beep. A loud rm sounded in the Ark. It was a siren. The sound itself resembled a tsunami warning in Japan. The doll strings that Lee Hayul had strung throughout the ship vibrated intensely, emitting loud sound waves. The entire ship became noisy in an instant. - Another fall! - Hold on to something! Anything! - Buckle up! Don¡¯t worry about your bags! Just buckle up first! Veteran Awakened, skilled in Aura, shouted from the various istion zones. I, too, could no longer focus solely on my conversation with the Saintess. "Apologies. It seems the storm currents are causing trouble again. Please contact me immediately if you observe anything unusual from outside." [Yes. ...Please be safe, Doctor Jang.] Boom! As soon as contact was cut off, the enormous Ark shook violently. The hull tilted¡ªthen immediately began to plummet downward. It was as if the ship had been struck by a torpedo, with the bulkheads rattling from the impact. - Aaaaah! - Stay calm! Stay calm! The ocean currents created by the super typhoon within the Great Rainstorm were anything but gentle. The Void Poison, disguised as seawater, continuously surged, coiled, and crashed down. The current swept the fleet of 12 Arks away each time. On certain days, the altitude soared to a staggering 8,000 meters above sea level, equivalent to the height of Mount Everest. At other times, it plummeted sharply to just 2,000 meters above sea level. Abnormal changes in altitude. Naturally, the survivors were exposed to severe dangers. Headaches, fainting, bleeding, ruptured eardrums, and altitude sickness weremon urrences. In extreme cases, people¡¯s bodies were thrown like billiard balls, smashing into partitions and shattering their spines. Even now, the awakened medical personnel, centered around Sim Aryeon, were tirelessly healing the injured in three shifts. [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] Without Sim Aryeon, well, the damage would have been at least ten times worse than it was now. - Beep beep beep beep beep beep... The siren emitted from the Puppet Room gradually subsided. Along with it, the vibrations of the Ark also slowly calmed down. But there was no time to rx. - Damn it, the water''sing in again! - Water buckets! Move the water buckets! When a ''fall'' or ''ascent'' urred within the deluge, flooding always followed. Just like on Day 1, the istion zones were entirely submerged. However, the survivors had be ustomed to it. Unlike the first day, when they suffered considerable damage, people now efficiently transported the water buckets. - Anyone with a physical mutation? - Over there, help that person to the treatment room! - Move in pairs! Never wander the ship alone! "Hmm." Indeed, the survivors'' movements became more swift after about four days. Even SCVs could participate inbat if necessary. Ultimately, humans are beings that adapt to and ovee their environment. Even if the istion zone flooded in the blink of an eye or their limbs turned into those of a frog, humans had the strength to ept such changes. As a regressor, I ensured that this strong vitality couldst as long as possible by creating ''strategies'' and ''systems.'' I nodded with satisfaction. ''At this point, I can leave for a while without any major issues.'' I immediately returned to themand center. As soon as I opened the steel door, a monkey wrench flew at me. Whoosh. I dodged it lightly, and Noah (formerly Noh Doha) red at me with a look of hatred. "Noah, if you throw random things like that, someone could get hurt." "Damn it..." "What if the person who just walked in wasn''t me?" "I can tell by the sound of your footsteps. Your footsteps are unlucky as hell..." Noah, who muttered that, looked utterly exhausted. It was only natural. Anyone who has lived inside a submarine would understand, but this Ark was far from fortable.'' The sirens went off constantly, injuries urred, and the roller coaster provided a free ride whenever it got bored. Seo Gyu, who prided himself on being a tough guy, had passed out, strapped to the bed with belts. Tang Seorin also looked haggard. Except for Yoo Jiwon, who was probably the only one who had received a special lecture on sleep techniques from Napoleon himself, all the members of themand center were extremely fatigued. "Rejoice, everyone. I just took a quick look around, and there were no fatalities in this flood." "Oh. That''s some damn good news." Noah sneered. "Except for the fact that we have to endure another 36 days in this hellhole, I don''t know why we aren''t popping open a bottle of wine right now..." "That''s why I have a proposal." "A proposal...?" "Not the proposal of cutting my neck instead of a wine bottle." I preempted the conversation, as it hade up in thest turn. The hatred on Noah''s face deepened. "There are two ways to deal with the deluge. One is to endure it. It will be over if we can hold out for another 36 days." I shrugged. "For the record, this was the method used in the previous turn." "Then why don''t you use that method again? Why are you suddenly pretending to suggest another strategy...?" "It took a whopping 31 daysst time to reach the point where there were no fatalities." "..." "Anyway, it was only a week left, so it didn''t matter." Installing the Puppet Room to facilitatemunication between the istion zones, blocking the flooding by quickly transporting the water buckets, the strange fact that ''externalmunication with the Saintess'' worked somewhat between Istion Zones 12 and 13¡ªall of this was knowledge gained through the sacrifices of previous turns. "But now it''s only Day 4. Unless you love the roller coaster so much that you want to keep enjoying the thrill, I think it''s the right time to explore another strategy." "..." Noah stared at me nkly. Due to excessive stress, his left eye had developed an iris infection and was bloodshot. Under normal circumstances, the medical team would have immediately swarmed to polish the eyeball of the highest dignity in the Korean Penins like a diamond, but this was wartime. There was no spare capacity to pull a medically awakened person away just for an eye infection. "So, this second strategy of yours... It hasn''t been tested yet, and you''re going to try it for the first time in ''this turn¡¯...?" "Exactly." "And if it fails...?" "It will be the mother of sess." "You damn bastard..." Noah red at me fiercely, closing his left eye (which is actually quite a difficult thing to do). "So, what is this strategy...?" 8 First, I changed Lee Hayul''s species from Homo sapiens to turtle shell. "..., ..." "If it''s ufortable, just let me know anytime, Hayul." "..." "Oh. My bad. I left the maid doll behind, so you can''t speak." Thud! Hayul punched the back of my head. It didn''t hurt at all. By the way, I was currently wearing swim trunks. Hayul was wearing a wetsuit. Not because it was summer and I thought it was the right time for abs exposure and swimsuit service. Rather, it was to earn the title of the first human to swim at an altitude of 8,000 meters (underwater). Noah was disgusted. "Are you out of your mind...?" "Yes. There must be a core of the anomaly inside that deluge. There should be a ''eye of the storm'' equivalent." I tightened a specially made belt. The turtle shell made of Lee Hayul clung even more closely. Hayul resisted with all her limbs, but it was futile. We couldn''t proceed with this operation without her. "How do you n to find that core in this massive storm...?" "We will connect Hayul''s doll rooms between the Arks, creating a wide web." There were 12 ships in the Ark fleet. We would connect these 12 ships with kilometers-long doll threads. Carefully, so they wouldn''t tangle. Then, the 12 ''radars'' would move through the storm, automatically searching for the core of the anomaly. "Oh. Since it''s the first time we''re trying this, there''s a high chance of failure. If you check with the Saintess and find that we''re dead, just endure for the 36 days." "No, if you''re gone, I think we''ll copse soon anyway. This damn world..." "Then we''ll be off." Thunk. I opened the window. Water immediately tried to rush in, but I had already formed a barrier with my aura, so such an unfortunate event didn''t happen. "Our Hayul, don''t you like swimming when you go on a trip?" "...! ...!" "Let''s be the first humans to swim in the sky. Ready, dive. One. Two¡ª." "...! ...!" "Two and a half. Two and two and a half. Two and two and two and a half¡ª." "...! ...!" "Three." Ssh! I immediately submerged myself in the water with aura infused into my legs. A strong current engulfed my entire body. Hayul seemed to enjoy it so much that she continuously drummed on my back with her fists. Of course, this wasn¡¯t revenge for bothering me with the Uyuni Salt t case. Absolutely not. [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] Chapter 173 [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] Chapter 173 ©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤ The Diver V ¡°Mmmpf, grrmmmph...?¡± Lee Hayul, clinging to my back, was struggling desperately. Perhaps a bit too dramatically. Unlike me, Hayul had been given goggles and an oxygen tank. Her prosthetic leg had even been reced with a "Noah''s Workshop Special: Swimming Webbed Foot." If it had appeared in a gacha game, it would have been at least an SR-ranked item. That¡¯s right. Except for the fact that the water we were diving into wasn¡¯t ordinary H?O but a deadly poison that made the cooling pools of a melted-down reactor look like a serene fairnd, there was really no reason for Hayul to be struggling. "Hayul." My gentle voice resonated softly even underwater, carried by my aura. ¡°By any chance, did you watch Evangelion like I rmended the other day? Remember how the pilot gets dissolved into the orange liquid? If you don''t keep your wits about you, your body will melt away, leaving only that wetsuit you''re wearing." ¡°...! ...!¡± ¡°Raise your aura to envelop your entire body. Constantly remind yourself of who you are. If you find it too difficult, think of the anger you hold toward your father.¡± Of course, if it became truly dangerous, I would protect Lee Hayul myself. But I couldn¡¯t shelter her forever. I was the kind of instructor who pushed my guild members andrades quite hard. ¡°You can also think of your mother.¡± ¡°Mmph...?¡± ¡°The doll you''ve always carried with you since Japan. You pretended it was a maid, but I know it''s actually your mother.¡± ¡°...¡± ¡°If you disappear here, that doll will never move again.¡± Bubbles gently rose behind me. They were particrly cold. Today¡¯s Lee Hayul quickly adapted to the training as in other timelines. Her fingertips turned white and transparent, but the existential contamination hadn¡¯t spread beyond her forearms. There were no signs of her turning into a ¡°frog¡± either. ¡°Good. Well done.¡± ¡°...¡± ¡°Always remember the being you carry within you. Compared to that, the void¡¯s poison is utterly irrelevant to your life.¡± A small nod was felt at the nape of my neck. It couldn¡¯tpare to the sea, but humans each had a dark well dug deep within their hearts, and I trusted the depth of that well more than the ocean''s vastness. Ssshh... As Lee Hayul regained someposure, a creature swam past just ten meters ahead. It was a monstrous being shaped like a shark. -Wooo... Lee Hayul was startled. It was understandable. Sharks don¡¯t usually go ¡°wooo,¡± nor are their bodies transparent like ss. And they definitely don¡¯t reach 20 meters in length. In this void ecosystem, where it seemed life couldn¡¯t possibly survive, a school of Megalodon sharks swam by, each the size of a bus and long extinct on modern Earth, indifferent to us. -Woo... -Wooooo... ¡°...¡± Lee Hayul, clutching my neck with both hands (she must have picked up some strange habits from hanging out with the Road Management Chief over drinks), watched the prehistoric Jaws in a daze. Squeeze. Squeeze. Squeeeze. Her ten fingers pressed into my neck like a pianist ying the keys of a piano. It wasn¡¯t due to some peculiar taste inherited from the Road Management Chief, but a Morse code-like squeezing. ¡®Amazing.¡¯ That¡¯s how it would trante into regr speech. A gentle squeeze, and Hayul added, ¡®Beautiful.¡¯ Bubbles rose¡ªblub, blub¡ªas the transparent Megalodons disappeared into the deep sea, showing no particr interest in us. The ripples from their tails gently reached us, softly bursting right before our noses. ¡°Hayul. Connect the puppet threads to the figurehead here. I''ll handle the swimming." ¡°...¡± ¡°Make sure to thread them generously. If they break, you''ll have toe back to reattach them.¡± The pressure on my neck seemed to tighten a bit, perhaps just my imagination. The work proceeded smoothly thereafter. We installed the puppet threads at the first Ark, then stretched them out and connected them to the fourth Ark, as ifying an undersea cable. ¡°Whew-haa...!¡± Upon reaching each Ark, we took breaks, sometimes as short as three hours, other times as long as half a day. No matter how superhuman their regenerative powers, even Awakened beings found the void within a typhoon to be daunting. Having clung to me for hours, enduring the underwater environment, Lee Hayul was gasping for breath. ¡®Exhausted. Drained.¡¯ ¡°Are you okay?¡± ¡®Yeah. But, I need to rest a bit longer.¡¯ Even while resting, Hayul clung tightly to my left hand, not letting go. It was understandable. For safety reasons, she hadn¡¯t been able to bring her ¡°maid doll¡± on this mission. Whether through signnguage or Morse code, I was the only one Hayul couldmunicate with in real-time during this operation. An extremely dangerous void environment. Extremely limitedmunication. For Hayul, this triggered old traumas. The gray days when she was treated as a ¡°non-existent child¡± by her father, former Busan Mayor Jung Sangguk, effectively living in confinement. I was the one who brought the child, who had attempted suicide to escape that life, to Japan. ¡®Brother.¡¯ ¡°...¡± ¡®Life is so hard.¡¯ Lee Hayul burrowed into my arms like a baby kangaroo. I spread my hand and gently stroked Hayul¡¯s head. Pat. Shhh. As my hand passed over, her wet hair dried softly under the influence of my aura. A person¡¯s hand could cover many things. For example, how Hayul subtly blurred the pronunciation whenever she called me "brother," blending "bro" and "ther" into something in between. And how neither of us ever mentioned it. ¡°...¡± ¡°...¡± Hugging. A gesture of connection far older than a handshake. For a while, we shared human warmth in that position. 9 The awakened ones in charge of the 4th Ark were utterly shocked by Hayul and me¡¯s visit. "Oh my. Did you really swim through that water to get here? Just now?" "Yes. I connected the puppet strings between the figureheads. I¡¯m continuously infusing them with aura to keep them from breaking, but the ship might sway oddly due to the currents. Please don¡¯t be rmed if that happens." "Y-Yes...," they stammered. "I knew the caf¨¦ owner wasn¡¯t an ordinary person..." The awakened ones answered hesitantly, clearly unnerved by our mad actions. After receiving all the reports from the 4th Ark, I immediately headed for the next destination. ''As expected. It¡¯s better to hunt down the Great Flood early, even if it means overexerting ourselves.'' I thought as I swam through the transparent depths of the sea. [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] Hayul, too, had grown ustomed to it and was paddling in sync with my movements. ''In the previous turn, the other Arks suffered severe damage. The mental breaking point is likely around the 10th day.'' We connected the Arks one by one with the puppet strings, proceeding quickly but not hastily. If someone knowledgeable saw this, they would quickly recognize the true nature of my strategy. It was the ¡®Linked Chains¡¯ tactic that appeared in the Battle of Red Cliffs from the Romance of the Three Kingdoms. Because of this strategy, Cao Cao faced ruin, but unfortunately, there was no Zhuge Liang or Southeast Wind here. The Great Flood''s fate was nothing short of overwhelming destruction. Rumble...! Of course, there was something akin to the Southeast Wind within the Great Flood. It was the current. "Ugh, blub, bruuuh...!" Whenever a violent current surged within the water tornado, Hayul and I were tossed around like pieces of wood. Sometimes, we were swept thousands of meters away. Finding our bearings in such an environment was nearly an impossible feat. I simply relied on the superhuman senses honed through my long life of reincarnation and my perfect memory, scattering my aura like a radar in all directions, groping my way along the sea route. Towards the center. Closer and closer to the center. -Woooh. -Woooooh... As we neared the eye of the storm, more underwater anomalies appeared. Not only Megalodon, but also Leviathan Melville, Dunkleosteus, and Cameroceras. Creatures that once ruled the seas of ancient Earth were swimming again, borrowing the bodies of anomalies. As if to say that the true life of Earth was not in the human realm, but here. -Screeee! Some of these creatures even showed interest in humanity, their far-off descendants in the evolutionary timeline. Ancient fearsome whales lunged at us, jaws wide open. Whenever that happened, I dly drew my staff sword and demonstrated firsthand what the miracle of Moses was. Those unholy beings not even recorded in the scriptures witnessed the divine power and perished. A testament to the fact that in the harshness of nature, there was no room for senior-junior culture. ''You¡¯re the best, oppa.'' As I repelled the sharks and whales from millions of years ago that attacked us now and then, we finally connected all 12 Arks. We finished the work on the 9th day. It happened to be just as the sun was setting. The red sunset descended, casting a crimson hue even over the storm of the Great Flood. Unlike the sea, which could only receive sunlight on its surface, the towering typhoon was exposed to the sunset with its entire body. The depths of the sea were dyed in sunset colors. In the middle of those deep waters, the webs Hayul and I had woven also reflected the red sunset, sparkling like the Milky Way. "..." Throughout the entire swim back to the 1st Ark, Hayul, clinging to my back, couldn¡¯t take her eyes off the sunset within the typhoon. Could it be that even the void of hell, which ughtered countless human lives and was always ready to butcher more, was designed to be perceived as beautiful by humans? It was a harsh existence. "Wee back..." After leaving the water after such a long time and returning to the 1st Ark, Noah greeted us. His eye infection seemed to have worsened, as both his left and right eyes were bloodshot. I was somewhat taken aback. Could it be that Sim Aryeon still hadn¡¯t healed him? "You¡¯ve managed to stay alive like a street performer... Did you really find and connect all 11 other Arks with puppet strings...?" "Ah, yes. I¡¯ll find a more sensible way in the next turn. Fortunately, the other Arks aren¡¯t as severely affected by the void¡¯s poison as ours." "Hmmm..." Noah looked at us with a skeptical gaze. But his gaze wasn¡¯t directed at me, but at Hayul. Currently, Hayul had changed her species from a turtle to a sloth and was sticking to me like glue. "It seems you two have grown closer..." "We¡¯ve been swimming together for nearly a week. You¡¯d either be enemies or best friends." I tapped Hayul on the head. Hayul, seemingly pleased, used my shoulder as a pillow like a cat. "All that¡¯s left is to maneuver the Arks to trap the Great Flood. By the way, has anything happened while we were away?" "Well..." I roughly expected a reply along the lines of ''You not dying is the only thing out of the ordinary.'' But reality was different. Noah¡¯s bloodshot eyes briefly avoided mine. An abrupt sense of foreboding began to creep up my neck. Naturally, my tone lowered. "Chief. What¡¯s going on?" "Hmm. You¡¯re aware that we thoroughly checked the identities of everyone who boarded our Ark..." "Of course, since we¡¯re taking on the role of sacrificing ourselves in ce of East Asia. Especially since this 1st ship is much more dangerous, we only selected thoroughly vetted individuals." "But, uh... Even though I checked the list myself twice... It seems there was an illegal stowaway..." An illegal stowaway? I tilted my head in confusion. Many people had fled, refusing to board the Ark even with promises of gain, but no one would go as far as to sneak on board illegally. Who would do such a thing? No, more importantly... "Are you saying our awakened ones failed to catch an illegal stowaway?" "...To be precise, saying they sneaked on board isn¡¯t entirely urate. It¡¯s more like when people came to their senses, they were already on board... At least, that¡¯s what the witnesses said. They imed it was as if they suddenly appeared out of the floor..." The sense of foreboding grew stronger. "Where is that stowaway now?" "We¡¯ve locked them in the 13th quarantine area. It¡¯s the only empty ce. Well, I say ''locked up,'' but they went in voluntarily... Would you like to see them?" I went to check. The 13th quarantine area was where everyone had been wiped out on the first day of flooding. The water hadn¡¯t yet receded, and the shirts and pants of the victims were still floating around like tropical fish in an aquarium. In the middle of that water... Koyori sat demurely on her knees. "......" "Oh my." Koyori smiled brightly. "Hello, Guild Leader? Long time no see." My body began to tremble like a small pr bear in front of a sun bear. [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] Chapter 174 [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] Chapter 174 ©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤ Diver VI The little Munch inside my heart screamed. ''Koyori? Why? Why, Koyori?'' By the way, apart from the unauthorized tenant Koyori who had taken residence in my subconscious world, the real Koyori, as of this moment, was someone I hadn''t seen in thousands of years. To be exact, it had been 2,112 years. 2,112 years is enough time for Si to have fallen twice. It''s enough time for Egyptians to look at the pyramids they built and wonder, "Wow, what kind of amazing people could have constructed such mysterious buildings?" Just managing to control my facial muscles calmly was a testament to my superhuman patience, and I deserved to be praised for it. "Ah, Guild Master, your lips are trembling." "...I''ve heard a lot about you." I immediately went into method acting mode. Koyori? Who is Koyori? I''m just a small business owner running a caf¨¦ in the Inunaki Tunnel. Also, Yoo Jiwon''s spirit was protecting me. "Koyori, I heard that you usually operate around Daejeon. What brings you to Busan? And without any prior notice at that." "Ah, um..." "I''ve seen you often on SGNet, and I would like to amodate you as much as possible, but this is neither the time nor the ce. If a proper exnation is not given, we will have no choice but to respond ording to the rules. I hope you understand." Koyori''s eyes stared at me intently. She reached out her left hand towards me but then... "Oh, I see." ...hesitated. I didn''t want to know what she meant by ''Oh, I see.'' I couldn''t know. Anyway, any knowledge I believed I had gained on my own was probably nothing more than brainwashing induced by Koyori. "I''m sorry, Guild Master." "..." Koyori withdrew her hand. She bowed her head towards me, who was desperately trying to maintain my doublethink. A troubled smile hung on her lips like wisteria shade. "To be honest, I had no intention of visiting so rudely." "Then why..." "Believe it or not, I opened my eyes, and I was here." "..." "I was really startled at first. I was working hard in Busan, helping the refugees who had fled there, and then suddenly, I was transported here." I couldn''t easily blurt out a retort like, ¡®What kind of nonsense is that?¡¯ It wasn''t just because Koyori''s expression and words conveyed an overwhelming sense of trust that made me want to believe her. It was because I knew it was impossible to find out the truth. Unlike the rtively kind ''Koyori in my subconscious,'' the ''real Koyori'' sitting in front of me felt a bit different. She was a bit rougher. If you asked what exactly was rougher, I wouldn''t be able to answer urately. It was just the intuition of someone who had lived too long and repeated too many lives. "Are you saying that you have no purpose for your visit? If so, I can arrange for you to stay here until the Great Flood is eradicated. Although life may be somewhat ufortable, I hope you understand our difficult situation." "Ah, no, that''s not it." Koyori smiled bashfully and waved her hand. "Really, Guild Master, you speak so quickly. Are you so eager to reach a conclusion?" "..." "What you said is correct. This is not the right time or ce. But, um, I feel a bit wronged." "Wronged?" "Yes. After all, I''m not the only element that ''shouldn''t be'' in this time and ce, am I?" My saliva slipped down my throat silently. The Great Flood that wasn''t originally supposed tond on the Korean Penins. The ''bathtub effect'' that wasn''t supposed to happen but was caused by me. The Ark that wasn''t originally here. The n to restrain the typhoon using the Puppet Room. Almost all the conditions that made up the current situation were elements that ''shouldn''t be.'' Was Koyori pointing that out? "I don''t know why I ended up here. But isn''t that the same for humans? They don''t know why they''re born, but they still try to find their life''s purpose." "That''s too abstract." "I know what I''m supposed to do here. I realized it aftering here." A small insect wriggled on Koyori''s long index finger. A tiny bubble formed around the insect''s tail as it moved, which rose to Koyori''s lips before popping. Koyori seemed to adore the insect on her finger as if a small bird hadnded there. Despite sitting underwater, her voice was steady, and her hair was calm. Her posture remained unchanged even as the Ark swayed in real-time from the typhoon. It was a testament to her extreme mastery of Aura maniption. No, I was even beginning to doubt whether that was really due to Aura. "Guild Master, are you nning to y the dragon?" Dragon. A term I had never heard before. I instinctively sensed that it was Koyori''s unique way of referring to the Great Flood. "When you go dragon hunting, take me with you. I''m sure I''ll be of help to you." "...What if I say that I can''t suddenly include an outsider in the carefully prepared subjugation operation from Busan?" "Oh my, then I might just be a Busan citizen too." "..." "I''ve been a Lotte fan since forever!" It was an offer I couldn''t refuse. ____ The operation to subjugate the Great Flood, codenamed ''Typhoon Hunting,'' was carried out as follows. First, agents from the National Road Management ran around exining the operation n. "From an hour from now, the Arks will begin to shake violently!" "Everyone, please take your assigned seats and fasten your seatbelts! Even Awakeners should not unbuckle their belts!" The quarantine area of the Ark had seats prepared in advance to deal with the violent movements of the currents. Think of it as an upgraded version of airne seats. Unfortunately, this didn''t mean that the quality had been upgraded from economy to business ss. There were waist belts, chest belts, leg belts, and so on. The upgrade was SM-like, meaning the restraints would firmly hold a person''s limbs no matter what happened. "Awakeners, please make sure to hold onto the thread!" "Commands will be given through the thread in real time! When instructions are issued, please continue to inject Aura into the thread at a level that won''t exhaust you!" The awakened passengers, seated in their torture chairs, were each given several strands of Lee Hayul''s Puppet Room thread. This thread extended along the bulkhead of the first Ark to the figurehead and then from the figurehead to the figureheads of the other Arks. A fleet of 12 Arks. All the awakened on board were connected together like ''beads on a string.'' If you¡¯re a reader well-versed in StarCraft, you might start to feel that "autumn" is approaching as you read this description of the ark and the beads on a string. "Sir, all Awakened personnel have taken their seats," Yoo Jiwon said from the operations control room. On the [minimap] that Yoo Jiwon brought, thousands of Awakened ones were still visible. Ordinary-sized chess pieces were insufficient to manage them, so most of the units were directed using miniature 2cm-sized chess pieces. Even the Saintess¡¯s [irvoyance] had be almost useless. Tomand thisrge-scale operation, they had no choice but to rely on Yoo Jiwon¡¯s [minimap]. ¡°What are the positions of the arks?¡± "They''re spaced out sufficiently. Even if the current gets turbulent, the chances of the arks colliding are extremely low, sir." "Good." I looked around. [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] Noah. Tang Seorin. Sim Aryeon. Lee Hayul. Yoo Jiwon. Even the uninvited guest, Koyori. Excluding thest illegal stowaway, everyone was exhausted both mentally and physically. But their eyes still held life. To seed in the "Typhoon Hunt" operation, not a single person here could be left out. ¡°Then, let''s begin.¡± ¡°¡Are you sure about this, Doctor Jang?¡± Tang Seorin asked, looking at me with worried eyes. ¡°The Great Flood will pass quietly in about 30 days if we just hold out. You don¡¯t have to go this far¡.¡± ¡°If we wait, another monsoon wille next summer. And each time, we¡¯ll have to board the arks like now.¡± ¡°¡¡¡± ¡°Don¡¯t worry, Tang Seorin. This might not beforting, but I¡¯ve already had my limbs severed multiple times.¡± ¡°Really. That¡¯s notforting at all.¡± Tang Seorin shook her head in exasperation. It was a face that said she had no choice. It was also a look I liked. ¡°All right. Then¡ shall I sing?¡± ¡°Please do.¡± Tang Seorin gently pressed the puppet strings and opened her lips. ¡°Ah¨D¨D.¡± A song flowed from her mouth. It was a cursed chant. The first and second verses were always the same: ''repeat'' and ''rey,''ying the groundwork for Tang Seorin¡¯s grand magic, which automatically repeated the already sung verses. The spell that followed was peculiar. ¡°¨D¨DAh¨DAh¨DAah¨D¨D.¡± Sensory Amplification. This spell heightened human senses to their extreme. You often see inics where bullets flying toward you appear to move slowly. ¡®Sensory Amplification¡¯ was a spell designed to evoke exactly that state. However, the downside was that you could feel even the subtle pulsations of your heart, the flow of your blood, and the writhing of your internal organs. Naturally, the debuff outweighed the buff. If given to ordinary Awakened, it would just push them toward nervous breakdowns. Tang Seorin cast the ¡®Sensory Amplification¡¯ spell solely on me. ¡°¡¡.¡± Thump. My senses toward the world were infinitely amplified. My five senses were already honed to a superhuman level. With Tang Seorin¡¯s assistance added, I could feel even the ripples of waves striking the hull of the ark. It felt like the waves were crashing directly against my heart. ¡°Good¡ Yoo Jiwon.¡± ¡°Yes?¡± ¡°Cut off the fingers.¡± "Excuse me, sir." Shing- Without a moment''s hesitation, Yoo Jiwon drew her sword and severed the fingers. Of course, it wasn¡¯t Yoo Jiwon''s own fingers, as she was almost a paragon of self-love. It was my fingers. All ten fingers, both left and right, were cleanly severed. An intense, excruciating pain surged instantly, but I suppressed it skillfully. ¡®I wonder what would happen if I screamed like Brother Guan Yu at this moment?¡¯ A strong curiosity briefly shed through my mind, but I was more concerned about the ensuing loss of honor. I decided to satisfy this curiosity in the next turn. Without letting out even a groan, I calmly spoke. "Chief of Operations, now." ¡°Sigh¡¡¡± Noah sighed so deeply it seemed like his stomach would copse. Yet, he approached me and immediately began the operation, showing his professional spirit. At the severed ends of my fingers, Noah started fitting ¡®prosthetics¡¯ one by one. Each was a prosthetic modeled after my original fingers. Thanks to Noah¡¯s Awakening ability, these ¡®fingers¡¯ felt as alive as if they had always been part of my body. I could move the fingers freely, without any sense of loss. ¨D¨DAnd these fingers were connected to ¡®puppet strings.¡¯ They were designed that way from the start, just like Spider-Man¡¯s fingers. Each fingertip was connected to Lee Hayul¡¯s puppet strings, which, as mentioned earlier, were linked to Ark No. 1. They were also connected to the fleet of 12 arks that were navigating through the giant typhoon. ¡°I-I¡¯ll heal you! Guildmaster!¡± Sim Aryeon quickly approached and cast healing magic on me. The prosthetic fingers adhered perfectly to my flesh. When the puppet strings connected to my nerves, my ¡®eyes¡¯ opened. ¡°¡¡!¡± How should I describe this sensation? I could see the sea. Hear it. Feel it. The nerves in my body extended through the puppet strings to every corner of the ark. The nerves that stretched beyond the ark immediately rode the aura, oveing the currents and waves. As a result, I could sense exactly where all 12 ships were, where they were heading, and how fiercely they were pushing through the rough currents. ¡®Ahh.¡¯ They say a rider who has mastered horseback riding from a young age experiences the state of being one with the horse. In that case, my current state should be described as being one with the ship. I tried channeling aura through the puppet strings as a test. Then, I felt the ark moving forward with a deep hum. -What, what¡¯s going on? -It must have been some waves. -Waves. Detected. Waves. Detected. I could ¡®hear¡¯ the slightly panicked voices of various people on board due to the sudden movement. I could also clearly sense the aura of a certain Awakened who was hastily sending a Morse code message. Everything was in my grasp. A slight sense of omnipotence. Controlling an object vastlyrger than myself as easily as moving my fingers even brought a subtle pleasure. ¡°¡¡.¡± Koyori was quietly watching me, smiling. Her gaze was like licking ice cream with her eyes instead of her tongue. Usually, I would have been rmed by that gaze, but now I had to focus entirely on controlling the arks. I looked around the operations control room and spoke. ¡°I have sessfully taken control of the arks.¡± Gasps of amazement echoed from all around. Noah, in particr, chuckled in disbelief, muttering, ¡°You crazy bastard¡¡± I smiled as well. ¡°Now, let¡¯s hunt this typhoon.¡± It was time to end the summer. [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] Chapter 175 [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] Chapter 175 ©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤ Diver VII 11 Rumble¡ª. As I flicked my fingers, the entire fleet of arks simultaneously pierced through the currents andunched forward. A light tingling sensation buzzed through my skull, as if I were both the pianist and the conductor. The immense aura I had umted over thousands of years was now powering the arks. "The fool old Scho, who used to mock me saying my martial arts were third-rate while my aura was first-rate, wouldn''t even dare tough now." No matter how much of a sword master Scho was, even if he had maxed out his swordsmanship, at best, he''d be tinkering with swordy and the art of manipting objects from afar. Meanwhile, here I was, controlling twelve ships at once. Just one more and I''d be ready to debut as the Supreme Commander of the Three Provinces Naval Forces of Joseon. "Your piloting skills are quite exceptional, sir." Yoo Jiwon sidled up to me, sensing my good mood like a ghost. Her approach snapped me back to reality. Why? Because Yoo Jiwon had the faintest scent of strawberries, a fragrance I onceplimented her on, saying, ¡®You have a good eye for picking out perfumes.¡¯ The meticulousness with which she ttered those in power sent a chill down my spine. Truly, she was the foremost psychopath in the Three Han States. "¡Thank you, Jiwon. But could you step back a little? I won''t seek revengeter for cutting off my fingers, so you don''t need to suck up so desperately." "ttery? Not at all. I simply wish to always show you my sincere self, even if it meansying bare my heart." "If you keep spouting nonsense, I''ll break your fingers, so let''s just focus on the minimap." "Yes, sir." With omnipotence and reality perfectly bnced, the navigation proceeded smoothly. Of course, that didn¡¯t mean the ''core'' of the great typhoon anomaly was immediately discovered. The scale of the typhoon, reaching an altitude of around 10,000 meters, was no joke. Anyone who¡¯s served aboard a submarine would know that 99% of underwater chases are battles with oneself. Boredom and patience are the main enemies. Despite us scanning every corner of the typhoon with the [minimap], the enemy''s presence was not easily detected. Screech¡ª! Skreee¡ª. Three hours into the search. Ancient marine creatures like Megalodon, who got caught in the crossfire, met their second extinction. The twelve arks spread a web that shredded sharks and whales into pieces, turning them into cube steaks. "What a damn romantic aquarium date this is¡." Noah, the head of the National Road Management Corps, grimaced at the sight of shark meat floating outside the window. The crew aboard the ark couldn¡¯t even unbuckle their belts carelessly due to the rough currents. After sitting with their butts glued to their seats for hours, they were bound to get restless. ¡°Does the core of the great typhoon even exist? If it were a tangible entity like the Ten ns, then maybe, but isn¡¯t the great typhoon more of a natural phenomenon¡?¡± "It exists." The person who answered wasn''t me. The ark rattled as if it hit turbulence in midair. Everyone¡¯s eyes turned to one side, where Koyori was calmly smiling with her pink hair. "And it¡¯s getting closer and closer." "¡¡." The operations control room fell silent, with only the sound of waves crashing against the bulkheads reverberating. None of them had any personal connection with Koyori. However, I had always emphasized that they should be wary of her. Avoiding her was the best option. If an encounter was unavoidable, they were to avoid any conversation. Better to treat her as if she didn¡¯t exist. That was the Koyori protocol I had handed down. The reason why themand staff collectively zipped their lips just now. Koyori smiled slightly awkwardly, seemingly ufortable with the clear ostracism and avoidance. ¡°Aha¡ You all are really interesting.¡± ¡°Anyone who needs to go to the bathroom, now¡¯s your chance.¡± Ignoring Koyori¡¯s reactionpletely, I spoke up. I used formal speech since Noah was present in the operations control room. We generally addressed each other with mutual respect. ¡°We¡¯ve scanned the upper and middle sections of the typhoon. It seems the core is likely located in the lower section. We¡¯re currently at an altitude of 2,000 meters. We¡¯ll be spotting it soon.¡± ¡°Oh, well then, brother. I¡¯ll be quick¡ª¡± Just as Seo Gyu unbuckled and rose from his seat. Rumble! The ark suddenly jerked into a sharp drift. Something massive had snagged on the vast web of puppet threads spread outside the ship. ¡°Wha¡ª?¡± Standing alone, Seo Gyu experienced Newton¡¯sws firsthand. His body swung wildly, hurtling past me, Yoo Jiwon, Lee Hayul, Noah, Tang Seorin, Sim Aryeon, and Koyori, one by one. Crash! Seo Gyu bounced off the ship¡¯s floor like a ping-pong ball. Disying Olympic-level drive, he finally crashed into the bulkhead, bending his waist like a bow. And we all turned our heads away and ignored it. ¡°Found it! Hayul, Morse code!¡± ¡°Roger that.¡± ¡°It¡¯s an unbelievably gigantic thing! Seorin, channel reinforcement magic into the puppet threads!¡± ¡°Okay, got it.¡± ¡°Everyone, brace for impact! It¡¯s moving!¡± Rumble¡ª. Something caught in the puppet threads began to thrash. It was massive. Overwhelmingly powerful. With my nervous system connected directly to the puppet threads, I could feel its every move as if I were a fisherman reeling in a massive catch. The creature''s presence was palpable, even if others couldn¡¯t feel it as vividly as I could. The ark shook violently as astonished exmations erupted from the awakened individuals on board. Aaaah! ¡°What the hell! What¡¯s happening?¡± [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] ¡°It¡¯sing! It¡¯s starting!¡± Beep beep beep beep beep beep beep. The rm red throughout the ark, a warning urgently broadcast by Lee Hayul. Those who, like Seo Gyu, were unlucky enough to be standing up screamed, while the others double-checked that their belts were tightly secured. Lee Hayul shouted. ¡°Charging, start!¡± From that moment, the puppet threads in the ark were illuminated in various colors. It was the aura of the awakened individuals on board. Each contributed their aura to the puppet threads as much as their strength allowed, assisting me. It wasn¡¯t just the first ark. Though there was a slight dy, the second, third, fourth, and finally the twelfth ark all received aura from the thousands of awakened individuals one by one. This was the operation taking advantage of Lee Hayul¡¯s puppet threads, which functioned like superconductors of the aura world. The puppet threads, spread like a spider web in the deep, deep waters, glowed with the colors of the Milky Way. Rumble¡ª. The creature¡¯s movements slowed. The colossal monstrosity thrashed violently, as if trying to shake off the threads of the marite and swim away. The 12 arks were swept up like twigs in its struggle, but the marite threads, reinforced with Tang Seorin''s magic and thousands of auras, didn''t break easily. Instead, the more the creature resisted, the more the threads clung to its entire body. Rumble...! A roar from the distant monstrosity echoed through the air. The sensation of the marite threads, deadly weapons in their own right, digging into its flesh was palpable. ''What an unbelievably enormous monster!'' The creature thrashed about, surging in every direction. Although the threads did not snap, the arks, especially the first ark, were rapidly being drawn closer to the creature''s core. An immense eleration swept through the ship. Everyone shut their eyes tightly and groaned. Instinctively, I looked out through the reinforced ss of the operations control room. "...!" My eyes locked with the creature''s. Yes, it was an "eye." An eye so massive that it couldn''t possibly belong to a living creature was ring from the depths of the ocean. Compared to it, the ark was nothing more than a tiny speck in the iris. The creature, a void and an abomination known as the Great Typhoon had its "eye of the typhoon" fixed directly on us¡ªon me. Rumble...! The creature and I were still locked in a struggle. Our eyes met for only a fleeting moment. The monstrosity thrashed again, moving with a speed that belied its enormous bulk. Now, only the body was visible outside the window instead of the eye. The vast form was less like a creature and more like an entire ecosystem¡ªandscape, a force of nature that could never be contained within the rectangr frame of the window. Someone murmured, "A dragon..." It was such an apt description that everyone began to perceive the creature as a dragon from that moment on. The enormous eye. The vast body. The tail that was too swift to follow with mere sight. Even I, a regressor, was seeing the true form of the Great Typhoon for the first time, and it manifested as the most mystical creature from Eastern mythology. At the same time, I realized the creature''s other name. And I also understood why it was bound by the "Ark," a spell from the Book of Genesis. "Leviathan!" It was the name of the sea dragon mentioned in the Old Testament. A monster so fearsome that it could only be defeated by the omnipotent Yahweh. In other words, a source of terror that no one but a god could hope to vanquish. "This isn''t just a weather phenomenon! The Great Typhoon is Leviathan!" I shouted, needing to raise my voice as the ship shook violently. "What we thought was a massive typhoon was actually the body of Leviathan!" "...!" "The typhoon itself is Leviathan! The worm-like droplets were all parasites living inside Leviathan''s body! That''s why the infected kept melting away¡ªbecause it''s natural for foreign objects inside a body to be digested in the stomach!" In hindsight, the clues were there all along. When the Great Typhoon surged up the North Pacific and madendfall in Busan, the Saintess had described it like this: ''It''snded in Busan. Now, ah... The waters of the typhoon are rapidly converging on Busan.'' ''Impossible... The typhoon... It''s changing from a massive spiral into something like a long straw, and ah... the water, the tsunami on the horizon... It''s all converging on Geumjeongsan. Everyone, be careful¡ª.'' The typhoon, which had been swirling like a giant vortex, suddenly stretched into a long shape, focusing on Busan. That very shape was the dragon itself. In Eastern tradition, water has always been likened to a dragon. Taming a ferocious dragon¡ªcontrolling water¡ªwas considered an achievement only an emperor could aplish. In Norse mythology, J?rmungandr, by its mere presence, poisoned the air and water of the world and swept thend with floods. Thus, the creature was Leviathan, a dragon, and J?rmungandr. A monstrous embodiment of the infinite terror of the sea and water was roaring. Rumble...! Perhaps realizing it couldn''t shake off the marite threads, Leviathan''s movements changed. In other words, the typhoon that was inundating the arks also shifted. The typhoon began to "contract." The massive typhoon, which had beenrge enough to cover all of Busan, was rapidlypressing. [Mr. Jang, Ms. Jang!] At that moment, themunication with the Saintess was restored. The telepathic signal, distorted by the thick veil of the Great Void, had cleared. [Are you alright, Mr. Jang?] "Yes! I''m still holding on!" [The Great Typhoon has changed its form! A giant¡ªan enormous dragon is now wrapping itself around you and the arks, ascending into the sky!] Suddenly, the water clinging to the ark''s windows, which had been submerged for nearly ten days, was wiped away. We were no longer underwater. We were in the sky. Leviathan had lifted the arks, soaring up to an altitude of 5,000 meters. [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] Chapter 176 [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] Chapter 176 ©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤ Diver VIII "Whaaaa?" A scream echoed through the operations control room. The main contributor to the scream was Seo Gyu. Unfortunately, he was still bent over, turning his life into a game of pinball. Even disregarding such coteral damage, the gravitational eleration that struck the Ark fleet was terrifying. "Brother! The civilians won''t hold out!" Lee Hayul shouted as if she were screaming. More precisely, it was the voice of the maid who was kneeling beside her. "They''ll burst! Their whole bodies!" "Got it!" I immediately summoned my aura. It felt as if the once seemingly bottomless energy reservoir had been halved instantly. It was a massive expenditure even for me, who prided myself on being an aura monster. "If this continues, I won''t have enough ammunition left to deal with Leviathan!" In the end, it was impossible to protect all the civilians with just my aura. I urgently and carefully redistributed the auras being sent from the awakened ones on the twelve arks. Most of the civilians had already fainted due to the intense movements of Leviathan. There was no other choice. To lure the ''Great Disaster'' monster precisely to Busan, having as many people as possible on the arks was necessary. The most thriving bastion of humanity in East Asia at present. - Grrrrrrrk! As if proiming judgment on humanity''s arrogance, the mythic Tyrant Dragon rampaged even more violently. [Doctor Jang! The dragon is descending toward the sea surface again!] Woo-woo-woo-woo! The ark shook violently. It was simply a phenomenon of falling from above to below. Even so, the excessive drop and the excessive speed were, in themselves, acts of great violence. The ark trembled as if it were a piece of driftwood in the Pacific. The sky and clouds outside the operation control room window shed past like a revolvingntern in the blink of an eye. We were plummeting. From the sky back into the sea. "Saintess! Let me know the timing!" [Okay!] Even the voice of the saintess, who could freely use time stop, carried urgency. [Three seconds, two seconds, one¨D¨D careful!] There was an impact. Even though I squeezed out my aura to protect the ship as much as possible just before the collision with the water, I couldn¡¯tpletely neutralize the terrifying shock. "Hic." "¡¡!" Members in the operations control room started fainting one after another. Sim Aryeon and Noah, whose aura proficiencygged behind the others, lost consciousness. There was no need to mention the other containment zones. The awakened ones with immature auras foamed at the mouth and experienced ckouts one after another. Leviathan had simply ''jumped once high into the air'' like a dolphin and then ''sshed back'' into the sea. Even so, nearly half of the awakened ones on the ark were knocked out of the fight. "Was it this intense! The monster of the Great Disaster!" I clenched my teeth. The screams and the scent of blood from the arks were all being picked up by my heightened senses. "Ah¨D¨Dah¨D¨Daaa¨D¨D." Tang Seorin''s song spread. It was an unnned fifth verse. Before the operation, we had agreed to only sing up to the fourth verse, but recognizing the enemy''s immense power, Tang Seorin began to push herself. The melody reinforced the strength of the ark itself. Thanks to that, the oppressive weight that my aura had been bearing was greatly alleviated. - Grrrrrrrk! However, the violence exerted by Leviathan wasn''t simply due to its overwhelmingly massive body. Pogrrrrr-. Not long after Leviathan plunged into the sea, water began to flood into the operations control room. It was another weapon Leviathan originally possessed, striking again. "Ugh. Hayul!" "Yes!" Hayul quickly unbuckled her belt and grabbed a bucket. Then she started scooping out water. "¡¡! ¡¡!" Leviathan wasn¡¯t swimming calmly at 30 knots during this time. Even now, tens of thousands of puppet threads were strangling Leviathan''s main body. Its leather and flesh were being torn away, causing it to thrash in pain and rage. The waves rising from its struggles easily formed 20-meter-high tsunamis, devastating the city of Busan. The most intact city in East Asia (where more than 80% of the residential structures were shantytowns) was being thoroughly cleaned out. Lee Hayul stumbled several times inside the ship. She desperately swung the bucket while gulping down water. "I''ll help." Tak. Koyori grabbed Hayul''s hand. "¡¡!" "Heave-ho, heave-ho." Instinctively, Hayul tried to pull her hand away, but Koyori''s grip seemed stronger than expected. Unfazed, Koyori continued to move the bucket together. Hayul looked at me. What should I do, brother? Her eyes asked. I nodded. Right now, we needed to borrow both the hands of cats and Koyori''s. "Saintess! How are the other areas?" [They''re fine. I''m currently controlling the constetions and giving detailed instructions. Don''t worry about the other containment zones right now! Doctor Jang!] That''s right. Even though situations that were nearly impossible for humans to endure kepting at us, there was no room for crying or screaming. After all, hadn''t the world always been harsh to us? I was not an omnipotent time traveler. Originally, I was merely a supporter who took on the tasks Old Scho should have handled. That''s why I had gone through countless trials and errors to find a strategy to cultivate the ''party members.'' In this operation, the typhoon hunt, there was hardly anyone useless. (The reason I said ''hardly'' was because of Seo Gyu, who was still unconscious and floating on the surface.) [The water levels in all containment zones are stabilizing.] [No drownings.] [Some people are contaminated by water parasites, but it''s okay. The awakened ones around them are handling it.] [Those who lost consciousness due to the earlier impact with the water are quickly regaining their senses... Ah. Doctor Jang, the dragon is about to rise again!] I cursed under my breath. Was this tyrant dragon nning to keep repeating this seesawing? "It''s not like I think I''ll lose if this turns into a long battle." The problem was the casualties on our side. The 60,000 people aboard the Ark fleet weren¡¯t just a ''60,000'' number that could be easily quantified. The residents most strongly influenced by the National Highway Authority and the dominion of the Three Thousand Worlds. Warriors who willingly boarded the most dangerous of arks to save other regions. In this apocalyptic era, where all resources have been tainted by the void poison, they were thest remaining human resources and the pirs of the future. Their spirit. Their vitality. Their stance. Is there even a single life that could be wasted carelessly? ¡°Should I cut the strings and let the remaining eleven arks escape? No, if I do that, the threads binding the Leviathan will be too thin. Will we end up losing it? Should we aim for the next summer, the next turn?¡± It was then. ¡°Haaaaaaah!¡± [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] A shout that shook the heavens and the earth echoed from outside the ark, reaching all the way to the operations control room. A roar that literally shook the horizon. It was a lion¡¯s roar, someone intentionally amplifying their aura to the breaking point. It was as if they were shouting for all those who had fallen into despair to hear. My mind shed. Even before the roar was over, I already knew whose voice it was. ¡°Yohwa!¡± The student council president of Baekhwa Girls¡¯ High School. The only necromancer on the Korean Penins. The shrine maiden who sealed the alien god in a sandss. Cheon Yohwa had arrived. ¡°Sink down!¡± The Leviathan, which had just raised its head to soar once more into the sky, was struck down by a girl with orange hair who had once been the ace of the basketball team. BOOM! A tremendous impact struck the Leviathan. The beast, which had just lifted its head, was forced to bury it back into the sea. CRASH! The waves, caused by the Leviathan¡¯s head mming down, destroyed the beach and even reached the headquarters of the National Highway Authority, thest building still standing in Busan. ¡°ROOOOAAARRR!¡± ¡°Baekhwa Girls¡¯ High! Jump! Jump down! Don¡¯t cower in fear! No matter what happens, don¡¯t let this serpent rise again!¡± It was hard to fully grasp the situation through the operations control room¡¯s window. The saintess quickly spoke to me. [I did it.] ¡°You, Saintess¡.¡± [Yes. Whenmunications were cut off, I requested reinforcements from Cheon Yohwa.] [Both Sim Aryeon and Cheon Yohwa leaving their positions would make the northern front waver, but I judged that it was more important to defeat the Leviathan, even if it meant losing Pyongyang.] [When persuading Cheon Yohwa, I pretended it was an order from Doctor Jang. I apologize for making such a unteral decision.] ¡°No, you did well!¡± [Yes.] The saintess replied as if she knew I would forgive her. Her voice sounded much less urgent than before. ¡°How did Yohwa manage to stop the Leviathan just now?¡± [Aerial bombardment.] Aerial bombardment? [Originally, members of the Three Thousand Worlds guild were scouting the Leviathan¡¯s approach route, but now they¡¯re carrying Baekhwa Girls¡¯ High guild members on their broomsticks.] [The members of the Three Thousand Worlds guild approach the dragon using flight magic, and then the Baekhwa Girls¡¯ High guild members drop down from thousands of meters in the air to strike the dragon. They¡¯re using their bodies as missiles.] ¡°¡¡!¡± [It was a tactic proposed by Cheon Yohwa herself.] It was a brute-force method, but effective. The Leviathan itself used brute-force tactics, so they simply responded in kind. Yoo Jiwon, who had maintained the mostposure in the operations control room, also made a report. ¡°Your Excellency. Awakened individuals from Baekhwa Girls¡¯ High appear on the minimap individually. Some of them are already presumed to be drifting on the sea.¡± BOOM! BOOM, BOOM! Starting with Cheon Yohwa, dozens, no, hundreds of impacts exploded on the battlefield. It was hard to see through the window, but Baekhwa Girls¡¯ High guild members were still bombarding the Leviathan, their entire bodies enveloped in aura. ¡°ROOOAAARRR!¡± ¡°TEACHER!¡± Cheon Yohwa¡¯s voice was heard. It sounded desperate somehow. ¡°We don¡¯t have much time left! Before that happens!¡± ¡°¡¡!¡± I immediately jumped out of my seat and rushed out. I flung open the hatch prepared for diving. A gust of wind blew in. Only then did the full view of the battlefield enter my eyes, not just the confined square of the window¡¯s frame. The first thing I saw was the colossal body of the Leviathan, stretching out almost to the horizon. ¡°Teacher!¡± And then, Cheon Yohwa¡¯s struggle. Amazingly, Cheon Yohwa was embedded in the Leviathan¡¯s eye. Even while iling her limbs, she fiercely unleashed her aura, tearing apart the monster¡¯s eye. Finally, I understood how Cheon Yohwa had grounded the Leviathan. That crazy disciple had leapt from thousands of meters above and stabbed the Leviathan¡¯s eyeball in one go! ¡°Yohwa!¡± ¡°Yes!¡± ¡°Well done!¡± ¡°Yes! Please save me!¡± ROOOOAAARRR-! The Leviathan was enraged, with a tiny mosquito sucking its blood inside its eyeball. Tsunamis relentlessly pounded the Busan coastline. The headquarters of the National Highway Authority was starting to sway dangerously. Noh Doha will be pleased that we¡¯ve saved on urban redevelopment costs. [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] Chapter 177 [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] Chapter 177 ©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤ Diver IX ¡°Wait.¡± I hesitated. A strange realization. No, it was more like the precursor to a realization¡ªsomething like static electricity lightly rubbed against the folds of my brain. ¡°From Leviathan¡¯s perspective... isn¡¯t Yohwa just a bug or a mosquito that got into its eye?¡± Eye. Bug. Mosquito. These keywords felt oddly familiar. I was on the verge of a great idea, just on the brink of grasping it. If only I could sit calmly in a caf¨¦ with an Americano in hand, I might be able to catch hold of this idea right away! Unfortunately, the current situation didn¡¯t afford me the luxury of finding a caf¨¦ with a nice view. ¡°Ack, all my fingers have turned into bugs... Teacher. I think I¡¯m going to get sucked into its eye. See you in the next life.¡± ¡°No, Yohwa!¡± Thud! I ran through the air and grabbed Cheon Yohwa¡¯s hand. She clung to my hand as if she had been waiting for this. Then she pulled, but it felt like her body was stuck between walls, not budging an inch. ¡°Ahhh! Teacher, my arm! My arm¡¯sing off!¡± ¡°What on earth is holding you? What¡¯s in there?¡± ¡°Bugs! The bugs in this eyeball are no joke! Hundreds of thousands of water bugs are clinging to my calves and thighs, dragging me down!¡± It was true. Squirm, squirm, squirm¡ª Transparent bugs the size of a person¡¯s arm swarmed over Cheon Yohwa, pulling her down, deeper and deeper. Indeed, not just Leviathan¡¯s body, but even its eyes wereposed entirely of water-shaped bugs. Inside its eye, a pit of bugs gaped wide open, determined not to let go of Cheon Yohwa, who had dared to trespass without permission. I shouted urgently, ¡°Just unleash the Seal of the Endless Hell!¡± ¡°I¡¯m trying to make a deal, but Endless Hell wants me to give up 6 hours a day in exchange for its power!¡± ¡°No way! Last time, 6 hours became 12 hours, and 12 hours turned into 23 hours, 59 minutes, and 59 seconds!¡± ¡°Right... Ah, I¡¯m really getting sucked in. My aura is being consumed too. Maybe it¡¯s better to just drag you in with me and end this together...¡± ¡°Hey, are you Endless Hell?¡± ¡°Not yet, okay?¡± Boom! I stomped hard on the ground. I released an aura that turned Leviathan¡¯s eye into an actual hole. -Roooaaaarrr! Leviathan thrashed in pain. But the original goal of rescuing Cheon Yohwa failed. As soon as the water bugs evaporated in the aura, other bugs immediately reced them. The number of water bugs forming the massive body of the draconic creature was overwhelminglyrge. It was practically like the sea itself. ¡°Damn.¡± I drew my cane-sword, Doha, and sliced Leviathan¡¯s neck in two. Sssshhh! The neck was severed, but bugs immediately swarmed the cut surface, reattaching the body and neck. There seemed to be no end to it. To rescue Cheon Yohwa, I might have to burn Leviathan entirely to the ground. ¡°Teacher, maybe we should just give Endless Hell the 6 hours¡ª¡± Instead of answering, I gripped Cheon Yohwa¡¯s hand tightly. The intense pressure made her stop speaking. I couldn¡¯t allow that. If Endless Hell took over Cheon Yohwa¡¯s body, it would nonchntly pretend to be her, slowly winning over her friends,rades, and subordinates. Cheon Yohwa would be forced to watch, trapped in the depths of her consciousness, as Endless Hell gradually reced her. This had happened in another timeline. ¡®Think.¡¯ I continued burning the seemingly endless swarm of water bugs with my aura, trying to dy Cheon Yohwa¡¯s fall into the abyss within the eye for just a moment longer. A desperate struggle with no end in sight. As time slowed down, I desperately tried to devise a strategy. ¡®Think. Why is Leviathan so desperate to protect its eye?¡¯ ¡®Did it sense the Endless Hell slumbering inside Cheon Yohwa? Is it trying to absorb it into its body?¡¯ ¡®Could Leviathan have the ability to devour even a god-tier anomaly? No, that can¡¯t be. If that were the case, Endless Hell wouldn¡¯t be bargaining so leisurely...¡¯ Then. Step. I heard footsteps. Step. It was strange. The thrashing of Leviathan had created a tsunami that crashed all around. The sound of waves and the storm drowned out all other noise. Cheon Yohwa and I could barelymunicate even with our voices amplified by aura. Yet in this chaos, the footsteps distinctly touched my eardrums. Step, step, step¡ª The strangeness wasn¡¯t just in the sound. The scenery around me suddenly came to a halt. Cheon Yohwa, who was holding my hand, the Baekhwa High School Guild membersunching a live bombardment to rescue their leader, and even the spray from the waves sent soaring by Leviathan¡¯s back¡ª Everything had frozen. ¡°¨D¨D¨D.¡± I was no exception. I stopped, eyes wide open. My consciousness and thoughts continued without issue, but even blinking was impossible. No matter how much time seemed to slow when I focused, this was beyond abnormal. Step, step, step¡ª Only the sound of footsteps approaching from behind me continued to resonate clearly. Unable to turn my head toward the sound, I could only listen intently. Step. The footsteps stopped right beside my head. A small shadow cast itself over me. ¡ºGuildmaster.¡» A scent, sweet to the point of rot, like an apple steeped in sugar, wafted over. Koyori¡¯s scent. ¡ºDidn¡¯t I tell you?¡» Arms reached out from behind and cupped my face. The fingers wove together, casting a web over my face. Through the web of fingers, I caught a glimpse of Leviathan¡¯s eye in the distance. Then, the scent grew closer, right up to my ear, and whispered. ¡ºThat is a dragon, you know?¡» ¡ªAnd with that whisper. At the same time as the whisper, as if it were a lie, the world began to move again. Cheon Yohwa struggled, and the members of Baekhwa Girls'' High School Guild were engaged in battle. The tidal wave that had surged into the sky repeatedly crashed down, pounding the deck of the ark. Ssh! I, too, was drenched by the wave. I turned around after the icy seawater sshed across my face and fell away. Koyori was nowhere to be seen. Maybe she was never there to begin with. "......" I dumbly parted my lips. Realization seeped through the gap. [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] "...Eyes." "Excuse me? Teacher?" "That''s right. Eyes!" I shouted. "Leviathan, this monstrous sea dragon, being a dragon, it has no choice but to protect its eyes!" Drawing the Eyes of the Dragon. It is said that long ago, a legendary painter painted four pure white dragons in a temple. The paintings were so magnificent that everyone who saw them couldn¡¯t help butvish praise, but strangely, the painter left the dragons'' eyes unfinished. When asked why he did not add the finishing touch, the painter replied: -If I draw the eyes, the dragons will fly away into the sky. Since no one believed him, the painter added eyes to two of the dragons. And then, sure enough, the two white dragons wriggled out of the temple walls and flew up into the sky. From a modern perspective, this could be interpreted as ¡®the seal that had trapped the anomaly was broken.¡¯ ¡®A blind white dragon can no longer ascend!¡¯ The eyes signify perception. A blind creature, unable to recognize where it is or what it is, could never break free from the shackles of the earth and soar into the vast sky. And if this legend also applies to the dragon before me... The dragon that loses the ¡®eye of the storm¡¯ would no longer be a divine creature, but merely a painting on a wall. "Saintess!" [Yes?] "Are you in the library in Yongsandong right now? You have Kafka''s The Metamorphosis, right?" [Yes? Oh, I do have it...] "Please don''t ask why! Quickly bring Kafka''s The Metamorphosis and read it to Yowha! Don''t skip a single word!" [I''ve brought it.] Not even a second passed before the Saintess replied. She must have frozen time for a moment to act. But my orders weren''t finished yet. I looked down at Cheon Yohwa. "Yowha! The Saintess is going to read you a passage now. You must recite it exactly as you hear it, from start to finish." Despite the incredibly perilous situation, where we could both be drawn into Leviathan''s eyes, and her previous mention of some suicide pact, Cheon Yohwa remained unflustered. Instead, her expression and voice became immediately calm. "Should I read it loudly?" "That''s not particrly important. But it''s crucial that you keep reading without stopping." "I understand, Teacher." While the Saintess and Cheon Yohwa weremunicating in their own way, I stretched out my left hand towards the sky. And then I unfolded my dark aura. It wasn''t an attack meant to gouge out Leviathan''s eyes, as before. In fact, it was the opposite. I spread the aura to create a ¡®shield¡¯ that covered the entire surface of the dragon¡¯s eyes. Like an eyelid. -¡¡! My aura, rippling in dark hues, swiftly enveloped Leviathan''s eyes. Not just one eye, but I extended the aura to cover the other eye as well. Like a blindfold, the aura wrapped around Leviathan''s eyes. It waspletely cut off from the outside world. Cheon Yohwa and I were also engulfed in darkness. -ROOOAAAARRR! Leviathan howled in agony. This was no mere cry of frustration from having its vision blocked; it was a profound, heart-wrenching wail. More importantly... [¡¡!] [The enemy''s movements have slowed!] The frenzied thrashing of the anomaly, which had been rampaging like a wild stallion, rapidly weakened. Buzzing, buzzing, buzzing-. The insects clinging to Cheon Yohwa''s legs suddenly shot up. They hurled themselves against the ''eyelid'' I had created, trying to tear it apart with all their might. But it was futile. Just as it was difficult for me to burn Leviathan''s entire body, it was impossible for Leviathan to devour my aura in one go. "Ugh." The insects that were gnawing at the eyelid also attacked me. They crawled into my eyes, my mouth, between my fingers¡ªany crevice they could find, they swarmed into, gnawing at me. I channeled my energy, driving away the unpleasant crawling of the insects with a burst of force. These insects, desperate to keep their ''eyes'' open, were fighting for their lives. [One morning, upon awakening from troubled dreams.] "One morning, upon awakening from troubled dreams." And then. [Gregor Samsa found himself, in his bed, transformed into a monstrous vermin.] "Gregor Samsa found himself, in his bed, transformed into a monstrous vermin." The chorus of the Saintess''s emotionless voice and Cheon Yohwa''s clear, resonant voice intertwined, echoing in the hellish pit of insects. Grrr! The insects that had been biting me all turned their heads towards Cheon Yohwa. In an enormous swarm, they rushed towards her. But I couldn''t let them get to her. I instantly pushed my aura to dangerous levels and burned the insects away, trying to keep the anomaly from getting anywhere near Cheon Yohwa. Grrr! Grrrr! Yet, despite my efforts, the countless insects, like a tide, kept charging at Cheon Yohwa without rest. In the middle of the dark void, where the sunlight had been blocked by the eyelid, my dark aura red up in faint shades, endlessly, relentlessly fending off the suicidal assault of the insect horde. ¡®If this giant anomaly is somehow connected to these insects.¡¯ My aura was depleting rapidly. ¡®Then what happened to the Saintess must also happen to this anomaly.¡¯ The Saintess had merely been walking down the street when a ¡®bug got into her eye,¡¯ and she turned into a potato. I still didn¡¯t know the full nature of these insect-rted anomalies. But one thing was clear. ¡®An anomaly can never deny its own essence.¡¯ For an anomaly, the concept of "double standards" is impossible. If an anomaly''s power is to transform humans, the anomaly must face the same fate when ced in the same situation. A great cmity, Leviathan, J?rmungandr. This merciless white dragon treated the humans within its body as nothing more than parasites. So, what would happen when those ''parasites'' entered its ''eyes''? ¡®Leviathan, just like the Saintess, will also be forced to transform into something, if not a potato, then something equally akin to a vermin!¡¯ The insects were doing everything they could to silence Cheon Yohwa, while I used all my strength to protect her from them. As the unstoppable spear and the unbreakable shield shed, The spell was finally cast. [He found himself transformed into a monstrous vermin.] "He found himself transformed into a monstrous vermin." At that moment. "He found himself transformed into a monstrous vermin." Heaven and earth shook. [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] Chapter 178 [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] Chapter 178 ©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤ Diver X 12 Let¡¯s talk about insects for a moment. Chung. The word for insect. And it¡¯s a derogatory term. When you think about it, isn¡¯t that quite odd? Since ancient times, when humans constructed the pyramid of life, it was built in the order of nts-animals-humans. The lower down the pyramid, the more those beings were treated as low-level newbies in the ecosystem. Yet, in humanmunities, the phrase ¡°tree bastard¡± or ¡°you little seed¡± never became amon insult. At most, ¡°weed¡± mighte to mind, but as you can tell from the word ¡°mincho¡± (referring to hardy grass), there¡¯s a certain admiration for their resilience embedded in it. If you¡¯re still skeptical: Compare ¡°Your life force is as tough as weeds!¡± with ¡°Your life force is as tough as a cockroach¡¯s!¡± Notice the difference in nuance? Throughout time, the lowest ce in the hierarchy was always reserved for insects. The long history of contempt and persecution of insects is well-documented in the dictionary. - Harmful pests? Yup, ¡°harmful insects¡±. - Azy person who only eats and poops? Yup, ¡°parasite¡±. - Spineless and indecisive? A spineless insect, ¡°invertebrate¡±. - A psychopath like Yoo Jiwon? A bloodless insect, ¡°bloodless creature¡±. - A follower who merely echoes others? An echoing insect, ¡°imitator¡±. What a splendid lineup of insults. Even a tiger¡¯s nickname was Big Bug, which literally trantes to ¡°that big insect.¡± (This new word was created because the posthumous emperor of the Tang Dynasty had the character for ¡°tiger¡± in his name, leading to a need for a substitute word. A very hasty creation indeed.) In short, ancient people simply added the character for ¡°insect¡± to any beast with legs. But it would be problematic to im that ancient peoplecked the biological insight to distinguish between insects and mammals, promoting a ¡°modern human genius theory.¡± It¡¯s just that ancient people, like modern people, understood a simple truth: when you want to insult something, adding the word ¡°insect¡± to the end of it does the job. The most lowly existence. The scorn and disdain for life. When humans wanted to curse something, they used insects as the most basic form of witchcraft. Anyone or anything could be an insect. With the advent of anomalies, humanity¡¯s status was reduced to that of insects. Just as a dragonfly gracefully soaring through the air could be captured for an elementary school summer project and have its wings torn off, a human taking a stroll by the river could lose their limbs and face at any moment, reduced to a mere potato. How beautifully that dragonfly flew or how noble that human was didn¡¯t matter to the anomalies. What¡¯s the big deal about the fate of a mere insect? To regard something as ¡°something that doesn¡¯t matter if it dies,¡± it was first necessary to turn it into an ¡°insect.¡± Such was the thoroughness of the anomalies¡¯ magic. But the anomalies were too hasty. As Chairman Netero pointed out, the mistake enemies made when trying to annihte humanity was always the same. They underestimated ¡°the bottomless malice of humans.¡± That¡¯s right. If the rule of the anomalies is that when you gaze into the abyss, the abyss also gazes into you, then the unyielding principle of human history is that when you treat someone as an insect, you must be prepared to be treated as one yourself. 13 ¡°Gruoooooor!¡± Leviathan roared. Like the strongest dragon ever, Leviathan¡¯s body was transparent. It was super strong, making it the strongest of all dragons. But what Leviathan was facing now was neither gods nor demons nor the Balrog, which, due to copyright, we can¡¯t even use. After all, they were no different from the expendable extras doomed to lose in every Kamen Rider special effects show. The enemies of the anomalies. They were always the killers of the Earth¡¯s ecosystem, humans. ¡°Gruoooor!¡± Thus, Leviathan¡¯s roar aplished nothing except rupturing the eardrums and retinas of a few awakened ones on the battlefield. Among them, both Cheon Yohwa and myself, to speak of the representatives of the awakened, were unharmed. The water bugs that had charged at us as if ready to tear our limbs off suddenly stopped and began screaming. In truth, Leviathan¡¯s roar wasn¡¯t something that came from its mouth. It was closer to the cacophony vomited out by the countless water bugs that made up its body. A death throe expelled by its entire body. ¡°Ugh, extreme! It¡¯s so noisy¡!¡± ¡°Don¡¯t stop! Keep reading Metamorphosis, Yowha! This is working!¡± ¡°Ah, yes. I-I got it!¡± ¡°Saintess! Please recite it in the original German instead of the Korean trantion!¡± [Understood.] ¡°Yowha, it doesn¡¯t matter if you don¡¯t understand, just try your best to mimic the Saintess¡¯s pronunciation!¡± ¡°Yes, yes!¡± The Saintess didn¡¯t originally know German. But over the past few years of study sessions with me, she had naturally taken Maestro-level Germannguage courses. For Saintess who could read Kant¡¯s Critique of Pure Reason in German, Kafka was nothing. She and Cheon Yohwa continued to chant the powerful ¡°insect incantations.¡± ¡°Crreeeak.¡± Leviathan¡¯s body was crumbling. The force that had held the H?O and the swarms of bugs in the shape of a dragon was rapidly weakening. Since Cheon Yohwa and I were still struggling under the eyelid-like curtains made of aura, we couldn¡¯t fully grasp the situation. But just by seeing the water bugs convulsing and having seizures, we could tell we had found an effective ¡°strategy.¡± [Doctor Jang! It¡¯s working!] Drip. Rain began to fall. [The dragon¡¯s scales are falling off!] But it wasn¡¯t rain from the sky. The dragon¡¯s membrane, its flesh, its innards, its cells. All the water bugs that made up those parts were bursting and trickling down like raindrops. -Ribbit. -Ribbit, ribbit, ribbit. -Ribbit, ribbit, ribbit, ribbit. The water bugs writhed in agony. The frog is the harbinger of rain, a being that predicts and summons it. Thus, the frog loudly proimed that this downpour was entirely within its domain, that it was not an unforeseen event. But even if the frogs'' croaking filled the skulls of every human being, it was still far from enough to stop the copse that had already begun. -Croak, croak. Drip. Drip. I looked up. A few drops of water struck my cheek. As always, a few droplets of drizzle were merely the prelude to the torrent that would soon follow. -Croak, croak. Thud-thud-thud-thud. Countless bugs burst forth. A once-in-a-lifetime typhoon that recorded a height of 10km and a diameter of 1,200km. A monstrous force that terrorized all of East Asia with the fear of water was spewing out a downpour off the coast of Busan. That downpour was none other than Leviathan¡¯s blood. It was the corpse of the sea dragon. ''It''s done.'' There was no longer any need to ce a blindfold on the anomaly''s eyelids. Even the dragon''s pupils were swirling and sinking. ''We did it! The Great Typhoon! We found a way to defeat it with such minimal damage!'' I wasn''t the only one who shouted in triumph. In fact, I was among the more reserved ones. "It''s falling! That bastard is going down!" "Rescue the people who fell into the sea! If they get caught in the downpour, they''ll drown!" "Aaaahhhh!" "We won! We won!" Members of the Three Thousand Worlds Guild who had been circling outside the typhoon on broomsticks, members of the Baekhwa High School Guild who had been fighting on the dragon''s body, and the Awakened who had been infusing aura inside the Ark. The breaths they let out as they sensed victory felt vivid to me. "Teacher!" Thud. Cheon Yohwa, convinced that it was finally over, hugged me with a body soaked in fatigue. "We survived!" Considering that Cheon Yohwa had half-jokingly contemted a double suicide, it wasn''t surprising that dopamine was surging from her in the wake of this victory. I also patted Cheon Yohwa''s back vigorously. "You did a great job! Thanks to your strike on the eye of the typhoon, things went well!" "Ouch, ouch, ouch-. Hehe. Yes!" Cheon Yohwa giggled as I smacked her on the back. Even a single strand of her orange hair, which clung messily to her cheek, seemed endearing. And so we entered the epilogue of a happy ending¨D¨Dif only it were that simple. In truth, there was one more scene I needed to describe before we could move on to the epilogue. And this scene was one that I had never spoken of to anyone. It was a secret that I am revealing here for the first time. At this moment, except for me and a future eavesdropper, Oh Dokseo, everyone believed that the Great Typhoon had been defeated. Noah''s Ark. Lee Hayul¡¯s puppet strings. The aura support from the Awakened. Cheon Yohwa¡¯s assistance. And finally, the "finishing touch" and "transformation" spell I, Doctor Jang, miraculously devised that brought down Leviathan. However, I saw it. Thud-. As I stood there, embraced by Cheon Yohwa and watching the sea dragon¡¯s end, I saw a truly strange scene. Koyori was walking towards the copsing Leviathan. No one else noticed this. Which made sense, as no one was moving, as if time had stopped. ¡°¡¡¡± I couldn¡¯t even move my lips. I was engulfed by a feeling that made it hard to distinguish whether this was a dream or reality. Thud. Thud-. In the world where my gaze was the only witness, Koyori was quietly taking steps. As if it were the most natural thing, she was walking on the surface of the water. With each step she took, Koyori¡¯s lips moved slightly. ¡°You shouldn¡¯t do that.¡± A faint whisper. Strangely enough, it felt as though her voice was noting from far away, but rather, as if it was right next to my ear, or perhaps even inside my head. However, the whisper wasn¡¯t directed at me. Koyori was smiling brightly at Leviathan, which was gradually dissolving into raindrops. ¡°We are supposed to respect each other¡¯s domains, aren¡¯t we, Dragon? At least, that¡¯s how I understood our agreement¡¡± Then, something astonishing happened. The sea dragon responded in a world that seemed frozen, or rather, in an atmosphere that felt more like a detached fantasy than reality. -G?ro?o?a?a?a?a?a?a?a?a?a?o?o?o?o?. Leviathan did not respond with humannguage, but with the gestures of a anomaly. The scales of the sea dragon, which had been helplessly crumbling until now, suddenly sharpened once more. Blink, blink, blink. Countless scales transformed into "eyes." ¡°¡¡!¡± I recoiled silently in shock. Leviathan¡¯s body was no longerposed of beautiful, transparent scales. Like Argos in Greek mythology, its entire body, from head to toe, was covered in ¡°eyes.¡± As if, in response to humans covering their eyes to attempt the subjugation, it decided to create hundreds of millions of eyes simply. Indeed, a boss anomaly is capable of multiple transformations. The typhoon form was Phase 1. The sea dragon form was Phase 2. The Great Typhoon anomaly was now ready to initiate Phase 3. ¡®Does this mean we have to subjugate it again?¡¯ An overwhelming sense of dread gripped my consciousness. [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] Koyori wore a slightly troubled smile. ¡°Really. I said no.¡± In a world that felt like a fantasy, a strange sound echoed. It was reminiscent of a beast¡¯s cry, simr to a tiger¡¯s growl, and also like the innocentughter of countless children. All these sounds mixed together, creating an eerie echo. ¡®This is¡¡.¡¯ A sense of d¨¦j¨¤ vu washed over me. An episode from long ago. Wasn''t this the exact same sound as that night when all the citizens of Daejeon vanished, the night I conducted the "experiment" to bring Yoo Jiwon and Koyori together? Koyori whispered. "Be one." In that moment, the millions of eyes of the Leviathan melted away. No embellishment was necessary. The Leviathan, revealing its true form for thest time, melted away as if it had always been nothing more than a drop of water, without even a single struggle. The melted eyes vanished, mixed with the rain that had already been pouring down for a while. It was dead. "...?" Suddenly, Koyori turned to look at me. She widened her eyes in surprise when she met my gaze. Her footsteps began to move toward me. But then, her toes hesitated. "....." Koyori stared down at her feet for a long time. It might have been my imagination, but I felt a hint of perplexity from her. After a moment, a fresh smile spread across her lips like paint. "Indeed. This, too, is a realm of its own." What did she mean by that? Koyori lightly lifted the hem of her long skirt, and bowed gracefully like a noble of the social elite. "Rest assured." "..." "I won''t touch you." Thud, thud, thud... As soon as she finished speaking, the rain that had been paused in midair began to pour down again. Thest rain of the monsoon season was so thick that even Koyori''s figure disappeared, swallowed by the mist. Time, which had been frozen, and the world, which had been oveid with illusion, began to flow once more. ¡°¨D¨DWhoaahhhhh!¡± ¡°It''s really dead!¡± ¡°We did it!¡± The cheers of the Awakened, which had been paused for a moment, surged across the sea in front of Busan. To them, the Leviathan had never entered its third phase, nor had its millions of eyes bloomed. The sea dragon was merely ordinary rain that had poured down, and it had all been poured out. No strange phenomena had urred in between. "Long live Baekhwa Girls'' High School! Long live Cheon Yohwa!" "Long live Tang Seorin!" "Thank you, celestial beings!" "Doctor Jang! Doctor Jang! Doctor Jang!" "..." While everyone was praising the heroes of this operation, I silently looked toward the mist. The seemingly endless rain began to subside. The mist sank. The shore after the sea dragon''s corpse had beenpletely buried. Koyori was nowhere to be seen. ¡°Saintess.¡± [Yes.] ¡°Did you, by any chance, see that just now?¡± [What do you mean by ¡®that¡¯?] ¡°¡Never mind. You really did a great job this time.¡± I continued to gently stroke the back of Cheon Yohwa¡¯s head, who was still clinging to me like a ko. The ark''s deck opened, and people who had been confined for nearly ten days began to emerge. The cheers from the sea grew even louder. But for a while, the scent of apples lingered at the tip of my nose, more than the smell of saltwater. The Great Monsoon. Alias: Leviathan, Water Bug, Sea Dragon, White Dragon, Frog Dragon, Rain of Frogs, J?rmungandr, Eye of the Typhoon, Argos. Danger Level: Lv.4 Oceanic (Five Oceans). Patterns: Phase 1 ''Typhoon'', Phase 2 ''Sea Dragon'', Phase 3 ''Opening of the Reverse Scale''. Estimated Damage Range upon Failure: Sinking of the Japanese archipgo, flooding of the Korean Penins, inundation of the Chinese maind. Sessfully exterminated. 14 There''s an epilogue. Having found a strategy to tackle the Great Monsoon after much trial and error, I prepared even more meticulously for the next summer. "From now on, your name is Noah." "Are you serious...?" Naturally, in this turns too, I renamed Noh Doha as "Noah." The ark was made even sturdier. This time, there was no need to take Lee Hayul and dive into the typhoon; I simply bound the entire ark fleet tightly together with puppet strings from the beginning. I even made the Saintess and Cheon Yohwa memorize the original German text of Metamorphosis. It was the very definition of preparedness. ''This time, I¡¯ll take it down in a day! Come on, Great Monsoon!'' It didn¡¯te. ¡°...?¡± No matter how long I waited, there was no sign of the Great Monsoon, not even a regr monsoon. The sea off Busan was peaceful, filled only with the aria of seagulls. "Huh?" Frowns were directed at me. Everyone¡ªNoah, who had invested budget and manpower to build an ark on Geumjeongsan, the passengers who boarded the ark with a solemn mindset, and even Cheon Yohwa, who had struggled to memorize German¡ªwas looking at me like I was Korea''s Meteorological Agency. The regressor''s stock was plummeting before my eyes. "Uh... how about we wait a few more days?" Still, it didn¡¯te. "....." ¡°Hey, regressor. Do you want to die...?¡± Noah tore off the namete that said ¡°Noah¡± and threw it at me. It was a direct hit to my heart. ¡®No, this doesn¡¯t make any sense.¡¯ But the Great Monsoon had truly vanished without a trace. I even took a flight to the North Pacific myself, but I couldn¡¯t find any signs of a forming typhoon. Not just in this turns, but the Great Monsoon didn¡¯t appear in the subsequent turnss either. Busan was never again swept away by a tsunami, leading to a massive reconstruction project. It was an unbelievable situation. [Doctor Jang.] However. Every summer, another entity began appearing in the sea off Busan. [The ¡®pink creature¡¯ you warned us aboutst time has appeared in Haeundae.] "Pardon?" [Don''t worry. I didn¡¯t use irvoyance on that creature. I¡¯m carefully observing it through the eyes of another Awakened in Haeundae.] Koyori. As the rainy season approached, she appeared again on Busan''s shores. ¡°What on earth is she doing there?¡± [There don''t seem to be any unusual signs. She''s taken off her shoes and sshes in the water, walking along the beach herself.] [Oh, now she''s crouched down and ying in the sand.] I furrowed my brow. ¡°¡ying in the sand?¡± [Yes. You know the song "Duggaebi, Duggaebi, give me a new house, and I¡¯ll give you an old one"? She''s singing that while building and then destroying a sandcastle, over and over again. She seems to be having a great time.] [What should we do, Doctor Jang? Should we leave her alone? Or should we interfere using other awakened ones?] ¡°¡¡¡± I remained silent for a long time. My neck, which No Do-ha had grabbed earlier, still ached. ¡°¡No. Just leave her be.¡± [Really?] ¡°Yes. There''s no need to poke a sleeping tiger.¡± ording to the Saintess¡¯s report, Koyori spent about 60 minutes ying on the Haeundae beach before suddenly heading back to Daejeon. After waiting until the pink entity hadpletely left Busan, I immediately visited Haeundae. I went straight to the spot where Koyori had supposedly been ying in the sand. It was right on the borderline where the waves barely reached. The sand, now damp and turned a dirty brown, had something written on it. -Ohheung! What? What could it mean? Perhaps she left it there, knowing I woulde¡ªshaking my head at the thought, something else caught my eye beneath the waves. There were ''letters'' written there. »¢. The character for tiger. ¡°¡¡¡± Even if something had been written there, the tide should have long since washed the sand away, erasing every trace. Yet, somehow, the letters remained inscribed on the seabed. It wasn''t just a few letters that had coincidentally withstood the waves. Tiny, insect-like letters stretched out endlessly, all the way to the horizon. »¢»¢»¢»¢»¢»¢»¢»¢»¢»¢»¢»¢»¢»¢»¢»¢»¢»¢»¢»¢»¢»¢»¢»¢»¢»¢»¢»¢»¢»¢»¢»¢»¢»¢»¢»¢»¢»¢»¢»¢»¢»¢»¢»¢»¢»¢»¢»¢»¢»¢»¢»¢»¢»¢»¢»¢»¢»¢»¢»¢»¢»¢»¢»¢»¢»¢»¢»¢»¢»¢»¢»¢»¢»¢»¢»¢»¢»¢»¢»¢»¢»¢»¢»¢»¢»¢»¢»¢»¢»¢»¢»¢»¢»¢»¢»¢»¢»¢»¢»¢»¢»¢»¢»¢»¢»¢»¢»¢»¢»¢»¢»¢»¢»¢»¢»¢»¢»¢»¢»¢»¢»¢»¢»¢»¢»¢»¢»¢»¢»¢»¢»¢»¢»¢»¢»¢»¢»¢»¢»¢»¢»¢»¢»¢»¢»¢»¢»¢»¢»¢»¢»¢»¢»¢»¢»¢»¢»¢»¢»¢»¢»¢»¢»¢»¢»¢»¢»¢»¢»¢»¢»¢»¢»¢»¢»¢»¢»¢»¢»¢»¢»¢»¢»¢»¢»¢»¢»¢»¢»¢»¢»¢»¢»¢»¢»¢»¢»¢»¢»¢»¢»¢»¢»¢»¢»¢»¢»¢»¢»¢»¢»¢»¢»¢»¢»¢»¢»¢»¢»¢»¢»¢»¢»¢»¢»¢»¢»¢»¢»¢»¢»¢»¢»¢»¢»¢»¢»¢»¢»¢»¢»¢»¢»¢»¢»¢»¢»¢»¢»¢»¢»¢»¢»¢. ¡°¡¡¡± Just as I was about to speak, a wave gently brushed over the shore. And then, all the letters that had covered the seabed just moments before vanished without a trace. -Ohheung! Only the yful sound effect Koyori had drawn remained at my feet. ¡°¡¡¡± Hmm. ¡It was autumn. -Diver. END. [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] Chapter 179 [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] Chapter 179 ©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤ The Existence ¢ñ 1 Since the ark appeared in thest episode, I thought I¡¯d continue with the theme of "ships" in this one. Of course, few ships have as much global renown as the ark. (If we limit it to the Korean Penins, perhaps the Turtle Ship mighte close.) The ship we¡¯ll be discussing today is one that¡¯s both famous and not so famous¡ªa strange one, known as "The Ship of Theseus." 2 Before we get into the main story. Sharp-eyed readers may have noticed that I¡¯ve recently omitted the phrase, "This episode is based on events that urred in XXX turn." Now, I¡¯ll finally reveal that the Leviathan leading the redevelopment of Busan¡¯s construction project was from the 664th turn. In other words, it was the era when Doctor Jang Regressor was evolving from a seasoned veteran to a fossil fuel. A time when I was beginning to enjoy a status that could be called "Munchkin" without any shame. But today, we''ll focus on a story from a much earlier time. [Doctor Jang, when I briefly stopped by Okinawa the other day, I saw with my irvoyance that a massive typhoon was moving toward the Philippines.] "A massive one?" [Yes. It seemed to have a diameter of at least 1,000 kilometers, and its height almost reached the boundary of the troposphere.] "What the heck is that? That sounds terrifying..." One of the forbidden plots in subcultures is having a strong protagonist be weak again. In the past, there were many stories in martial arts where the protagonist would lose their memory after falling off a cliff or have their inner power shattered, leading to a frustrating turn of events. But suchzy plots can¡¯t survive in today¡¯s wild andpetitive subculture market. However, in my story, anything is possible. For example, I can "regress" from the 664th turn back to the 239th turn, and as a character, I am legally allowed to be weaker. At that time, I didn''t have the ability to cross the Pacific Ocean on my own (people wouldugh at the mere suggestion), I didn''t know about the existence of the great typhoon anomaly, and I certainly couldn''t have imagined that the Saintess might suddenly turn into a potato while out on a stroll. Even for a regressor, it was hard to imagine such things. But... If we''re talking about simrly strange urrences, they have always been unwee guests in my life, both then and now. "Craftsman Noh Doha! We''ve got a patient here! Please hurry and make a prosthetic for them!" "Damn it..." Of course, from Noh Doha¡¯s perspective, I must have been the uninvited guest in their life. To maintain smooth human rtionships, one must always adopt a rtivistic perspective. "This isn''t a patient; it''s just a corpse with a few seconds left to live! Damn it, how am I supposed to meet this production deadline...?" One day during the 239th turn, I carried a severely injured person to Noh Doha. Let''s call this patient "Patient A." Noh Doha grumbled, but immediately stopped their duties as the Head of National Road Management and started working to save Patient A. In the post-apocalyptic world, the President of Korea also served as an on-call emergency room doctor 24/7. "......, ......" As Noh Doha said, the patient was in a quantum state between life and death. The body was covered in blood. Arms and legs had flown off in search of freedom, and even the heart had been pierced clean through. The fact that death hadn''t been fully confirmed yet was nothing short of a miracle. Of course, it wasn¡¯t a miracle from the heavens. The apocalypse was like a yandere character who had a ¨C100 affinity score with humanity. What¡¯s the point of a yandere with no affection? Yeah, exactly. There¡¯s not much difference from an ordinary serial killer. "How did they end up like this...?" "They belong to a small guild. They were exploring a void near Gimhae and ended up encountering the ''Code of Hammurabi'' anomaly. This person offered their heart as a condition to kill the anomaly''s heart." "Huh. Quite the sacrifice. And they somehow survived..." "The other guild members performed CPR desperately for an hour, taking turns. It was a grueling experience, but it paid off. I received the distress signal and rushed over. This ce was much closer than Pyongyang, so I brought them here." Cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR). It was always important, but after the use of "Aura" became a mandatory subject for awakened beings, it became even more crucial. Now, when saving someone''s heart, awakened beings didn''t just rely on weak hand pumping. They used the mystery of the apocalypse, "Aura." To put it dramatically, emergency treatment was still possible even if the heart stopped or, as in this case, disappeared. Controlling oxygen and carbon dioxide levels and circting the blood using Aura made it possible to keep someone alive for hours. For how long? Until my Aura ran out. Of course, circting a human¡¯s blood throughout their body was not as easy as it might sound. It required extremely precise Aura control. In today¡¯s job market, a simple Aura umtor wasn¡¯t as highly valued. In critical situations (which urred 90% of the time in the void), the kind of people that guilds sought were those who could delicately control their Aura to protect both their own life and the lives of theirrades. And who was the one who not only developed thisprehensive "Aura Usage Method" but also introduced it to the job market and established it as a required course? Who else could it be? It was I, Doctor Jang. It was no wonder that I was respected by most awakened beings in most turns. If I suggested founding the National Road Management Team, all the guild leaders across the country would agree. After all, they were practically my disciples in every way but name. Anyway. "The arms, legs, and heart. Craftsman, please prioritize making the heart first, and we can deal with the limbster. In the meantime, I''ll keep the patient alive." "Sigh..." Noh Doha adjusted the angle of their monocle and grabbed their tools. "Hold on for 60 more minutes..." Noh Doha¡¯s awakened ability. [Prosthetic Creation]. The ability to create prosthetics that, when attached to a person¡¯s body, would function "as if they were a natural part of their body." At first, it was mainly used to create artificial limbs, but as the turns went on, it began to be applied to more "delicate body parts." Now, when awakened beings joined a guild, they almost always took a "body photo." This body photo captured the external appearance and the internal organs¡ªbrain, heart, lungs, and so on. And guilds sent these body photos to the National Road Management Team for registration. The reason was simple. So that when they were in life-threatening situations like this, Noh Doha could create "body parts as close to the original as possible." It was a type of insurance, so to speak. Of course, Noh Doha was extremely busy. Finding a healer was easier than requesting prosthetics from Noh Doha, who had the workload of Zhuge Liang. But what if the heart was gone? There were very few healers who could treat that. Maybe only the so-called "KoreanVige Viin," who debuted as a Saintess in the North, could. Seriously injured patients, those who were virtually dead but whoserades had somehow kept them alive with Aura, literal walking corpses. These patients needed to go to Sim Aryeon or Noh Doha to have any chance of survival. Just like in this case. "The heart¡¯s been created. Open the chest..." "Yes, sir." As expected, Noh Doha was as generous as ever. Serving as the head of a quasi-government in a post-apocalyptic Korea, managing elderly welfare, and treating emergency patients who lost their hearts every few days. What is it that they can''t do or won''t do? Will they die of overwork? Don¡¯t worry. The world will end before that happens. "Hmm. Fortunately, the blood vessels seem rtively intact. No, they¡¯re too intact..." "That¡¯s because they only exchanged hearts with the Code of Hammurabi. It¡¯s not an external injury." "Ah, I see. Then let¡¯s proceed with the imntation..." Noh Doha imnted the "artificial heart." Sweat dripped from his chin. It clearly showed how intensely he was focusing on Patient A. "The heart is properly positioned." "Please attach it with Aura..." "Yes. I¡¯ll keep circting blood with Aura until the heartbeat returns. One, two, three." Thump-. "...!" Patient A¡¯s body jerked. Noh Doha and I, who had done this many times, paid no mind and continued the surgery smoothly. "Start reducing the Aura bit by bit..." "I¡¯ve reduced it by 70%. Breathing is normal. The heartbeat is strong. No abnormalities." "Reduce it more..." "50% reduced. No abnormalities. The patient¡¯s Aura is faintly detectable in the heart. It¡¯s starting to resist my Aura." "Cut it back significantly. Slowly..." "Yes. 30%, 20%, 10%, 1%. No abnormalities. Resistance has disappeared. Stopping the Aura infusion." I smoothly disconnected the Aura that I had been channeling for nearly two hours. "......" "......" Noh Doha and I silently gazed down at Patient A, lying on the hospital bed. We deliberately avoided using a vital sign monitor, the kind that usually emits a ''beep-beep-beep'' sound in hospitals. Absolutely not. Never. [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] As I¡¯ve mentioned before, electronic devices are dangerous these days. Ever since the Void arrived, everything has been contaminated. If you were to ce a vital sign monitor near a patient, no matter how stable they might be, it wouldn¡¯t be long before: Beep-beep-beep-beep-beep¡ªbeeeeeeeep¡ª And the heart would stop. It¡¯s no exaggeration to say that what was once a life-saving tool has now be a killing machine. It¡¯s absurd, but what can we do? That¡¯s the state of our world. Even in such a world, we must save those who can be saved. "One minute has passed. No issues." "......" "Three minutes have passed. No issues. Pulse and pupil contraction are normal. I''m proceeding with consciousness check." My dark aura forcibly awakened Patient A''s consciousness. Gasp¡ª. The patient opened their mouth wide. "Gasp, gasp... H-where am I...?" "Patient. Patient. Can you hear my voice?" "Ugh? Y-yes, I can... I can hear you..." "Can you tell me your name?" "Ugh. Uh, Ah Reum..." I nodded. "Consciousness is stable. No contamination from the Void detected so far. Master Noh Doha, it seems you can rx now." "Whew..." Thud. Noh Doha slumped into a chair,pletely exhausted. He looked like he didn¡¯t even have the strength to speak. Sensing his fatigue, I went out and brought him some iced coffee. Noh Doha briefly looked as if he was debating whether to throw the coffee at me but eventually just epted it and drank. "I''m going to die from overwork at this rate..." "You''ll be fine. All of humanity is in the same boat." "Seriously, I''m overworked. I need to delegate more authority to Yoo Jiwon or reduce my workload somehow..." "Chief Noh Doha. Do you know what we call Yoo Jiwon when she has more authority than she does now?" "Let me guess, a anomaly? A dictator? Or is it the start of another one of your ''I''ve given her more authority in previous turns'' things? Whether you¡¯re telling the truth or making it up on the spot, I¡¯ll never know, and so I¡¯m forced to be a victim of your Regressor Time y?" "And what if... it is?" Ssh! Even as an experienced regressor, there were some things I couldn¡¯t predict. First, coffee can be thrown at you even when it¡¯s only half-drunk. Second, there was Patient A, whom we had just saved. "Thank you! Chief! Doctor Jang!" For the record, this person''s real name was "Ah Reum." Their name was "Reum," and their surname was "A." An unusual surname for the Korean Penins. "I will live even more diligently, grateful for your saved life! Truly, thank you!" Patient A expressed their gratitude, but in reality, we did not believe those words. Typically, those who had experienced the "loss of a heart" would retreat to the rear lines. The Void was just too dreadful. No one med them for it. There were plenty of heroes who could shrug off losing a limb, but when it came to losing a heart or brain, even they would say, "Yeah, retirement is understandable." But Patient A was unusually dedicated. One monthter. "Master Noh Doha! We have a patient! Please hurry and craft a prosthetic!" "Goddammit..." As usual, I kicked open the door to the Highway Management Command headquarters'' meeting room. Noh Doha, who was in the middle of a meeting with other department heads, cursed under his breath. When he checked on the patient, his curses intensified. "Wait a minute. Damn it. Isn''t this the person who lost all their limbs and even donated their heartst month...?" "Yes. That''s correct." "They went back into the Void after suffering those injuries? And if my eyes are correct, now half of their head is missing...?" "It¡¯s a miracle they survived even this. They encountered a basilisk, apparently. We should have a scan of their brain somewhere. Please make it as close as possible." "This... damn it..." Incredibly, Noh Doha was able to create an "artificial brain." But only one hemisphere. One side of the brain had to be intact for the artificial brain on the opposite side to function. If the entire brain was destroyed, even the master craftsman''s S-ss prosthetics were useless. Why that was, none of us knew. Nor did we want to. In this era, ignorance was strength. Francis Bacon was not a person but a misspelling of "France is bacon." "Thank you! Chief! Doctor Jang! I will live even more diligently, grateful for your saved life! Truly, thank you!" "Ah, yes. Well, just live safely... not just diligently..." In any case, Noh Doha managed to save Patient A, who had lost their "left brain." Now, Patient A had their left brain, heart, left arm, right arm, left leg, and right leg all reced with prosthetics. At this point, it was hard to call them Homo sapiens anymore. But well, when you walk down the highway nowadays, you asionally see people with sunflowers for heads. Byparison, a cyborg is rtively normal. The problem came next. "Master Noh Doha! We have a patient! Please hurry and craft a prosthetic!" "......" Two monthster. When I brought in the patient, Noh Doha, who had been enjoying some privacy (wine tasting in the basement), looked utterly disgusted. "Are you kidding me? This is that person again, isn¡¯t it...?" To our astonishment, Patient A had been transported with their "right brain" missing this time. What kind of coincidence was this? In all my long life, this was a first. What kind of madman would keep returning to the Void after losing all their limbs and their heart, then lose their left brain and still go back in to lose their right brain? But the life of a regressor is not simple arithmetic; it¡¯s statistics. A lunatic like this did exist, and such a ridiculous scenario did ur. "So you''re not going to save them?" "No, damn it. I¡¯ll save them. But... this is essentially recing the left and right brains alternately with prosthetics, right? Who knows what could happen? I''ve never done this before..." "Don¡¯t worry. Neither have I." "Wow. That really puts my mind at ease, you damn regressor..." Regardless, Noh Doha crafted the right brain. And sessfully imnted it into Patient A. In fact, by this point, he could have done it with his eyes closed. By now, both Noh Doha and I were starting to wonder if our real job was being Patient A¡¯s primary physicians. In the end, we became the first medical team in history to rece an entire human brain from natural to synthetic. "Patient. Patient. Can you hear my voice?" "......" "Can you tell me your name?" "......" Blink, blink. Patient A opened their eyes. Their heartbeat was stable, and their pupils still reflected intelligence. "Ah Reum. My name is Ah Reum." I patted Noh Doha on the shoulder, congratting her on the sess of this impossible surgery. However, "¨D¨DBut what exactly is ''Ah Reum''?" Looking back now, I wonder if it might have been better if the surgery had failed. "Sorry?" "I have a name, Ah Reum. But is the Ah Reum of ten years ago the same person as the Ah Reum of today?" Patient A spoke, enunciating each word carefully. With a voice that somehow felt... different. "What about the Ah Reum from ten seconds ago? The Ah Reum from one second ago? Is the Ah Reum of one second from now the same person as the Ah Reum right now? Who am I? What am I?" "......" And thus, in that moment, a new anomaly was born into the world. [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] Chapter 180 [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] Chapter 180 ©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤ The Existence II 3 While it wasmon to discover anomalies that already existed in the world, it was rare to witness the moment when an anomaly was ¡°created.¡± To be honest, it was extremely rare, perhaps even less likely than pulling an SSR in a gacha game. In other words, the moment when Patient A¡¯s brain transformed from natural to artificial fell into one of those rare SSSR-level cases. ¡°It¡¯s an anomaly called [Theseus¡¯ Ship].¡± ¡°Theseus¡¯ Ship? What¡¯s that...?¡± Noh Doha, whose knowledge in certain fields was rathercking, asked. The reason was simple. Philosophy was not a subject on the Korean civil service exam. This could be seen as a reactionary measurepared to the Joseon Dynasty, which only tested philosophy. ¡°There was a ship that the hero Theseus sailed on. They would''ve preserved it since it was as precious as the Geobukseon, right?¡± ¡°Hmm...¡± ¡°But as time passed, the nks of the ship rotted and were reced with new wood. If you continue recing the parts, eventually, all the original nks would be gone and reced with new ones¡ª.¡± ¡°Aha. And the question is, can we still call it ¡®Theseus¡¯ Ship¡¯? If we only consider the materials, hasn¡¯t the contentpletely changed? Is that the idea...?¡± ¡°Exactly.¡± When does it stop being ¡®Theseus¡¯ Ship,¡¯ and when does it start being something else? In the first ce, what is Theseus¡¯ Ship? This is a dilemma rted to identity. Why did it have to be Theseus¡¯ ship? It doesn¡¯t really matter. He was simply the most famous hero in Athens. It¡¯s simr to how one would be more eager to repair ¡®Yi Sun-sin¡¯s Ship¡¯ rather than ¡®Won Gyun¡¯s Ship,¡¯ even though they¡¯re both under the samemand. There were many such dilemmas with different names but simr content. In every era, hungry schrs needed a clever way to make a living, often by repackaging the same product. The scientist¡¯s brain ended up in a vat, and Schr?dinger¡¯s cat was put in a box, all in the name of feeding their masters. ¡°Well, fine...¡± Noh Doha nced away. There, the anomaly that had once been Patient A was strapped down to an operating table. If Noh Doha had been a mad scientist or a member of an evil organization, this would have looked like the prelude to something catastrophic. ¡°So, I get that it¡¯s an anomaly that gets confused about its identity, causing all sorts of chaotic ¡®Who am I? Where am I?¡¯ episodes, right...?¡± ¡°Hmm, probably?¡± ¡°Why does our regressor lord always end his statements with a question mark, making people nervous...?¡± ¡°Well, it¡¯s the first time I¡¯ve witnessed such a phenomenon myself. We often talk about identity, more precisely, identity... But exining it to you would be pointless, so let¡¯s move on.¡± ¡°Oh, are you looking to die...?¡± ¡°Anyway, it¡¯s certain that this is an anomaly where the identity bes unstable.¡± Patient A, now isted in theb, was still mumbling incessantly. ¡ªEven if a single speck of dust falls on a table, from the perspective of atoms, the object has changed. How much more so for humans? Am I Ah Reum? What is Ah Reum? What defines Ah Reum-ness, Ah Reum-someness, Ah Reum-beauty? Noh Doha rubbed his forehead, feeling a headacheing on. ¡°This is a headache...¡± ¡°Hmm. Perhaps the fact that the patient¡¯s name was ¡®Ah Reum¡¯ might have been a trigger point. If you remove one dot, it bes ¡®name,¡¯ right? And names are most closely tied to identity.¡± ¡°Why remove the dot...?¡± ¡°Who knows? It¡¯s something anomalies often do.¡± Noh Doha cursed under his breath. You can fill in the nks with the strongest curse words you can imagine. ¡°Ha. Aside from the nonsense, it seems like nothing else is wrong, so that¡¯s a relief. Let¡¯s just keep it locked up in a cell forever...¡± ¡°I agree.¡± ~And so, the newly born anomaly was locked up in Impel Down at the National Road Management Bureau headquarters, where it lived out a happy life. THE END. ¡ªIf that were the end, this episode wouldn¡¯t have been mentioned in the first ce. From the moment an anomaly is born, it begins to ¡°grow¡± and inevitably impacts the world. The purpose of this episode is to give you a taste of that aftermath. [Doctor Jang.] The strange phenomena began right from that day, the day when Patient A became an anomaly and was isted. ¡°Yes, Saintess. What is it?¡± [Some of the Awakened who are exploring the Void in Korea have started showing signs of mental derangement.] ¡°What?¡± [The affected individuals began asking themselves questions about their own existence and then fainted within five minutes. Their fellow guild members are currently moving them to the rear.] ¡°...¡± A chill ran down my spine. ¡°Please give me the coordinates of the nearest affected individual.¡± [Yes, near Gimhae...] I immediately rushed to the location I was given. The guild members were already transporting the injured to the hospital. I helped them and followed them to the hospital. The building was more like a clinic or pharmacy than a hospital, but that¡¯s how most hospitals were these days. Even the apocalypse couldn¡¯t withstand the separation of medicine and pharmacy. ¡°This person suddenly lost consciousness. We didn¡¯t do anything wrong!¡± An Awakened from the same guild as the affected person testified. They seemed slightly scared because someone as significant as me had suddenly shown up. ¡°We were following the protocol for mental contamination prevention, really. We prepared thoroughly. There was no warning, really, and then suddenly, when they first boarded the boat, they just lost it and...¡± ¡°Boat?¡± I suddenly became alert. ¡°Wait. Did you board a boat in the Void?¡± ¡°Yes? Oh, yes... It¡¯s much faster to use the waterways near the Joman River. But we didn¡¯t take any really dangerous paths! We were on the route we always use, really!¡± While the other Awakened desperately tried to justify themselves, fearing they might get med, Imented deeply in my heart. ¡®It¡¯s only been a short time since it was born, and it¡¯s already devouring the concept of [ship]!¡¯ This was no time to be idle. I immediately left the hospital and contacted the control tower in Yongsan. ¡°Saintess. Are you watching me right now?¡± [Yes.] ¡°Please check if themon factor among those with mental derangement is that they first boarded or witnessed a ¡®ship¡¯ in the Void.¡± [...It¡¯s difficult to confirmpletely, but that seems to be the case. All the affected groups were near bodies of water.] ¡°Sigh.¡± A brief moment of hesitation. The face of an Awakened who had lost everything yet ventured into the Void to fight anomalies. Their smile. Their words of thanks. The decision always stronger than the hesitation. ¡°Saintess.¡± [Yes.] ¡°Please contact Director Noh Doha and tell him to eliminate Containment-239-430-1-A. Just call it Ah Reum; he¡¯ll know who you mean.¡± [Got it.] Silence ensued. Two minutes. [It¡¯s done.] I immediately asked. ¡°Was there physical destruction?¡± [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] [It¡¯s in progress. So far, there¡¯s no sign of resistance to the aura. It¡¯s presumed that physical destruction is possible.] ¡°Thank you for your hard work.¡± [It¡¯s nothing.] ¡°Tell Director Noh Doha that it¡¯s not his fault. I also agreed to it, and anomalies can ur at any time.¡± [...I¡¯ll let him know.] My mind was racing. ¡®Is this the end? Or is it already toote to stop the contamination?¡¯ There are various ways in which anomalies can strengthen themselves. Perhaps this is a good opportunity to introduce you to one of the mostmon methods. It¡¯s when an anomaly contaminates a specific ¡°concept.¡± For example, let¡¯s say an anomaly contaminated ¡°the lily growing in my backyard.¡± This wouldn¡¯t be very dangerous. I could simply stop growing lilies. But what if the entire concept of ¡°lilies¡± became contaminated? This would be somewhat dangerous. Still, it wouldn¡¯t be something to be excessively worried about. Not growing lilies won''t kill anyone (though there is some room for debate), and if it really seemed dangerous, I could just post on SGNet saying, ¡°Everyone, be careful of lilies.¡± But what if it¡¯s not just about "lilies," but "nts"? Or even beyond nts, what if "life" itself bes contaminated? Exactly. Astute readers might have already understood, but as you move from a "small concept" to a "broader concept," the danger posed by anomalies increases proportionally. To illustrate, let¡¯s draw a simple diagram. ¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D [Existence] ©¦ [Living] [Non-living] ©¦ [Cellr life] [Acellr life] ¡¡. ¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D It¡¯s something like this. In other words, imagine that the world is made up not of space but of concepts. The anomalies precisely spread their cells by climbing thedders of that conceptual map. Sometimes upward. Sometimes sideways. Sometimes downward. Steadily, or leaping in bounds. Sometimes with rationality, but mostly with irrationality. The detestable viral-dialectic of the anomalies, aimed at corrupting the pyramid of our world and existence. Therefore. If you aspire to be an excellent "anomaly virus containment specialist," above all, you must quickly discern from which point the anomaly began its contamination, and on whichdder the contamination is spreading. What I, a regressor, was doing was essentially no different. At that moment, I was deeply engrossed in the following thoughts. ¡®The ship was contaminated. What¡¯s next? The entire vessel? Bicycles or trains? It¡¯d be a headache if it spreads in that direction. Or does it expand towards water because it¡¯s a ship? Or has it beenpletely eradicated since it was physically destroyed?¡¯ Then, it happened. -Huh, huh? Hey, what''s wrong with you?! -Hold on! Hey! Stop! I said stop! The hospital room door suddenly burst open amidst themotion. When I turned around, the mentally disturbed person who had just been transported to the hospital was standing there, mouth agape. Words began to leak from his mouth. ¡°Ship¡¡± ¡°Hey, hey! Lee Geumseon! What are you doing?!¡± His colleagues hurriedly ran out into the hallway, following the mentally disturbed person. ¡°He opened his eyes and suddenly started babbling! Ah, um. Sorry, Doctor Jang. Fortunately, he regained consciousness, but then suddenly got up from the bed!¡± ¡°We have to fix the ship¡¡± Mumbling. The mentally disturbed person staggered forward. ¡°We must fix the ship. The existence is crumbling, and only those who fix the ship will be saved, for it is the Ark for all of us¡¡± Though his colleagues yelled ¡°Hey! Hey!¡± and tried to hold him back, it was in vain. The mentally disturbed person, somehow drawing on some hidden strength, moved forward effortlessly. His colleagues, despite their best efforts, were dragged along behind him. But that wasn¡¯t all. [Doctor Jang!] The urgency in the saintess¡¯s voice shook the edges of my heart. [Something serious has happened. Right now, many of the awakened who were logged into SGNet are showing symptoms of ¡®Theseus¡¯s Ship¡¯!] ¡°On SGNet? All of a sudden, why?¡± As I responded, my mind immediately deduced the worst-case scenario. Could it be... ¡°¡Did someone upload a picture of a boat or any image rted to ships?¡± [I, I don¡¯t know. I had the same hypothesis, so I¡¯m intentionally avoiding using irvoyance on the infected.] ¡°That was wise. It would be a disaster if you got infected. For now, ask Seo Gyu to suspend the board¡¡± [I¡¯m sorry.] My breath hitched. [Seo Gyu is infected. Probably the first one.] ¡°...¡± My breath seemed to spin in my mouth for a moment. Just before a sigh could escape, I cut off the breath with my teeth and tongue. ¡°Activate the emergency protocol.¡± [Yes. It¡¯s activated. I¡¯ve just sent out a ¡®SGNet ess restriction warning¡¯ to all the awakened in the name of the Constetions.] That was indeed true. The awakened, who their colleague¡¯s brute strength had dragged along, suddenly looked up and said, ¡°Huh?¡± ¡°What¡¯s this? Just now, the Constetion¡¡± ¡°Did you get the message too?¡± ¡°Yeah. But, [Beware of the ship]? What does this mean?¡± ¡°Wait. Hold on. We¡¯re still receiving messages, right? [Beware of the ship], [Do not approach water], [Do not observe any images or drawings simr to a ship]...¡± The awakened''s voices gradually grew quieter. ¡°Damn it. What¡¯s going on? Why suddenly all this? It¡¯s creepy.¡± ¡°Wait. Come to think of it, when we went there today... Hey! Hey! Stop! Why is this guy so strong?¡± Thud. I first rushed over to the mentally disturbed person and subdued him. Fortunately, those infected by this anomaly could be knocked out. ¡°Ah, Doctor Jang! Th-thank you!¡± ¡°...¡± I noticed something strange on the mentally disturbed person¡¯s body. His fingers were cut off. The index and middle fingers. And scissors were embedded diagonally into the severed finger stubs. I looked at his colleagues. ¡°What is this?¡± ¡°We-we didn¡¯t do this! Geumseon, he...¡± ¡°Did he cut off his own fingers and then stab them with scissors?¡± ¡°Yes, yes! It¡¯s true! Doctor Jang! It¡¯s hard to believe, but we really didn¡¯t do this!¡± There was no need for the awakened to plead with such desperate eyes. I believed them. And I thought. About the awakened who had just been logged into SGNet. Including Seo Gyu, the admin, and the other awakened in Korea who had nothing better to do but hang around on inte boards, and what might have happened to them after seeing the ¡®ship images.¡¯ About what kind of aftermath could befall us just one day after the anomaly outbreak. About the kind of world we are living in. ¡°Saintess. Connect me to Yoo Jiwon.¡± [Yes. Connecting.] ¡°Ry my words exactly. Ask Tang Seorin and Cheon Yohwa for their cooperation. Assemble all the National Road Management Team members under the Operations Control Room. Prepare for containment procedures.¡± Right. It¡¯s nothing new, but we humans live in a world that hates us. [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] Chapter 181 [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] Chapter 181 ©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤ The Existence III 4 Have you ever wondered what jobs would survive even if the world ended? Soldiers? Most of them met their end with Chekhov''s gun. Artists? They''ve been nearly wiped out, thanks to a regressor who only favored writers. "Your Excellency, Team 2 of the Operations Control Room has assembled." Surprisingly, the answer was "civil servants." "Good. You''ve done well." "No, Your Excellency." Boom! Thunder roared across the night sky. It was caused by the autumn rain. As Yoo Jiwon''s silver hair gracefully absorbed the rain, the National Road Management Corps troops stood in formation behind her. A total of 108 members made up the Operations Control Room strike force. These elite civil servants were responsible for public enforcement in today''s Korea, where the national military had vanished. Every single one of them had been taught Aura by me, and not a single one had been left without guidance on how to develop their awakened abilities. "......" "......" Naturally, their discipline was irond. The looks they gave me were filled with nearly infinite respect. I sped my hands behind my back. "An unidentified anomaly has spread like a virus. So far, 504 people in Korea have been infected, with 311 cases in Busan alone." "......" "The condition for infection by the anomaly is seeing a ''ship.'' We''re lucky it''s nighttime; the fishermen would have been wiped out if it were dawn. In fact, most of the infected were engaged in night fishing." A tense atmosphere radiated from the eyes of the troops. It wasn''t just because they had a trauma from experiencing the coronavirus as children. In this era, where food was not abundant, fish had be almost a staple. Fish were nutritious, except for the fact that they were now as dangerous as pufferfish. In short, even tomorrow''s meals were in jeopardy. "The official name of this anomaly has been designated as ''Theseus'' Ship.'' During the operation, refer to it as T. T is growing at a terrifying speed. In some cases, you can be infected not just by the image of a ship but by merely hearing the word ''ship.'' From now on, all words rted to ships are banned. Understood?" "Yes, Your Excellency!" Thebat unit of the National Road Management Corps responded in unison. The reason why they call me "Your Excellency" is simple: the silver-haired psychopath standing next to me is their boss. "T-infected individuals are running amok in the city, luring uninfected citizens towards the water and near ships." "......" "The National Road Management Corps has already taken measures, but unforeseen damage might still ur. There is a high possibility that the infected are carrying pictures rted to ships, so always be ready to put on your blindfolds. That''s all." Snap. The corps members saluted. It was a movement so precise that even Mussolini would be envious. I rubbed my forehead. I had told them countless times to stop doing that, but they wouldn''t listen. However, their skills were undeniable. What Mussolini should truly envy was not their disciplined salutes but theirbat prowess. "Your Excellency, we''ve captured them all." Before the night was over, all the infected in the Busan area had been captured. "Any casualties?" "We had two. Based on your information, we formed capture teams of three, with at least one person always wearing a blindfold, which minimized the damage." The troops wore blindfolds because the infected would try to show images rted to ships whenever they had the chance. Some infected individuals even had ship tattoos on their bodies. One of our men got infected after seeing a ship tattooed on a knocked-out suspect''s scalp. So, the anomaly had made a bald man tattoo his own scalp. Now you see why I resolutely reject the coexistence of anomalies and humanity? Anomalies. You should not exist. "Saintess, what about the damage in other areas?" [Mostly under control. The region with the most damage is Incheon, but we''ve captured almost all the infected there. There¡¯s no damage in Daejeon or Sejong.] "As expected, ind areas have less damage." [Yes. At this rate, we should be able to block the infection route before dawnpletely.] I breathed a sigh of relief. "If that''s the case, the problem now is..." [Yes. It¡¯s SG-Net.] A sense of suffocation overcame me. In reality, you can simply quarantine infected people, but the inte was the problem. Even now, SG-Net was flooded with posts andments. -Beautiful Ark.jpg -Click this post and get $300,000 -I''m scared, anyone want to chat?? -No ship images here, feel safe to click -[Must Read] Tips for Boarding the Ark!! All of these were bait posts. Most of them contained ship images. Just because the image wasn¡¯t visible in the post, you couldn¡¯t rx. ASCII art was painstakingly drawn in the text. There were even four awakened ones who ignored the warnings from the Constetions to stay off SG-Net and ended up getting infected. Fools. "Saintess, are we sure all the awakened ones posting under these nicknames have been captured?" [Of course. We¡¯ve confiscated all their smartphones. It¡¯s not some macro program running elsewhere.] "But the fact that posts are still going up under their nicknames means..." [Yes. It''s likely that not just real people but even the ''nicknames'' on the inte have been infected by T.] So-called personas. Many people, not just heavy users like Sim Aryeon, believed that the real world existed on the other side of the monitor. Even if they weren''t that extreme, a lot of people distinguished between their ''inte self'' and their ''real-life self.'' Theseus'' Ship exploited this gap. -Am I the real me online? Or the real me in real life? What is the true me? Does the concept of "I" actually exist? That kind of thing. In the end, not only the "real me" living in reality but also the "me" roaming the inte got infected by the anomaly. They had be literal inte ghosts. Although we seeded in capturing the infected individuals, there was no way to deal with the virus carriers inside SG-Net. What could we do? The very administrator of SG-Net, Seo Gyu, had already lost his mind. "Your Excellency, I have a n." Yoo Jiwon spoke up. "What is it?" "Since SG-Net is a virtual space that cannot function without Seo Gyu as the administrator¡ª" "If your n involves killing Seo Gyu, don''t bother saying it." Yoo Jiwon quietly closed her mouth. ¡®What should we do?¡¯ Even now, Theseus'' Ship was evolving in real-time. The SG-Net logo itself was beginning to distort eerily. It shifted from ''SG-Net'' to ''Suicide-Net,'' ''Kill-Yourself-Net,'' and ''You-Should-Die-Net,'' twisting and changing its form. For now, it was only messing with the letters, but soon it would be able to manipte image files freely as well, parasitizing Seo Gyu''s awakening ability. Once the site¡¯s logo had a ship image attached to it, it would be the end. A brand new inte anomaly that no one should ever ess would be born. And in a world where all other websites were down. ¡®I can¡¯t just lose Seo Gyu like this.¡¯ I was deep in thought. ¡®Ship. Ship. Ship. The ferryman of Charon. The vessel that carries people to another world. A tool that transports you from the ordinary to the extraordinary. How can I eliminate this? What¡¯s the ship''s weakness? Water? A typhoon?¡¯ At that moment, a strange sound reached my ears from afar. - Ah, ah... A singing voice. A lone voice was heard from the direction of Busan city. [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] "Mm?" Yoo Jiwon and I turned our heads simultaneously. Melodies were resonating from speakers installed throughout Busan. Strangely, as soon as I heard the song, the fatigue in my entire body lessened. "Ah. The Great Witch is singing." "At this hour?" "Yes. Given that the National Road Management Corps members, the Three Thousand Worlds Guild members, and the citizens of Busan have been suffering all night, the Great Witch must be singing to soothe their fatigue and help them sleep." "I see... I didn''t think of that." I was impressed by Tang Seorin''s considerate gesture, but Yoo Jiwon smirked indifferently. "By singing at times like this and winning public favor, the Great Witch is subtly securing her influence. Truly, a maneuver fitting for the Witch of Busan." "Hey, Yoo Jiwon. I''ve told you time and again to stop with that nasty attitude. I know you only show it in front of me, but if anyone else finds out, you¡¯ll be in real trouble¨D¨D" It was at that moment. A lightning bolt of an idea struck through my brain and straight down my spine. ¡®¨D¨DWait a minute. A song? T for Titanic?¡¯ As I¡¯ve mentioned before, I have a sixth sense nerve cell in the back of my neck that no other Homo sapiens possesses. Also known as goosebumps. And right now, all of them were screaming Eureka. "A song. Yes, it¡¯s a song!" "Your Excellency? I didn''t quite catch that?" "Yoo Jiwon! Grab a recording device and let¡¯s go to Tang Seorin! I¡¯ve got a real n to take down T!" The expressionless psychopath tilted her head in confusion. 5 There was another ship just as famous as the Ark of Genesis. The Titanic. In 1912, thergest passenger ship in the world set sail from Ennd. Its grandeur earned it the nickname "unsinkable" from the press, implying it would never sink. However, in subcultures, if a character other than the protagonist isbeled "undefeated" or "invincible," it¡¯s often an indirect way of saying that they will inevitably be defeated or overwhelmed by an enemy. Ennd in 1912 was originally the leading character on the global stage, but across the Antic, the up-anding "Miss America" was rising rapidly. In this situation, with the "unsinkable" ship crossing between Ennd and America, the tragedy that followed was all too predictable. It marked the beginning of the end for Ennd as the protagonist of the world stage. This real-life story inspired the film directed by James Cameron, Titanic. And Titanic became famous as a masterpiece that dazzled the audience''s eyes and ears. First, it dazzled the eyes with Leonardo DiCaprio¡¯s stunning appearance, and then the ears with¡ª "Um... Doctor Jang. You want me to sing a song?" "Yes." "And that song is My Heart Will Go On?" "Exactly." That¡¯s right. My Heart Will Go On. Composed by James Horner, performed by Celine Dion. It¡¯s one of the most sessful songs in film history. "...Why suddenly? That¡¯s your favorite song, not mine." "Because I n to y it through the speakers, and your voice is way better than mine." "But your English pronunciation is better than mine..." "It¡¯s fine. Just think of it as Latin instead of English, and there won¡¯t be any problem." "Oh?" The idol from Samhan, Tang Seorin (TOEIC score 560), wlessly performed the English pop song. I took the recording and immediately went to see Seo Gyu. "Seo Gyu." "Yes, Brother. But what is Seo Gyu? Does it refer to the manager of S, or does it mean the person who, ording to you, would be the first to die at Busan Station if left unattended? If so, can we consider the Seo Gyu from the first death at Busan Station and the current Seo Gyu as different people...?" "Stop talking nonsense and listen to the song." "AAAAAAGH!" Seo Gyu, who was tied up with ropes, struggled. "Get out! The walls are closing in! Get out! Abandon your baggage! Descend! Lower the boat! Descend! HAAAAA!" "..." Seo Gyu screamed in a frenzy, as if the Titanic was really sinking before his eyes. Noh Doha, who had also been working overnight on quarantine efforts like us, muttered in disbelief. "No way... this actually worked...?" "It was good fortune. The fact that the Ship of Theseus starts with a ''T'' just like the Titanic, and that the anomaly couldn¡¯t be satisfied with reality alone and extended into fictional space. By sinking a ship in the same way as in the movie, the anomaly couldn¡¯t help but sink as well." This was the fatal mistake of an anomaly that recklessly attempted to level up. The more concepts it contaminated, the stronger its influence became. But at the same time, its weaknesses became more pronounced. Expanding its power carelessly could lead to a sudden downfall. This was a good example of that. If the anomaly wanted to avoid being easily hunted, it had no choice but to hide its true identity. It¡¯s no wonder that forgotten godsy low for so long. "Ugh, ugh... huh? Brother?" "Yes. Seo Gyu. Who are you?" "What? Who am I...? Well, I¡¯m Seo Gyu, of course." I nodded. The method was proven effective. With the strategy verified, I immediately yed My Heart Will Go On for all the infected. Oh, and I also set it as the background music on S. -AAAAAAAAGH! -The ship is sinking! The ship is sinking! -Everyone, run for your lives! However, there was no ce to escape in S. The anomalies, now transformed into ghosts of the inte, sank helplessly. I patted the shoulder of the exhausted Noh Doha, who had been working all night. "Good work, Chief." "..." "There¡¯s no need to thank me. Even though a new anomaly was born at the chief¡¯s fingertips, causing casualties, and early suppression was only possible thanks to mypetence as a regressor, there¡¯s no reason for the chief to be grateful to me." "Damn it..." Just as I was about to turn away, savoring my long-lost sense of superiority over Noh Doha, an event of earth-shattering proportions urred. "...Thank you, Doctor Jang..." In a very small voice, Noh Doha muttered while facing away from me. I was so shocked that I froze for a moment. Noh Doha expressed genuine gratitude? Could it be an anomaly? "..." Despite this, Noh Doha remained standing still, facing away from me. I shrugged. "Well." "..." "You¡¯re wee. I¡¯ll have Yoo Jiwon handle the follow-up tasks. Take the day off." Then I left themand room. The anomaly that could have endangered the entire Korean Penins by infecting anyone who came into contact with an image of a ship was thus exterminated in a single night. 6 Epilogue "Come to think of it, Aryeon." "Yes?" "How did you avoid getting infected by the Ship of Theseus? You¡¯re always on S all night. Did you just happen to avoid posts with ship images?" "Huh? Oh, no." "Then?" "I saw them. Pictures of the ship..." What. "But even though I saw them, I was fine... I mean, I did have a brief moment where I thought, ''Who am I? Where am I?'' but those are thoughts I always have. Haha. Someone like me has no value no matter what happens, right? It¡¯s just a worthless worry..." "..." "Leavingments on S is much more important than that...! I kept hanging out on the boards, and things got weird for a moment, but then everything was normal again, so I thought, huh? When the Guild Leader told me it was because of an anomaly, I was really surprised... Did that really happen?" "..." Epilogue End. -The Existence. END. [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] Chapter 182 [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] Chapter 182 ©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤ Sage I 1 Today, let''s talk about mirrors. Last time, we talked about the most famous ship in the world, so today¡¯s tale also involves the most famous mirror. It¡¯s the ¡°Magic Mirror,¡± the one from the Snow White fairy tale. You know the one. "Mirror, mirror on the wall, who is the fairest of them all?" "As always, for the 3,714th time, there is no one fairer than the Queen, so please stop asking." In short, the magic mirror contained a database, statistical data, and AI capabilities that could search through all the humans on Earth. Humanity had invented ChatGPT centuries ago. But instead of using such a formidable lost technology for domestic politics, the Queen used it for ego-searching. The history of politicians getting distracted with smartphones is quite old. Come to think of it, this fairy tale is quite wise. Even if the most powerful tool were given to a human, in the end, they''d still be obsessed with "searching." If the Brothers Grimm were alive today and saw social media, wouldn¡¯t they be smugly satisfied with their foresight? ¡°See, I told you so.¡± "Sir, Doctor Jang." "Hmm? What is it?" But even the Brothers Grimm probably wouldn¡¯t have predicted this. One day, Yoo Jiwon came to me and said, "I think I''ve discovered a new anomaly." "A new anomaly?" "Yes, but it¡¯s a bit peculiar." It was during the seventh round. Back then, the Ten ns still reigned as the final bosses of the Korean Penins because the updates hadn''t been fully implemented. It was a time when even Old Scho had dreams and hopes. Initially, I worked under Tang Seorin as a deputy guild leader, but from the seventh round onwards, I began to truly walk the path of independence, thanks to Old Scho coaxing me to start a business together. Like many who leave sessful corporate careers for startups, my life had gotten a bitplicated. But even during this time, Yoo Jiwon would visit me once a week for a chat. Like an investor who believed that even if Bitcoin fluctuated, it was just a minor adjustment and solidification of the low point. Yoo Jiwon¡¯s expressionless face always seemed to silently proim, "The fact is, the regressor is getting healthier." In fact, because of these frequent meetings, there were many who suspected that Yoo Jiwon and I were dating. Old Scho was one of them. Isn¡¯t it remarkable? That old man was absolutely no help in my life. "What''s so peculiar about it?" "Hmm. It''s hard to exin in words. Ah, why don¡¯t youe and see it after lunch?" So I went to see it. The "new anomaly" was surprisingly located in Yoo Jiwon''s personal room. The room, with only a bookshelf as furniture, was filled with books, and right in the middle of that interior was the anomaly. I frowned. "A... mirror?" The mysterious object was a full-length mirror. "Yes. I found it by chance while walking, so I picked it up. It''s rare to find such a spotless mirror these days." "But... haven¡¯t elders always said never to look at or pick up mirrors found on the street because they''re ominous?" "I don¡¯t believe in such superstitions." The wise investor who had staked her entire fortune on the regressor coin firmly stated. At that time, I hadn¡¯t yet discovered the corrtion between anomalies and sorcery, so I could only click my tongue. "But why? Does it open a portal to another world?" "No. Look." Yoo Jiwon approached the mirror. "Mirror, mirror on the wall." And then, he whispered to the mirror. Just as I started to wonder if she had developed another mental illness on top of being a psychopath, something rather surprising happened. $ - Die right now. "Huh?" $ - Die right now. The mirror "responded." Yoo Jiwon turned to me, startled. "Did you hear that?" "Y-Yeah, I heard it." "I tested it with other guild members, and they all got the same response." "To die immediately?" "Yes. All 36 Three Thousand Worlds Guild members received the same answer." "...This really is a cursed object." "Is it?" Yoo Jiwon remained indifferent. She was clearly different from others, disying a brain wrinkle pattern unique to someone who would keep a cursed object in her private room. "Anyway, since it doesn¡¯t seem like an ordinary mirror, I came to consult with you. If we handle it carelessly, it could have adverse effects, so I thought I''d ask the expert in this field, Lord Doctor Jang." "Hmm." "What do you think is the best way to deal with this?" "...How about returning it to where you found it? Unless the mirror has legs, it won¡¯t follow you." "Indeed. That¡¯s a wise decision, as expected." Three dayster. "Sir, we have a small problem." "...Now what?" "After following your advice and disposing of the mirror, I was at ease. But now, the mirror in my bathroom responds simrly." "What?" ording to Yoo Jiwon''s testimony, she really did throw away the cursed mirror. But then, the bathroom mirror she saw first thing in the morning became cursed in the same way. $ - Die right now. The mirror kept repeating the same message. Naturally, Yoo Jiwon also removed and discarded that bathroom mirror. The next day, Yoo Jiwon entered Tang Seorin¡¯s office. She had something to report to the guild leader. And when she nced at the desk mirror on Tang Seorin¡¯s desk... $ - Die right now. That¡¯s when Yoo Jiwon realized it. This anomaly wasn¡¯t confined to a specific mirror. Any mirror that Yoo Jiwon looked into first thing that day would turn into a cursed one. "What...? What kind of logic is that?" As a novice regressor in his seventh turn, I was baffled. "Why does any mirror you look at be strange?" "I¡¯m not sure either." "And the fact that the mirror talks... It¡¯s like something out of a fairy tale...¡ª." I fell silent. At that moment, I noticed Yoo Jiwon¡¯s appearance. To be more precise, I noticed the color of Yoo Jiwon''s hair as if I were seeing it for the first time. "......" "Sir? Why are you staring at me like that?" $ ¡û The mirror speaks. ¡û Her silver hair looks as pure as freshly fallen snow. ¡û Throughout his life as a regressor, no human''s appearance was more refined. ¡û Not an exaggeration to say she could be called the "fairest in thend." $ "Ah..." I couldn''t help but sigh. The conclusion came to me instantly. "......?" Yes. Yoo Jiwon. This psychopath was the Snow White of the Korean Penins. 2 The mirror had no eyes. [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] So, it was hard to ask the anomaly, which had mistaken Yoo Jiwon for a Snow White character, "Are you blind?" After all, if you insult a creature that truly has no eyes, it bes a derogatory remark. Except for Yoo Jiwon, Old Scho and Sim Aryeon, I , Doctor Jang didn''t swear so carelessly. $ - Please die immediately. "Hmm." $ - Please die immediately. "......" But no matter how I looked at it, something was odd. For an anomaly, it was too quiet. Even in the 7th and 8th turns, the "magic mirror" didn''t cause much trouble. It just passively suggested suicide, which would annoy anyone who listened. Of course, encouraging suicide isn¡¯t a good thing. Butpared to other anomalies who actively tried to end human lives, it seemed somewhat better, didn¡¯t it? So I couldn''t help but wonder: ''What exactly does this anomaly do?'' From what I know, Snow White''s "magic mirror" was an AI that kindly answered human questions, quite different from this suicide parrot. "Mirror, mirror on the wall, what are you?" $ - Please die immediately. "Mirror, mirror, if civilization hadn''t copsed, would Bitcoin have surpassed 300 million?" $ - Please die immediately. "Mirror, do you want to die?" $ - Please die immediately. "......" Unlike in the fairy tale, the magic mirror responded consistently to any question. It should''ve been hired as a politician''s spokesperson. But if you ask whether it was just a recording repeating predetermined answers, that wasn''t quite the case either. "Huh? Old Scho, this thing can speak German too!" Surprisingly, when Old Scho stood in front of it, the mirror suggested suicide in German. Thenguages the mirror mastered weren''t just limited to Korean and German. Later, when we brought in some magical girls, it answered them fluently in Japanese too. Hindi, Russian, Filipino, Arabic, French, Chinese, Portuguese, Vietnamese, Spanish, Swahili. There was nonguage the mirror couldn''t speak. It truly lived up to its reputation as the most powerful AI in history. ¡®In short, it means the mirror knows how to recognize who it''s dealing with. So why doesn''t its response change based on its opponent?¡¯ Time passed. The clue to my question first appeared hundreds of yearster, during the 41st turn. "Jiwon, how have you been?" "Thanks to your care, I have managed well in the Three Thousand Worlds." "Is the mirror still the same?" "Yes. Even if we try to discard it, another mirror just gets possessed, so we¡¯ve left it alone." I absentmindedly passed by a full-length mirror. I didn¡¯t even look at it directly, just nced at it briefly. At that moment. $ - Next time, get infected with the Udumbara before dying. I naturally tried to walk past it but stopped in my tracks. "Huh?" "Hmm?" My voice and Yoo Jiwon''s ovepped. Then our gazes ovepped as well. "Jiwon, just now¡" "Yes. I heard it too." On a hunch, I approached the mirror properly this time. And then. $ - Next time, get infected with the Udumbara before dying. It had changed. For hundreds of years, the mirror had given the same response to everyone, but suddenly it offered something different. "Jiwon, you try." "Understood." Yoo Jiwon swapped ces with me. $ - Please die immediately. And then it returned to its usual answer, as if nothing had changed. Yoo Jiwon nodded expressionlessly. "How strange. I''ll bring others to test it." Dozens of guild members from the Three Thousand Worlds, and even Tang Seorin, were brought in to test it. The result was the same. Everyone except me received the answer "Please die immediately." Conclusion. "It seems the mirror only changes its response when addressing Doctor Jang." "......" "This once again proves that you are the only special being in the world, my lord. By the way, may I ask what Udumbara is?" "Ah." Sharp readers might remember that the 41st turn was when I first defeated the Udumbara. Naturally, except for the saintess and me, no one else knew about the existence of Udumbara. I defeated it before it could fully bloom and spread the New Buddha Virus. "It''s the World Tree I defeated without anyone noticing. On the surface, it seems like getting infected grants eternal life, but after a certain point, the infected are all digested as nutrients for the World Tree." "Hmm." "But awakened beings must never get infected. They''ll lose their abilities." Yoo Jiwon tilted her head. "Lose their abilities?" "Yes. If you get infected, Jiwon, your [Mini-map] ability would disappear." "Then, if you, my lord, were to get infected by any chance, what would happen?" "Well, naturally, various abilities would be deleted. [Perfect Memory] and [Continue] too." "......" Yoo Jiwon rested her chin on her hand. She lightly ced her finger on her chin¡ªa habit she showed when deep in thought. After a moment, she slowly opened her mouth. "This might be a very irreverent question, but¡" "You¡¯re always irreverent, so it''s fine." "If you, my lord, were to get infected by Udumbara¡" "If I got infected?" Yoo Jiwon spoke. "Wouldn''t even the [Return] ability be deleted, allowing you to die truly?" [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] Chapter 183 [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] Chapter 183 ©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤ Sage II 3 This might seem out of the blue, but I''d like to ask you all a question. When watching stories where the protagonist is an infinite regressor, have you ever wondered: - Final boss defeated! The protagonist finally reaches a happy ending! The end! - So, what happens next? - If the protagonist grows old and dies surrounded by loved ones, what then? Do they regress again? Do they live the same life over and over? Exactly. The truth is, for a regressor, a happy ending isn¡¯t the important thing. From the perspective of someone who possesses infinite regression, a happy ending is nothing more than a gacha (a game of chance) that you keep trying until you get the desired oue. The real problem lies beyond the happy ending¡ªthe true ending that awaits. The hypothesis is that a regressor might have no such thing as an ''end.'' They might be doomed to repeat their life and the life they will live for all eternity. This is what I call the Never Ending Story hypothesis. Various means are employed in countless stories to avoid the Never Ending Story scenario. The simplest and most effective method is to grant the protagonist immortality. - So if the protagonist dies a natural death, they''ll be trapped in Infinite Tsukuyomi (a dreamlike state of eternal recurrence)? Then let¡¯s make it so they can never die of natural causes. This solves all problems. The protagonist will never die of old age, and thus will never have to repeat the cycle of regression. The problem is that life is always real, and in my world, immortality doesn''t exist. But there was something resembling immortality¡ªa virus. ¡°Well, what can you do? If I get infected with Udumbara, I¡¯ll lose my regression ability and eventually die a normal death.¡± I answered calmly. I had already pondered this issue countless times, even before Yoo Jiwon asked me. ¡°No, this is a serious problem!¡± The one who was truly flustered wasn¡¯t me but Yoo Jiwon. The forehead of the psychopath who had staked their entire life on my sess crumpled like tinfoil. ¡°Your Excellency! Such a harmful anomaly must be eradicated on sight immediately!¡± ¡°Don¡¯t worry. I¡¯ve been going to Onyang to hunt it down every time I regress.¡± ¡°No, Your Excellency! I¡¯m extremely concerned that you¡¯ve evene into contact with such an anomaly. Please, from now on, leave the hunting to me!¡± ¡°Alright, so your n is to keep the Udumbara seed as a trump card in case you ever have to betray me?¡± ¡°Heavens! How can you imagine such a dreadful scenario? How could you misunderstand my loyalty to you...?¡± Ignoring Yoo Jiwon''s usual hysterics, I looked at the magic mirror again. - From now on, get infected by Udumbara and then die immediately. ¡°Hm.¡± It was strange, indeed. The mirror seemed to understand exactly what could truly kill me, a regressor. ¡°Jiwon.¡± ¡°Yes, Your Excellency! If you wish, I will cut open my chest right now and show you my heart to prove my loyalty...¡± ¡°If you spout nonsense one more time, I won¡¯t tell you that I¡¯m a regressor in the next turn.¡± ¡°Come to think of it, I don¡¯t think the concept of loyalty ever existed in my mind.¡± ¡°Right. Anyway, about this mirror¡ªit seems to know that I¡¯m a regressor, doesn¡¯t it?¡± ¡°Hmm? Hmm? Hmmmmm...¡± Yoo Jiwon, with her chin resting on her hand, came close to my shoulder. The full-length mirror reflected both of us standing side by side. - Die immediately. - Next time, get infected by Udumbara and then die. Like a clever chatbot, the mirror responded with two different versions of the same answer, fitting the number of users. ¡°See? The mirror is telling me to die not ''right now,'' but ''next time.''¡± ¡°Hmm. That¡¯s correct.¡± ¡°By ¡®next time,¡¯ it must mean ¡®next turn,¡¯ right? So it¡¯s saying that when the next turnes, I shouldn¡¯t hunt down Udumbara, but rather, get infected and then die.¡± ¡°Indeed. Listening to you, it does seem to imply that.¡± The furrow on Yoo Jiwon''s forehead deepened. ¡°If that¡¯s the case, this anomaly must possess extraordinary power. It has managed to grasp both your identity and your abilities instantly.¡± I nodded. ¡°I think the same. This isn¡¯t just any ordinary anomaly.¡± ¡°But then, it¡¯s strange. Your Excellency, for an anomaly with such insight and information, why is it wasting its power by only cursing people to die with words? That seems like such a waste of its abilities.¡± ¡°That¡¯s exactly what I¡¯m wondering too.¡± ¡°...¡± We stared at each other silently. Our thoughts eventually led to the same question. What on earth is this anomaly? ¡°¡Well, one thing is certain¡ªit¡¯s the mirror from the fairy tale ¡®Snow White.¡¯¡± ¡°But, Your Excellency, in ¡®Snow White,¡¯ the queen asks the mirror questions first. But here, the mirror speaks on its own without us asking anything.¡± ¡°And all its answers are the same. When ites to me, all it says is ''die.'' What kind of a rigged answer is that?¡± ¡°Could this anomaly perhaps retain its identity across turns? That¡¯s how it could have gained information about you being a regressor.¡± ¡°If that¡¯s true, it means this anomaly is so powerful that it can transcend turns. But that¡¯s even stranger. If it¡¯s that powerful, why does it just sneak into your bedroom and keep telling you to die? Is it a stalker?¡± ¡°Hmm. Maybe because I¡¯m such an important asset?¡± ¡°That anomaly must be blind.¡± ¡°¡I have no idea what it is.¡± ¡°¡Neither do I.¡± In the end, in turn 41, we admitted defeat. We surrendered. Honestly, we couldn¡¯te up with any idea about this anomaly''s true nature and purpose. In one turn, out of sheer frustration, I even tried breaking the mirror, but that only backfired. ¡°Your Excellency, didn¡¯t you destroy the magic mirror and throw it outsidest time?¡± ¡°I did.¡± ¡°After you abandoned the ss shards, the appearance rate of voids around that area skyrocketed. The number of anomalies also increased exponentially.¡± ¡°...¡± Later, we found out it was the so-called ''Broken Window'' effect. You know, that theory where the crime rate around that area starts to rise if a broken window is left unattended. Like the heart of a certain archer who participated in the Holy Grail War, the magic mirror was also made of ss. And if both broke, the same phenomenon urred. In other words, the surroundings were doomed. ¡°So, to summarize: we know almost nothing about the nature of this anomaly...¡± ¡°But the anomaly seems to know everything about you and possibly all other humans as well.¡± ¡°And if we destroy it, the Broken Window effect will ur, attracting other anomalies like flies?¡± ¡°Yes. Leaving it alone feels unsettling, but destroying it will lead to disaster.¡± ¡°And yet, when left alone, it does nothing but tell people who look at it to die. It doesn¡¯t actually cause any harm?¡± ¡°Exactly.¡± ¡°Damn. What the hell is this thing?¡± ¡°The mystery deepens.¡± This anomaly was something that really made me question reality. What¡¯s more, as the turns progressed, the mirror¡¯s responses began to change subtly. From turn 41 to turn 116, it kept giving the same answer, but in turn 117, its reaction suddenly updated. - Preserve all newly born lives. It¡¯s all the same anyway. Then, get infected by Udumbara and die. ¡°...¡± Newly born lives. It referred to those who weren¡¯t born in previous turns but were newly born in this one. For example, the little girl who gave me a sugar-coated donut at Haeundae. Jeong Seoah, the daughter of a bakery owner, only existed in turn 19. - Preserve all newly born lives. It¡¯s all the same anyway. Then, get infected by Udumbara and die. The magic mirror urged me to ''preserve'' such lives. ¡°Preserve? What does that mean, Your Excellency?¡± ¡°...¡± Yoo Jiwon didn¡¯t understand the meaning at all and tilted her head in confusion. Probably anyone else in the world would have had the same puzzled reaction. But only I fully understood what the mirror meant. ¡®¡It¡¯s telling me to use [Time Seal].¡¯ The preservation of time. The sealing of time. A power that allows someone to live their happiest day repeatedly, but at the cost of being forgotten by everyone. The magic mirror was pointing out that ability of mine. ¡®Not only does it know about my regression ability, but also my Time Seal power. This mirror...¡¯ In the 19th turn, no one remembered Jeong Seoah anyway. Including her parents. Because in other turns, a different child was born instead of Seoah. So whether I used time-sealing or not, it was ''the same anyway.'' After all, no one but me could recall Seoah. Therefore... - Preserve all newly born lives as specimens. It''s the same anyway. Then, be infected with Udumbara and die. The result of being forgotten and not remembered by anyone would be the same, so wouldn''t it be better to allow them to repeat ¡®an eternally happy day¡¯ instead¨D? Isn''t it far happier to taste eternity in the grave you¡¯ve dug rather than fall into the abyss of death, oh regressor? [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] That was what the magical mirror whispered. ¡®Ah.¡¯ Only then did I realize the true nature of this anomaly. Or rather, I awakened to the principle behind its behavior. The magical mirror from the fairy tale of Snow White. It might sound strange, but this anomaly was merely informing people of a ¡®happy ending.¡¯ 4 King Midas. Such a figure appears in Greek mythology. Yes, the very king famous for his ''Midas touch.'' Whatever he touched turned into gold. He was practically the Federal Reserve of the ancient world. There is a slightly less famous legend associated with Midas. One day, the king captured a sage who was half-man, half-beast. A creature with a human''s upper body and a horse''s lower body (or goat). And as it is now, the fate of a creature caught by humans was pitifully miserable. The king threatened the sage and then made a very human demand. - You wretch! Quickly give us humans the greatest and finest happiness! - Hieeek... The sage didn¡¯t really want to answer. Honestly, he was tired of humans treating him like a lottery ticket. As the captured creature resisted, the human king resorted to a ''very human'' solution. He forced the sage to drink potent liquor until he waspletely inebriated! Only then did the sage, thoroughly drunk, answer the king''s demand. - You foolish mayflies. I was silent for your lowly race''s sake, yet why do you keep forcing me to answer? It''s... infuriating... - What? - The ¡®greatest and finest happiness¡¯ for your race... is utterly impossible. Because... - That ¡®ultimate happiness¡¯ is never to be born, never to exist, to remain in nonexistence. For humans, not being born is the best. Once born, dying quickly is the next best option. - ... After hearing this infamous statement, what happened to the human king isn¡¯t clearly recorded. This story, introduced in Nietzsche''s works, essentially says this: - Humans always ask about happiness. - But for humans, ultimate happiness doesn¡¯t exist. Because life is suffering. - Therefore, the only happiness lies in being free from suffering, and wisdom lies in escaping suffering as soon as possible. - It would have been better not to be born. A truly resolute conclusion. The reason I suddenly recalled this story while talking about the magical mirror was simple. ¡°Jiwon. The magical mirror has been receiving and answering our questions all along.¡± ¡°What do you mean, Sir?¡± ¡°Think about it. No matter what we ask, all questions eventually lead to one ultimate question.¡± ¡°One ultimate question.¡± ¡°Yes.¡± Mirror, mirror. Tell us how to be happy. ¡°Whether it¡¯s asking which lottery number will win, how to reconcile with family, or how to seed, the questions humans ask the magical mirror ultimately aim for their happiness and well-being.¡± ¡°...¡± ¡°From the mirror¡¯s perspective, our questions are superficial, and the core content is always the same.¡± ¡°Tell me how to be happy... That¡¯s the question the mirror hears from us, right, Sir?¡± Exactly. The mirror knew what questions we would ask even without hearing our voices. So, every time our reflection passed before the mirror, it automatically gave an answer. - Die immediately. Immediate death. Only that was the only happiness allowed to humans in this world tainted by emptiness. I tapped the mirror. ¡°In the fairy tale of Snow White, this object is called the magical mirror. Since ancient times, a wizard has been a symbol of a sage.¡± ¡°A sage.¡± ¡°Yes. Also, in the Harry Potter series, the magical mirror is the secret location where the Philosopher''s Stone is hidden. So, the true name of this anomaly before us is¨D¨D.¡± The Mirror of the Sage. That was the true name of this anomaly. ¡°The Mirror of the Sage... Indeed. It seems like an appropriate name.¡± Yoo Jiwon nodded thoughtfully, resting his chin on his hand. ¡°As expected of you, Sir. Then, what is the strategy for dealing with this anomaly...?¡± ¡°There isn¡¯t one. Since it suggests death even to humans, it probably wishes for its own disappearance as well, so it won¡¯t cause trouble.¡± ¡°...¡± ¡°If it bes too noisy, just cover it with a nket. For the mirror, perhaps true happiness is in reflecting nothing but darkness.¡± ¡°Indeed. That makes sense.¡± Yoo Jiwon brought a nket (probably picked up from somewhere, old habits die hard) and covered the mirror. Just before the mirror was fully enveloped in darkness, it spoke in a voice as emotionless as Yoo Jiwon¡¯s. - Die immediately. Swish. And then the mirror fell silent. 5 There¡¯s an epilogue. In every turn, the ¡®Mirror of the Sage¡¯ almost always appeared beside Yoo Jiwon. Since its strategy had already been revealed, we didn¡¯t pay much attention to it, but every time I visited Yoo Jiwon¡¯s room, I would sneak a peek under the nket covering the mirror. Why, you ask? Just because. I was curious if it had changed. - Preserve all newly born lives as specimens. It¡¯s the same anyway. Then, be infected with Udumbara and die. Of course, the mirror¡¯s answer didn¡¯t change easily. I checked from the 117th turn to the 430th turn, and the ¡®sage¡¯s¡¯ answer remained the same. He still advised that I should die soon, and before dying, hold funerals for the poor creatures. ¡®Apletely useless answer. Well, that¡¯s how the sayings of sages usually go.¡¯ Even a regressor¡¯s curiosity has its limits. When there was no sign of change, I finally stopped checking the mirror for a while. Then, suddenly, during the 593rd turn, I remembered it. ¡®By now, has the answer changed?¡¯ The 593rd turn was the one where I finally seeded in defeating The Admin of All-y. It was also the turn where the annoying little reader dered that they would save me. The mirror was still ced in Yoo Jiwon¡¯s private room during this time. For the first time in a long while, I lifted the nket. A reunion after a thousand years. ¡°...¡± The mirror was clean. And silent. Although Yoo Jiwon hadn¡¯t particrly cared for it, the mirror was spotless. It reflected not only my face but also my inner self. Silence continued. Just as I was wondering why it was so quiet. - Keep on living. ¡°...¡± - Keep on living. I heard footsteps behind me. ¡°Hmm? Sir, you¡¯re here?¡± ¡°...¡± ¡°It¡¯s surprising to see youe directly to me. Did something happen?¡± Yoo Jiwon''s figure also faintly appeared in the mirror. Then, once again, a low voice echoed. - Keep on living. ¡°...¡± I quietly covered the mirror with the nket and stood up. Then, I smiled at Yoo Jiwon. ¡°No, nothing happened.¡± ¡°...?¡± ¡°Let¡¯s just grill some meat and have a drink.¡± ¡°Ah, sounds good.¡± - Sage. The End. [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] Chapter 184 [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] Chapter 184 ©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤ Addict I 1 A mirror symbolizes self-reflection, self-objectification, realization, and awareness. However, the bathroom mirror is an exception. The bathroom mirror, conversely, represents unfounded confidence, failure in self-objectification, an overestimation of one¡¯s appearance, ignorance, and blind faith. And there¡¯s someone in my life who can be called the ¡°bathroom mirror of Korea.¡± Sim Aryeon? No, even she would be considered normalpared to this person. The bathroom mirror of Korea. The owner of blind faith. And the protagonist of this story is none other than... ¡°I am the Marquis of Yuldo Kingdom.¡± ¡°¡¡¡± ¡°And I am the greatest in the world, both past and present.¡± An elderly Sword Maiden with a talent for reducing people''s sanity just by introducing himself. ¡°Sir.¡± ¡°¡¡¡± ¡°¡Your Excellency, the Marquis.¡± ¡°Hmm? Oh, Doctor Jang, I didn''t notice you were here. It seems your ability to hide your presence is extraordinary, befitting someone with the highest internal energy in Korea!¡± ¡°¡¡¡± My head already started aching, but I couldn¡¯t run away. There was a deep reason for this. It was the 671st turn. Craftsman Noh Doha, who specialized in dealing with elderly people, unfortunately caught the Void Poison gue and was bedridden. The bacteria, finding no one else to infect, had the audacity to invade Noh Doha. Truly, a brave germ. As a result, I was the only one left who could negotiate with the elderly Sword Maiden and make a deal. If you ask if there were no capable people left in the National Road Management, well... there weren¡¯t. What do you expect in an apocalypse? The talent pool of Korea after the copse of civilization was about aspetitive as Shu after the Battle of Yiling. End of exnation. ¡°Your Excellency, the Marquis. It¡¯s your turn this week to step on the soil of Gimhae ins, but why have you abandoned your duties without a word? Because of this, the spring harvest this year is at risk of failing.¡± ¡°Bah! It¡¯s such mundane matters that have corrupted the world! I have much more pressing duties!¡± If you abandon those mundane duties, the citizens of Busan will all starve to death. And after Busan copses, the entire infrastructure of Korea will crumble like dominoes. I engraved the word ¡°patience¡± in my heart and maintained my business smile. ¡°¡I failed to grasp your grand vision. It must be of utmost importance if you say it¡¯s pressing.¡± ¡°Haha. Now you¡¯re talking. That¡¯s why I like you, Brother Jang.¡± ¡°If it¡¯s not rude, may I ask what this pressing duty is?¡± ¡°Of course!¡± Thud. The Sword Maiden pulled something out from his long sleeve (yes, the kind of long sleeve you¡¯d see in a historical drama) and ced it on the table. ¡°Behold! You cannot imagine how much I¡¯ve suffered because of this strange and wicked thing!¡± I looked. The item the Sword Maiden described as ¡°strange and wicked¡± was indeed peculiar upon closer inspection. First of all, the body was long. And it had dozens of small, round things attached to it, like insect eggs. The body was green, and the eggs were yellow. Here¡¯s the question: What is this? ¡°¡Your Excellency, the Marquis.¡± ¡°What is it, Brother Jang?¡± ¡°This is just... rice, isn¡¯t it?¡± Yes. The ¡°strange and wicked thing¡± was none other than rice. The original form of the staple food that every Korean would recognize. At my question, the Sword Maiden sighed heavily. ¡°Ahh, what a pity. Even someone like you, Brother Jang, couldn¡¯t immediately identify it.¡± What nonsense. ¡°I apologize for myck of insight¡ but what is this object that looks like rice?¡± ¡°It¡¯s opium.¡± ¡°Pardon?¡± ¡°I said it¡¯s opium. Haven¡¯t you heard of it? It¡¯s a wicked substance that causes great harm if inhaled!¡± No. Of course, I knew what opium was. When you cut open the poppy fruit, the nt¡¯s sapes out, and when refined, it bes opium. It also has analgesic effects, and in the old days, elderly people in rural areas would secretly grow it. Legend has it that due to the Korean habit of turning anything into side dishes, there was once a dish called poppy sd in ancient times. The problem was that the nt in front of me, no matter how I looked at it, was just rice. ¡°So, Your Excellency¡ Are you saying that if someone chews on this strange and wicked thing that looks like rice, they¡¯ll experience the same effects as smoking opium?¡± ¡°Indeed! Ah.¡± The Sword Maiden added as if in passing. ¡°However, the effects aren¡¯t exactly the same. Unlike opium, it has no addictive properties.¡± ¡°¨D¨DWait a minute.¡± Unintentionally, I grabbed the Sword Maiden¡¯s shoulder. ¡°¡? What¡¯s the matter?¡± ¡°No addiction? You just said this rice-opium has no addictive properties?¡± ¡°Indeed.¡± ¡°Your Excellency. If this is really simr to opium, meaning it has some narcoticponents, then consuming it would make people feel very good, correct?¡± ¡°Hmm. Indeed.¡± ¡°But the fundamental problem with all narcotics is addiction and dependency. The more you consume, the more you crave it, you build tolerance, and your brain eventually can¡¯t feel any happiness without it. All these side effects are collectively referred to as ¡®addiction.¡¯¡± ¡°Call it whatever you want.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll ask again. Your Excellency, does this rice-opium truly have no addiction whatsoever?¡± ¡°Ah. Indeed, I told you.¡± ¡°¡¡¡± Pop! A form quickly formed in my mind. Narcotics - Addiction - All Side Effects = ? ¡°No! Then this isn¡¯t a drug at all!¡± ¡°Hmm?¡± The Sword Maiden tilted his head. ¡°That¡¯s an odd reaction. When did I ever say this was a drug? I said it¡¯s opium. Opium, as you know, was a nt brought by the cunning imperialists of Europe to disrupt China¡¡± ¡°Please start cultivating it immediately! This!¡± Grabbing the Sword Maiden¡¯s shoulders with both hands, I eximed. ¡°Go to Gimhae ins and, along with catching up on farming, please grow this rice-opium or whatever it is!¡± ¡°What nonsense.¡± The Sword Maiden snorted. "Hah! It''s outrageous enough that I have to report this root of all evil, which should be burned immediately, just out of respect for you, yet you expect me to cultivate it personally? Absolutely not! I will never grow it, no matter what!" "By cultivating this and distributing it to the imperialists in Europe, I intend to settle an old grudge." "I will start cultivating it right now, brother." Fifteen days passed. The Sword Maiden, who had never before shown such passion for farming, took to it with fervor, and the opium rice (with zero addiction) grew rapidly. And then the testing began. ¡°Wh-why did you call for me, Guildmaster?¡± [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] ¡°The Sword Maiden may have imed there are no side effects, but if it turns out to be a lie, I¡¯ll need you to handle it, Aryeon.¡± ¡°But, um, I¡¯m really busy these days¡ I only came because it¡¯s your request, Guildmaster¡¡± ¡°Yes, thank you.¡± I casually dismissed Sim Aryeon¡¯s words. Since she became the Saintess of the North, she¡¯s started enjoying showing off how busy she is. Anyway, the new drug testing drew all sorts of people. Among them was Noh Doha, who had just gotten out of bed after a long illness. ¡°But is it really possible to have opium with absolutely no side effects? I thought the very way opium induces pleasure inherently damages the brain¡¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know. ording to the Sword Maiden, it¡¯s a nt he discovered by chance in the void. Anything can happen in the void, so maybe a side-effect-free drug could exist.¡± ¡°Sounds like a load of bull¡¡± I agreed. But what if it wasn¡¯t? Then we¡¯d have to redefine the term ¡°drug.¡± It¡¯d just be a medicine¡ªno, even a panacea. ¡°Alright, everyone, please pay attention.¡± Everyone in the testing hall turned to look at me. ¡°We¡¯ll begin by testing five inmates from the National Road Management Corps¡¯ prison, all afflicted with the ¡®Murder Addiction Syndrome.¡¯ The efficacy of the opium rice will be tested in solid, liquid, and gas forms.¡± ¡°¡¡± ¡°And just in case side effects appear over time, the experiments will be conducted in stages of 1 year, 3 years, 10 years, 20 years, and 50 years. Yes, you there, Sim Aryeon, why are you raising your hand?¡± ¡°Guildmaster, um, can I, like, try some¡ just a little bit¡?¡± ¡°No, you cannot. Let the testing begin.¡± The inmates were each isted in separate rooms. Dark, enclosed spaces where nothing could be seen once inside. Each inmate was given a bundle of opium rice. - Let me out of here! - I¡¯m sorry! I¡¯ll never kill an innocent person again! Please, forgive me! Bang, bang. The sound of someone weakly pounding on a wall could be faintly heard, so quiet that only those with extraordinary hearing could detect it. There was a red button in front of each of the five istion chambers. The button advanced time by one year inside the chamber. Pressing it once made a year pass. Pressing it twice, two years. Theoretically, pressing it 200 times would make 200 years pass, and even billions of years were possible. Of course, the chambers and buttons themselves were oneplete anomaly. Inside the chambers, survival was possible without food or water, though sleep was impossible. And escape was out of the question unless the door was opened from the outside. In short, it was the perfect prison. The National Road Management Corps frequently used this anomaly. With it, a sentence of 1,000 years could be served for real. Since this prison was introduced, crime rates had plummeted. A prison sentence became more feared than execution. ¡°Chief Noh Doha, please begin with a 1-year sentence.¡± ¡°Sigh. Alright¡¡± Click. Noh Doha pressed the button in front of the first chamber. The faint pounding sound from within rapidly sped up¡ªbangbangbangbangbang¡ªbut only for a moment. In less than 0.01 seconds, the noise fell silent. ¡°One second has passed. Shall we open it?¡± ¡°Yes, please do.¡± The members of the National Road Management Corps approached and opened the door to the first chamber. Usually, inmates who had justpleted their sentences came out insane. Which made sense. Who could remain sane after being confined alone for anywhere from two months to 150,000 years (a sentence actually handed out) in a pitch-dark room? Drooling, muttering incessantly, or bing entirely unresponsive as though their mind had died¡ªit wasmon. But this time was different. ¡°Huh?¡± The inmate who emerged from the first chamber appearedpletely normal. He was casually munching on the grains of opium rice. ¡°Has it already been a year?¡± ¡°¡¡± ¡°Wow, thank goodness. I was so bored I thought I¡¯d die. Haha. Am I free now? I swear I¡¯ll nevermit a crime again!¡± The inmate from the first chamber smiled broadly. No signs of mental illness or void addiction were detected. The inmate genuinely seemed healthy and unaffected. ¡°Hm¡¡± ¡°Hmm.¡± Noh Doha and I exchanged nces. We immediately proceeded to the next test. Noh Doha pressed the red button three times, ten times, twenty, and fifty times. The result? ¡°Finally, freedom!¡± ¡°Thank you, Lord of the Holy Light! Truly, thank you!¡± ¡°I¡¯ll live a righteous life from now on!¡± Amazingly, all the inmates whopleted their sentences emerged in ¡°good mental and physical health.¡± Even after Sim Aryeon conducted thorough examinations, no side effects were found. The inmates had endured istion in the chambers, feeling nothing but happiness from consuming the opium rice. ¡°Doctor Jang, this is¡¡± ¡°Yes.¡± I nodded toward Noh Doha. ¡°Let¡¯s start mass cultivation immediately. This¡¡± ¡°¡¡± ¡°This new nt will no longer be called the sinister name ¡®opium rice,¡¯ but will henceforth be known as ¡®dopamine.¡¯¡± I am invincible. The Sword Maiden is a god. And dopamine can be replicated. [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] Chapter 185 [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] Chapter 185 ©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤ Addict II 2 Dofarming. A new term that literally means farming dopamine. In the past, during the era when civilization was still intact, it referred to the behavior of inte ghosts who wandered around looking for stimting videos or news. But even though the world ended, history progressed. In this apocalyptic era, we have finally realised "dofarming," not just as a metaphor. ¡°I feel... so happy...!¡± Sim Aryeon shuddered. ¡°What is this feeling of happiness? I just cooked and ate in rice. All I did was consume a lump of carbohydrates! But this happiness! This overwhelming happiness is wrapping around me! Guildmaster! What on earth is this...?¡± ¡°It¡¯s a new rice variety that will sustain the Korean Penins, called Dopamine.¡± ¡°It¡¯s so delicious! Even if I eat white rice three times a day, I feel like I¡¯d scream with happiness! I¡¯ve been missing out on life until now... Do ordinary people really live every day listening to this dreamlike melody, with not a trace of depression?¡± ¡°No. Most people probably weren¡¯t that happy in life...¡± Who could have predicted this? The Fourth Industrial Revolution, which followed the First, Second, and Third, wasn¡¯t about AI or robotics. It was an Agricultural Revolution . Now, all arablend in Korea was producing dopamine. It looked just like ordinary rice, so if a foreigner saw it, they might wonder if this was North Korea and get the year confused. ¡°My stomach is full, and happiness just follows... This is crazy. This crop is insane, Guildmaster...¡± But did dopamine consume a lot of nutrients? Not at all. In fact, it consumed far less than growing real rice. Just add fertilizer and diligently nt the seedlings, and dopamine would literally multiply. Naturally, the atmosphere on the SGwork changed dramatically. - Anonymous: Confession) I used to troll anonymously and leave nastyments. - Anonymous: But after a month of eating dopamine, I started wondering why I lived like that. Pointing out others¡¯ ws never improved my life... - Anonymous: I especially want to apologize to the regr member of the forum, Witch Judge. I¡¯m the one who always trolled you, calling you a train otaku aunt. - Anonymous: I used to criticize you, saying that as a prominent figure in Korea, you should maintain a better image, and that it was your responsibility as a public figure. But really, I was just trying topensate for my unhappiness by making you unhappy. - Anonymous: I regret my past. Will you forgive me, Witch Judge? ©¸[Three Thousand] Witch Judge: Of course, I¡¯ll forgive you^^ But which city do you live in? Even these changes were just the tip of the iceberg. There were even more earth-shattering events. - KoreanVige: I¡¯m retiring from SG Net. Sim Aryeon announced that she was quitting SG Net! - KoreanVige: Life is busy. Sim Aryeon used the word life! - KoreanVige: If I¡¯ve hurt anyone during my activities, I¡¯d like to take this opportunity to apologize. I¡¯m sorry. Sim Aryeon apologized! I was so shocked that my jaw dropped. In all 671 episodes, since the invention of SG Net and Sim Aryeon¡¯s survival, never once had she abandoned her identity as the KoreanVige Viin . But now she was leaving the online world? Dedicating herself entirely to living as the Saintess of the North in Pyongyang? Could something like this really happen? ¡°Aryeon, are you... serious about this?¡± ¡°Yes? Yes, yes. These days, I find it much more fulfilling to live my daily life eating dopamine rather than posting nonsense on SG Net...¡± Of course, after saying that, the KoreanVige Viin secretly returned to SG Net a weekter. Leaving me with the famous line, ¡°Guildmaster, I realized that you can¡¯t live on happiness alone (smile).¡± Still, if you look at it from another perspective, that meant the KoreanVige Viin voluntarily quit SG Net for a whole week. My jaw didn¡¯t seem like it was going toe back into ce anytime soon. ¡°Is that really such a big deal...?¡± ¡°You should try living as long as I have, Chief Noh Doha. The sun has risen in the west many times, but Aryeon has never done this before.¡± ¡°You¡¯re more astonished by an inte troll than by celestial movements. What a worthwhile life you¡¯ve had as a regressor...¡± ¡°By the way, Chief, aren¡¯t you going to try dopamine?¡± ¡°No.¡± Noh Doha responded dismissively. He sipped the coffee I made for him with a grimace as he flipped through some documents. ¡°Even though it passed 50 years of side-effect testing, why would I eat such suspicious, empty crops? I don¡¯t intend to apply for a job as a human guinea pig...¡± ¡°But it¡¯s practically a drug with no side effects. It makes you incredibly happy. The statistics should be there, showing that life satisfaction is higher now than when civilization was intact, right?¡± ¡°Oh. Happiness. Such a sweet sound...¡± Noh Doha sneered. ¡°I¡¯ve lived without that nonsense and will continue to do so. Well, I do appreciate that thanks to dopamine, crime andints have plummeted, andbor productivity has skyrocketed, making my job as Chief much easier...¡± ¡°Hmm.¡± ¡°And Doctor Jang, do you think I¡¯m unaware of your true intentions? You just want to see me grinning foolishly in a state of happiness, don¡¯t you...?¡± ¡°That¡¯s a misunderstanding.¡± How did he know? Did Noh Doha develop mind-reading abilities too? He really is like a ghost. ¡°By the way, the Magical Girl Association has requested some dopamine seeds. In exchange, they¡¯re offering to expand the farnd we can use in Kyushu...¡± ¡°Is there anything to think about? Share it with them. In tough times, it¡¯s best to share the good stuff.¡± ¡°Heh.¡± Noh Doha¡¯s eyes gleamed behind his monocle. ¡°Aren¡¯t you just expanding the test scale to ensure this miraculous crop really has no side effects? Doctor Jang, you aren¡¯t eating dopamine either, are you...?¡± I remained silent. Because he was half-right. ¨D¨DIn the end, all of human civilization is just a desperate struggle to achieve happiness. The minimum condition for happiness, its average, is to avoid unhappiness. In other words, not having one¡¯s rights vited. As the number of members in a society increases to hundreds, thousands, or tens of millions, the happiness pursued by that society converges towards an average. Thus, thews of societies that grow beyond a certain size always focus on the minimum condition for happiness: preventing rights vitions. The rest of happiness must be found by individuals on their own, and social happiness and personal happiness are inherently divergent. Achieving the gap between society''s happiness and individuals'' happiness, which widens as the poption grows into tens of millions or billions, simultaneously. Isn¡¯t that the ultimate goal of humanity and civilization? ¡°Dopamine may be the tool that allows humanity to reach the pinnacle of civilization.¡± It may sound absurd, but I seriously considered that possibility. After all, life was painful for many people. If you could provide them with a crop that offers awakening effects, fatigue recovery, productivity boosts, and hunger suppression, yet has no side effects? Perhaps, at longst, life wouldn¡¯t be suffering but a lucky lottery. As a regressor who has lived for thousands of years, I couldn¡¯t help but worry about the world after defeating all the anomalies. ¡°If dopamine really has no side effects, the Sword Maiden will be the eternal savior of humanity.¡± ¨D¨DAnd if you''ve listened to my story this far, you can easily imagine it. Unfortunately, the miracle crop that brought ''happiness'' to everyone didn''t end with a ''happy ending.'' "Doctor Jang." A yearter, Tang Seorin came to me and spoke. "Not a single child was born in Busan this year." [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] 3 The news that South Korea''s birth rate was breaking world records daily was no longer surprising. But there had never been a time when the birth rate hit 0%. Not even in the apocalypse when anomalies took over the world. Tang Seorin was telling me that this record had been set in none other than Busan. "...Not a single one?" "Yeah. Not one." Tang Seorin''s tone seemed calm at first nce. It was a kind of defense mechanism. The more serious the situation, the colder her voice became. It was a characteristic of someone who knew that the entire organization would copse if they wavered. "I couldn''t believe it either, so I verified it multiple times. But no matter how many residents there are in Busan, it''s impossible that not a single newborn was delivered. Maybe they just didn''t give birth in hospitals or clinics." "......" "But it''s certain. This year, not a single human has been born." To Tang Seorin, I was the one person she could momentarily let her cold facade down in front of, a confidant. After a brief silence, Tang Seorin spoke again,yering subjective sincerity over objective truth. "All the babies were stillborn." ording to her investigation, this phenomenonmonly urred around the 8th week of pregnancy. The fetus, after finding a ce in the womb, suddenly ''stopped'' growing. It even curled up and gradually shrank. As if it didn¡¯t want to leave any trace in this world. As if every pregnancy was nothing more than ''imagination.'' "......" "......" After receiving her verbal report and written data, I could only remain silent. Both Tang Seorin and I had already guessed it. We knew what was behind this bizarre phenomenon, what the cause was. And so, without saying a word, we shared the premonition that this wasn¡¯t just a story limited to a certain city in the southern penins. "Of course, it could just be that this strange phenomenon is only happening in Busan." But it wasn¡¯t. A weekter, Cheon Yohwa came to Busan and said. "Teacher, the babies are dying." "......" "No, I should say they''re disappearing. They just vanish. Continuously." The same news kepting from Busan, Sejong, Pyongyang, Daejeon, southern Seoul, and even the Japanese archipgo, from every city and vige where humanity barely managed to cling to life. The babies aren''t being born. No human visits the earth anymore. No longer. "......" "......" The meeting room of the Regression Alliance fell into an eerie silence. Lee Hayul, the most recent among us to knock on the door of this world, murmured softly. "...Maybe it''s just this year?" But it wasn¡¯t. A yearter, the same reports came in. "Busan. Birth rate is zero." "Ugh. Not a single baby was born in Sejong either." "Py-Pyongyang has none too......" It was a strange thing. There were no more unfortunate humans. Everyone was happy, except for a very small, deliberate minority who avoided dopamine intake. Human civilization had finally reached its peak. And at this highest point, for some reason, humanity suddenly exercised a veto on the act of repeating life. Why? We¡¯ve all witnessed the phenomenon of ''not having children because life is unhappy.'' But the opposite ¨C ''not giving birth despite being perfectly happy'' ¨C was a bizarre phenomenon. There was no precedent. But the cause was clear. "There''s one thing we can try." The people in the meeting room turned to look at me. "This is undoubtedly the work of an anomaly. Something ominous rted to dopamine is happening to the fetuses." Cheon Yowa tilted her head. "But, teacher, we observed the fetuses in many ways, and indeed, starting from the 8th week, they suddenly began to shrink for no apparent reason." "Yes. That was from external observation. In other words, the strange phenomenon isn¡¯t happening to the fetus''s appearance but ''inside.''" "Inside the fetus...? What does that mean?" "Dreams." I looked toward one corner of the meeting room. There, Fairy No. 264 was ying with Lego blocks. Looking at the anomaly, who we called a fairy but read as a nightmare, I said, "I will personally enter the dreams of the newborns and find out which anomaly is abducting our future." [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] Chapter 186 [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] Chapter 186 ©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤ Addict III 4 Birth Rate 0%. Faced with an unprecedented situation that even survivors from South Korea had never witnessed, the policy I proposed was simple: - Use a subus to enter the fetus''s dream. - Defeat the mysterious creature lurking there. Among the low birth rate policies previously implemented on the Korean Penins, this one was arguably the most practical. However, even this n encountered issues right from the first step. First of all, the 264th fairy, who was urgently appointed as a low birth rate consultant, was hesitant. "Gasp. Comrade Secretary-General, it''s utterly reckless for a fully grown adult, especially aplete stranger, to enter a fetus''s dream!" "...Is it that difficult?" "Of course!" As expected of an expert selected for the advisorymittee, the 264th fairy looked at me as if wondering how I could be so ignorant of something so basic. "The fetal world is made entirely of ¡®sound¡¯! The dual melodies of the mother¡¯s high tones and the father¡¯s low tones, the rhythm of the heartbeat, the dissonance of the digestive organs... Along with the mysterious intery of light and shadow! Although in reality, it¡¯s just the parents turning the lights on and off in the room, for the fetus, it feels like the sun and moon are alternately dancing. The touch of water, the smell¡ªthis is all that makes up the fetal world, the fetal dream!" "There''s almost no visual information." "Yes! That''s the big problem!" The revolutionary official nodded, using the imperialistnguage, acknowledging the reality of the situation. "More than 80%, no, 90% of the fetal world isposed of sound! On the other hand, for fully grown humans like you, Comrade Secretary-General, more than 80% of perception is visual! It''s safe to say it''s almost like a different species!" "But it¡¯s something we must aplish. Is there no way?" "If you want to be disassembled and turned into a 3/4 rhythm sound as soon as you enter the dream, I won¡¯t stop you." "Hmm..." As I sat silently, the 264th fairy added, "But if it¡¯s someone with a familiar voice to the baby, the sess rate increases dramatically¡ªfrom 3% to around 9%." "A familiar voice?" "It¡¯s much easier to connect to the baby''s dream if it¡¯s the mother or father! So, if it''s your own child, Comrade Secretary General, the sess rate doubles!" Twitch¡ª At that moment, the atmosphere in the conference room changed. I could sense the shift in the air. Everyone in the meeting turned their ears towards our conversation. ...I had promised not to use [Mind Reading] on Oh Dokseo anymore, but this time, it was hard to resist. I immediately closed one eye and activated my ''Gung Ye technique.'' Ah, I hadn''t described it before, but my mind-reading ability worked better when I closed my left eye. [PR/N: Gung Ye was a king of north-central Korea in the early tenth century who believed he possessed the supernatural ability to read minds, killing many innocent people out of paranoia.] [Cheon Yohwa: Wow. That subus just asked the forbidden question everyone was curious about but no one dared to ask¡] [Seo Gyu: I''m curious too. The Boss has lived through hundreds of regressions, but did he really never have a child? Never married?] [Tang Seorin: I need to focus on enjoying this coffee. Yes, delicious.] [Sword Maiden: Mount Hua Number One.] [Sim Aryeon: The Guild Master''s child would be so cute.] [Noh Doha: Oh, he''s closing his eye? Is that bastard using mind reading?] I immediately turned off the mind reading and rubbed my left eye, pretending as if something had gotten in it and I had to close it briefly. Even so, Noh Doha continued to give me a suspicious look, but I smoothly changed the subject. "Having a child solely to hunt the creature would be disrespectful to the child. Instead, how about this method?" "What method?" "Rather than me entering the fetus''s dream, how about inviting the fetus into my dream instead? Wouldn¡¯t that be safer?" "...!" The 264th fairy jumped up from her seat. "Wow! As expected of you, Comrade Secretary General! What an astute decision! That would indeed raise the sess rate above 50%!" A chorus of disappointed and annoyed murmurs echoed quietly throughout the conference room. I was getting tired of it. Humans¡¯ interest in other people''s love lives seemed to be a matter of instinct. "Good. Instead of simply inviting the fetus into my dream, let''s decorate my dream to match the fetal environment as closely as possible. As you suggested, we''ll dim the surroundings, fill the air with the smell of water, and add a natural white noise background." "Sess rate surpassing 90%! Comrade Secretary-General is a genius¡!" The project was taking shape. Now we needed a coborator¡ªa pregnant woman. This part was quickly resolved. "You''re saying that a disgusting monster is trying to kidnap my baby, right? Of course, I''ll cooperate. Just make sure to tear that anomaly limb from limb." "Yes, Doctor Jang! Please dismember it entirely!" "...." Survivors of the apocalypse were inherently tough. Among them, the residents of Busan, who watched Tang Seorin¡¯s monster dissection show weekly, were particrly resilient. There were a total of 49 volunteers. The final selection was made for the woman who had been pregnant the longest. This was at the fairy''s request. "The fetus¡¯s brain needs to be developed enough to dream!" A reasonable point. Recently, fetuses had stopped growing after 8 weeks of pregnancy and would ''disappear'' as early as 10 weeks, or aste as 30 weeks. The final candidate had reached 25 weeks of pregnancy. Nevertheless, her belly did not protrude, and there was no noticeable difference from before she was pregnant. It wouldn¡¯t have been surprising if the child had been kidnapped at any moment, which only heightened the mother¡¯s anger and anxiety toward the anomaly. There was another reason behind her selection. "If my baby is born, I n to name her Seoah." Jeong Seoah. You might remember her. From a very long time ago, in a past turn, she was the little chef who personally fed me a sugar doughnut on Haeundae Beach. In each turn, Jeong Seoah¡¯s personality and appearance were slightly different. Her gender varied too. But regardless, her identity as a bakery child remained consistent. Yes, I understood that the ¡®Jeong Seoah¡¯ I knew and the ¡®Jeong Seoah¡¯ who would be born in this turn would be simr, yet different. But what does it matter? Every child carves out their own life, navigating the gap between what adults know and the unknown. I didn¡¯t want to see this child kidnapped by a monster. "Alright, let''s sit together. We need to sing a luby to enter the dream properly!" Everything was ready. Thirty-six fairies formed a circle and held hands. I shook hands with the fairies using my right hand, while the mother used her left hand. Then the fairies began to sing in unison. "Mother goes to the ind''s shade~?" "Off to chop the necks of those evil monsters~?" "The baby left alone~ defecates~?" "...." Are you still insisting that this ridiculous song is a luby? Right after losing my sense of disbelief, my consciousness suddenly dropped. 5 We had previously agreed, the fairies and I, that we wouldn¡¯t descend into the depths of unconsciousness too far. After all, as everyone knows, the bottom of the underground has be the territory of ''She-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named.'' If I were to describe it purely by feel, the unconscious world where the ''pink entity'' resides is on the 13th underground floor. The unconsciousness I had descended into this time was only about the 2nd underground floor at most. [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] -Thud. Evening down this far was enough to set up an interior designed to imitate the image of a fetus. -Thud. Thud. Thud. There was nothing but darkness. But it wasn¡¯t a silence of darkness, nor a dry, ck background. The darkness was sound. The world was softly growling. To humans, the heart is never a visible diagram but always exists as a sound, a ripple that resonates slightly, submerged in water. "I can''t see anything." "Well, of course, because a baby has never seen anything before! To a baby, the world seen when a human closes their eyelids is everything there is to see." "That''s why in mythology, prophets often appear after losing their eyes. To experience the first world, you must be able to discern it through sound." "Shh. The baby is over there!" Fairy No. 264, who was holding my left hand, pointed to a part of the darkness. I saw it. -¡¡. My five senses reinterpreted ''the world as felt by the baby'' into visual information. And what I saw was astonishing. "That¡¯s... just water, isn¡¯t it?" In the middle of the darkness, water floated and wriggled. I couldn¡¯t see arms or legs. There was no head. There was something like long tentacles wriggling in the water¡ Could it be the umbilical cord? No matter how I looked at it, it seemed more like an Undine wannabe than a human, neither more nor less. "Yes, it''s water." "...No. Where¡¯s the calm baby quietly curling up, and why is there a water elemental slime sitting here instead?" "Tsk, tsk, tsk. Comrade Secretary. That¡¯s just the distorted mindset of an adult''s perspective." This brat really deserves a smack. "Adults might distinguish between the fetus and amniotic fluid, thinking this is human, and that is liquid, but from the fetus¡¯s perspective, the amniotic fluid is almost like a part of its own body! It¡¯s only natural, since it¡¯s been with it since birth!" "Ah." "Human schrs interpret the pain babies experience during birth simply as the separation of the umbilical cord or from the mother, but more fundamentally, it''s closer to the separation from ''water,'' the loss of the ''body,'' the most fundamental ''skin!'' Mammals are terrifying creatures that have their skin stripped off every time they¡¯re born..." Fairy No. 264 shivered. ¡®This is a pretty interesting perspective.¡¯ So arge part of the pain humans experience during birth stems from the ''loss of water,'' the ''loss of body.'' In other words, it''s like saying that babies, who were originally ''water spirits,'' are forcibly turned into ''humans.'' But there was no time to delve into such anthropological topics now. "Comrade Secretary! An anomaly has appeared!" "...!" The very being responsible for ushering in the era of zero birth rates on the Korean Penins had made its appearance. Step, step- The anomaly walked lightly from the other side of the darkness. And when I saw its appearance, my eyes couldn''t help but widen. Jeong Seoah. The anomaly looked strikingly simr to how the fetus would look when it grew up, walking toward it. -Hah. Yesterday was tough too. Plop. The ''grown-up Jeong Seoah'' sat down beside the ''unborn Jeong Seoah.'' -You know, it seems like mom finally got the news. That I might not be born if this keeps up. -¡¡. The anomaly, imitating Jeong Seoah, whispered to the fetus in a strange voice and tone. -Our dad, he went into the voidst month and died, remember? So mom thinks I''m the only trace dad left behind. But now that I might disappear too, she¡¯s in immense pain. She ate so much dopamine again. -¡¡. -It''s not just mom. Dad too, up until the day before he went missing, he kept baking dopamine rice pizza every day. Uncle. Aunt. Cousins. And don¡¯t forget to calcte the grandparents on both sides. Thanks to that damn dopamine, they lived healthily and happily and passed away. -¡¡. -So¡ it¡¯s my turn now? Ssh. Jeong Seoah dipped her hand into the fetus''s amniotic fluid. Then, a certain ominous ''ckness,'' different from the serene darkness of this dream world, contaminated the fetus¡¯s water. -¡¡! ¡¡! The fetus¡¯s amniotic fluid turned murky and dark. The fetus, not yet knowing how to scream, expressed its pain by violently rippling the surface of the water. ¡®Ah.¡¯ It was only then that I realized the true nature of dopamine. How could dopamine have made people purely happy without any side effects until now? The side effects hadn¡¯t disappeared. Misery hadn¡¯t vanished either. The side effects and misery were merely transferred and postponed to ''other people.'' Namely, to those not yet born. In other words, to the ''next generation'' sharing the same bloodline. [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] Chapter 187 [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] Chapter 187 ©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤ Addict IV "Is it painful?" The anomaly spoke to the fetus. "Do you still want to be born?" The voice sounded gentle, almost kind. This, in itself, was quite an oddity. Anomalies were known to mimic human behavior awkwardly. Yet, this anomaly was exceptionally skilled at pretending to be human. It had adopted a human appearance, imitated their voice, and copied their mannerisms. "There are so many lives like this outside," it said. With a ssh, the anomaly thrust its arm into the amniotic fluid without hesitation, stirring it. -...! In response, the color of the fluid thatposed the fetus flickered in various hues. The surface of the fluid became a screen, disying scenes like a film projector. Scenes of Jeong Seoah''s mother suffering. Her father, stressed out over running his bakery. Her uncles, aunts, cousins, and grandparents¡ªall those connected by blood to the tiny fetus named Jeong Seoah¡ªwere shown in their moments of distress and pain. "Ah... Those aren¡¯t just ordinary scenes," whispered Fairy 264 beside me. "Those scenes depict the misery and pain they should have felt without dopamine¡! Each color carries a dense emotion¡!" Birth, aging, sickness, and death. From the smallest to the most devastating misfortunes of human life, all the pain that should have been erased by dopamine was now transferred to the fetus. The anomaly, havingpleted the transfer, shuddered and pulled back. "Jeong Seoah." -... "Even after this, do you still want to be born?" Thump. The heartbeat that had sustained the fetus''s dream weakened. The rhythm grew fainter, the sound quieter. But the heartbeat continued. Jeong Seoah still held onto the will to live, a will sustained over 25 weeks. However, the anomaly wasn¡¯t finished speaking. "Of course, there is a way to avoid such suffering." The anomaly caressed Jeong Seoah. "You just need to take dopamine." The fetus convulsed violently. "If you do that, you can pretend there¡¯s no misery or suffering in the world¡ªjust like your mother, your father, and everyone else living in this world." -... "Why should you ept this burden? It¡¯s not your fault that the world is like this. You¡¯re just being born into it. You can just pass it on." Another jolt. "But if you do that, you¡¯ll be the first generation to do so knowingly." Drip, drop. The water thatposed the fetus''s body also began to diminish. Like shedding an old skin, droplets of amniotic fluid fell from the surface. It was tears. The fetus, still without limbs, knew no other way to express itself than through tears. We, from the outside, deduced that "the fetus is gradually shrinking and will eventually disappear." But the truth was different. The child, made of water, was slowly vanishing, simply by shedding tears. "Yes, that¡¯s a good decision." The anomaly licked the water droplets that had fallen from the fetus. Itpped them up like a hamster. "There¡¯s no reason for you to do it. No reason to bear unhappiness, to knowingly pass on guilt. So... isn¡¯t that right?" The anomaly tilted its head while drinking the amniotic fluid. "This isn¡¯t the dream." At that moment, the anomaly''s right arm was severed. It was a clean cut from my sword, slicing through the forearm. "Ah." Plop. The severed arm in the air turned into water and sshed onto the floor. Only then did the anomaly, which had borrowed Jeong Seoah''s face, nce at me obliquely. At this point, Fairy 264 shrieked and fled somewhere. Truly useless in a fight. -...! But without even ncing at the fairy, the anomaly''s face was filled with surprise. It seemed to recognize me, disying a reaction that could only be described as genuinely human. "The undertaker?" "Do you know of my existence?" "If the local resident doesn¡¯t know, they should close up shop." "Quite talkative for an anomaly. You speak as if you have intellect, articting yourself fluently." "Ahaha." The anomalyughed. The sound of itsughter was exceptionally urate. It resonated in the dream''s darkness, sounding like a child''s pureughter. "Because I¡¯m human! Of course, I have intellect!" "Oh, really? You¡¯re not an anomaly but a human?" "Yes, yes, because..." The anomaly spread its arms. The arm I had cut off had already regenerated. "We feel pain and suffering." The anomaly cradled the fetus like a statue of the Piet¨¤. "Pain, suffering, and responsibility¡ªthings that those outside who no longer feel or wish to feel them can¡¯t understand. Of course, that makes us more human." I opened my mouth to respond, but then closed it. The logic was disturbingly human. "You cherish those who are more unhappy and more miserable than yourselves. Isn¡¯t that what you call being human?" "My family is more unfortunate. My environment is more pitiful." "My teacher is scarier, my workce is harsher, my country is more brutal." Competing over who suffers more is something humans enjoy, something only humans can do. Could do. "You¡¯ve lost your humanity." In this era dominated by dopamine, it was something humanity had lost. "Now, we will be the new humans of this era." At that moment, I looked at Jeong Seoah in the anomaly¡¯s arms and spoke. "In a world where no one is born?" "A dream. Reality. The only difference is the hierarchy." Indeed. Are you saying that the new royalty will unfold in dreams? At that moment, I felt like I understood where the unborn children were heading. But. ¡°You''re wrong.¡± I raised my sword and spoke. ¡°Not everyone is consuming dopamine. Therefore, you cannot deprive them of their humanity.¡± The anomaly frowned deeply. It was a look as if it thought I was ying word games. -Well, that''s true, considering that neither the fields after the sword nor the logisticswork serve all of humanity. But you should know, shouldn''t you? Self-proimed expert on anomalies. Talking about such ''realism'' when conversing with us is meaningless... ¡°Noh Doha.¡± The anomaly flinched. ¡°He doesn''t consume dopamine. He refused to consume it long before he knew about side effects like yours.¡± -...... ¡°If you know my name, then of course you know about Noh Doha, and you should know that Noh Doha doesn''t consume dopamine. Am I wrong?¡± The anomaly, who had been silent, soon ground its teeth. -...He''s an oddball. A weirdo. He can''t represent humanity. ¡°In some ways, I agree.¡± I swung my sword again. Once more, one of the anomaly''s arms flew off. ¡°But in every other way, he alone represents humanity.¡± And this time, the severed arm did not regenerate. The anomaly''s argument had crumbled in the face of the counterexample named Noh Doha. -Grrk! The anomaly started to back away, as if trying to flee. But this was my dream. It might have entered at will, but there was no freedom in leaving. Swish! I immediately shed, cutting off one of the anomaly''s legs. The anomaly, trying to flee, copsed backward. The moment I embraced Seoah, who I had epted into my arms, the anomaly looked up at me. -P...Please... The anomaly trembled. -Please don''t kill me. I don''t want to die... I have in countless anomalies until now. Even humans. Those with mouths, tongues, and vocal cords would often beg for their lives when faced with my sword. I did not listen to them. I had lived long enough to know that just because something was born human and looked human didn''t mean it was human. Especially when it came to an anomaly merely mimicking a human being. But. ¡°Why.¡± When I came to my senses, I suddenly found myself asking. ¡°Isn''t that exactly what you told Seoah? That there''s nothing but pain and misery in this world, and all there is to inherit are bombs. Then why are you begging for your life?¡± -That''s... The anomaly''s words trailed off. The once eloquent debater fell silent as if their tongue had stopped working. The expression also disappeared. Only those eyes. The anomaly''s eyes were fixed on Seoah, whom I held in my arms. I realized that there was a certain kind of envy, or perhaps even longing, in that gaze. ¡°......¡± Indeed. If this anomaly had continued to speak fluently as before, I would have immediately swung my sword. The anomaly did not. I could not easily cut down something that longed for life, a being that did not seek an easy escape through death despite bearing and chewing on pain and misery. Especially when some old man was doing that too easily himself. But I knew what I had to do. I also knew how to do what I had to do. These emotions would subside. My hand would move forward. The anomaly would be exterminated. I knew it would happen in just 10 seconds. But. But even so. ¡°I have a question.¡± [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] I sheathed my sword. -...What? ¡°If you im to be human, I should ask you this.¡± Jingle-. A bell rang in the dark space. The sound originated from the bracelet on my wrist. Attached to it was a ''silver bell.'' I showed the anomaly the very thing that had earned me the nickname of ''Undertaker'' and asked. ¡°Do you want to escape from hell?¡± 6 Originally, [Time Seal] only activated on humans. The reason was simple. The opponent had to agree, saying, ''Yes, please use that ability on me!'' for the ability to work. You could call it a kind of contract. Therefore, using [Time Seal] on non-human races was almost impossible. Most anomalies only mimicked human thinking andnguage. They did not truly understand it. They couldn''t even sign their names on a contract. But. ¡°Do you want to be at peace forever?¡± -...... ¡°I can make you live the happiest day of your life for eternity. You, who imed to carry the misery of many people andined about your misfortune, must understand how sweet this offer is.¡± If there were indeed an anomaly that truly thought of itself as human. Even if that anomaly had somehowe to understand human thinking andnguage. ¡°However, in return, you will be forgotten by all humans. No one will remember that you existed.¡± -...... ¡°Except for me.¡± If such an anomaly existed. Of course, it could be sealed in the Tombstone of Time. -Ah. The anomaly murmured. -Even if you ask if no matter how happy the dream, it''s just an illusion... ¡°You said that there is no difference between dreams and reality, so you''d contradict your own argument.¡± -Right. It''s a checkmate. The anomaly murmured. -I see. If I say no here, I''m giving up being human. But if I agree, I''ll be exterminated. Staring nkly. The anomaly looked at me. -Cruel human. ¡°I asked you a question.¡± -Truly cruel. A person taking their own life is called suicide. Then what should we call it when an anomaly exterminates itself? Shouldn''t that also be called suicide? -¡I''ve only ever dreamed of an unfortunate life. The anomaly''s gaze had already turned toward the sky. -I said that suffering is the human condition, but the truth is, I didn''t want to be unhappy either. I wanted to live a life full of happiness, just like the humans outside. The anomaly, who had been looking at the sky, lowered its gaze to see Jeong Seoah in my arms, and then looked at itself as it would appear when Jeong Seoah grew up. -Now, I want to live a happy dream. -Because I''m human. I nodded silently. Jingle. The moment the silver bell rang for thest time, the anomaly that had taken the form of Jeong Seoah suddenly exploded. The anomaly''s body turned into a ck liquid that flowed onto the ground. On the wet ground, a crystal-clear tombstone was erected. Indeed. I had just witnessed an anomalymitting suicide for the first time. 7 There is an epilogue. ¡°Dopamine? What¡¯s that?¡± When the anomaly was [sealed in time], people naturally lost all memory of dopamine. Of course, it wasn¡¯t just memories that were lost. ¡°Tang Seorin, can¡¯t you see the rice covering that in?¡± ¡°Huh? What are you talking about? It¡¯s just a wastnd.¡± ¡°¡¡.¡± People couldn¡¯t even perceive the dopamine itself. Even if there was an opium paddy growing right in front of them, or even if they refined the rice grains and presented them, they would only perceive empty space. The fact that no babies had been born for the past two years was only considered ¡®a very strange urrence.¡¯ No one remembered that it was all caused by dopamine. Not the saintess, not the Sword Maiden. ¡°What do you think, Aryeon? Don¡¯t you feel a sudden wave of happiness or something?¡± ¡°No, not at all. It feels just the same as usual.¡± Even more surprising was that if you tried to force dopamine on someone else, it would have no effect. It was once a crop that was expected to save human civilization, and everyone used to carry it around and consume it. But now, in this world, I was the only person who knew about dopamine. ¡°Hmm.¡± Perhaps in the next turn, even the Sword Maiden wouldn¡¯t find and bring dopamine. Feeling somewhat bitter, I suddenly asked Noh Doha a question while serving him tea. ¡°Chief Noh Doha, suppose there was food in front of you that supposedly brought happiness without any side effects, at least as far as people knew.¡± ¡°Are you talking about hot fried chicken¡¡?¡± ¡°Anything at all¡¡. Would you eat it?¡± Noh Doha adjusted his sses. The dangling chain jangled hysterically. ¡°Why the hell would I eat that kind of crap¡ Do others eat it as well?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°Hmmm¡¡.¡± It was the second day of an all-nighter. Noh Doha, pressing his deep dark circles with his fingers, said, ¡°If there were only enough for me, I¡¯d eat it all myself¡ but if others were eating it too, I wouldn¡¯t eat it¡.¡± ¡°Why not? Everyone else is eating it.¡± ¡°Well¡ I guess because I¡¯m a hipster who gets annoyed when the genre I like bes mainstream¡?¡± ¡°Indeed.¡± I nodded immediately. It was such a convincing reason. So, I couldn¡¯t understand what happened next. ¡°Why did you hit me on the head, Chief?¡± ¡°I was just spouting nonsense, but you seriously agreed, and it annoyed me¡.¡± ¡°Was it nonsense?¡± ¡°What else would it be¡? Damn it, how can you take me so seriously¡?¡± Shaking his head, Noh Doha put down the teacup and said in a more serious tone, ¡°If everyone else is taking that unknown happiness pill, someone has to abstain to prepare for any potential situation, right?¡± Hmm. Considering that I was able to corner the anomaly because of that, I had no rebuttal, but I couldn¡¯t help asking the reverse question, ¡°Would you give up certain happiness now for a contingency n that may or may not be effective?¡± ¡°What the hell are you talking about, you bastard¡ My life since you found me has been summarized by that very sentence¡ Don¡¯t you have any awareness of that, you bastard?¡± ¡°That¡¯s indeed true.¡± I resolved that I would serve Noh Doha tea more often in the future. 8 The second epilogue. One day, after cleaning up the remnants in the deepestyer of the dream within a dream, I suddenly went up to the second floor of the dream. The scenery of that floor changed every time I dreamed. But in a corner of the scenery, there was always a crystal tombstone. ¡®Now I¡¯m living with graves even in my dreams.¡¯ I tried touching the tombstone out of curiosity. Usually, when I touched the surface of a tombstone, the ''happiest day'' of the person sealed inside would unfold like a virtual reality. So, right now, the happiest moment of that dopamine anomaly should have been re-enacted¨D¨D. At this moment, something quite surprising happened. -Do you want to escape from hell? -¡¡. -Do you want to be at peace forever? In the anomaly''s dream, the scene where I confronted the anomaly was repeating. I blinked nkly. Why? ¡®Ah.¡¯ Come to think of it, it was obvious. That anomaly, once called dopamine, didn¡¯t have any ''happy memories'' to begin with. It had fed on the misfortunes of humans until it was exterminated. In other words. -I¡¯ve only ever dreamed of an unfortunate life. -Now, I want to live a happy dream. This was the only happy memory the anomaly had. -Because I''m human. Jingle. In the dream within a dream, the anomaly left those words as itsst will and exploded. Just before it died, the anomaly had a beaming smile on its face. The happiest day for this anomaly was the moment itmitted suicide. ¡°¡¡.¡± I had no choice but to acknowledge it as I watched the anomaly continuously repeat its suicide in the dream. There was an anomaly here that was all too human. -Addict. END. [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] Chapter 188 [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] Chapter 188 ©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤ Patriot I 1 Have you ever heard this saying? - Crisis is an opportunity. This phrase, which has be widely known as a proverb, feels, in my opinion, a bit too gentle. Reality is cold. To truly reflect this harsh world, even proverbs must undergo a sort of remake. - Find opportunity in crisis. If you can''t, you''re going to die anyway. An apocalypse is a series of crises. It¡¯s no different from the endless election survey calls you get. While election seasonsts at most a month, the apocalypse is an eternal rollercoaster that¡¯s new and exciting every day. The weak humans who couldn¡¯t adapt to the newly updated environment of Earth have all perished. It wasn¡¯t just individuals who died. Entire professions were wiped out. In the apocalyptic era, if you were to list some of the most deleted job titles from elementary school career aspiration forms, you¡¯d find: Members of parliament, electionmission officials, union leaders, stock traders, physicists, graduate students, hikikomori, and so on... And you can¡¯t leave out "journalists." Modern media, which had bepletely dependent on advertisers, found the apocalypse far too harsh. Of course,rge guilds would asionally publish quarterly newsletters. The "Hogsmeade News" from the Three Thousand Worlds gained some poprity. But calling that journalism would be stretching it. A rmendation for witch fashion items from the fall by Dang Seorin on the front page doesn''t exactly scream journalistic integrity. Nevertheless, it took a considerable amount of time before "journalists" disappeared from the list of professions. The reason was simple. Jo Youngsoo. Not just on the Korean Penins, but in the entirety of what was once "the Republic of Korea," thest remaining journalist remained active for quite a long time. 2 However, if I were to randomly grab a citizen of Busan and im, "Jo Youngsoo is actually a journalist," I would likely receive a strange look. "Him? A journalist? Why?" they might say. You could find Jo Youngsoo in Busan at none other than the za in front of the National Highway Management Office. There, you would see a middle-aged man holding a protest sign and shouting every day. "Step down, dictator Noh Doha! Step down! Step down!" "Ugh, that guy¡¯s at it again. Doesn¡¯t he ever get tired?" "Step down, dictator Noh Dohaaaah!" That¡¯s right. This man was none other than Jo Youngsoo. Naturally, to the people of Busan, Jo Youngsoo was not seen as a journalist or anything close to it. He was just "the crazy guy in the za." The crazy guy¡¯s outfit was extraordinary. Not only did he carry a protest sign, but on his upper garment, front and back, were emzoned: [Republic of Korea] [Democracy] His outfit, which could hardly be called simple clothing¡ªmore like armor, or perhaps even a relic¡ªwas covered in densely written lowercase letters besides the capital ones. [The Republic of Korea is a democratic republic] [The sovereignty of the Republic of Korea belongs to the people, and all poweres from the people] [All citizens shall have freedom of speech and the press, and freedom of assembly and association] [Permission or censorship of speech and the press, and permission of assembly and association, shall not be recognized]... He was, in every sense, the embodiment of democracy! If, in the civilized days, Seoul¡¯s Myeongdong had the "Jesus Heaven, Hell for Nonbelievers" Evangelism Group, then Busan now had Jo Youngsoo as a new spectacle. No matter how fashion-tolerant Busan was, Jo Youngsoo stood out more than any witch cosyer from the Three Thousand Worlds. "Can¡¯t someone do something about that guy?" "He¡¯s such a nuisance." "When does his voice ever get hoarse?" Naturally, the National Highway Management Office officers strongly disliked Jo Youngsoo. Even if the officers didn¡¯t exactly worship or serve Noh Doha as the savior of the Korean Penins, they surely wouldn¡¯t like a human siren screaming on theirmute to and from work. If Noh Doha had even casually mentioned, "That guy¡¯s annoying, get rid of him," the National Highway Management Office officers would have been willing to quietly take care of it without anyone noticing. "Just leave him alone..." On the contrary, the only reason Jo Youngsoo managed to stay alive was due to Noh Doha¡¯s neglect. "Why make such a fuss over nothing? Go do some overtime instead..." "But, Chief, is there really any reason to keep such a fool alive? It could lower the morale of the National Highway Management Office officers." "Screw morale. If they don¡¯t want to work, tell them to quit. Who¡¯s stopping them? Damn it, I¡¯d quit if I could. Should I really do something to kill their morale?" "I¡¯ll make sure to warn the officers not to touch him strictly." Noh Doha waspletely immune to voices criticizing or ndering him. No matter what anyone said, even if they insulted him with crudenguage, Noh Doha would ignore it without snorting. Interpreting this as the magnanimity of a ruler would be a mistake. No one is likely to pay attention if a caterpir wriggles fiercely to get noticed. Noh Doha¡¯s mindset was just like that. Yoo Jiwon, realizing that there was no benefit in trying to score points with her superior, also decided to leave Jo Youngsoo alone. Yoo Jiwon was no slouch when it came to treating people like bugs. "Step down, dictator Noh Doha!" And thus, a miracle urred. Jo Youngsoo seeded in fully exercising "freedom of expression," something difficult to enjoy even in a true democracy. Surprisingly, Jo Youngsoo was even an awakened individual. He possessed the ability to "ignite a lighter me with his index finger." The ability itself was utterly insignificant, but for a true democrat, such "innate qualities" were unimportant. The critical point was that being awakened meant he could ess the SG-Net. That was all that mattered. - Anonymous: The Republic of Korea is currently facing a grave crisis! The election system has copsed, and the principles of democracy have gone missing! After the National Highway Management Office officers went home, Jo Youngsoo¡¯s fingers ignited with passion on SG-Net instead of in the za. - Anonymous: By what legitimate procedure and agreement did Noh Doha ascend to the position of head of the National Highway Management Office? What is the legal basis for this? Of course, he rose to power by my hands as Doctor Jang and was selected through a beta test periodsting hundreds of years. It¡¯s truly strange, but except for that person, everyone else went mad when they seized power on the Korean Penins. What could I do? I had no choice but to pick Noh Doha, who had already gone mad long ago and couldn¡¯t lose his mind any further. - Anonymous: The situation is even more severe with the major guilds that effectively govern the cities. The major guilds arbitrarily collect protection fees from the people! - Anonymous: If this isn¡¯t taxation, then what is taxation? What right do mere thugs like the guilds have to collect taxes from the people? Well, of course, it was because all the "experts on anomalies" of this era were gathered in the guilds. As anyone who¡¯s listened to my story would know, it was virtually impossible for ordinary people to fight against anomalies. Even for the awakened, it was no easy task. In this end-of-the-century apocalypse, where you could die at any moment just walking down the street, the guilds were responsible forw and order. So, the guilds¡¯ side of the story also needed to be heard. "Hey. We¡¯ll pay you a protection fee equivalent to about 10% of your ie, and you, in turn, will be the first to confront the anomalies actively. Got it?" This was the proposal presented to the guilds. Depending on the person, they might feel differently, but it was hardly an unfair advantage for the guilds. Honestly, isn''t it a rather tough job to do without at least that much incentive? - Literature Girl: What''s that old man talking about again? - Anonymous: Alright, everyone, it''s time for the midnight crew. Please start discussing the Three Kingdoms. - Anonymous: Is it true that Mr. Jo Youngsoo, who we are discussing, actually shows up at the free meal center every day? - KoreanVige: Big old-timer, wee, hahaha. Jo Youngsoo was not well-regarded on SG Net. The error was apparent in that everyone knew his identity despite his anonymous activity. It meant his negative image had be so obvious that anyone could recognize him. Who lives by ¡®procedure¡¯ and ¡®votes¡¯ in this day and age? anomalies beat humans without such things, didn''t they? - Anonymous: I don''t criticize simply because the guild leaders are ipetent or because I dislike the National Road Management Officer. Of course, every article he wrote was met with mockingments, and in response, Jo Youngsoo always fired back with lengthy rebuttals. - Anonymous: The issue is legitimate procedure! Even if they use force now, humans live through time, and time brings about oblivion. - Anonymous: Force canst 10 years. It canst 20 years. It can evenst 50 years. But it cannotst 100 years because time is powerful! - Anonymous: The way to ovee the time of oblivion is through consensus, agreement, andw. It is the only way that humans have discovered through countless years! - Anonymous: Session based on bloodlines cannot be legitimate procedure! Countless ceremonies and coronations have been devised to dress it up as legitimate. - Anonymous: Ultimately, consensus! Only consensus! Andws that are inscribed as agreements! - Anonymous: Practically speaking, since not everyone can gather every 10 years to renew the agreement, we first create a ¡®promise that transcends time and space and can be agreed upon by any human.¡¯ That is the Constitution! - Anonymous: Practically speaking, since not everyone can participate in the agreement, we append a ¡®promise that is periodically renewed by representatives elected by all sovereigns.¡¯ That is thew! It was truly a lengthy rebuttal. I didn¡¯t edit it arbitrarily; he really wrote each of those replies to the members. Since the words and sentences in each reply were subtly different, it wasn''t just a copy-and-paste job either. [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] - Anonymous: Does the National Road Management and the guilds have power? Yes. Do they have consensus? No. Do they have the Constitution and thew? No. Do they have procedures ording to consensus? No! - Anonymous: These organizations will eventually self-destruct within 100 years, that''s as clear as day. They do not have the qualifications to represent the Republic of Korea! - Anonymous: The former mayor of Busan, who had fled to Japan as part of the provisional government, has more qualifications! ©¸dolLHOuse: ? No matter how much effort he put into his long-winded arguments, no one agreed with Jo Youngsoo. It was a very natural thing. - Anonymous: 100 years, LOL. We¡¯re in such a mess right now that we don¡¯t think we''ll survive even 10 years, and here he is talking about the ¡®time of oblivion,¡¯ LOL. No one expected a state to survive beyond 100 years. After all, even the Republic of Korea perished just over 100 years after its foundation. The ¡®Constitution andws¡¯ that Jo Youngsoo revered so much couldn''t stop the advent of the void. A single verse of Tang Seorin¡¯s ¡°Master of the Future¡± could protect many more people''s safety and public order than a few agreed-upon lines of text could. Such was the world that hade to be. Humans were no longer great; they were merely part of nature. To humanity, which found itself in an overwhelmingly inferior position in nature, a code ofws was merely a luxury. In other words, we were animals. Beasts. Awakening abilities were not some grand proof of being chosen by the heavens but merely ws that sprouted on beasts or wings to escape. Only by humbly acknowledging this fact could we finally face today''s reality. - Anonymous: Difficult times do not justify procedural deficiencies! Didn''t the former Republic of Korea establish a Constitution and dere independence even when the country was lost and upied by foreign powers? In short, Jo Youngsoo was an idealist. To the members of SG Net, whose families, friends, and colleagues had died and were still dying, he was almost unbearably idealistic. - KoreanVige: Thanks to the Big old-timer, tonight''s midnight crew is warm and cozy, hahaha. That¡¯s why they called him ¡°Big Old-Timer.¡± It was abination of "Republic of Korea" (Daehanminguk) and "Old-Timer" (Tilddak) in a derogatory manner. Along with KoreanVige, ¡°Big Old-Timer¡± was one of the three great viins of SG Net. Who was the third one? That¡¯s a matter of debate, but sometimes the Witch Trial Judge makes the list. Some factions dared to mention me, Doctor Jang, as a candidate for a Three Kingdoms viin, but that was all nder. - Anonymous: Road Management Officer Nodoha, awaken! ©¸ KoreanVige: Awaken! Awaken! Anyway. Just another usual midnight shift on SG Net where KoreanVige stirred things up and Jo Youngsoo breathed fire. During a time when any normal person would be sleeping to prepare for tomorrow''s work. Only two viins exchanged posts andments, passionately worrying about the ¡®future of the nation.¡¯ - Anonymous: Even now, the National Road Management and guilds should earnestly gather public opinion and seriously discuss the direction of the Republic of Korea! ©¸ KoreanVige: Gather public opinion, LOL. How do they even do that? ©¸ Anonymous: Of course, by collecting it through the media! ©¸ KoreanVige: Oh, I see. But in our proud Republic of Korea, there is no media or news, is there? Hahaha... That was the moment. Jo Youngsoo, who always voiced the right opinion without hesitation, suddenly fell silent on his keyboard. 1 minute, 3 minutes, 5 minutes. No matter how long they waited, there was no rebuttal to KoreanVige''s counterargument. - KoreanVige: Last hit secured. In the end, KoreanVige happily took thest hit and changed the topic. - KoreanVige: Guys, this is the song I''m listening to right now. Is it good? ©¸ZERO_SUGAR: Three Kingdoms talk, go! ©¸KoreanVige: Sleep. Of course, KoreanVige had no idea. That she had just unwittingly created thest ¡®journalist¡¯ in the Korean Penins. [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] Chapter 189 [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] Chapter 189 ©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤ Patriot II 3 That morning. The members of the National Road Administration Headquarters (nicknamed: Babel Tower, Demon King''s Castle) felt a strange emptiness as they went to work. "Why is this? For some reason, I don''t feel annoyed on my way to work today." "Congrattions. You''ve finally lost it." "Was the square in front of our workce always this clean?" "It''s truly a beautiful day. The birds are chirping, and the flowers are blooming. On a day like this, we adults should be resting at home..." Just as they were beginning to doubt whether they had lost their minds due to overwork, someone pointed to the square and shouted. "Oh! It''s gone!" "Gone? What''s gone?" "The crazy guy! Jo Youngsoo isn''t here!" "What?" That''s right. Rain or shine, whether he caught a cold or was infected by a strange virus, Jo Youngsoo, who always held a sign shouting "Noh Doha must resign!" every day, had vanished. The members of the Road Administration were impressed. The square in front of Babel Tower revealed its original elegance with just one person gone. "Wow, it''s so nice without that guy..." "Even when we came out to eat sandwiches during lunch, he would always approach us and shout at the top of his lungs." For the first time since joining the Administration, the members experienced a quietmute to work. Of course, the happiness didn''tst long. After all, happiness is like ice cream in the summer; you can''t savor it for long. Exactly fifteen dayster. "Please look at this!" "Huh?" Thud! Jo Youngsoo returned to the Road Administration Headquarters with a triumphant expression. He ced arge bundle of documents on the reception desk. "Uh..." The receptionist was flustered. The National Road Administration was not a government organization that served the public like a superior. Naturally, there was noints desk for ordinary citizens. (There was a reception desk for patients to request assistive devices from Noh Doha, the Head of the Administration, though.) "Uh, Mr. Jo Youngsoo? What is this...?" "It''s a public opinion poll on whether Head Administrator Noh Doha is fit to be the ruler of South Korea!" Jo Youngsoo''s voice echoed like a lion''s roar. The attention of the members of the Road Administration, who were enjoying their lunch break in the lobby, was immediately drawn. "A public opinion poll?" "Yes! Take a look for yourself!" The first page of the survey, made up of 400 sheets of paper, was titled as follows: [Republic of Korea 1st Public Opinion Survey] [Question: Do you believe that Head Administrator Noh Doha was elected through proper democratic procedures as the de facto ruler of South Korea?] [Very legitimate - 12.3%] [Somewhat legitimate - 15.1%] [Somewhat illegitimate - 5.5%] [Very illegitimate - 1.6%] [Doesn''t matter - 59.7%] [No response - 5.8%] The handwriting was dense and written in pencil. It was obvious that it had been written by hand. The paper was tattered, probably due to repeated corrections. "Uh..." The receptionist blinked. "Uh, what is this exactly...?" "It''s a survey conducted by directly gathering opinions from hundreds of Busan citizens!" Jo Youngsoo''s clear eyes sparkled. By the way, though it might seem irrelevant, Jo Youngsoo''s head was also shining as brightly as his eyes at that moment. Just saying. "As you can see, positive responses ount for 27.4%, while negative responses amount to a whopping 7.1%!" "Uh, well. If we assume this survey was conducted properly, doesn''t that mean the support rate is actually quite high...?" "Currently, South Korea is practically under the dictatorship of Head Administrator Noh Doha! In such a situation, over 7% of the poption have risked their lives to express their opinions! This is a number that must not be underestimated!" "No, dictatorship...?" The receptionist was startled and looked around nervously. Whether fortunately or unfortunately, the members of the Administration, who were already ustomed to Jo Youngsoo''s antics, didn''t me the receptionist. They simply gave a look that said, "Here we go again." "This is the voice of the people and the cries of the masses! The Head of the National Road Administration must never ignore the public sentiment, which is like the boilingva beneath the surface!" "...The public sentiment seems to be saying ''doesn''t matter,'' though. With almost 60% of the responses, this appears to be the genuine sentiment of the residents..." "Are you saying that the voice of 7% is not a voice at all, and that they are not part of the people?" "No? No, that''s not what I meant..." "Are you saying that it''s perfectly fine to ignore the opinions of a mere 7%! Is that the general stance of the members of the National Road Administration, who are supposed to be concerned about the present and future of this country? Is this why the foundation of this nation is bing blurred and the voices of the minority are being silenced?!" "Ah, alright. I understand, Mr. Jo Youngsoo! I''ll make sure to deliver these materials to the Head Administrator! Will that be satisfactory?" "I am counting on you!" By this point, one might start to wonder. How on earth was I, Doctor Jang, able to eavesdrop on this conversation and recount it in such a detailed, omniscient perspective? The answer is simple. Surprisingly, Jo Youngsoo, the embodiment of South Korean democracy, had a mysterious supporter behind him. [I think he has a point.] None other than the Saintess... had expressed her support for Jo Youngsoo! [While I don''t agree with restoring the already destroyed South Korean government, I think it''s better to have an institution that listens to public opinion.] "We have SG Net, don''t we?" [But only Awakeners can ess it. It''s difficult to say that the opinions of ordinary people are fully reflected. Since I can only share the perspectives of the Awakeners, I''m not entirely able to collect public opinion.] "Hmm." [You''re always wary of Awakener Supremacy, aren''t you, Doctor Jang? I think it wouldn''t hurt to take this opportunity to listen to the voices of ordinary people.] "If the Saintess wishes it..." The Saintess had subscribed to Jo Youngsoo''s YouTube channel and hit the "Like" button, sharing his every move with her friend, me. To be honest, I wasn''t particrly interested. If you were to pick the one person in the Korean Penins who had the least nostalgia for South Korea, it would be me. To prevent any misunderstandings, let me rify that it wasn''t because I was some sort of nationalist critic. My reason was much simpler than the fierce political stances that battle fiercely on the inte. ¡®I don''t remember at all!¡¯ Well, it''s a memory from before the 4th turn. I probablypleted my military service as a healthy SCV. I likely experienced the confusion and conflicts typical of my age and had my own perspective on the country of South Korea, or perhaps I simply echoed what others said. And all those memories were plunged into the sea of oblivion. Those memories would never return unless the Dragon King beneath the sea suddenly helped me. ¡®I don¡¯t even remember my parents'' faces or where my hometown is, so why would I have nostalgia for South Korea?¡¯ [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] Thus, to me, the words he said¡... No, Jo Youngsoo¡¯s rhetoric sounded truly alien. Make a constitution? I can guarantee with 100% certainty that the moment the constitution is written, the anomalies will corrupt the text. Anomalies wouldn¡¯t miss out on such a delectable prey as ¡®a sequence of characters that all citizens must respect.¡¯ I¡¯d bet my right hand that the first line would be corrupted into something like, ¡®¢Ù The Republic of Korea is void ¢Ú The sovereignty of the Republic of Korea belongs to the anomaly, and all deathes from the anomaly.¡¯ Voting? Majority rule? Oh, how wonderful. The moment you put paper into the ballot box, votes from ¡®people who clearly shouldn¡¯t exist¡¯ would be found! When all the votes are tallied, it would surely result in a miraculous 146% voter turnout. ¡®Why deliberately increase vulnerabilities that would expose us to the anomalies? Are they masochists?¡¯ Vulnerabilities should be minimized. Shrink the government organization to a national highway management team. Concentrate the power of the national highway management team in Noh Doha. This way, from my perspective, all I need to do is ensure that Noh Doha doesn¡¯t get infected by the anomalies. Why do I form a guild primarily of awakened individuals rather than ordinary people? Simply because the awakened ones are more capable? No. It''s just that the saintess can monitor the awakened individuals 24/7. Even if an anomaly attacks them, the saintess''s [irvoyance] can allow for immediate response. Ordinary people, on the other hand, cannot. They could be attacked before they even realize it. Risk management. As a regressor, my strategy is thoroughly focused on responding to anomalies. ¡°I really can¡¯t understand it.¡± Out of consideration for the saintess, I didn¡¯t touch Jo Youngsoo, but sometimes I mentioned him during chats with Noh Doha. ¡°If it''s simply longing for the environment of a time when civilization was intact, I could understand. But nostalgia for the country itself, for South Korea, seems strange.¡± ¡°Well, maybe those two emotions mixed together to create nostalgia¡? Like, we used to live like human beings back then.¡± ¡°I get that. But Jo Youngsoo is beyond that, isn¡¯t he? Even though I don¡¯t remember it in detail, was the country really worth longing for that much? It¡¯s not like it¡¯s something you miss only after it¡¯s gone¡¡± ¡°Hmph.¡± Snip. Noh Dohaughed quietly as he clipped his nails. As a former South Korean civil servant, he would ce a trash can on hisp and carefully drop the clippings into it whenever he clipped his nails. ¡°You¡¯re that kind of person¡¡± ¡°¡?¡± I wondered what he meant by that. Anyway, both the saintess and Noh Doha were surprisingly tolerant of Jo Youngsoo¡¯s antics. The other awakened ones were not much different. Everyone despised Jo Youngsoo, yet no one actually made him ¡®disappear.¡¯ They could have done so anytime they wanted. He had no family, no rtives, no guild to belong to, living in a shantytown in Busan, relying on free meals from the national highway management team and the Guild of the Three Worlds, while constantly criticizing the ¡®dictatorship¡¯ of both organizations. He spent all day collecting scrap paper. Because he needed paper to create his ¡®public opinion surveys.¡¯ And even then, resources were scarce, so Jo Youngsoo had to write each survey question by hand with a pencil. [Republic of Korea 4th Public Opinion Survey] [Question: A puppet state known as the Eastern Holy Kingdom has been established in Pyongyang, South Korea, and the national highway management team has not issued any official statements regarding them. Do you think the Eastern Holy Kingdom should be recognized as a legitimate state?] [Republic of Korea 11th Public Opinion Survey] [Question: This year, as a measure to address the damage caused by typhoons and monsoons, citizens in the southern coastal inds of South Korea were forcibly relocated. Do you think the national highway management team has the right to infringe on the freedom of residence and movement during a national crisis?] [Republic of Korea 20th Public Opinion Survey] [Question: Do you think the guild leaders¡¯ authority can be established without democratic consensus or debate? If so, do you believe that guild leaders have any obligations towards the citizens?] I really wish I could show you these questionnaires. In a way, they are truly amusing. On the scrap paper, you could see where Jo Youngsoo had repeatedly scratched out lines with his pencil. Like this. Sometimes, he would cover the text with correction fluid he somehow obtained and rewrite it. Like this ¡õ¡õ¡õ. Other times, he tried to erase the letters with an eraser, but the poor quality of the eraser and the paper didn¡¯t match, so the paper tore with a ¡°rrrip.¡± Then he would write the letters next to the torn hole. Like this ¡ö¡ö¡ö. So, if I were to recreate Jo Youngsoo¡¯s survey forms as urately as possible: [Republic of Korea 19th and 20th Public Opinion Surveys] [Question: Due to the increasing disparity in infrastructure between cities, power is concentrating in the hands of ¡ö¡ö a few guild leaders. Do you think the authority of guild leaders can be established without democratic consensus or debate? If ¡ö¡ö¡ö¡ö¡ö so, do you believe that guild leaders have some obligations towards the citizens?] A tattered rag. And he used the same survey form multiple times for the surveys, marking respondents¡¯ answers with small tally marks next to them. Like this: [Authority is established] 11111 11111 11111 11111 11111 11111 111 Jo Youngsoo would return to his shantytown, count the tallies one by one, calcte the statistics, and finally write the percentage on the ¡®final version.¡¯ Like this: [Authority is established ¨C 66.3%] And with these ¡®statistical data¡¯ and ¡®public opinions,¡¯ Jo Youngsoo submitted them to the national highway management team. Sometimes after just two weeks. Sometimes after over 100 days of surveying. How many years passed? A strange thing happened. ¡°Dictator Noh Doha, step down! Step down! Step down!¡± The scene at Babel Tower Square had slightly changed. Jo Youngsoo¡¯s appearance, holding a protest card and wearing a holy relic with the South Korean constitution written on it like armor while shouting for Noh Doha¡¯s resignation, remained the same. The national highway management team members who sighed deeply whilemuting to and from work were also the same. But now, at Jo Youngsoo¡¯s feet, there was a cardboard box. ¡°Mister, here¡¯s some paper.¡± ¡°Dictator Noh Doha, step down!¡± ¡°Good luck.¡± The national highway management team members now dropped ¡®used paper¡¯ into the cardboard box whenever they left work. One sheet. Another sheet. And another. Just like how people leave money for a poor street guitarist. ¡°Hey, doesn¡¯t it sometimes creep you out how Team Leader Yoo Jiwon can keep the same expression 24/7?¡± ¡°Dictator Noh Doha, step down! Step down!¡± ¡°Well, that¡¯s why she¡¯s the operations team leader. I heard even when they¡¯re purging problem members in the operations team, her expression doesn¡¯t change.¡± ¡°Dictator Noh Doha, step down! Step down!¡± ¡°No matter how good the pay and benefits are, I could never join the operations team¡¡± ¡°Dictator Noh Doha, step down! Step down!¡± ¡°How about we have army stew for dinner tonight?¡± ¡°Oh, army stew sounds good. I¡¯m in.¡± The national highway management team members, nowpletely ustomed to Jo Youngsoo, casually chatted among themselves as they walked across the square. By the time Yoo Jiwon, thest to leave, finished work and the sun had set, Jo Youngsoo was still shouting for Noh Doha¡¯s resignation. Of course, Yoo Jiwon didn¡¯t even nce at him as she left. ¡°Cough, cough. Oh, my back¡¡± As night fell and Jo Youngsoo returned to his shantytown. The stack of scrap paper in his hands was thick. The volume of that paper was the size of the current ¡®Republic of Korea¡¯ territory. [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] Chapter 190 [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] Chapter 190 ©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤ Patriot III 4 As you can see from history textbooks, the term "revival movement" in the Korean Penins carries a somewhat ominous tone. Both the Baekje Revival Movement and the Goguryeo Revival Movement ended in failure. Though lesser-known, Si and Balhae also faced simr fates. The people of the Korean Penins have always been early adopters by nature. Rather than clinging to the remnants of a failed nation andmenting its downfall, they preferred to rebrand and move on swiftly. The "Republic of Korea Revival Movement" was no exception. "Down with the dictator, Noh Dohaaaaa!" Jo Youngsoo was allowed to exist. He was permitted to hold protest signs and shout slogans, and he was also allowed to recycle old papers in a form of separation. The busy survivors, who were just trying to get by each day, would take a moment to respond when Jo Youngsoo approached them with his stack of papers,ughing dismissively all the while. The goodwill people showed only went that far. "Down with the dictator Noh Dohaa! Overthrow the family-run city management of the superrge guild leaders! Form a National Assembly and draft a Constitution!" Jo Youngsoo was always left alone. Even after a year, three years, and seven years, the "Republic of Korea Revival Society" did not gain any new members. SGNet''s attitude toward Jo Youngsoo was the same. -Anonymous: Wee, constitutional parrot. -KoreanVige: Wee, Mr. Big old timer. This is your little brother, respectfully greeting you. -Anonymous: Honestly, I didn¡¯t have any strong feelings about the administrator, but my thoughts have changedtely. The fact that the administrator hasn''t killed him and keeps him alive shows that he really is a remarkable person... ©¸Literature Girl: The tiger leaves its skin after death, and the Republic of Korea leaves Jo Youngsoo. -Anonymous: Let''s go, Noh Doha, Tang Seorin, Mo Gwangseo, Jo Youngsoo! ©¸Anonymous: LOL ©¸Anonymous: Legendary nationalist line. ©¸dolLHOuse: ? Ridicule, contempt, and clinging to fame. A rare and sparse amount of goodwill, like rain in the Gobi Desert, shown out of pity for a fellow struggling to survive. There was no serious movement to restore the Republic of Korea, nor any desire for democracy. "Why are the democratic citizens of thisnd so reckless?" Sometimes, when Jo Youngsoo had saved up some money, he would drink heavily at a street bar. And then, he wouldment. "The country is on the brink of copse, yet people still long for the dictator!" "Indeed." Eventually, at some point, I could no longer stand by and had to intervene. It is the privilege of youth (to me, Jo Youngsoo still seemed quite young) to crash into the world, but giving advice is an old man''s specialty, isn''t it? I quietly approached Jo Youngsoo, who was drinking alone at a street bar in Haeundae, and joined him for a drink. "Mr. Jo, even if people seem to be showing you kindness, you shouldn''t mistake it for what it is not." "Huh? What do you mean by that?" "People generally exaggerate their actions, whether they are being kind or malicious. Many may give you recycled papers out of goodwill, but none will join you in shouting for the Republic of Korea. You''ll find yourself in a difficult situation if you mistakenly believe that people truly support your activities." "..." Jo Youngsoo''s face was flushed red from the cheap alcohol he had consumed. Like all survivors of this era, Jo Youngsoo was still in histe 50s, but he looked as though he were in his 80s. The word "skincare" had long been removed from the dictionary. His mind was clear, but his body had aged ahead of him. The Korean man before me raised his voice. "Why are you saying this? I appreciate you offering to pay for the drinks, but if you thought you could stop my activities with just a few drops of alcohol, you''re gravely mistaken!" "I''m not trying to stop you. I''m just offering advice. You may think of yourself as a social activist, but others see you as an entertainer." "Entertainer?" Jo Youngsoo blinked. "Me?" "Yes. People can talk about your surveys for at least a day or two. They might even feel a brief sense of nostalgia. You''re the only one who provides that kind of feeling, so people tolerate you." "..." "Fundamentally, it''s no different from sitting around and watching old movies together. No matter how you define yourself, in this small society, your objective role is that of a clown." "A clown..." "The reason no one participates in your revival movement lies here." I poured more alcohol into Jo Youngsoo''s empty ss. "Imagine if someone from the audience suddenly jumped on stage during a stand-upedy show. It wouldpletely ruin the mood, wouldn''t it?" "But I''m being serious..." "That''s precisely why they like you. They like that you''re serious." Jo Youngsoo stared at me nkly. "This isn''t about you personally. The topic of the Republic of Korea itself has be a joke. This is just the environment of the times." "Are you saying I''m out of touch with the times?" [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] "Not at all. That perspective is too focused on yourself. There''s a significant gap between ''the self-perception you have'' and ''the way others see you.'' In some sense, you''re so perfectly suited as entertainment in this era that you maintain your own position." "..." "Isn''t the world a depressing ce? Try to think differently¡ªconsider brightening someone''s day just a little. Many more people wille to like you, much more than they do now." "..." Blink. The eyelids of a middle-aged man, drunk on alcohol, were sluggish. The poor man''s stomach could not withstand the alcohol''s sudden invasion, and soon after, he lost consciousness. I paid the bill and dropped Jo Youngsoo off at his shack. "Mr. Jo, I''ll leave you here." "Uuuugh... Uh..." Thud. Thud. Just then, a light rain began to fall. Jo Youngsoo''s shack was cobbled together with tarps, tents, and construction waste materials. It was barely two pyeong (approximately 6.6 square meters) in size. The most valuable spot wasn''t upied by bedding but by thousands of pieces of recycled paper. It was as if they were sacred relics, ensuring that nothing would ever leave them to get wet in the rain. [Republic of Korea 91st Opinion Poll] [Question: Do you think it is possible for criminals to be arrested, sentenced, and punished solely by the judgment of the guild leader or the national highway administrator? Also, do you believe that the separation of powers should be implemented under the current circumstances?] Below, there were densely written notes by Jo Youngsoo. - Concern 1: We need to exin to the public the situation where legitive, executive, and judicial powers are concentrated in one individual (this will make the question too long). - Concern 2: The phrase ''personal judgment'' might have a negative connotation and could instill bias in respondents. - Concern 3: We also need to discuss the right to legal representation, but there''s not enough space (should we postpone this to the 92nd public survey?). ¡ú Idea: For issues that can''t be covered due to space constraints, supplement them with posts on SGNet!! ©¸ Regrly remind, build consensus, and persuade citizens on these issues (important!!!) "......" Suddenly, these scraps of paper reminded me of a shantytown. Just as a shantytown is too cramped to amodate a person, these papers were trying to hold too much. When Iid Jo Youngsoo on his bedding, half of his legs stuck out of the tent. His soles were wet throughout the night. 5 I don''t know exactly how our drinking session that night affected Jo Youngsoo''s mental state. But one thing did change for sure. "Huh?" It was the content of the public survey. [Republic of Korea, 91st Public Survey] [Question: Do you believe that the Republic of Korea has perished?] [¢Ù Yes.] [¢Ú No.] If my memory serves me right, the 91st public survey was undoubtedly about the separation of powers. But the survey Jo Youngsoo newly drafted and carried around had drastically different content, with the sentences themselves being remarkably short. Has Korea perished? ¡°No, obviously it''s perished...¡± ¡°Why is this survey like this?¡± Even the citizens who always casually took the survey nced at it curiously. Of course, Korea has perished, how could it still be standing? Some citizens wondered if Jo Youngsoo was messing around with the survey. But Jo Youngsoo was serious. More serious than ever. "Please, participate in this survey! Fellow citizens! Citizens of Busan! This is the most important survey!" ¡°Uh¡¡± He wasn''t just serious. Usually, Jo Youngsoo surveyed around 1,000 to 2,000 people, carefully selecting a representative sample from various sectors. But this time was different. ¡°Hey kid! Over there, kid! Can you answer this question for me?¡± ¡°Me?¡± Jo Youngsoo went around frantically asking everyone for their opinions. He even handed the survey to a child who had just turned five, asking, "Has Korea perished?" ¡°If you participate, I''ll give you 100 won!¡± ¡°Wow!¡± Even children who had never experienced the Republic of Korea participated in the survey for the first time in their lives. But that wasn¡¯t all. -Jo Youngsoo: I am conducting the 91st public survey! I kindly ask all SGNet members and non-members to participate! Always anonymous, Jo Youngsoo registered on SGNet and even posted a survey request. His nickname was Jo Youngsoo. People were surprised by his boldness in using his real name as his username. -Anonymous: ?? Why did this guy sign up? -LiteratureGirl: Didn''t you sayst time that SGNet was a biasedmunity only essed by the awakened, and that you''d always stay anonymous? ©¸Jo Youngsoo: I''m sorry! I was wrong! So please, just this once, participate in the survey! -KoreanVige: Ah... Have you finally decided to be a ''named'' person? Wee, Jo Youngsoo, to SGNet''s ''first division.'' ©¸Jo Youngsoo: Thank you! I ask that you please participate in the survey! Jo Youngsoo went around like a madman, increasing the number of respondents. He didn¡¯t lead the survey alone. He handed out survey forms to everyone¡ªpeople on the street, highway patrol officers he often bumped into, and shop owners along the way. ¡°Please ask your customers to participate in the survey before they leave!¡± ¡°How can I bother my customers with such a request?¡± ¡°Please!¡± About 15 monthster, Jo Youngsoo collected ''responses'' from about 120,000 residents in Busan alone. Considering that the poption of Busan was around 200,000 to 300,000 at that time, it was an astonishing sample size. ¨D¨DEven more astonishing, Jo Youngsoo''s frantic actions didn''t stop there. [Doctor Jang.] ¡°Yes. What is it?¡± [Jo Youngsoo has moved to Changwon.] ¡°What?¡± Jo Youngsoo, who had lived and died in Busan in every other cycle, moved to another city. ¡°A mere awakened person who can only light a Zippo lighter with his fingers crossed the void?¡± [He hitched a ride with the highway patrol caravan.] ¡°Ah, in that case. But why did he suddenly go to Changwon?¡± [It seems he''s nning to conduct surveys in other cities as well.] "...Seriously?" [Yes.] I was shocked. Moreover, Changwon wasn''t even Jo Youngsoo''s final destination. It was just a stopover. Jinju, Yeosu, Suncheon, Boseong, Haenam, Mokpo, Muan, Yeonggwang, Gwangju, Jeongeup, Jeonju, Gunsan, Iksan, Daejeon, Gimcheon, Gumi, Pohang... Jo Youngsoo was literally mopping up the Korean Penins from the south, moving left and right as he headed north. ¡°Is this man seriously nning to survey the entire Korean Penins? To get answers even from those who didn''t participate through SGNet?¡± [Probably.] This man ispletely insane. [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] Chapter 191 [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] Chapter 191 ©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤ Patriot IV 6 Jo Youngsoo¡¯s Cross-Country Trek! From Busan to Pyongyang! I''ll show you something spectacr! ¡Although this ad never actually appeared, the shock I felt was just as great. Not only for the Awakened but also for ordinary people¡ªconducting a survey that gathered "the opinions of the entire Korean Penins." What an ambitious n this was. And Jo Youngsoo''s grand project ended like this: [Jo Youngsoo died in Yecheon.] He couldn''t even make it out of North Gyeongsang Province, let alone reach Pyongyang. When I heard the report from the Saintess, I sighed. ¡°In a way, it did end spectacrly¡¡± [Sorry?] ¡°It''s nothing. Just talking to myself. So, what was the cause of death?¡± [Oh, he got lost in the void and died of exposure. When you''re walking near the Nakdong River, sometimes you end up in the void called the Hwangsan River.] The Hwangsan River was the name for the Nakdong River during the Si Dynasty. However, the anomalies interpreted this Hwangsan as Hwangsan, meaning sulfuric acid, H?SO?¡ªa highly acidic substance. The entire river became a biochemical hazard. Literally, if you misstep, you''re off to the afterlife, so caution was necessary. [He wandered for three days before building a raft to cross, but it melted before he could get very far. Jo Youngsoo himself too.] ¡°Is this for real¡?¡± Anyway, Jo Youngsoo died. Crudely put, it was a dog''s death. But the citizens, upon hearing of his death, were neither shocked nor saddened. Rather, it was the opposite. "Did you hear? That crazy guy died. The one who was always protesting at the Tower of Babel za." "What? How did he die?" "He left saying he was going to tour the country." "Oh. Guess he wasn''t too attached to life." The citizens expressed brief condolences and quickly returned to their daily lives. In short, Jo Youngsoo''s death didn''t make the news. It was somewhat ironic considering he''d spent his whole life making news in Busan. Why did Jo Youngsoo suddenly get obsessed with a nationwide survey? What was his goal? Now, we''ll never know. "Hmm." If there were no regressors in this world, "I¡¯m a bit bothered." [Sorry?] ¡°Weren¡¯t you particrly interested in Jo Youngsoo, Saintess? Yet, you just watched him wander in the void for three days?¡± [I have to distinguish between public and private matters.] The Saintess responded calmly. [Although I was personally interested in Jo Youngsoo¡¯s activities, I couldn''t use my powers to help him.] ¡°Really? Didn''t you intentionally lead me to be interested in Jo Youngsoo?¡± [¡] ¡°If so, you''ve seeded, Saintess. Now, I''m also curious about that old man.¡± What was Jo Youngsoo trying to achieve, even at the cost of his life? I became a bit curious. And as a person, once I got curious, I was like that elf wizard who couldn''t resist sticking his head into a mimic chest¡ªI was a willing ve to dopamine. Thus, in the next turn, I immediately changed my approach toward Jo Youngsoo. "Sir, let me seat you here." "Oooooh¡." First, the event of "having ate-night drinking session" at the Haeundae street stall proceeded the same as before. The 91st public opinion survey¡ªan event that asked anew about the destruction of Korea¡ªalso urred the same way. The turning point in Jo Youngsoo''s route came afterward. "Mr. Jo!" "Hmm? Oh, it''s Mr. Jang, isn''t it!" The day he was leaving Busan for Changwon, I personally came to see him off this time. ¡°What brings you here, Mr. Jang?¡± ¡°There¡¯s a caravan heading to Changwon today. I also have some business in Mokpo, so I thought I''d travel with the caravan.¡± ¡°Really!¡± Jo Youngsoo''s eyes widened. ¡°Mr. Jang! I have a favor to ask you!¡± ¡°A favor?¡± ¡°Yes! I must get to Changwon to continue my survey, but the caravan crew from the Highway Administration is firmly against it! How could an institution run on taxpayer money be so heartless?¡± It was only natural. The caravan, already busy transporting supplies, wouldn''t want to add more burden. Jo Youngsoo must have caused amotion in thest turn and forcibly boarded the caravan. "Is that so?" But this time, I had the infamous social genius, Doctor Jang, also known as THE psychopath. ¡°Hey, crew. Mr. Jo and I have shared drinks a few times. Could you make an exception this once?¡± "Of course!" "If he¡¯s a friend of Doctor Jang, we¡¯ll treat him as a VIP! We apologize for any rudeness!" ¡°Thanks. I¡¯ll treat you to coffeeter when I see you. Oh, by the way, I¡¯m worried that the other crew members might not know about our connection¡¡± "Don''t worry, sir!" "I''ll post it on SGNet so the entire crew knows!" I nced back. Jo Youngsoo was standing there with his mouth hanging open. ¨D¨DAh, did you see that? This is called ''the power of the protagonist.'' It shows up in other novels all the time, but in my story, it¡¯s like a rare oasis in the desert. Jo Youngsoo, unintentionally, ended up with a free pass for his journey across the Korean Penins, but my influence didn''t stop there. ¡°To conduct your survey thoroughly, you¡¯ll need to visit remote areas where the caravan doesn''t go, right? Use this.¡± ¡°Uh, Mr. Jang, this is¡?¡± ¡°It¡¯s a yogurt cart.¡± A famous icon of Korea, the 3rd-generation refrigerated electric cart Cold&Cold (CoCo). As long as it was within South Korea, it could travel anywhere and appear anywhere. Now, Jo Youngsoo was like Guan Yu with his Red Hare. ¡°Th-thank you. Mr. Jang. How will I ever repay this favor in my lifetime¡?¡± Jo Youngsoo, who had been struggling in poverty, couldn¡¯t grasp the situation, suddenly overwhelmed by this grand donation. I smiled softly. ¡°Don¡¯t think of it as a gift to you personally, but as support for your cause. I¡¯ve always been interested in your public opinion survey.¡± ¡°Mr. Jang¡!¡± Completion of goodwill. On the way back from parting with Jo Youngsoo in Changwon, the Saintess spoke. [It''s surprising. I thought Doctor Jang wouldn''t be interested in things like South Korea or public opinion polls.] "I wasn''t originally. But someone kept subtly asking me to keep an eye on him." [...? Was there someone like that around you? I couldn''t see it with my irvoyance.] "I have my privacy too. Anyway, please keep an eye on that guy, and if he gets lost in the void or something, help him out." [Ah, okay. Got it.] Naturally, the news spread through the Return Alliance Network that "Doctor Jang seems to be interested in the crazy guy at Babel Tower Square." One day, Sim Aryeonn, who ruled as the Saintess of the North, came to Inunaki Tunnel and peeked out her head. "Wow, as expected. The monster of socializing..." "...?" "You''re pretending not to, but actually, Guild Master, you wanted to be among the top names on the SG Net, right? That''s why you keep clinging to me and the old man, trying to socialize..." "...?" "I¡¯ll acknowledge you during the early morning shifts when no one¡¯s around, so please don''tment in the morning, afternoon, evening, or night. Using real-world connections to invade themunity¡¯s social space... Such an absurd tyranny, I, I can never forgive it..." "...?" Leaving her words behind, Sim Aryeonn left quickly with short steps. What on earth? Sometimes, I was afraid of her mental world. Anyway, despite her odd behavior (which was very unfortunate), she was the Saintess of the North. Sim Aryeonn granted Jo Youngsoo the status of a priest of the Eastern Holy Kingdom. This allowed him to freely travel throughout North Korea. In effect, most of the powers dominating the Korean Penins from both the front and the back were supporting Jo Youngsoo as an individual. ''Why are heroes and Saintess obsessed with me, just a lowly streamer?!'' With such a light novel-esque development, Jo Youngsoo wandered all over the country. Time passed. 2,211 days. From Busan to Sinuiju. From the south to the north. That was the time it took for the people still living on the Korean Penins toplete a single public opinion poll. 7 [He¡¯s on his way down after finishing thest public opinion poll in Sinuiju. Now.] "Is heing back to Busan?" [Probably.] During the polling period, whichsted about six years, I never asked the Saintess about the results of the survey. My interest was solely in Jo Youngsoo as an individual. I had no concern about what people thought of the downfall of South Korea. What could Jo Youngsoo have been trying to achieve through his six-year journey? A conviction that the nation still exists in the hearts of the people? The motivation to continue the South Korea revival movement? [Ah. It seems the destination is different. Jo Youngsoo has found a boat in Pyongyang, but it''s not heading to Busan.] Neither of those guesses was correct. [He''s heading to Seoul.] Seoul was practically my backyard. I hurriedly, and nonchntly, went to the dock and cast my fishing rod. Jo Youngsoo, who had taken a boat from Pyongyang, had no choice but to spot me as soon as he disembarked. He shouted in surprise. "Mr. Jang! What are you doing here?" "Ah, Mr. Jo?" Jo Youngsoo abandoned his yogurt cart and ran over to embrace me. A reunion after six years. Jo Youngsoo smelled strongly of grass and the dry scent of sunlight. "My goodness! Mr. Jang, how is it that you look exactly the same even after all these years!" "Haha. You still have a resonant voice, Mr. Jo." "A Korean man must have spirit, mustn''t he? Spirit! What brings you here, though?" "I was enjoying some fishing. My Seoul hideout is nearby." "Wow! Fishing in times like these..." The admiration and goodwill in Jo Youngsoo''s eyes deepened. [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] He had aged considerably. Depending on who was looking, one might mistake him for being in histe 80s. He had traveled all over the country with a frail awakened body. Even with fervent donations, it couldn''t have been easy. "What brings you to the Han River, Mr. Jo?" "Ah! Thanks to your support, Mr. Jang, I finally finished the public opinion poll!" Thump, thump. Jo Youngsoo tapped his cart. It was piled high with discarded paper instead of yogurt. "Now, I n to take this thing to its final resting ce!" "The final resting ce...?" "Yes! To the ce where the people who made this country like this are gathered!" Jo Youngsoo pointed in that direction. In that directiony Yeouido, and in Yeouido, there was a domed building that no South Korean could fail to recognize. The National Assembly building. "Oh..." I stammered for a moment before continuing. "Mr. Jo. That looks like the National Assembly building, but it''s actually Void inside. When the white night of Void descended upon Seoul, all the buildings were destroyed and became ruins, but one day, this building appeared on its own. There''s even a real robot underground beneath that dome." "Eh? I don¡¯t know about that! Anyway, I have to go there!" Come to think of it, this man had set out on a nationwide tour on foot in a previous turn and enjoyed free diving in the Hwangsan River. Amon-sense warning like "It''s dangerous because it''s Void" wouldn''t work on him. After all, this was a man who should have died, but I had forcibly kept him alive through metaphorical CPR in this turn. "Then I''ll apany you." "Oh my! I feel bad for troubling you..." "It''s okay, it''s okay. I was just wasting time fishing anyway." "Oh! I''m truly grateful, from beginning to end, Mr. Jang! How did I end up depending on you both at the start and the finish!" The dock wasn''t far from the National Assembly building. Even at the slow speed of Jo Youngsoo''s cart, it took only about 30 minutes. During those 30 minutes, we chatted about this and that. Which neighborhood was the hardest in the public opinion poll? Were there any near-death experiences...? The conversation gradually went back in time. Back to when civilization was still intact, and he was the editor of a small local newspaper. "My family is from the Pungyang Jo n!" The timeline of our conversation suddenly arrived at Jo Youngsoo''s childhood. "As you know, Mr. Jang, in the old days, our ancestors ruined Joseon through things like factional politics! Well, there were historians who argued otherwise, but still!" I nodded. The Pungyang Jo n was famous. Along with the Andong Kim n, they were one of the top two surnames that made people ufortable during history sses. Although both paled inparison to the Yeoheung Min n, Jo Youngsoo continued talking. ¡°Whew! When I read the textbooks as a child, I was utterly shocked!¡± ¡°Were you now?¡± ¡°Yes! So, as a young boy, I made a vow to myself. How could I live with the shame of being part of the family med for the downfall of the nation? Why is my family name synonymous with the fall of the country?¡± Jo Youngsoo clenched his fist in the air as if reenacting the past. ¡°Just you wait! When I grow up, I¡¯ll be a schr as loyal to the nation as Choi Ikhyun, doing what my ancestors couldn¡¯t! The elders in my family didn¡¯t say anything, but there was a little brat causing a ruckus all on his own.¡± Augh burst from Jo Youngsoo''s wrinkled lips. ¡°So, honestly, my patriotism is rooted in childhood shame and a sense of inferiority. It¡¯s not something I go around proudly boasting about.¡± 8 As we entered the National Assembly building in Yeouido, as expected, the anomalies attacked. There were no major boss-level anomalies, but plenty of vige-level ones. If I hadn¡¯t been there, Jo Youngsoo would have met his end here. ¡®How many times has this man narrowly escaped death now?¡¯ Though I couldn¡¯t help but smile wryly at the thought, I somehow managed to escort Jo Youngsoo to the main hall of the National Assembly building. ¡°Ah!¡± Jo Youngsoo looked around, wide-eyed. ¡°It hasn¡¯t changed at all! Well, back then, the seats were half-filled with members of parliament.¡± ¡°Hm.¡± ¡°The nation¡¯s in ruins, yet this ce remains perfectly intact. Ha! I guess that¡¯s no different from the old days.¡± I didn¡¯t bother to agree. It wasn¡¯t really a conversation directed at me but more like him talking to himself. Jo Youngsoo, hands sped behind his back, wandered around the main hall of the National Assembly, examining the nametes of the members on the tables, asionally mumbling, ¡°Ah!¡± or ¡°Right, there was someone like this!¡± In this empty ce, Once filled with the aspirations, hopes, dreams, wishes, contempt, anger, ridicule, and hatred of the Korean people. Thud. Thud. Jo Youngsoo ced a sheet of paper on each desk. I enhanced my eyesight and nced at the contents of the paper. [Republic of Korea, 91st Public Opinion Survey] [Question: Do you believe that the Republic of Korea has perished?] [Yes - 99.99%] [No - 0.01%] After distributing the worn-out papers to the desks, Jo Youngsoo climbed to the speaker¡¯s chair. His gaze seemed to be fixed somewhere in the air, as if he was looking into the past rather than the present. ¡°Please arrange the seats.¡± His voice echoed quietly. Without a microphone, there was no authority in it, just the voice of an ordinary old man, already aged into histe 80s from traveling across the country. ¡°We have a quorum, so I will call this meeting to order.¡± Thud, thud, thud. The wooden gavel struck the air three times, and in between, Jo Youngsoo coughed. ¡°As the Speaker of the National Assembly is absent, I, Jo Youngsoo, will preside over this meeting. Currently, there are 33 people who consider themselves citizens of the Republic of Korea, and all of them have entrusted me with the authority to proceed with this session.¡± ¡°¡¡.¡± ¡°Honorable members of the National Assembly, and fellow citizens, as the acting Speaker of the National Assembly, before presenting the next agenda item, I will provide a report on the current situation.¡± Rustle. Jo Youngsoo flipped the survey paper. ¡°First, Busan. When asked whether the Republic of Korea has perished, approximately 86% of eligible voters responded. Out of 235,695 respondents, 235,693 selected option 1, ¡®Yes, it has perished.¡¯¡± The paper turned. ¡°Next, Changwon. When asked whether the Republic of Korea has perished, approximately 91% of eligible voters responded. All 54,980 respondents chose option 1, ¡®Yes, it has perished.¡¯¡± The paper turned one by one. As the worn-out pages fluttered, the named cities moved slowly from the south to the north. ¡°Finally, Sinuiju. When asked whether the Republic of Korea has perished, approximately 89% of eligible voters responded. All 21,139 respondents chose option 1, ¡®Yes, it has perished.¡¯¡± It took less than 6 minutes to announce the results of six years of public opinion surveys. Jo Youngsoo closed thest page of the survey report. ¡°The survey was conducted among citizens aged five and older. Considering the gravity of the situation, not only citizens aged 18 and older but also those aged five and older were considered eligible voters, as the question pertained to the future of the nation.¡± Cough. Jo Youngsoo¡¯s coughing fits became more frequent. He paused briefly to catch his breath before continuing each word clearly. ¡°A public opinion survey is just that¡ªan opinion survey. However, in a situation where no formal voting is possible, as acting Speaker, I believe this survey serves as a substitute for voting. To support this, I have received authority from the 33 citizens who chose option 2, ¡®No, it has not perished.¡¯¡± Coughing sounds. ¡°Therefore, as acting Speaker, I present the agenda concerning the survival of the Republic of Korea. Since the voting results have already been announced, we will proceed with the resolution as is. If anyone has objections, please speak up.¡± Coughing sounds. ¡°Have you all voted? The voting is now closed. I will announce the results. Approximately 88% of eligible voters participated, with 3,125,678 voting for option 1, ¡®Yes, it has perished,¡¯ ounting for over 99.99%. Thirty-three voted for option 2, ¡®No, it has not perished,¡¯ ounting for less than 0.01%.¡± Coughing sounds. "Therefore, I dere that the Republic of Korea has perished." Thud, thud, thud. The sound of the gavel. At that moment, something strange happened. From the seats of the members of the National Assembly, now empty, apuse erupted, regardless of party affiliation. The apuse also echoed from the empty spectator seats. Between the pping, the noise of camera shes went off. p, p, p, p, p, p, p! The oddest part was that this sound seemed to reach only me, as Jo Youngsoo did not react at all. He simply closed his eyes and quietly sat in the speaker''s chair. "¡¡." Looking at his serene face, I suddenly thought, Just as an individual needs a funeral when they die, perhaps a nation also needs one. The old man had endured a six-year mourning period to handle the funeral that I had failed to see. If that¡¯s the case, then the Republic of Korea died and wasid to rest at that very moment. 9 After that day, Jo Youngsoo never again protested in Babel Tower za, shouting, "Down with the dictator!" He lived the rest of his days as an ordinary old man, moving between free meal centers and construction sites, and shortly after, he died. He was already frail, having spent all his energy traveling across the country. Since he had no close connections, I took charge of the funeral. I set up a small funeral altar in the shanty house where he had lived. There were few mourners. Only some elderly men who had yed baduk with him showed up. Then, on thest night, Noh Doha appeared unexpectedly, without any aides. Noh Doha nced around the shabby shanty house, which was barely more than a tent. "Is there no yukgaejang (spicy beef soup) here¡?" "How could I afford such an expensive dish?" "Aren''t you filthy rich¡?" "Ahem. I''m conducting this funeral with heart, not money. If we suddenly make the funeral grand, all sorts of random people would show up¡ªwould that be in line with the deceased¡¯s wishes?" "Hmm¡." That was the conversation we had as soon as he arrived at the funeral. After bowing to the portrait of the deceased (he did not bow to me, the chief mourner), Noh Doha sat down heavily next to me. "Why did that old man, who always made a fuss with protests, suddenly stop?" "After finishing the public opinion surveys, he went to the National Assembly in Yeouido and dered that the Republic of Korea had perished." "Hmm? Ah, I see¡." Noh Doha stroked his chin. "What will you do with the body¡?" "He was thest representative of a fallen nation. It would be strange if the anomalies weren¡¯t after him. I n to cremate him and scatter the ashes at sea." And that¡¯s what happened. Anomalies were as dangerous to the dead as they were to the living. Without thorough procedures, there was a high risk of viting the "Etiquette to Follow at Funerals: Don¡¯t Suddenly Come Back to Life and Scare the Mourners!" These days, after scattering the ashes at sea, a simple tombstone would be erected at the site. This was called a haemyo (sea tomb). "To have the world¡¯s greatest undertaker personally oversee a funeral from start to finish¡ªthis is practically a joyous asion¡." Noh Doha remarked sarcastically as he followed to the end. On the long stone tombstone of the haemyo, the following words were engraved: Jo Youngsoo ÚwÓ¾ä¨ Citizen of the Republic of Korea ´óínÃñ‡ø ‡øÃñ [TL/N: Author wrote this twice, same words but second ones are in Hanja instead, so leaving it as is.] Noh Doha shrugged his shoulders. "After staying up all night yesterday, I¡¯m starving¡." "Shall we go for some yukgaejang?" "Oh, yukgaejang sounds good¡." There¡¯s no epilogue to this story. In a way, this entire episode was the epilogue of a country called Korea. ¡ªPatriot. The End. [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] Chapter 192 [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] Chapter 192 ©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤ The Investor I 1 I feel sorry for not mentioning ordinary people much. It''s all because of a world where awakening abilities form a pyramid-like ss society. Previously, wealth could be inherited, but awakening abilities refuse even DNA-based inheritance. It''s like a luck-based gacha game where you never know when or how it will hit. So, what profession do most ordinary kids dream of these days, when they can''t win the lottery? [Top 3 Job Preferences for Children Under 10] 3rd: General Worker in a Major Guild ¨C 10.2% 2nd: Caravan Member in the National Road Maintenance Corps ¨C 14.4% 1st: Writer ¨C 26.8% Surprisingly, the most desired job among kids these days is none other than being a writer. "Mom! I want to be a writer when I grow up!" "Writers are gods!" It''s the era of humanities... no, it''s the golden age of literature. 2 Why did a literary boom suddenly emerge? There is a deep and intricate causal rtionship hidden here. It wasn''t like this from the beginning. In Korea, the humanities were originally considered embarrassing, with literature and creative writing being at the pinnacle of this embarrassment. This treatment and perception were overturned exactly at the 205th turn. Do you remember what happened during the 205th turn? ¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D ??*?~It feels like walking in a dream~??*? Wee to ¡ºDREAM¡» Casino! ?(?¦Å? )? We sincerely wee you! ???)Ø¯ ¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D That''s right. Dream Casino. It was the 206th turn when dream dealers (subi) officially got jobs at the Inunaki Tunnel. People couldn''t help but go wild over this miracle casino. "McDonald''s! Just give me McDonald''s! Let me eat Quarter Pounder Cheese and those soggy, salty fries until I''m sick of them!" "Wow! 160 coins!" "I, I just want a cute girl who only looks at me to appear in my dreams..." "Wow! Specifying a specific person costs 1,000 coins, setting a rtionship with them is 2,000 coins, and the basic fee starts at 3,000 coins!" In the early days, most people''s wishes focused on basic pleasures like food and sex. There was no distinction between awakened and ordinary people here. If they had money, they splurged, and if they didn''t, they enjoyed luxury in other ways. "Wow! In reality, I can only drink lousy alcohol, but in my dreams, I can drink as much delicious whiskey as I want!" "There''s someone in this dream!" "These days, work is really fun. Before, I thought, ''What''s the point of working hard if I''m just going to die from monsters anyway?'' But now it''s different. I''m so motivated to work because I can''t wait to rush to the casino after I clock out." Even if someone had an immoral or hical wish, it didn''t matter. After all, it''s just a dream, right? The tutorial fairies who introduced people to the dreams didn''t have much morality either. People indulged in their dreams without worrying about others, and the economy of Korea, which had been plummeting due to low productivity, miraculously revived. So, people should have been happy forever now... but of course, reality wasn''t that simple. "Whiskey''s good and all, but I''m getting tired of it..." "My dream lover is perfect, but she feels a bit passive. I mean, I set everything up before the dream, so while it''s nice and I love her, it kinda feels like dating an AI..." "Now that I think about it, work is still exhausting. Why do people have to work to survive?" Humans are creatures that never know satisfaction! More precisely, even when they do feel satisfied, they quickly get used to it and start craving more, and more, and more¡ªsuch is the sad nature of our species. Especially with the Dream Casino''s services, there was one fatal w. "Once I enter the dream, it feels realistic and all, but before that, I have to set everything up myself. It kind of kills the immersion..." The absence of coincidence. For example, suppose someone wants to have a dream where they arete for school, rush down the street, bump into a cute girl (who has a strawberry jam toast in her mouth), and end up fighting with her. Then, the teacher says, "Hey, we have a new student today!" and it turns out to be the same girl¡ªwhat a ssic scenario! (Over 310 people in Busan alone requested this popr plot.) At first, they might have enjoyed such a dream. It must have been refreshing to experience a scenario they''d only fantasized about. But that scenario needed a crucial element¡ªcoincidence. Coincidentally beingte, coincidentally bumping into someone, and coincidentally finding out she¡¯s the new student¡ªthat''s how the love story begins, and that''s what makes the heart race. "But giving the tutorial fairies freedom..." "Those fairies create tutorial dungeons where people kill each other no matter what the dream is about! Damn, why do I have to run another survival scenario when I should be flirting with my dream lover?" "Wow! I don''t get it..." Frankly, I didn''t care. "People are too greedy." They''re saying that inputting all the settings themselves kills the fun? What difference does it make? At least they can experience desires they can''t fulfill in reality. I once had a conversation about this with Noh Doha. "There is no such thing as a perfect state in this world. Even if you address oneint, another will arise. Today''s young folks onlyin about the present without thinking of the past. Tsk tsk." Noh Doha lowered his monocle and gazed at me intently. "Do you have some disease where you have to act like an old-timer regrly, or you''ll die...?" In any case, I ignored theints of the casino patrons. I dismissed them as mere grumbling from those who were too well off. But not everyone thought the same as I did. Where I saw "grumbling from the well-off," someone else saw "potential customers crying out in hunger"¡ªin other words, an untapped market. Writers began to move. 3 For example, let''s assume you''re an awakened individual in Busan who loves whiskey. Even as an awakened person, your status isn''t anything special. You''re just a low-ranking member of a small guild. You work hard every day, saving every penny, and visit Dream Casino three or four times a week. Buttely, you''ve had a concern. "The whiskey still tastes good, but drinking it endlessly at a whiskey bar isn''t as enjoyable as it was at first..." In short, you''re in a rut. You think about trying out a dream lover like others do, but honestly, you don''t have the enthusiasm for it. You just love whiskey. "Should I cut back on drinking...? Hm?" On your way to the casino, you notice a sign you hadn''t seen before. ¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D [Cocktail Bar Mori OPEN] Location: Apgujeong Rodeo Station, Seoul Hours: 7 PM ~ 2 AM Bartender''s Credentials: 1st ce at World-ss Japan Runner-up at the World Bartender Championship ¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D Your eyes light up. "A cocktail bar? In Apgujeong Rodeo? Wait, why are they advertising in Busan?" You love whiskey, but you don''t hate cocktails either. In fact, you got into whiskey by drinking cocktails. Naturally, you''re interested, so you approach the timid promoter standing behind the sign. "Excuse me." "Yes?" "This cocktail bar... is it really open in Seoul right now?" "Ah, well..." The promoter behind the sign looked unusually shy, not like a typical marketer. Their clothes were shabby, and it seemed they hadn''t eaten well or washed in days. The promoter, with greasy hair spilling over their forehead, spoke in a small voice like a tardigrade crawling. "This is... a setting..." "Excuse me?" "This cocktail bar opened, but it''s, well, it''s a setting I came up with. A dream setting. If you buy my dream, I take a smallmission, and you get to visit the cocktail bar I''ve set up..." Their voice was quiet, and they rambled, but you managed to grasp their point. "Oh. So it''s not a real cocktail bar, but a bar you''ve created in a dream? And I have to pay to get in?" "Yes. I used to be a writer, you see. So I''m good at this. It''ll be really great..." A writer, huh? I wasn¡¯t particrly impressed. Now that civilization had copsed, it was a job with no productivity. (Not that it was all that productive when civilization was intact either.) "Specifically, what''s so great about it? Honestly, I don''t see why I should pay. The whiskey bar I have set up is already super fancy." "S-spoilers..." "Excuse me?" "I can''t tell you because it''s a spoiler... I''m sorry..." At this point, most people would have thought, "Are they trying to scam me?" and walked away. But you were different. More precisely, you were the first to react differently, so you''re the example in this episode. You were intrigued. "How much?" [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] "What?" "The cocktail bar. How much to get in?" "Just 500 coins! We''re having a grand opening event! I''ll invite you in for 500 coins..." It wasn''t exactly a cheap price, but it wasn''t burdensome for someone awakened like you. "Here you go." "Ah! Th-thank you! You will be blessed! I promise you won''t regret it..." Although the person before you looked more like a beggar than a writer, you still handed over the 500 coins. Then the writer ran hurriedly over to the fairy standing guard at the casino entrance. "A customer! We have a customer! Please let them in as promised!" "Huh? Are you saying someone actually fell for that ridiculous trick?" "You promised! Hurry up!" "Oh wow. The world is full of surprises." Listening to the conversation between the fairy and the writer made you feel even more uneasy, but it was toote to turn back now. "Well, if anything seems too weird, I''ll just consider it a 500-coin donation to a beggar." You followed the subus into the casino''s sleeping room andy down on the bed. Normally, this would be the moment you''d tell the subus what kind of dream you want to have, describe the atmosphere of the whiskey bar, and how the drinks should taste in detail. But this time, the writer cut you off. "You can just dream as you are..." "Excuse me?" "You¡¯re visiting the bar I¡¯m promoting! There''s no need for you to specify anything. Unless, of course, you''d like to change your appearance or status..." "No, I usually dream as myself." "Th-then, just go ahead and sleep..." And instead of the usual setup conversation between "you and the fairy," it was now "the writer and the fairy" whispering to each other in hushed tones. "I really feel uneasy about this." But what could you do? You were already lying down in bed. You tried to suppress your anxiety and listened to the luby of the subus¡ª The next moment, you opened your eyes and found yourself standing near Apgujeong Rodeo Station. "Oh?" A slightly secluded alleyway. Cars were waiting at the traffic lights on the avenue over there. It was the scenery of Seoul before the fall of civilization. When you turned your head, you saw a small sign attached to a building. [MORI] This must be the cocktail bar the writer had mentioned. "The atmosphere of the dream is pretty convincing." Feeling a slight sense of anticipation, you opened the door. Inside was a tiny bar that could barely fit ten people. The kind of small, local cocktail bar you¡¯d find more in Japan than Korea. The bartender, who was organizing bottles, turned to look at you and greeted you with an "Ah" and a smile. "Irasshaimase!" "Huh?" Could it be a Japanese person? Your foreignnguage anxiety, embedded in every Korean''s DNA, red up. As you hesitated in slight panic, the bartender put down the bottle and smiled slightly. "Wee- Please,e in." There was a subtle awkwardness in their Korean pronunciation. You tried your best to control your expression and gestures to avoid appearing rude as you entered the bar. "I''m sorry. I don''t speak Japanese... Are you Japanese?" "Yes, I am. I''m working hard to learn Korean! Kim Yuna! Son Heungmin! I love them!" "Ah... Your Korean is really good." "Thank you!" Fortunately, you were the only customer in the bar. If there had been others, it might have been a bit embarrassing. The good thing about alcohol, like music, is that it¡¯s a universalnguage. Just as Mozart''s music sounds the same in Austria or China, the names of the drinks also cross borders. "Can I get a Godfather?" "Godfather. Yes, I understand!" Soon after, the bartender handed you a cocktail. And as you took a sip... "...This is good." The drink tasted great. When you left the dream entirely to the fairy, the Godfather would end up tasting like Midori Sour, with the vors all mixed up and chaotic. So you''d had to specify each drink in detail before falling asleep. But not this time. The cocktail tasted exactly as it should. And although it wasn¡¯t your favorite style, it was still a drink you could enjoy. It was as if¡ª "It feels just like I¡¯m visiting a real cocktail bar I¡¯ve never been to before." You looked around. It was your first time visiting such a tiny cocktail bar. The ces that made good cocktails in Korea were usually bigger. The interior, the lighting, the bartender''s nationality. Everything felt new. "The drink is really good." "Ah, is it? Thank you." "Could you make me a Manhattan too?" "Manhattan! You seem to like these kinds of drinks." "Yeah, I''ve always liked whiskey..." Under the dim lights, you naturally fell into conversation with the bartender. Both the drink and the snacks were quickly emptied. Even though you were drinking faster than usual, it didn¡¯t feel overwhelming at all. "So, why did youe to Korea? Isn¡¯t it easier to do business in Japan?" "Actually, my wife is Korean..." "Ah!" "My mother-inw opposed the marriage, but she set two conditions: to learn Korean and to live in Korea if we wanted to get married." "Wow. So you learned Korean and opened a bar here? You must really love your wife." "Yes! I love her! A lot!" Stories you didn''t know. A bar you didn''t know. People you didn''t know. "That''s right." As you emptied your ss,ughed with the bartender, you became so intoxicated that you forgot you were dreaming. "This is it. This is what a bar should be." The next day, you visited the cocktail bar Mori again. That day, you had the bartender all to yourself. When you visited the day after, there were two other customers. They were your guildmates. A monthter, ''Mori'' was full of customers. [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] Chapter 193 [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] Chapter 193 ©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤ Investor II 4 The story about the cocktail bar ''Mori'' that was just shared is based entirely on a documentary. While the guest was peacefully dreaming and enjoying a cocktail bar in his sleep: ¡°B, y the Ghibli anime OST jazz version as background music!¡± Next to the guest''s bed in reality, the promoter, aka the writer, was eagerly nagging at the dream demon. ¡°You need to emphasize that a Japanese person runs this bar! And the weather is too calm! Let''s make it rain!¡± ¡°Huh? This human is suddenly speaking informally... It¡¯s making me want to check how well his head is attached to his neck...¡± ¡°But, but we agreed to split themission fifty-fifty!¡± ¡°I didn''t realize it would be this much trouble... Ugh, I hate my past self for agreeing to this¡¡± The writer sat next to the guest''s bed all night, pestering the dream demon. He adjusted the bartender''s lines, family background, life story, the bar''s atmosphere, the sounds from outside, the mysterious guests who showed up around 1 a.m. (who were National Intelligence Service agents), and so on. In short, what the tutorial fairy had previously provided to people was just the base game¡ªthe vani version. But now, the writer began tuning the game¡¯s ''mod'' and selling it. Once, the most famous engineer on Earth had said: "People don¡¯t know what they want until you show it to them." Indeed, that saying hit the mark even in the apocalyptic era where capitalism hadpletely copsed. The mod ''Cocktail Bar Mori'' that one writer created and uploaded became a massive hit in the reality creation marketce. ¡°I want to go to Mori too!¡± ¡°Expand the bar! How can you only ept 10 customers with so many people wanting to go?¡± ¡°I¡¯ll pay 1,000 coins! No, 3,000 coins! Please, boss! Let me invite a friend too!¡± Writer A became happy. And like any happy writer, he followed the usual path. In other words, he began bragging to other writers about how amazing he was. ¡°Why the sudden change of ns? You had a reservation at a BBQ ce... This ce must be expensive.¡± ¡°It¡¯s fine, it¡¯s fine! I¡¯m doing well these days! I¡¯ll pay for everything tonight! I just wanted to get the old group of writers together for drinks! It¡¯s all about camaraderie! We¡¯re the only ones left in Busan, anyway.¡± Flinch. The ears of the former writers gathering at the military stew restaurant perked up. Their clothes were all shabby. It was natural. Writers are usually mentally fragile,ck social skills, envy and resent their peers, hide behind anonymous masks online to nder others, crave adoration, and are physically weak with creaky spines and joints. In short, they had no redeeming qualities. They were the worst kind of people to survive an apocalypse. The fact that they had survived and settled in Busan made them first-rate. So, no matter how long Writer A''s speech dragged on, the former writers only heard one line. ¨D¨DI¡¯m doing well these days¨D¨D That one sentence shed through their minds in Nasu Kinoko''s writing style. ¡°...¡± ¡°...¡± They exchanged nces in silence (a basic skill for writers). The writers began with small talk. "Hey, we used to make decent money. We should be grateful we survived. I heard from a Japanese writer I know it''s a mess over there..." As time passed, and alcohol and chatter made everything feel more sluggish, someone finally opened fire. ¡°So, what do you do these days that makes you so sessful?¡± ¡°Huh?¡± Writer A tilted his head, pretending not to understand the question, an attitude that made the other writers feel a sh of contempt. Camaraderie among writers? What nonsense. Everyone knew this gathering was just a chance for him to show off. But they endured this momentary contempt with the help of alcohol. Considering that the alcohol was also paid for by the host, they could tolerate it one more time. ¡°You said earlier that you¡¯re doing well. Did you suddenly awaken some ability and join a guild? Like that one guy, what¡¯s his name... The jerk with good writing skills who hit it big after awakening?¡± ¡°Ugh, him? He¡¯s not a writer. He¡¯s just someone who used to be a writer but switched to being an awakened one. But I¡¯m still making a living as a writer!¡± Flinch. The writers'' ears were slowly turning into elf ears. ¡°You''re still writing? Are there still readers who pay for your work these days?¡± ¡°No, I¡¯m not writing. We non-awakened folks can¡¯t even ess SGNet. There¡¯s no tform. But does that mean we should stop creating? Even during wars, there are writers who continue creating. For people like us, writing isn¡¯t just a job¡ªit¡¯s our heart. If your heart stops beating, you die.¡± The host should have been grateful that the military stew was so delicious. Back in the day, gossip would have spread through the industry by now. ¡°Anyway, what I¡¯m doing these days is¨D¨D.¡± Two hours into the gathering, the main topic finally began. ¨D¨DSo I thought! If I sweet-talk the fairy from the tutorial dungeon I survived, I might be able to conquer this market! But what should I do? I know cocktails, right? And I know some Japanese. Let¡¯s go with the concept of a Japanese cocktail bar!¡± ¡°Oooohhh...¡± ¡°Wow, impressive.¡± ¡°But why a cocktail bar? I mean, it¡¯s nice, but isn¡¯t the scale too small? Wouldn¡¯t it be better to start with a fun world-building concept and make bigger money?¡± ¡°Sigh. That¡¯s thinking from the writer¡¯s perspective. Even though we used to be sessful, we¡¯re beginners now, right? We haven¡¯t touched a keyboard in over five years, and this is the first time we¡¯re creating in this way. New tform. New format. We need to get used to it again!¡± ¡°Oooohhh...¡± ¡°Wow, impressive.¡± ¡°Sounds a bit like a TRPG.¡± ¡°Huh? Yeah, that¡¯s right. Writers have a problem¡ªthey get arrogant too easily. We need to stay humble and approach it with a learning mindset. And there¡¯s another thing. People who like alcohol usually have a drinking group. If you get one regr customer, that person will bring other customers along. You have to approach it with a business mindset like that!¡± ¡°Oooohhh...¡± ¡°Wow, impressive.¡± ¡°What¡¯s the profit split with the tutorial fairy? 8 to 2?¡± ¡°Pfft. You think that¡¯s possible? It¡¯s 5 to 5, 50/50. It¡¯s like the early days of web novels when contracts were terrible. I have a lot ofints, but without the fairies, I can¡¯t do business, so I have no choice¨D¨D.¡± ¡°Oooohhh...¡± ¡°Wow, impressive.¡± The host should have noticed that while the other writers'' responses had be increasingly robotic, their questions were getting more detailed. But he didn¡¯t. He was drunk. It''s not that the other writers weren''t drunk, but they had the ''ideal'' and ''reality'' to ovee their intoxication. As I mentioned earlier, A writer is nothing more than a socially inept species with creaking spines and joints. But if that''s true, isn''t it strange? How could such a degenerate survive all this time? There was only one reason. ¡®I¡¯m doing better than that bastard!¡¯ ¡®Damn, I write better than that guy!¡¯ ¡®That guy has no artistry, that one has nomercial appeal, this one has no backbone, and that one is too stubborn¡ª.¡¯ An overwhelming and endlesspetition that even the depths of hell would flinch at! Thispetitive spirit was the only driving force that kept the writers going. For example, Tolstoy was the kindest human among all history writers. His novels were filled with love, concern for others, and respect for nature. But even he dissed Dostoevsky whenever he got the chance. Because somehow, ''love,'' ''concern,'' and ''respect'' didn''t apply between fellow writers. In other words, if you take away the money, Wall Street in America is basically a writers''munity. "Ohhhh¡." [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] "Wow, that¡¯s impressive." In some sense, the purpose of this gathering nned by the sponsor was achieved. Everyone here felt the ''affection'' among the old writers. Thump. The ''hearts of snakes'' that had been barely sealed away, even as the apocalypse destroyed civilization, began to stir. 5 A few dayster. Busan''s construction site lost about seven workers. Since they were low-qualityborers anyway, no one on-site cared. Instead, seven new signs were added at the entrance of Dream Casino. [Former web novel writer! 100 million views on a major tform! Specializes in modern fantasy/fantasy. ¡îBe the strongest awakened in the world¡î and explore medieval dungeons!] [Specializes in chaebol and corporate stories. ¡®The journey to bing a legend after getting hired by a securities firm!¡¯ - Just 1,000 coins for a night] [Romance/Beautiful girls specialist. Drama adaptation experience. Graduated from Yonsei University with a degree in psychology. For details, consult with the writer. Absolute confidentiality guaranteed] [Former web novel writer / 200 million views on a major tform / Multiple webtoon adaptations / Animated / If you read novels in the past, you would know this person - A chance to hire this writer for your own project! - Will match your desired world as much as possible] [Former web novel writer / 29 million views, 30 million views, 50 million views / Never missed a single update / TRPG Master with 8,500 hours on Roll20 / Promises consistent and stable quality] "What, what is this?" That day, Writer A, the founder of the cocktail bar ''Mori,'' was shocked as he happily went to work. Weren''t his past rivals, who he had fed army stew tost week, now shamelessly holding signs in front of him? Former writers¡ No. The ''returning writers'' spoke sheepishly. "Well, you see." "We got inspired by your words." "Yeah, we were really moved by what you said. You were right; a writer should make a living through creative activities." "Exactly, exactly!" "It¡¯s been a while since our creative spirit ignited. Haha." The writersughed sheepishly, pretending their actions were purely motivated by inspiration from him, which filled Writer A with a sense of humiliation. Inspiration, my foot! It¡¯s giarism! ''But¡!'' Professional writer A, who once lived by the pen, bit his lip. It was difficult to call this ''giarism''¡! If one of them had put up a sign for a ''cocktail bar,'' ''pub,'' or ''izakaya,'' he might have challenged them to a duel. But the writers had merely borrowed the genre of his business, craftily disguising the content differently. Just like in the old days, when they would creatively reinterpret any genre that gained poprity, whether it was a hunter story or an academy story¡! ''This familiar feeling! Could it be!'' ''Yes.'' The eyes of the fellow writers, who smiled sheepishly and innocently, glinted darkly. ''It¡¯s time for the serializationpetition again, rookie.'' ''Ah, it¡¯s been a while. This chilly sensation. It feels like I¡¯m back when I used to check the best rankings every two minutes whenever Iunched a new series.'' ''No, no! Don¡¯t do it! Have you all forgotten that hell, you fools!'' ''Yeah. But your hell seems more livable than our reality.'' ''I always liked hellfire anyway. I used to manage three simultaneous series at once.'' Again, exchanging silent nces was a basic skill for writers. Finally, Writer A realized his mistake, albeit toote. Why did hemit something he would regret for a mere night of pleasure? (Of course, because he¡¯s a writer) - What¡¯s this? Why are there so many signs? - Did Mori finally expand his business? Murmur murmur. But Writer A didn¡¯t even have time to regret it properly. Because it was almost quitting time, and people were starting to flock to Dream Casino. It was time for all writers to face their inevitable fate: ''serialization time.'' ''Stop! No! My customers! My readers!'' However, contrary to Writer A''s worries, he didn¡¯t lose any customers. ¡°¡Huh?¡± Neither did the other writers fail to attract new customers. Though there were some variations, all eight writers, including Writer A, drew in enough customers. "Huh?" The next day. And the day after that. And the day after that. Even as the number of signs increased from one to eight, and then from eight to twenty, no one lost any customers. In fact, selling dreams became even more sessful than before, and even when the cocktail bar''s capacity was increased from 10 to 20, it was always packed. Only then did the writers realize. "Oh." The word that had been forgotten because civilization had perished so long ago. Blue Ocean. This wasn¡¯t a bloody sea where you had to kill yourpetitors to survive. The ce they discovered after rolling in the dirt at the construction site was the golden Eldorado¨D¨D. It was a gold mine. [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] Chapter 194 [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] Chapter 194 ©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤ Investors III 6 Tuning customers'' dreams and advancing them. This is the job assigned to the new generation of writers. Because of that, even the titles of the writers have changed. "DM-nim! Today''s dream was amazing! Honestly, these days, life is more enjoyable when I''m asleep than when I''m awake!" "Haha, I''m d you had a restful sleep too." Dream Manager (DM for short). Now, writers were often called "DM-nim" rather than "author." "Then, good luck with your work. I''ll go get some sleep now..." "Oh, right, DM-nim, it''s your sleep time now! Sleep well!" "Yes, thank you. Yawn..." While others slept, DMs worked, and while others worked, DMs slept. They were forced into an extreme night owl lifestyle, but DMs didn''t mind. Even when they were authors, they chose to be more bird-like than mammal-like. And then... "Doctor Jang. There''s this new DM trend going ontely, have you heard of it?" It was around this time that I heard about the "Recent_Writer_Updates.jpg" from Tang Seorin. I was always busy traveling across the country, so I often heard about trends among the general publicte. "DM? What''s that?" "To put it simply, they''re sleep managers. You could say they enhance the dreams that fairies provide." "Hmm..." "Anyway, people are going wild over it. It''s gotten to the point where top-tier DMs are so in demand that they''re hard to hire even for a fortune." "Strange things are happening." "Right? I even hired a DM for myself recently. They''re a Harry Potter fan, and we get along. They prefer the current generation over the past, just like me." Current generation? Past generation? At the time, in my 205th turn, I tilted my head at the barrage of jargon. "So, you''re saying you hired an ordinary person as your personal manager and gave them the authority to manipte the world of dreams? Isn''t that dangerous?" "Oh, don''t worry. DMs can''t do anything without the tutorial fairies anyway. As long as the fairies don''t betray us, it''s hard for a DM to pull any funny business." "Hmm." "Besides, they''re just regr people without any awakened abilities." At that time, I just shrugged it off. But in fact, Tang Seorin''s statement held a bombshell of information. As everyone knows, Three Thousand Worlds is one of the top guilds in Korea. Only the best of the best, those proven in character, loyalty, talent, and boldness, can enter. (Except for Yoo Jiwon, who sneakily passed through the special Latin track.) For ordinary people, it was a dream job, one they couldn''t even apply for. But now, an ordinary person who wasn''t even an awakened individual got hired? And not as a janitor or handyman, but as a full-fledged employee? Moreover, they became the personal manager of Tang Seorin, who, along with Noh Doha, holds power in Busan? Aplete ordinary person? The writers''munity buzzed. "Ah, teacher! I hired a personal DM too!" Cheon Yohwa added fuel to the fire. As a trend-setting MZ high school student (6th year), she couldn''t bear the rumor that she was behind Tang Seorin in terms of trends. "What? Even you, Yohwa?" "Yes! I hired three DMs: one for zombie stories, one for exorcism stories, and one for cult stories. I''ve been enjoying dreams where I be the leader of a cult in a world hit by a zombie apocalypse for a whole week!" "..." Questioning why she''d enjoy such dreams would be missing the forest for the trees. The real point was that while Tang Seorin only hired one DM, Cheon Yohwa hired three. Withpetition between the "Economic Capital" Busan and the "Spiritual Capital" Sejong intensifying daily, the prideful geniuses shed. -[Three Thousand] Witch Judge: I recently reread The Little Prince and found myself lost in thought. Even after the world has copsed, the trend of evaluating everything by numbers persists. --[Three Thousand] Witch Judge: Where has the will to cross the desert to find the one fox that waits for me gone? ©¸[Baekhwa] High School 6th Year: Wow! You only have one fox? ©¸[Three Thousand] Witch Judge: ? ©¸[Baekhwa] High School 6th Year: I have three in my desert... Guess you didn''t make many friends! >_<);; The drums of war began to beat. Tang Seorin immediately promoted her personal DM to "Chief DM." Then, she hired 11 more DMs from various fields like architecture, food and nutrition, and education, assigning them to different departments. In addition, she hired six parody-writer DMs to check the Harry Potter settings. The Hogwarts in her dreams became almost perfect. Cheon Yohwa didn''t back down either. While Tang Seorin focused on quality, Yohwa invested in quantity. She brought in DMs specializing in fantasy, modern, romance, martial arts, and more, enjoying a different genre of dreams each day. Her personal DM count reached 20. -[Three Thousand] Witch Judge: Dream Diary Entry 31. I''ve finally gotten familiar with the geography of the academy. Made a lot of friends and caught the professors'' eyes. In fortune-telling ss, I was praised as "the greatest talent in the academy''s history," though it seemed exaggerated. -[Baekhwa] High School 6th Year: Dream Diary Day 20! Today, I finally smashed the head of the boss zombie >_<)!! In the end, the two began posting their dream diaries on SG Net, subtlypeting with each other. Whenever the guild members from Three Thousand Worlds or Baekhwa High saw their leaders'' dream diaries, they flocked to the posts like cheetahs, eagerly leavingments. Why? Because they werepeting to see whose dream diary had more views andments. Surviving in a big corporation wasn''t easy. -KoreanVige: Lol, the level of Korea''s top awakeners, lol -KoreanVige: How pathetic must reality be if they''re fighting over dreams, lol Only the viinous KoreanVige enjoyed this. So, what was I, the only one capable of mediating this parallel-level nonsense, doing during all this? Absolutely nothing. After all, they always fought over who was superior and who was inferior. From my perspective, this was a rtively safe way to relieve stress. At least no one got hurt. But I guess others felt differently. "Huh...?" "This puts us in an awkward position..." The squids and shrimp, the smaller guild leaders quietly going about their business near the two giant whales, were put in a tough spot. If Tang Seorin and Cheon Yowha hired 20 DMs (Dream Makers), then otherrge guilds had to hire at least 12. Even mid-sized guilds with some level of prestige should have hired at least 6 DMs, and small guilds that were just starting to grow should have hired at least 3. The reason? It didn''t matter. Thisnd had a long-standing tradition of distinguishing social status by how much one''s car and house were worth. That tradition had simply evolved into "how many good DMs you could hire and how many of them you had." During the Renaissance era, Italian nobles indulged in luxury by patronizing artists. Simrly, guild leaders on the Korean Peninspeted with each other over DMs. The Renaissance nobles didn''t necessarily have a great artistic sense, and the guild leaders didn''t have any extraordinary literary talent either. Nevertheless, both professions caused an enormous employment boom. Moreover, DMs had several advantages over Renaissance artists. 1. Ease of Entry: Bing a DM didn''t require any initial capital. As long as you could tune dreams ording to the client''s preferences, you could make a living. 2. Business Sustainability: Unlike cathedrals that take hundreds or thousands of years toplete, DMs had a steady stream of work. People dreamed every day, and they wanted interesting dreams. 3. Connection with the Powerful: People in high positions like guild leaders yed in their own league, making it hard for ordinary people to get close to them. However, if DMs possessed top 1% skills, they could easily be close to the powerful. In fact, DMs were the first people that the powerful saw when they woke up and thest they saw before going to sleep. Entry was easy, business prospects were bright, and there was even a chance to gain fame and power? The result? "Mom! I want to be a writer when I grow up!" "Writers are like gods!" [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] A craze swept through the Korean Penins. As mentioned earlier, the Great Literary Age had suddenly dawned. Many incidents and idents happened during this Great Literary Age. For example, the fairies in the tutorial went on a massive strike, dering they couldn''t take it anymore. But in this episode, I n to cover just one incident, and it''s a story where anomalies were not involved at all. As I warned from the start, today we''ll focus on the stories of ''ordinary people,'' which we don''t usually cover. And who is the representative of these ordinary people? Let''s not hide it. "I''m feeling burned out these days..." "What?" It''s Writer A, who has appeared from the beginning to the end of this episode. For reference, I couldn''t get permission from Writer A to use their real pen name in my story. So, I reluctantly refer to them as Writer A. Just know that they are a web novel writer with a very timid personality, and their pen name ends with the letter "A" in pronunciation. Anyway. "What are you talking about, DM? Your cocktail bar is doing great these days! You''ve even increased the customer capacity to 50, and hired 5 bartender NPCs. Oh! The new bartender you hired got rave reviews recently!" "DM, DM, that darn DM..." "What?" "I''m a writer! A writer! And writing novels, creating stories, this isn''t it!" Crash. Writer A threw a wine ss in front of the assistant writer, smashing it. It seemed like only yesterday they couldn''t even afford clean water and had to drink rainwater. But now, having tasted a bit of sess, they''d already developed the bourgeois disease. "Look at what I''ve been doingtely! I greet customers with ''Irasshaimase,'' make cocktails all day long, and tinker with the appearance and backstories of new bartenders... Is this being a writer? Is it?" "Well, you''re easily making hundreds of thousands of won a day..." "A world full of struggle yet beauty! Lively characters! Battles of defeat and victory, schemes and plots, a ballroom at midnight where some dance while others walk the scaffold, such, such a work! That''s what I want to writeeeeee!" "......" For those who may not know, that''s called ''New Work Syndrome,'' a chronic condition that strikes every writer who has serialized the same work for more than 18 months. There were also other endemic diseases among writers, like ''Remake Syndrome,'' ''Discontinuation Syndrome,'' ''Ry Novel Syndrome,'' ''Contest Syndrome,'' ''My Work Sucks Syndrome,'' ''My Work Rocks Syndrome,'' and ''If I Don''t Write a Female Protagonist, I''ll Die Syndrome.'' You might be shocked at how such wed creatures still exist on Earth, but you''re not done being surprised yet. "But I can''t create such perfect dreams alone...!" And here, Writer A made a very writerly, or from the general human perspective, a very foolish decision. First, they called upon the 7 fellow writers with whom they had once shared a humble meal of army stew. These fellow writers had now be the ''Exalted 8,'' who were sessful in the industry. They had upgraded from army stew to holding gatherings at a BBQ restaurant. "Honestly, you''re all tired too, right? Right?" "Uh, well..." "The Great Witch is great and all, but her demands are too high... Sometimes she even points out inuracies in dreams, but honestly, that''s not my fault. The original settings are inconsistent..." "Exactly!" Bang! Writer A put down their makgeolli cup. "Let''s create a work together!" "What?" "Each of us should take charge of a few main characters and develop their backstories. Then we''llbine them. Let''s build the world together. You''re good at political intrigue, so handle that part. And you''re great with war stories, right? So bnce the conflicts between the fictional countries!" Writer A dered. "We''re the first writers in human history who can manipte dreams! How long are we going to keep fiddling with the dreams of the powerful? Let''s create an MMORPG with an unprecedented level of freedom, a perfect ''virtual world!''" "......!" That''s right. Unfortunately, Writer A and the Exalted 8 had contracted the worst disease among all writer diseases, the one that sends shivers down your spine just by pronouncing its name: Co-b-o-ra-tive W-o-rk Disease. [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] Chapter 195 [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] Chapter 195 ©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤ Investors IV 8 The n was for the writers in Busan to join forces. - My creativity is 150. Your creativity is 150. Together, we have a total of 300 creativity points to create a perfect work! - That''s a really smart idea. This was a proposal for what they called a coboration. The suggestion was for two or more writers toe together to create something collectively. It was basically the equivalent of putting Hitler and Stalin on the same team and saying, "Wow! If webine his propaganda skills with his purging skills, it''ll be amazing!" It was a fantasy, and we all knew the end of that scenario would be a nuclear explosion. A sessful coboration between writers was as likely as a college group project being perfectly executed and receiving a standing ovation from both the students and the professor¡ªa likelihood that increased by 500%. "Of course, if we simplybine our efforts, it won''t add up to +300 but rather be -22,500." Writer A was not foolish enough to be unaware of this. Writer A specifically presented a PowerPoint in a Korean BBQ restaurant where the exalted eight gathered. "Therefore, we strictly rank the participating writers within the project. As the project leader, I will respect your opinions, but I will hold the ultimate and absolute decision-making power." "Huh?" The fellow writers murmured. Their eyelids and eyebrow thickness varied, but the look in their eyes was nationally unified. Who do you think you are? Despite the disrespectful nces, Writer A was undaunted. Instead, he smiled broadly. "Actually, I pioneered this DM market, and you guys jumped on board. In other words, objectively speaking, you all owe me one, whether you like it or not." "......!" "No matter who leads, things will never go smoothly. But if we all participate equally in the coboration? It¡¯ll be a disaster, guaranteed." "Hmm." "Yeah, so it''s wiser to choose as a leader the one person who everyone would agree they ''owe.'' That''s me." "That... might be true..." The writers exchanged silent nces. It sounded usible...! Moreover, writers are inherently vulnerable to usible nonsense. If they had cold, rational minds, they wouldn''t have chosen the irrational profession of being a writer in the first ce. "Okay, let''s say you''re the leader. But how exactly will you coordinate our opinions as the leader?" "First, we divide the responsibilities among the writers." Flutter. Writer A turned over the PPT slides. Of course, it wasn''t disyed on aputer screen; it was just paper materials made to resemble PPT temtes. "I haven¡¯t told you this, but over the past few years, I¡¯ve secretly partnered with fairies to observe your DMs." "What?" "It was your fate since you started the DM business without even giving me a share. Deal with it. Anyway, because of that, I generally know what makes your DMs fun and what you''re particrly good at." Is this guy insane? As the fellow writers contemted how much money it would take to bury him and cover up the murder, Writer A calmly categorized the roles. "These are your strengths and roles as I see them." 1. NPC Specialist: Known for writing "snappy" and "vorful" dialogue since web novel days and praised by clients for making characters lively and dynamic in DMs. 2. Map Specialist: Renowned for crafting "stages" and "gimmicks" in each episode during web novel days. This writer has secretly contributed to indie game projects, handling level design. 3. Adventure, Items, Training Specialist: Famous for writing scenes where protagonists obtain hidden treasures and for training scenes that captivated readers in web novels. Now, this writer specializes in delivering the experience of bing the strongest to DM clients. 4. Main Event Specialist: Skilled at crafting "grand narratives" like power struggles between nations or political factions in web novels. In the DM world, this writer is praised by guild leaders for creating brutal political dramas. 5. World-Building Specialist: Talented at creating beautiful fantasy worlds in web novels and popr among DM clients for delivering immersive adventures. Additionally, there was even a Research Specialist. The PPT materials detailed each writer''s strengths and specialties in great detail, all handwritten by Writer A. "......" The fellow writers¡¯ eyes grew serious. Writers are inherently susceptible to sincerity and effort. Those were the values they pursued all their lives¡ªgenuine dedication, the craftsman¡¯s resolve. With a snap, Writer A put down the documents. "I''ve made enough money from DMing to buy a vi near Haeundae." "A vi?" "Yeah. You guys are all single anyway. Move in. We¡¯ll live and work there until the project isplete." "......" "You know, we could die at any time." In this era of anomalies. "Let¡¯s create one great work before we go, guys." If there¡¯s someone who could shed tears just by hearing the word "human," in any era, they¡¯re destined to be a writer. As stories move from the lips of bards, to the fingers of nobles, to the palms of workers, to the shelves of university libraries, to the empty spaces in rental shops, to the screens of smartphones, and into the dreams of fairies¡ªthis fact remains unchanged. The writers were ready to sing of humanity again. 9 And three years passed. "By the way, Doctor Jang, I was invited as a consultant for DMs. Want toe along?" It was always Tang Seorin, the one thread that kept me, the Doctor Jang, connected to the world. "A consultant?" "Yeah. The DMs are working on some kind of coboration project? They¡¯re creating an enormous fantasy world." "Oh?" "In that world, magicians apparently wield significant power. And you know, I¡¯m an essential figure regarding power and magic, right? So they invited me as a consultant for uracy." "So, they''ll seek specific advice on execution and anomaly dissections..." "Huh? What?" "Nothing. Anyway, I¡¯ll go too. As a Three Kingdoms expert, I might provide some realistic strategies and tactics advice." Tang Seorin cringed and grimaced, saying, "Please don¡¯t bring Three Kingdoms into fantasy." We picked a day and headed to Haeundae. For those from Busan, you might know this ce¡ªthere¡¯s a spot called Dalmaji Hill and Dalmaji Road. The writers'' retreat was in a vi overlooking the sea from there. The awakened beings hired as guards recognized us and froze in fear. I gave them a few kind words before passing by, whistling. "They¡¯re rich." "Of course. These are the top-tier DMs in Busan. They¡¯re probably among the wealthiest non-awakened people." "They have to coborate with the fairies for tutorials, so they can''t even evade taxes. Noh Doha, the head of management, also likes DMs." "Aha. But I heard Noh Doha has never actually hired a DM. Is that true?" "It¡¯s true. He almost never asks the fairies for sleep either. He says, ''Why should I dream of anomalies?''" "Hmm..." It was then. -You son of a b***! A roar loud enough to shake the ss windows came from inside the vi. Tang Seorin and I paused just as we were about to ring the doorbell (not an electronic one, but a bell attached to the doorknob). -How can aw passed by the Royal Council be retroactively applied? That means every interspecies marriage would be annulled over the past hundreds of years. Does that make any sense? [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] -It makes sense! That¡¯s why the marriagew has been a massive political scandal, both in the world and in the main event! -No, damn it! What about taxes? Married and single people were taxed differently, and all sorts ofws were applied differently. Are you going to apply those too retroactively? Does that make the Chancellor an idiot? His workload just tripled! -He is an idiot, which is why the kingdom is on the brink of copse! Tang Seorin and I exchanged nces. Tang Seorin and I nced at each other. "Are we sure we had an appointment today?" "Yeah, it''s supposed to be around this time today." "So, the mighty guild master of the Three Thousand Worlds is gracing them with their presence, and instead of having the door wide open and ready, they''re inside screaming at each other like animals? Are they even human?" "I don''t know. Maybe they''re some kind of anomaly." Thankfully, both Seorin and I were naturally averse to any sense of entitlement. We were the type to alter our appearances with magic and go on foodie tours whenever we had time. Knock knock. I tapped the doorbell. "¡ªYou idiot, can''t you understand¡ª. Huh? Hey, wait a second. It seems like someone''s here?" "Hold on. Uh, who is it?" Seorin cleared her throat. "Hello, this is the guild master of the Three Thousand Worlds." "Th-Three Thousand... Oh, oh, oh!" Crash bang! The noise inside the door became chaotic. "You crazy idiot!" "Why didn''t you say anything?" "I thought it was tomorrow¡ª" "Damn it! Die! You worthless fool, just die already!" "Put on some clothes! How many times do I have to tell you not to walk around shirtless!" And so on. It was aplete madhouse. It wasn''t until muchter, in the next turn, that we learned that the one who actually got the date wrong wasn''t the writers but Seorin. But even in the 205th turn, Seorin herself was unaware of this fact. "Um..." Though shecked any sense of entitlement, the absolute authority of the Three Thousand Worlds was slightly flustered. "Oh. Sorry, Doctor Jang. I had no idea this meeting would be like this. I just came here because someone who used to be my personal DM three years ago introduced me. I thought since you liked Romance of the Three Kingdoms, you might be interested in novels and writers too, so I suggested wee together..." "Now that I think about it, it''s been a while since we walked together instead of going on a foodie tour, hasn''t it?" "Huh?" "I enjoyed taking a walk with you after so long. That''s enough for me. You don''t have to apologize to me for every little thing." "¡" "Isn''t this kind of fun?" I grinned. "A startup somehow managed to invite Warren Buffet and Bill Gates to their office, but they forgot the date and left them standing outside the door. It''spletely insane. When else are you going to have such a rare experience?" "...Yeah, you''re right. It''s fun." The brief awkwardness between us quickly faded, and Seorin''s usual light smile returned. Seorin and I could always revert to yful children no matter where we were. Even as we waited in front of the vi''s door, we giggled while discussing what to have for dinner. The 30 cm distance between us was short but fully upied, leaving no room for concerns about pride, dignity, or resentment. "¨D¨DWe sincerely apologize!" "We''vemitted an unforgivable offense! We''re so sorry!" So when the writers, having hurriedly donned their formal attire, prostrated themselves on the floor in a DOGEZA, we didn''t think much of it. Seorin chuckled softly. "It''s okay. Mr. Mol DM introduced me, so it seems there was some confusion." "No, it''s really our fault! There was a mistake on our end!" The writers couldn''t even lift their heads, like guilty criminals. Meanwhile, I took in the scene inside the vi. "Hoee?" First of all, there were fairies floating around in the living room. Five of them, to be exact. "Doctor Jang Secretary General? What brings you here?" "And you?" "We were dispatched here for coborative work!" The writers flinched at hearing the fairies and my conversation. Their reactions were predictable: "D-Doctor Jang?" "The hero of the Ten ns Annihtion War and the Meteor Shower Annihtion War?" "What is such a hero doing in a ce like this?" It was so obvious that it hardly needed description. If I detailed every one of these reactions, half of each chapter would be filled with the same content. After things settled down, Seorin began talking with the historical consultant DM. Meanwhile, I spoke with Writer A, the project leader. "Well... um... So, we''re creating a fully autonomous dream world. It''s called the Kingdom Project..." "Autonomous?" "Ah, y-yes. Um, for example, there''s a count in the dream world kingdom. We''ve detailed his past, his wounds, his thoughts on those wounds, and the events he''s currently involved in. We share these settings with the tutorial fairies..." Writer A nced at the fairies. "These settings allow the fairies to run the dream in a somewhat realistic way, even if we''re not personally guiding the guests..." Writer A wasn''t exactly a poor speaker, but he wasn''t particrly eloquent either. So, I found it necessary to summarize his words into a straightforward slogan. "So, if you guys are the game developers, the fairies act as game masters?" "Ah, yes. Th-that''s right..." Writer A hesitated. "Of course, there might be details that the game masters can''t handle. In that case, we can provide real-time feedback between the fairies and us..." "Hoo." "Since we''ll be awake during the night when the fairies are working... W-We already conducted beta tests with guests. Six rounds..." "The satisfaction rate was incredibly high!" A fairy chimed in, poking its head out. "Statistically speaking,pared to the dreams we provide alone, the dreams from the Kingdom Project delivered over 2,000% more satisfaction to the participants!" "2,000%? More than twenty times?" "Hoee! Exactly! The Fairy Rights Committee fully supports participating in the Kingdom Project''s development!" I looked around the vi''s interior. The walls were stered with story settings. Maps. Personal details of hundreds of major NPCs. Strings of red, blue, and yellow crisscrossed like webs, showing the connections between the settings. Meanwhile, the fairy was chomping down on a sausage and chatting away. "Especially after the Secretary-General banned the tutorial, the fairies who had been feeling down regained their enthusiasm thanks to the Kingdom Project! Now, in dreams, they can legally kill humans as much as they want, just like in the tutorial!" "¨D¨DWait." I suddenly turned and grabbed the fairy by the shoulder. "What did you just say?" "Hoee? That we''re happy because we can legally kill humans as much as we want in dreams?" "No, not that. You said you could run dungeons like the tutorial in dreams?" "Hoee. Yes!" "...Of course, people won''t be harmed in real life if they die in the dream, right?" "Hoee. They might suffer some psychological trauma, but they know it''s not real, so it''s fine!" "¡" I felt like I had been struck on the back of the head. How on earth had I not thought of such a simple idea until now? In the 205th turn, I established Dream Casino to provide entertainment to people and distribute the original currency through the dream-based economy. I had only approached it from the perspective of welfare and economics. But Dream Casino, and the DM ecosystem it supported, held far more tremendous potential than just "welfare and economics." "Mr. DM." I looked at Writer A. And I spoke. "Would you be interested in thebat data from the Ten ns and Meteor Shower?" "...Excuse me?" "I can provide you with hundreds, even thousands of detailed records on the anomalies. I''ll invest whatever resources you need." Indeed. Therge-scale virtual world that the DMs built. This ce could endlessly provide "practice" that was almost identical to "realbat" for both ordinary people and awakened ones¨D¨D. It was, in essence, a "tutorial dungeon." [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] Chapter 196 [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] Chapter 196 ©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤ Investors V Sometimes, when reading regression stories, this scenario pops up: - Magician, your true talent is actually in swordsmanship. - Impossible! Me? Born into a prestigious family of magicians, and you''re telling me I''m a swordsmanship genius? - And also a muscle genius. - Hmm, did you just say that my posture was the ¡®Perfect Squat of the Forgotten Era¡¯? I was merely sitting down and standing up! This is the so-called "Our Child Has Changed" clich¨¦. In previous episodes, these geniuses didn''t fully realize their potential due to biases, discrimination, poverty, or bad luck. The regressor gave these supporting characters one-on-one training sessions, and thanks to that, they became true experts. As a regressor who¡¯s done plenty of personal training, I¡¯ve nurtured quite a few exceptional members. In fact, I secretly pride myself on being better than any other regressor in this field. But we need to approach this with the brain of a scientist rather than the heart of a liberal arts major. Now, what exactly does the adjective "quite a few" refer to in numbers? - Saintess, Seo Gyu, Tang Seorin, Cheon Yohwa, Sim Aryeon, Lee Hayul, Yoo Jiwon, Let''s Go. What a shocker. Only 7 people! Of course, depending on the episode, you could add or subtract about five more names. But still, it''s less than 15. In my view, most regressors are gravely mistaken. How do they n to change the world with such a small elite group? Sure, changing the lives of 15 people is a great achievement. But that''s still just the scale of a small to medium business owner. Apple has over 150,000 employees. You''re just scratching the surface with these human lottery tickets that have a guaranteed future? That''s just basic. Like buying Bitcoin¡ªit''s something you "obviously should do." The real important thing is the societal system. Reorganizing the entire workforce in a healthy way to support the small number of experts. This is what I would call the ultimate goal of a regressor. "I will invest directly in the Kingdom Project that the top DMs are currently developing." After returning from the writers'' retreat at Dalmaji Hill, I immediately convened the Regression Alliance. Noh Doha, whose life is practically overtime, met me with a face drenched in exhaustion. "DM? Aren¡¯t they those casino junkies who hook up with fairies in their dreams so they can have sex with their ideal partners?" Oh my god. To think this is the current understanding of the ruler of the Korean penins! I tremble with rage every time I expose Noh Doha¡¯s ignorance and prejudice to you all. Please spread the word about Noh Doha¡¯s disgrace far and wide. "Ahem. Please refrain from such nder about the only growing industry in the market right now." "Has this man¡¯s brain gone rotten from dreaming of the Three Kingdoms a few times? Why are you suddenly freaking out in the middle of the night about investing in DMs?" I calmly exined the potential of the Kingdom Project. It didn''t take long for Noh Doha''s expression to change. "...Hmm. If you remove the DMs and tutorial fairies, it''s basically like a ''virtual reality world.''" "Exactly." "I see. A ce where you can freely build up experience in defeating anomalies and exploring voids... It does sound usible." [Isn¡¯t there a big risk?] The Saintess, who was participating in the video conference remotely from Yongsan, questioned. [After all, the Ten ns and Meteor Shower were real anomalies that once existed. If you transfer their data into a virtual reality, it could end up causing the entire other world to be invaded by voids like our reality. I think this will just expand the activity range of the anomalies. Besides, there''s a high likelihood that new anomalies rted to ''virtual reality'' will be created.] "You''re right. There will definitely be side effects." I nodded. "But the advantages far outweigh the disadvantages. Let''s try it at least; if the side effects be too much to handle, we can stop in future turns." With Warren Buffett''s heart for Coca-C stock, I decided to invest in the Kingdom Project. Starting the very next day, I began managing the ''risks'' that the Saintess pointed out. Among all risks, the most foolish one is the human risk¡ªhuman-caused disasters. I summoned Tang Seorin and Cheon Yohwa to the 1,200-meter depth of the cafe hideout to address the human resource issue. "Huh?" "Ugh." They arrived with light steps, but upon seeing each other, they frowned openly. The atmosphere became tense. It was a battle of pride between the magicians who represented white magic and ck magic, incantation magic, and necromancy. I spoke up from the middle. "You two, stop fighting." "Fighting? What are you talking about, Doctor Jang? I don''t have the leisure to fight with anyone. If I do fight, even if my opponent looks human, I¡¯d wonder if they¡¯re actually a anomaly." "Oh, right. There¡¯s that rumor in Busan about people of all ages wearing witch hats. They might actually be cosy anomalies. You should be careful, too!" Don''t worry. This level of tension is just cute. If these two were seriously intending to kill, they could easily turn someone into human jerky. They''re both the bosses of top-tier guilds. "Seriously, stop fighting. Together, you two employ 46 personal DMs. That¡¯s too much. Are you nning to start your own novel tform?" "No, it''s just that she started¨D¨D." "Wait. Sorry to interrupt. But hear me out first. I''m not here to pick a fight. I¡¯m here to tell you that I desperately need the DMs you two are employing." "...Huh?" Tang Seorin and Cheon Yohwa blinked. Just like Noh Doha, they quickly grasped the situation once I calmly exined. The tense atmosphere, where they seemed ready to fight, slightly eased (in an actual duel, Cheon Yohwa, a closebat specialist, would win). "Tang Seorin. How many personal DMs do you really need to manage your dream world?" "Well..." Tang Seorin nced at Cheon Yohwa and replied. "Four would be enough." "Good. Yohwa, would you also be slightly short with just four?" "...Hmm. No, that should be sufficient. After all, I have my preferred DMs, and the others are just for fun." I nodded. "Once the Kingdom Project starts running smoothly, some outstanding talents will definitely emerge. Talents you¡¯d want to recruit as guild members." "Hmm." "Ah." "Of course, thepetition to recruit these talents among guilds will intensify. Therefore, we¡¯ll implement a draft system, giving ''priority'' to the guilds that have hunted the most anomalies and voids in reality each year." "...!" Their expressions changed once more. Whereas before they had the attitude of ''we¡¯ll do it because the Doctor Jang asked,'' now they exuded the air of cold, calcting leaders. "The National Road Management Bureau is already asking each guild to submit reports on their hunts of anomalies and voids. But it¡¯s not being properly enforced." "Well, yeah. It''s trade secrets after all. Honestly, I''d rather give you the information than the National Road Management Agency. I¡¯ll just report enough to keep them from looking bad." "Thanks. But if there were real benefits to reporting the subjugations to the National Road Management Agency, it would be a different story." "...So they get the right to select the most talented rookies first. And for several years, rookies who have been repeatedly vetted in dream simtions." "Exactly." The Three Thousand Worlds and Baekhwa High School were more actively subjugating the void than any other guild. Naturally, they would be given priority in the draft. "So, what do you think? Both of you. Isn''t this enough of a reason and benefit to put aside the mind games and reduce the number of DMs?" It was done. Once the leaders of the two major guilds conceded, there was no need to say anything to those below them. Small to medium-sized guild leaders quickly reduced the number of personal DMs. The DMs who suddenly found themselves out of work were then employed by the National Road Management Agency and assigned to the "Kingdom Project." The number of people involved was a staggering 120. All of them were "skilled" enough to be employed by guild leaders and had at least the minimal "social skills" to continue such a lifestyle. It was practically a miracle, gathering all the top talent that could be found on the Korean Penins. [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] "We will cover allbor costs. Don¡¯t worry about rent or anything else. Just think of the newly added DMs as subordinates, not fellow writers, and use them as you see fit." "Uh, uh... Okay." Writer A was bewildered but epted my investment. "Thank you. I never dreamed something like this would happen to me..." "If anyone dares to disrespect your authority as a manager, feel free to contact me. I¡¯ll handle it personally." "Wha¡ª! No, no! I wouldn¡¯t dream of troubling you with something like that, Doctor Jang!" But there were issues. Some DMs caused trouble, and I personally intervened, using violence and threats to establish the hierarchy among the DMs firmly. It didn''t matter how sessful they were before the apocalypse; Writer A was now the project leader. Two yearster. The "Kingdom Project" solid framework was fleshed out with sturdy muscles and tasty meat. Thus: [Explore the Kingdom in crisis and save the world of humanity from the void!] [Organized by the National Road Management Agency, in coboration with 36 major guilds, including Three Thousand Worlds and Baekhwa High School, this is the dream project!] [Anyone can freely enter the ¡®Kingdom¡¯ by consulting the tutorial fairy.] [Season 1 Raid Boss ¡®The Ten ns¡¯ Appears!] Countless banners appeared at Dream Casino, and numerous advertisements flooded SG Net. "What? What¡¯s that?" "130 DMs participated in the production?" "I wondered where that DM went, and they were making something like this." "Dreaming without a DM, just with a fairy? Won¡¯t that be less fun...?" The release of the "Kingdom," a dream simtion created by the devotion of writers, the experience of returnees, and the cooperation of guild leaders. The reaction to the Kingdom was explosive. -Anonymous: No way, Kingdom is freaking awesome lololol ©¸LiteratureGirl: Is this the ¡®sincerity¡¯ of the DMs...? This is terrifying... -KoreanVige: For real, no joke, big thumbs up for those who are dreaming of the Kingdom while taking sleeping pills lol -Anonymous: No, if they had this kind of talent, why couldn¡¯t Korean gamepanies make a GOTY before the void came? Seriously, if this hade out back then, it would¡¯ve crushed all other games!! ©¸Anonymous: ''Tutorial Fairy'' ©¸Anonymous: Ah Even the awakened were highly praising it. Even the professionals who fought anomalies in real life recognized the "realism" of the Kingdom. Of course, they did. Who provided the data, after all? -Anonymous: Kingdom jerks! The Ten ns have appeared in the southwest beyond the mountains!! Those guys are insane! If you don¡¯t unite your armies to defeat the Ten ns now, you¡¯re totally screwed!! ©¸Anonymous: Yeah~ let the locals die~ I¡¯m safe in the capital~ -Anonymous: Why does this unfamiliar medieval kingdom feel so familiar?? -dolLHOuse: Kingdom is a freaking hrious mess of a nation on the brink of destruction. But the funniest part is that it¡¯s still better than our reality. ©¸Anonymous: Oh... In the dream simtion, the void hadn''t yet destroyed humanity. It was just on the brink of destruction. Even in this situation, the Kingdom¡¯s NPCs were wasting time with politics, debating who was right or wrong, how safe the kingdom¡¯s property market was, whether the ambitions of provincial figures were suspicious, or iming they were pure humans while others were filthy beastmen. -Anonymous: These crazy Kingdom jerks are still terrorizing each other over pure humans and beastmen in this situation lol -Anonymous: ¡°There are seven rebel factions in the provinces, and no matter how strong the Ten ns are, they¡¯ll just deplete the rebels anyway¡± (Actual quote) -Anonymous: Ah, we can''t dine with beastmen even if humanity is destroyed~ For the simtion participants, who lived in a world where nations had already been wiped out by anomalies, it was only natural to be deeply immersed. The Kingdom¡¯s NPCsmented the state of politics, calling it the worst of times. But the simtion participants knew better than anyone. They knew this was thest golden time to save humanity. -Anonymous: Breaking news: The Ten ns have wiped out the southwest and are now heading north over the mountains. -Anonymous: I was a mercenary in the southwestern count¡¯s territory, got taken out in two tentacle strikes. I just woke up to ry the news, then I¡¯m going back to sleep to dream again. -Anonymous: I¡¯m thinking of creating a new character in the capital and joining the fight. Everyone, good luck. ©¸LiteratureGirl: Don¡¯t respawn just anywhere. There are nobles in the capital who genuinely consider the Ten ns a threat. They¡¯re trying to persuade other nobles. Set your character as a citizen of this noble faction and respawn to support them. ©¸Anonymous: Oh, thanks, thanks Even though it was the first time they had encountered a medieval fantasy kingdom, the simtion participants could see the Kingdom¡¯s fate all too clearly. They could see the future. They knew the ending and acted ordingly. In this way, the humans participating in the Kingdom¡¯s dream were practically no different from "regressors." Indeed. In the virtual training ground created by the DMs, people were rapidly leveling up as "pseudo-regressors." It was aplete system that didn¡¯t require me to guide or tutor them personally. "Teacher!" After Season 1 of the Kingdom ended, Cheon Yohwa ran up to me, her face flushed with excitement. "The new recruits this time... they¡¯re amazing!" Atst, the power of the Korean Penins began to grow rapidly. [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] Chapter 197 [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] Chapter 197 ©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤ Investors VI 12 Now, some of you might expect a sudden twist where a terrifying virtual reality simtion anomaly appears and the world ends...! And, indeed, there have been instances of such things, but that''s not the subject of today''s story. As I''ve mentioned before, this episode is about ordinary people. I want to address a part that I''ve somewhat neglected until now. If an anomaly suddenly appeared and stole the spotlight, wouldn''t it just turn into another tale of Doctor Jang''s rampage? That''s something I could tell you about any time, 365 days a year, whether I like it or not, so let''s leave that for another time. "You are the heroes who have advanced the world." I wasn''t the type of NBA star who would have a congenital fit if I didn''t get treated like the main character in every game. Rather, I was the yer who definitely passed when it was time to make a pass. And apparently, my ''passes'' were quite overwhelming from the perspective of the Dungeon Masters (DMs). "Uh, uhh..." In front of the National Road Management Headquarters, at the Babel Tower Square. The DMs were invited to the podium set up there. And below the square, team leaders of the management unit were all standing at attention. "On behalf of the citizens of Busan who were too busy with their livelihoods to attend the square, and others, we dare to offer our gratitude to you." Bow. As I bowed my head, the team leaders of the management unit bowed deeply and gracefully. Of course, Yoo Jiwon was among them. In other words, powerful figures who wouldn''t be embarrassed anywhere were formally greeting the DMs. I quickly raised my head, but the other Awakened ones couldn''t do so. While I talked to the DMs, the Awakened had to stay bent over, showcasing their flexibility. "No... Doctor Jang, you didn''t have to go this far..." "The Kingdom Project has achieved unprecedented sess. We''re receiving highly satisfactory feedback from the guilds participating in this year''s rookie draft. Your project has raised the level of the Awakened on the Korean Penins by a notch." "Uh, hmm..." The DMs looked incredibly burdened, but I personally didn''t trust their facial expressions. I trusted their lives instead. To those whocked money, give money. To those whocked friends, give friendship. To those whocked power, give power. To those whocked honor, give honor. This was the most basic principle of ''rewards.'' Why do soldiers love getting vacations as a reward? It was the same for the DMs. The people standing before me earned a decent amount of money before and now. But what about power and honor? Have they ever experienced the powerful figures of society lining up to greet them like gangsters bowing to their boss? They hadn''t. And they likely never would in the future. This kind of ''treatment'' was a raremodity only I could provide them. Naturally, in their hearts, the figure of Doctor Jang would hold a unique value. Through these rewards, the bond between the DMs and me grew stronger. ''And if they get too swayed by this trickle of power, it means they aren''t the kind of people I can use for long.'' After the ceremony ended, I pped. The Awakened, who had been bowing until the end, also stood up and joined in the apuse. The DMs, looking flustered and embarrassed, awkwardly left the event. They seemed relieved that it was finally over, but from the perspective of a regressor, this was only the beginning. ''I wonder how many will remain.'' Time passed. Some of the DMs became increasingly addicted to the sweet nectar of power and gradually lost interest in the Kingdom Project. They started teaching the general public how to be sessful DMs and began showing up at the office less and less. They only asionally took on high-paying jobs as private DMs, drifting further away from making the Kingdom Project more intricate and entertaining. As the DM profession began to gain immense poprity among the general public, DMs with achievements and fame were quickly recruited as instructors. It didn''t take long for them to retire from active duty. Four out of the eight were eliminated. Of course, from my perspective, they were eliminated, but to them, it was a wise and sessful life. On the contrary, those who remained in thepany and continued working on the kingdom simtion were, in my view, the true passers¡ªthe ones who hadn''t been led astray and kept their focus. ''Half remain.'' The turns progressed. This time, I approached writer A first and proposed the Kingdom Project. Writer A was astonished as they listened to my blueprint. "This... You''re saying you''re entrusting me with such an incredible project?" "Yes. We''ve alreadypleted about 20% of it at the National Road Management." I handed writer A part of the world-building settings that had been created by the four who were eliminated in the previous turn. Writer A was impressed as they reviewed the materials. "¡Amazing. This really feels like it was written by a pro... Ah, but the main NPCs, main events, and fortuitous encounters aren''t done at all. It''s basically just a well-structured world..." "Yes. That''s why we''re reaching out to those who were involved in writing before civilization was destroyed, offering them this proposal. Would you like to participate?" "¡Yes, yes. I would love to participate!" Time passed. Writer A didn''t have to go through the trouble of gathering colleagues themselves. I personally found and brought in the colleagues who had remained with thepany until the end in the previous turn. And then temptation came knocking. - Hello. I''m here secretly on behalf of the Guild Leader of the Three Worlds. - Could you create a super ount for the project you''re working on? - We''vee from Baekhwa Girls'' High School. Could you create an item for our student council president...? - We will ensure thepensation is generous. The ''generouspensation'' amounted to 60 billion won. At a time when the Kingdom Project was not yetplete, when there was no certainty of unprecedented sess, this was a huge sum of money. Out of the four, two were eliminated. ''Half of half again.'' The turns progressed. Writer A, who had initially started the project with seven colleagues, was now left with only one. But there wasn''t much work to be done. "Ah... This is, if we justplete the settings for the main NPCs and main events, we''ll be done quickly." This was because the National Road Management had alreadypleted a significant portion. "Hmm. The other parts are really wless... No, there''s really almost nothing wrong with them. Who made this?" "I can''t disclose that." "Ah, I see... I have a few writer friends, and I wondered if it might have been them..." Time passed. The Kingdom Project, which started from a morefortable starting point, became even more polished. Writer A refined and refined the work they had created in the previous turn. It was a process of revising and improving over several turns. In the midst of it all, one of my fellow DMs flooded his ount with unreasonable equipment and items. He crossed the line as a game master, acting like he was the true protagonist of this world, moving around like a yer. Why hadn¡¯t he done that in previous turns, but did so this time? It was difficult to pinpoint the exact reason. One person eliminated. ¡°Wow! This, this is amazing!¡± And so, on to the next. The 208th turn. Writer A, who received the blueprint for the ¡°Kingdom Project,¡± trembled with excitement. ¡°This is really incredible! Truly, I had been thinking of something simr, but¡ No! It¡¯s even more brilliant than what I had in mind¡ How could they manage such a project from the control center¡?¡± There were all kinds of temptations and traps. There were countless tests that an ordinary person couldn¡¯t endure and had no reason to endure. Despite all that, Writer A never abandoned the ¡°Kingdom Project¡± even once. He didn¡¯t betray the yers either. He was the kind of talent needed by a regressor. ¡°Writer.¡± ¡°Truly, this is, wow. Ah. Yes?¡± ¡°I want to entrust this project to you.¡± ¡°What? What? Really? Wow, truly! Thank you so much! I only read two pages, and my hands are already itching to work on it¡!¡± ¡°And I am a regressor.¡± ¡°¡What?¡± 13 We had a drink together. Writer A¡¯s eyes, zed from the makgeolli, stared nkly at the ceiling. ¡°This is ridiculous. How could this be the work I created with those guys¡?¡± ¡°Why is it ridiculous?¡± ¡°Well, it¡¯s too well-made. Damn. Ah, I¡¯m sorry for cursing¡¡± [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] ¡°It¡¯s okay. We¡¯re drinking, after all. By the way, don¡¯t worry about the other colleagues. A mysterious donation is being deposited into their ounts like a pension every turn, thanks to the merits of their past lives, so they¡¯ll be able to live leisurely for hundreds of lives.¡± ¡°Thank you¡¡± Writer A¡¯s expression wasplex after hearing the whole story. He seemed both proud and amazed, and it also looked like hispetitive spirit had been sparked. ¡°Writer, the reason I¡¯m revealing this information to you is that I have an extraordinary interest in the ¡®Kingdom Project.¡¯¡± ¡°Ah¡ By interest, do you mean¡?¡± ¡°I want people to grow through the dream simtion of the ¡®Kingdom Project.¡¯¡± ¡°Oh. You mean by copying the bizarre elements of reality to elevate people¡¯s overall level? That seems definitely possible¡¡± ¡°Yes, but it¡¯s not just that.¡± I got to the point. It took four turns to reveal my true intentions. Regressors usually chose their confidants carefully. ¡°As you know, the problems weighing down our reality are not just Void and anomalies. There are absurd ideologies like Awakener Supremacy as well.¡± ¡°Ah, yes¡¡± ¡°The reason people get swept up in such ideologies is that the reality divided between Awakeners and ordinary people feels too close. I want people to take a step back, view the situation calmly, and have the distance to embrace others.¡± A question mark appeared over Writer A¡¯s head. He seemed to like the idea but couldn¡¯t understand why I was telling him this now. ¡°Being able to observe one¡¯s life from a distance is not a perspective easily gained. But what if a person could live multiple lives?¡± ¡°Um, I¡¯m not sure what you mean¡¡± ¡°Imnt intense ideological conflicts into the world of the ¡®Kingdom Project.¡¯¡± Writer A¡¯s eyes widened. ¡°There are pure-bloods and subhumans in the Kingdom. Intensify the conflict between them. Make the racial and religious conflicts of our world seem trivial inparison, spreading intense hatred and animosity throughout the Kingdom. Terrorism. Rebellion. Violence. Make sure all forms of evil are realized.¡± ¡°Uh. Uh. Uh¡?¡± ¡°And then make people who dream feel this: Ah,pared to the Kingdom, conflicts among people in this reality are really nothing.¡± ¡°¡¡± Writer A closed his lips. Inside his eyes, intellect and imagination that the alcohol couldn¡¯tpletely cloud were sparking. ¡°Uh-. But. Dreaming people would just think it¡¯s someone else¡¯s story, right? We, too, don¡¯t really feel that something like, you know, white people and ck people fighting a lot in America is our story.¡± ¡°Yes, that¡¯s a valid point.¡± I nodded. ¡°So, ¡®during the dream, they must not realize it¡¯s a dream.¡¯¡± ¡°...!¡± ¡°Until now, the Kingdom simtion operated like an online MMORPG. But from now on, it will be different. It will be a solo RPG, and the participants willpletely ¡®forget¡¯ that they were ever different people in the real world.¡± ¡°To forget their real life and truly be a part of the Kingdom¡?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± Snap. I snapped my fingers. Then, a tutorial fairy poked its head out from under the table. ¡°Eek!¡± Writer A was startled, but the fairy didn¡¯t pose any threat. It just sat on myp like a well-behaved cat. ¡°This is my dream.¡± ¡°¡¡± ¡°From now on, we will advertise that by using the ¡®Kingdom Project,¡¯ people can dream an entire lifetime in just one night. With the fairy¡¯s ability, ¡®time eleration¡¯ can be applied within the dream. They can literally live 70 or 90 years in a dream.¡± ¡°One lifetime per night¡¯s sleep¡¡± ¡°Yes. It will certainly sound like an enticing idea to people. And we will tell them this: While you are dreaming¡ªliving in the ¡®Kingdom¡¯¡ªyou will not realize it¡¯s a dream¡ª. ¡°But.¡± When you wake up, you will remember the life you lived in the dream¡ª. ¡°¡Ah.¡± ¡°Each time they dream of the Kingdom, people will be a subhuman terrorist, a pure-blood shopkeeper who curses subhumans daily, a ve swinging a pickaxe until death in a mine, or a nobledy who has never even heard of beings like the insane. ¡°¡¡± ¡°And each time they wake up, they will collect the memories of the lives they lived. They will be able to think from the perspectives of a terrorist, a merchant, a ve, and a noble. Surely, it will lead to a better world than now, don¡¯t you think?¡± ¡°¡¡± ¡°In a way, not just me, but everyone will be a regressor. Writer, this is my dream. I want to invest my dream in your dream.¡± Writer A slightly opened his lips. ¡°The kingdom I built, it¡¯s¡.¡± ¡°Huh? Are you saying that the memories we provide aren¡¯t that clear?¡± At that moment, the tutorial fairy bounced on my knee and said, ¡°From a human¡¯s perspective, it might only maintain the rity of memories from over a decade ago! Huhuhu, human memories are excessively unstable!¡± ¡°¡¡.¡± Writer A was silent. For a long time. But their eyes kept whispering nonstop. ¡°I¡¯ll do it. No, please allow me to do it. If my work can be someone¡¯s dream, that would be the ultimate ending for me as a writer.¡± But, Writer A added, ¡°After hearing what Doctor Jang said, the name ¡®Kingdom Project¡¯ doesn¡¯t seem to fit anymore. It needs a new title.¡± ¡°What title are you considering?¡± ¡°Reincarnation Project.¡± ¡°I also want to invest my dream into Doctor Jang¡¯s dream. A world where everyone can be reincarnated repeatedly¡. I¡¯ll dedicate my life to creating a world that is both loved and hated.¡± 14 There¡¯s a brief epilogue. The stories rted to the Reincarnation Project are countless, and someday I¡¯ll slowly share them with you all. In fact, you might have already guessed why the Awakeners'' abilities improved more and more as the early episodes passed. And why I specifically created the Canned Hotel in the 555th turn to train writers. That¡¯s right. Half the reason for establishing the hotel was to enhance the writers¡¯ skills andter incorporate them into the Reincarnation Project. (The other half was, of course, my pure desire to read entertaining web novels.) Putting aside those stories, let¡¯s focus on the now-ordinary Writer A. ¡°I also want to live in my kingdom.¡± One day, Writer A said that. ¡°Pardon?¡± ¡°No, it¡¯s just that¡ While everyone else spends their daily lives in the kingdom, I, the creator, am the only one living in reality¡. I feel a bit unfair.¡± ¡°Didn¡¯t you sayst time that if the creator and operator themselves live in the kingdom, they risk losing their objectivity, which could be dangerous?¡± ¡°Ah, yes, I did. So¡ um.¡± Writer A fidgeted. ¡°Could I create an avatar of myself in case I die?¡± ¡°Sorry?¡± ¡°I mean, I want to create an NPC that mirrors my personality and way of thinking. So that if I die¡. You could tell the fairies to add that NPC to the kingdom¡¯s settings¡. Ah! Of course, I¡¯m not saying I want to reincarnate as an NPC with my memories from reality. I just want to be a different being in the kingdom, with the same personality.¡± That was a request I could grant anytime. ¡°Understood. But we are taking great care to ensure your safety, so you likely won¡¯t have any reason to pass away.¡± ¡°Haha¡. Still, if we meet again in the next turn, just tell me how I lived and died in the kingdom.¡± There were instances during the over 1,000 turns of the Regressor¡¯s life where Writer A met an untimely death. At those times, I would log into the ¡®Kingdom¡¯ and search for Writer A¡¯s avatar. Surprisingly, or perhaps unsurprisingly, the NPC that closely mirrored Writer A¡¯s personality was also working as a writer in the kingdom. I even had a brief conversation with the NPC, but of course, they knew nothing about ¡®reality.¡¯ The NPC was born in the kingdom, believing it to be the only world, and grew up as a regr citizen of the kingdom. Then I happened to obtain a paper book that the NPC had published in the kingdom and read it. The novel contained the following passage: ¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D ¡In that world, unlike ours, there was no such thing as magic. Ships made of steel sailed the seas, mysterious gears turned endlessly, iron fragments shot from sticks took people¡¯s lives, and the spires of cities were always shrouded in thick clouds and air. There were no races either. When you think about how we¡¯ve ughtered and retaliated against each other for thousands of years based on the number of legs we had, whether we had horns, or if our skin was covered in snake scales¨D¨D this was the magic of that world. I want to tell you all about my visit to that world filled with magic¡. ¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D I chuckled. ¡®Indeed. Perhaps my reality is also someone else¡¯s simtion.¡¯ Of course, the chances of that were extremely low. What kind of world would be so amazing that it would make someone like me live the same life 1,000 times in a row? After finishing the NPC¡¯s paper book in the bookstore, I finally looked at the genre ssification of the bookshelf where the book was ced. The paper book was ssified as follows: Fantasy - The Investor. The End. [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] Chapter 198 [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] Chapter 198 ©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤ The Wicked One I 1 I''ve rambled on about writers for quite a while, but to be honest, all of that was just a prologue. If "prologue" sounds too grand, think of it as the process of chopping vegetables before the main dish. Now that I''ve shown you examples of ''excellent writers,'' the cases I''ll present from here on will provide a stark contrast. Whether it was the 600th turn or the 700th turn, it didn''t matter which one you picked. On the SGNet novel serialization board, there were always a plethora of such notices. - [Literature Girl] Oh Dokseo''s here¡¡. (5 minutes ago) - [Literature Girl] Dy in Serialization Notice (1 day ago) - [Literature Girl] Notice on Tardiness (3 days ago) - [Literature Girl] Hiatus Notice (4 days ago) - [Literature Girl] Change in Serialization Time Notice (8 days ago) ...and so on. - [Literature Girl] Notification of Irregr Serialization Due to Author''s Health (1 year ago) - [Literature Girl] Author''s Exnation Regarding Recent Serialization (1 year ago) - [Literature Girl] Hiatus for the Day (1 year ago) - [Literature Girl] Temporarily Switching to 3.25 Serializations per Week (2 years ago) A total of 1,019 notices. It was like the inbox of a primitive person who had never learned the concept of organizing emails. Every message was marked as ''read,'' and I clicked on the message that had arrived in my inbox 5 minutes ago as a test. - [Literature Girl] Oh Dokseo''s here¡¡. ¡°Sir, I''m sorry, but I have to let you know that it might be difficult to publish today''s episode on time. You don''t have to forgive me, but I hope you can keep a little bit of faith in me, knowing that I''m always trying my best. So here I am, giving an excuse. I don''t have much time these days.¡± ¡°Hmm¡.¡± I propped my chin on my hand. It wasn''t because I found it particrly puzzling or surprising, but because I was impressed by the rhyming Oh Dokseo had managed to set at the end. Indeed, Oh Dokseo¡¯s notices about dyed serialization had nearly reached the realm of art. Let¡¯s imagine, for instance, that one side waste to a summit between nations. Naturally, it would be considered a grave ¡®mistake¡¯ and ¡®discourtesy.¡¯ But what if it happened a hundred times? It would start to be considered a political strategy, much like "Putin''s tactics." Oh Dokseo¡¯s dys in serialization were just like that. She could easily be called a master of hiatuses. If Constetions truly existed, they would surely bestow Oh Dokseo with the title [Achievement Unlocked: Author Who Posted 1,000 Hiatus Notices] by now. I don''t know what effect such an achievement might have. Probably something trivial. Unfortunately, Constetions do not exist in this world, and since Oh Dokseo is part of the Regressor Alliance, I moved my real-world fingers to send a real-world message. - [ZERO_SUGAR] Oh Dokseo. I read your message. Don''t worry too much. Writing isn¡¯t always something that goes the way you want it to. Having seen many writers, I understand that. Why don¡¯t you take a full break for this episode? I¡¯m sure you¡¯ll do better next time. Hold on. To prevent any misunderstandings, let me make something clear. I am not a master of subtlety. I¡¯m not someone born with a tongue that twists every word into sarcasm. In other words, if I say something to someone, you can take it as it is. There''s no need to embark on a linguistic excavation to find some hidden meaning. But writers are naturally inclined to read ''between the lines.'' Even if there¡¯s nothing there, they¡¯ll stubbornly proim, ¡°This is the hidden meaning of the work!¡± Unfortunately, Oh Dokseo was a writer. ¡°Sir! How could you say something so harsh to me?¡± Bang! Oh Dokseo burst through the door of our cafe hideout. She iled her limbs at me, much like how Nobita from Doraemon would swing his arms wildly, perfecting the windmill punch technique. ¡°Uh? This episode is a lost cause! A lost cause! How could you say that this episode of mine is no good! No matter how cold-blooded and unfeeling you are as a regressor! How could you say something like that to me?¡± ¡°Oh Dokseo, my hair roots are strong. They only got a little shorter because I was trying to get a Walther PPK.¡± ¡°You''re saying I''m not even a writer anymore? That this episode of mine is hopeless, so you¡¯re just dismissing it? Huh?¡± ¡°No, that¡¯s not what I meant at all¡ª¡± ¡°I just... I want to write¡!¡± Oh Dokseo grabbed my cor, lowered her head, and shouted. For some reason, a unique aura of a youth drama surrounded her. Even Hanamichi Sakuragi from m Dunk would have acknowledged the perfect despair emanating from her. ¡°If only I were a little faster with my hands! I¡¯ve already surpassed 800 turns of your return! I promised to write your story¡ªboth in the previous turn and the one before that! Why¡ Why can''t I do better than this¨D¨D!¡± Let¡¯s pause. Here, let me share the secret behind the creation of my biographical novel, that is, how our prophet creates it. 1. First, I tell her the story. Since Oh Dokseo and I both live in Inunaki Tunnel, I can share tales whenever we get bored. 2. Oh Dokseo writes based on my story. Let¡¯s call this the ¡®first draft.¡¯ 3. I pass the ¡®first draft¡¯ on to the next turn¡¯s Oh Dokseo. Thanks to my perfect memory, I can upload every word without missing a single one. 4. Oh Dokseo continues writing from where the ¡®first draft¡¯ left off in the previous turn. 5. Since it¡¯s tough to write alone like a monk in training, she changes the names of characters and proper nouns to make it seem like a ¡®fictional story¡¯ and serializes it on SGNet¡¯s novel serialization board. By the way, the title of the serialized novel changes with each turn; in the 888th turn, it was The Epilogue of the Regressor. In summary, it¡¯s a ry novel. And without fail, in every turn, Oh Dokseo reads the ¡®first draft¡¯ from the previous turn and leaves ament like this: ¡®Ugh, why did I only manage to write this much?¡¯ Ignored. ¡®Wow. Sir! Don¡¯t worry, don¡¯t worry. All the Oh Dokseos up to the previous turns were trash who didn¡¯t write anything, but the Oh Dokseo in this turn will be different.¡¯ Contempt. ¡®So, let¡¯s start writing¡ Writing might be just a grueling task for those without talent, but for a genius like me, it¡¯s as easy as chewing on Denver bubblegum.¡¯ Confidence. That¡¯s one set. And before long, my inbox bes crammed with messages like ¡°Oh Dokseo¡¯s here¡¡.¡± It¡¯s a rare case where bubblegum ends up ruining a person¡¯s teeth. Based on my reasonable suspicion, I¡¯d say this chronic dy is likely the final curse cast by the ¡®The Admin of All-y.¡¯ Honestly, nothing else could exin it. After hundreds of turns and only umting about 200 episodes, what else could be more bizarre than this? ¡°Oh Dokseo. I¡¯m really okay with it.¡± I spoke while taking off my barista apron. It had be drenched with the prophet¡¯s snot and tears. ¡°No writer wants to take a break from serialization. Every writer wants to do 6, maybe even 10 updates a day and race to the end of the story they started. When that¡¯s not possible, they shrink back. And if they keep shrinking, their very hearts will wither away.¡± ¡°¡¡.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t be too hard on yourself. I¡¯m really okay with it¡¡.¡± ¡°It doesn¡¯t matter if you¡¯re okay or not. That¡¯s secondary!¡± What. ¡°I¡¯m not okay!¡± ¡°¡¡.¡± What does she want from me? Fortunately, or unfortunately, Oh Dokseo didn¡¯t seem to want an answer from me. She chewed her nails (I¡¯ve advised her to stop several times, but she never listens) and muttered to herself. ¡°No, this won¡¯t do. I have to find a way¡ I must¡ By any means necessary¡ I need to increase my writing speed¡.¡± Then, with a face like Light Yagami¡¯s when L caught onto him, she walked out, step by step. The surroundings fell silent. It was as if a storm had passed. To reiterate, this was the 1,300-meter-deep zone of our cafe hideout. There were a few customers, and among them was Hayul. As the witness to this youth drama, Hayul said the line that needed to be said. ¡°Oppa, aren¡¯t you going to follow her?¡± ¡°She¡¯ll be fine. She might wander for a bit, but she¡¯ll pull herself together soon. Rather than fussing over her right now, I think it¡¯s better to believe in her and wait.¡± ¡°Or you¡¯re just toozy to go after her?¡± That''s why I dislike quick-witted little kids. [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] 2 Until now, it was the norm for Oh Dokseo to scribble a few episodes and then toss the draft saying, "Sorry! Future me, please handle this somehow...!" But surprisingly, on the 888th turn, a route unfolded that even I couldn''t have predicted. [Literature Girl] ''The Regressor''s Epilogue'' will now be serialized every day at 16:00, seven days a week. It was nothing short of a miracle. To help you fully grasp the enormity of this miracle, let me borate: originally, Oh Dokseo was updating three times a week. But now, it''s increased to seven times a week. Have you ever seen such a case? No. And you probably won''t in the future either. Because an author''s update schedule is like a delinquent bank ount bnce that, once decreased, never increases again. Yet, Oh Dokseo achieved it. [Literature Girl] The Regressor''s Epilogue Episode 273 (1 day ago) [Literature Girl] The Regressor''s Epilogue Episode 272 (2 days ago) [Literature Girl] The Regressor''s Epilogue Episode 271 (3 days ago) [Literature Girl] The Regressor''s Epilogue Episode 270 (4 days ago) [Literature Girl] The Regressor''s Epilogue Episode 269 (5 days ago) [Literature Girl] The Regressor''s Epilogue Episode 268 (6 days ago) [Literature Girl] The Regressor''s Epilogue Episode 267 (7 days ago) Not a minutete, updates precisely on time. Even more astonishing was this chilling fact: [Literature Girl] The Regressor''s Epilogue Episode 276 (5 minutes ago) [Literature Girl] The Regressor''s Epilogue Episode 275 (5 minutes ago) [Literature Girl] The Regressor''s Epilogue Episode 274 (5 minutes ago) At least once a week, there would be a triple release! Sometimes, there were even massive ten-episode releases. Naturally, the SG Net''s novel forums were buzzing. Readers who always waited to mock whenever a "It''s Oh Dokseo..." tardiness notice was posted were now busy leavingments. - Anonymous: Hey, is something going ontely? Why isn''t Literature Girl everte these days?? - Anonymous: Even doing multiple releases; this guy''s gone nuts;; - Anonymous: Seems awakened ??? - Anonymous: Oh Dokseo << Honestly, thumbs up if you think this guy is smashing KoreanVige* ©¸KoreanVige: Thumbs up???? ©¸Anonymous: ? SG Net readers entered an unexpected week of worship for Literature Girl. But not everyone joined the fan club. -[Baekhwa] High School 6th Grader: Guys guys; don''t you think Literature Girl''s writing has been a bit offtely? >_<);; Such reviews were asionally spotted. -[Baekhwa] High School 6th Grader: In the past, the writing felt chewy and edgy >_<);; buttely, it seems to have lost its unique vor... feels t like the Earth >_<)!! ©¸Anonymous: t Earth believer detected ©¸KoreanVige: Hell Joseon guild''s standard???? ©¸Anonymous: Did you feel that way too? Honestly, I''ve been feeling that Literature Girl''s writing has be quite shallowtely. ©¸Anonymous: For real, when updates were sparse, it was so good, but now I''m considering dropping it. ©¸Anonymous: The writing feels a bit off ??;; I tilted my head in confusion. "But Dokseo''s writing is still pretty good?" Actually, I''ve been piling up Dokseo''s novelstely. Didn''t want to make her feel pressured by showing that I was reading her work. "Did she sacrifice quality for frequency?" If so, contrary to SG Net readers'' opinions, I thought it was actually a good thing. Oh Dokseo used to obsess excessively over the quality of her writing. It would be much better for her mental health to let go a bit and write steadily every day as a routine. ¡®She''s probably bothered by the negativements again; maybe I should bring her some coffee as encouragement.¡¯ Thus, I volunteered not only as a caf¨¦ barista but also as a delivery person. I held a coffee tray in one hand, carrying an espresso that catered Oh Dokseo''s old brain and a caf¨¦ mocha that pleased her young pte. At that moment, Oh Dokseo had left her door slightly ajar and was intensely wrestling with herptop. ¡®She''s working so hard on her updates!¡¯ Feeling a bit moved, I was about to knock on her door when I paused. Through the crack in the door. With my aura-enhanced vision, I inadvertently caught sight of Oh Dokseo''sptop screen at just the right angle. >> Please enter your prompt... ¡ù GPT-MSYH may make mistakes. Please do not neglect cross-verification. ? A question mark popped up in my head. Before my brain could provide an answer to that question mark, Oh Dokseo''s fingers rapidly danced across theptop keyboard. Tap tap tap. Tap tap tap tap. Like a pianist''s elegant movements, letters appeared swiftly on the screen where the prompt was blinking. >> Protagonist is a Doctor Jang, regressor, 300th regression, starts at Busan Station, mysterious story Click-. Oh Dokseo pressed enter. Soon after, theptop screen began to spew out sentences one after another. Doctor Jang faced his 300th regression. The protagonist''s eyes beheld Busan Station, still as mysterious as ever. Though he returned to the same Busan Station each time, one unchanging fact remained. Mysterious events always found him there, and Doctor Jang had to resolve these enigmatic incidents. Letting out a peculiar sigh for the 300th time, Doctor Jang pulled out a ck suit he had bought at Busan Station. The 300th episode of Doctor Jang regressor''s another mysterious Busan Station tale was about to begin. "Whew¡ª." Oh Dokseo wiped her forehead. "Worked hard today! Update done!" "......." Uh. Dokseo...? [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] Chapter 199 [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] Chapter 199 ©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤ The Wicked One II I''ll tell you upfront: Oh Dokseo may possess an extraordinary level of foolishness, but she wasn¡¯t aplete idiot. Despite appearances, she was capable enough to take care of herself, even if thrown into a void. In other words, she wasn¡¯t so brain-damaged that she¡¯d leave the door to her room ¡®slightly¡¯ open, allowing anyone to witness her misdeeds while she was writing. Yet, the door was open, and I ended up witnessing the crime scene. In other words? ¡°D-Dokseo! What on earth are you doing right now¡?¡± There was another culprit behind the open door. Sim Aryeon, not only disying her idiocy but also reigning supreme as the undefeated winner of the ¡°SG Net Idiot of the Year¡± award for six consecutive years. In this turn, the 888th, she wasn''t pretending to be the Saintess of the North, just living as Dokseo''s roommate. Sim Aryeon grabbed Dokseo¡¯s shoulder urgently. ¡°Y-You¡¯re not using a generative AI again, are you¡? You promised you wouldn¡¯t use it anymore¡!¡± ¡°Oh, stop overreacting, unni!¡± Dokseo shook off Aryeon¡¯s hand from her shoulder. Her eyes gleamed with a dangerous and ominous fire. ¡°I¡¯m just trying it one more time, just one more time!¡± ¡°N-No¡! You said it was thest time just a while ago! But now, as the deadline approaches, you¡¯ve got AI-clicking syndrome again¡!¡± ¡°Hey! Watch it! Calling it AI-clicking syndrome is too much!¡± Dokseo shouted in a way reminiscent of a nobleman scolding amoner. ¡°This is simply a new method of writing in this era! I, the great Literature Girl, am merely keeping up with the trends to avoid being left behind by the times, utilizing cutting-edge technology as an auxiliary tool for my writing!¡± ¡°I-It¡¯s really not okay¡! Relying too much on such an unorthodox, no, demonic method¡ It¡¯ll make you lose even the tiny amount of talent you originally had¡!¡± ¡°Stop it! Let go!¡± ¡°Kyaa!¡± Thud. Aryeon, pushed away by Dokseo¡¯s noblewoman-like rejection, fell on her butt like a tragic heroine. ¡°A text created by such AI-clicking is no longer your writing, Dokseo¡!¡± ¡°How dare you say such nonsense! I can¡¯t believe this! A novel that I, this Literature Girl, personally typed the prompt for, is obviously my own writing!¡± ¡°D-Do you really believe that¡?¡± ¡°Of course! A painter moves the brush, takes existing colors to paint, and a photographer presses the shutter with a ready-made camera, right? It¡¯s all the same artistic act, artistic act! How can you hold such a narrow-minded view and resist the new trends of this era? That¡¯s why drawing just one illustration takes you 10 to 20 hours, unni!¡± ¡°That¡¯s ridiculous¡ Dokseo, a camera and generative AI arepletely different¡¡± ¡°How are they different?¡± ¡°J-Just read out this trashy sentence aloud.¡± Sim Aryeon picked up theptop. And then, she used one of the 101 ways to kill a writer¡ªthe most vicious and evil method¡ªby holding an impromptu reading session. ¡°Look at this. ¡®Doctor Jang sighed strangely for the 300th time and pulled out the ck suit he bought at Busan Station¡¯¡ ¡®The 300th strange story of Doctor Jang protagonist at Busan Station was about to begin¡¯¡ Do you really think this is your writing, Dokseo? Were you always this terrible¡?¡± ¡°Ugh!¡± Dokseo spat blood. Not physical blood, but blood from her soul. Sim Aryeon, like an orca that looked cute but was actually a predator at the top of the food chain, had a shark¡¯s nose for smelling the blood others shed. ¡°Dokseo¡¯s novels were originally so wordy that it was hard to tell if they were literature or cardio machines¡ But at least they were better than this trash! This is why you¡¯re always getting beaten by me in the SG Net Story Rankings¡ Like a loser¡¡± ¡°Hey!¡± Dokseo snapped. ¡°Unni, your novel¡¯s ranking is high because of the illustrations! It¡¯s because you keep stering illustrations all over the author¡¯s notes!¡± ¡°Ah¡ So do you think readers keep following my boring writing just because of the illustrations? That¡¯s such ame excuse¡ But you know what¡¯s evenmer? That AI-clicking junk you¡¯re producing¡ It¡¯s just pure, perfect garbage¡¡± ¡°I-I¡¯m not done revising it yet, okay?¡± Whoosh! Dokseo snatched theptop back from Aryeon. And then, like an AI pianist unting her nimble fingers, she typed in another prompt. >> Style it like Chuck Phniuk, with a sprinkle of Stephen King¡¯s wording and a dash of Lee Yeongdo Soon, the screen spat out sentences. ¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D I sighed for the 300th time. This sigh mixed with the air at Busan Station, transforming into something strange and disappearing. It will likely lodge itself in a crack in the concrete of this city, growing into mold. I pulled out the ck suit. This suit, bought in the underground mall of Busan Station, never once taken to the cleaners over 300 lifetimes, was now like a second skin to me. Now, let¡¯s begin. The curtain rises on the 300th show. Another strange story unfolding in the belly of this gigantic monster, Busan Station. I am the protagonist, the audience, and sometimes the victim of this endless cycle of drama. A whisper echoes in my ear. It¡¯s the voice of Busan Station. ¡°Are you ready, Doctor Jang?¡± I smirked. Of course I¡¯m ready. My heart is already racing, eager to see what kind of nightmare will unfold this time. ¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D Dokseo pointed at the screen. ¡°There! How¡¯s that? Huh? Much better than the generic writing from before, right? I bet the readers won¡¯t have anything toin about!¡± ¡°¡Dokseo¡¡± ¡°This is the power of my prompt engineering! My uniqueness! The originality of AI art!¡± ¡°What kind of nonsense is this, Dokseo¡¡± Sim Aryeon put on a tearful expression and sniffled. ¡°This¡ This is exactly why generative AI is different from a camera¡ Don¡¯t you get it? Generative AI uses learning data, and that data is made up of creative works that others have poured their sweat and blood into¡ How can that be your writing¡?¡± ¡°It¡¯s fine! Chuck Phniuk and Stephen King are public figures! They¡¯re public property!¡± ¡°Oh my¡¡± ¡°And who owns the canning hotel where all the Korean authors stay? Doctor Jang, right? I¡¯m writing for him! All the authors in Korea owe him! So¡ No one can criticize my righteous cause! If they¡¯re unhappy, they should write a regressor¡¯s autobiography themselves!¡± Unbelievable. ¡°Hahaha! That¡¯s right! I can look up to the sky without a shred of guilt! I, the Literature Girl, will prove future technologies that are bound to be persecuted! I am the prompt-artist!¡± My heart and Sim Aryeon¡¯s heartbeat resonated. To think my heart would be forced into such a guilty rhythm, she was indeed no ordinary character. ¡°Dokseo¡ How, how did you end up like this¡ This heinous act¡ The Guild Leader won¡¯t be able to forgive you¡!¡± And so, at this point, the genre takes a sharp drift. From a cinematic RPG movie where Oh Dokseo ascends the throne of a corrupted AI, and Sim Aryeon, failing to stop her, mes herself¡ªjust like in a Blizzard-style RPG cinematic¡ªit suddenly turns into a horror story. Sim Aryeon, who had been looking down, suddenly snapped her head up and looked me straight in the eyes. ¡°Isn¡¯t that right, Guild Leader?¡± ¡°¡¡± Honestly, I wanted just to throw down my coffee and everything else and moonwalk out of there like Michael Jackson. But there was something addictive about the scene before my eyes. It was inevitable. Sim Aryeon¡¯s voice and tone surely contained some narcotic ingredient that humanity had yet to discover. I hope my readers, too, take note of this bizarre fact. ¡°Huh? Why is there a¡ A-a guy here?¡± Maybe a few days ago, Sim Aryeon had secretly left the door slightly open every time Dokseo started writing (which she calls prompt art). Why? Because she anticipated that I, Doctor Jang, would eventually show up. In the end, Sim Aryeon¡¯s strategy was a great sess. Dokseo turned her creaky, rusty gaze towards me. ¡°H-how long have you¡ been standing there?¡± I subtly avoided her gaze. ¡°Hmm. Is that really the answer you need, Dokseo?¡± ¡°I need it. To be precise, there¡¯s nothing else in this world I need more right now.¡± Is it that serious? If that¡¯s the case¡ ¡°I¡¯ve been here from the beginning.¡± ¡°The beginning? When exactly is the beginning? Is it like the very beginning? Or maybe a bitter? Huh? Specifically, what kind of beginning are we talking about?¡± ¡°I see. Specifically, hmm. From the moment you entered the prompt ¡®The protagonist is an Doctor Jang and a regressor¡¯...¡± ¡°Aaaaah!¡± A scream burst out. ¡°Aaaah! Ugh! Aaaaah!¡± A scream burst out. ¡°Uuuuuuaaah!¡± A scream burst out. [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] And Oh Dokseo evolved from a bipedal creature into a multi-legged creature. For reference, the most famous creatures among the multi-legged ones are centipedes and millipedes. Both share the characteristic of crawling on the ground. ¡°Why!¡± Oh Dokseo squirmed on the floor, showing symptoms of breathing difficulty. ¡°Why the hell! Were you just watching all this time?¡± A desperate scream echoed from the most secretive and secure depths of the Inunaki Tunnel. There was a sound of air lightly escaping, like a balloon deting, which I barely caught with my unusually sharp hearing. The source of the sound was Sim Aryeon¡¯s mouth. She was shaking her shoulders while going ¡°Pft- Pft- Pft-¡±. Are these really the hopes of the Korean Penins, or even the world? Well, of course, because these are the hopes, that¡¯s why everything¡¯s messed up... ¡°Hmm. Dokseo. I really don¡¯t know what to say to you.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t say anything! Just don¡¯t say anything at all¡!¡± ¡°But it¡¯s still clear in my memory. The look on your face when you said the famous line, ¡®I¡¯ll write your story.¡¯ With my perfect memory, it feels as vivid as if I heard it just six seconds ago¡ª¡± ¡°Uuuuuuaaaah! Waaah! Aaaaah!¡± ¡°And you also said, didn¡¯t you? You asked, why do humans forget the things they said so easily? Why do they forget? You said that¡¯s the real tragedy of life, and it just came to mind¡ª¡± ¡°Nooooooo!¡± Thud! Oh Dokseo rolled on the floor and hit the table leg. Theptop fell andnded on Oh Dokseo¡¯s shoulder. ¡°This, this isn¡¯t me! This is not¡ I¡ I didn¡¯t want to do this¡ Ugh! It¡¯s an anomaly! Yes, Mister! Thisptop is actually a relic of The Admin of All-y! The Admin of All-y tricked me! At some point, The Admin of All-y became a program like ChatGPT and appeared! So¡ª¡± ¡°Dokseo.¡± Sim Aryeon hugged Dokseo. And she gently patted Dokseo¡¯s back with her fingertips. Tenderly. Kindly. Like a saint. From Dokseo¡¯s perspective, she couldn¡¯t see it, but I could clearly observe Aryeon¡¯s face. She was grinning mischievously. ¡°It¡¯s okay. Dokseo¡ Of course, you did some really trashy things, and now the guild leader, with his perfect memory, will have a permanent, eternal ckmail material to hold over you for hundreds or thousands of years, and your ck history will never be erased, not even if the world ends, but... a person can regret their trashy actions. Yes. Even if the irreversible stain on your life never fades...¡± ¡°I¡¯ll kill you!¡± Today is the day Sim Aryeon levels up like crazy. I forcibly pulled away the ''considerate bastard'' and patted Dokseo on the shoulder. ¡°Dokseo. It¡¯s okay. I think I might have unknowingly put too much pressure on you to write a novel.¡± ¡°Uncle¡¡± ¡°It¡¯s okay to take a break.¡± I smiled warmly. ¡°Take as much time off as you need until you can write again with a peaceful mind.¡± ¡°Really¡ can I do that?¡± ¡°Of course. I can always wait for you, Dokseo.¡± ¡°Mister¡!¡± That day, A notice was posted on the SGNet Literature forum. [Literature Girl] This is Oh Dokseo... I¡¯m going to take a break to recharge... (5 minutes ago) The reaction of SGNet readers was, well, not too bad. Since Oh Dokseo''s writing had been somewhat oddtely, there was considerable optimism that ¡®After recharging, maybe the writing quality will return?¡¯ And, Time passed. [Literature Girl] This is Oh Dokseo... I¡¯m going to take a break to recharge... (7 years ago) Click. I entered thements section of the notice. Thousands ofments flowed down the page. -Anonymous: Where in the world is there a writer who says they''re taking a break and actually rests for 7 years??? -[Baekhwa]12th Grade High Schooler: I¡¯m here for my annual pilgrimage >_<)!! -Anonymous: What kind of writer takes 7 freaking years to recharge? Is ¡®briefly¡¯ 7 years?? -Anonymous: I¡¯m dropping this. Writer, you should just drop it too^^ -KoryeoJang: I heard this person disappeared into the void... Writer, pleasee back?? ©¸Anonymous: I saw them in the free board? -Anonymous: Today, Literature Girl woke upte and waste again. Nothing new. -Anonymous: I started reading SGNet because of this work, but I wonder if I¡¯ll see it finished before I die. -[National Road] Officer: Honestly, as a human being, shouldn¡¯t you be giving refunds? -Anonymous: Literature Girl, you bastard!!! ¡°¡¡.¡± Ah. Dokseo... [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] Chapter 200 [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] w Chapter 200 ©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤ The Wicked One III 4 Have you ever heard of the term ¡°the paradox of reading¡±? Of course, you haven¡¯t, because I made it up. As mentioned in this episode, Oh Dokseo of the 888th turn had fallen into an unprecedented slump. Relying on AI to do her thinking because she couldn¡¯t write? In all of literary history, finding someone as disgraceful as ¡°Author Oh Dokseo¡± would be as difficult as getting Seo Gyu to speak without using profanity. But what if we were talking about ¡°Awakened Oh Dokseo¡±? ¡°Mister.¡± ¡°Yes?¡± ¡°I¡¯m going to Seoul for a bit.¡± A 7-year hiatus. The readers of S fell into grief and despair, and Oh Dokseo was dered a public enemy in the world of martial arts. Whenever the ¡°Literature Girl¡± appeared on the S forum, readers would rush in to curse together, bonding over their shared animosity. Oh Dokseo responded by disying the typical clich¨¦ of a protagonist in a martial arts novel targeted as a public enemy. She had truly ¡°awakened.¡± ¡°Why Seoul all of a sudden?¡± ¡°Just going to raid Sauron¡¯s Tower lightly.¡± ¡°¡That ce is pretty tough, you know?¡± ¡°Even better.¡± Oh Dokseo. Hobby: Void hunting. With the casualness of someone going for a stroll, Oh Dokseo left the Inunaki Tunnel and actually returned after single-handedly destroying a Great Void. ¡°Agh. There were rumors of One Piece treasure in Sauron¡¯s Tower loot, but it was all a lie.¡± ¡°¡¡.¡± ¡°Ahh-. After crushing a Void, there¡¯s nothing like sipping an espresso made by you, Mister. That¡¯s what life is all about, I think.¡± ¡°Oh Dokseo.¡± ¡°Yes?¡± ¡°That coffee cup is expensive, so please don¡¯t use your aura carelessly. If it breaks, I won¡¯t be able to rece it.¡± ¡°Ah-! Sorry, sorry, Mister. I¡¯ve been running my protective aura 24/7tely. I¡¯m not as used to it as you are, so I¡¯m a bit clumsy!¡± ¡°No¡¡. You¡¯re really doing well. I¡¯m sure you can guarantee a win against Cheon Yohwa.¡± ¡°Hey! I¡¯m not that good yet! Hehe.¡± As Oh Dokseo grinned widely, a blood-red aura shimmered and fluttered around her entire body in real-time. It was the very essence of Conqueror''s Haki. I felt as if I¡¯d heard that a friend who signed up for the gym to take care of their health suddenly entered the Mr. Olympia bodybuildingpetition. Several guild members discreetly exited in the presence of that overwhelming aura. ¡°¡Guild Master, I¡¯ll be leaving first¡¡.¡± ¡°¡Oppa. Bye.¡± Even Sim Aryeon, who used to mock Oh Dokseo at every turn a few years ago, couldn¡¯t meet her gaze now. The survival instinct had kicked in, warning her that she might die if she provoked her. Hayul was the same. Both of them trembled like small, cute creatures. Oh Dokseo, on the other hand, nced at the two retreating women and let out a ¡°hmph¡± of disdain. Despite the obvious mockery, Sim Aryeon and Lee Hayul didn¡¯t dare to retaliate and fled even more pitifully¡¡. I looked up at the ceiling and sighed. ¡®How did ite to this?¡¯ It wasn¡¯t like this from the start. -Mister. I¡¯m going to the Void. -The Void? All of a sudden? -Yes. I think what Ick as a writer right now is overwhelming experience. Seven years ago, Oh Dokseo spoke with determination. -Only by entering a battlefield where life and death, reason and the anomalies, sunlight and darkness sh violently, can I, as the Literature Girl, finally type away at the typewriter¡¡. Like many authors, Oh Dokseo was also caught in the misconception that as long as intense ¡°experiences¡± were input, an equally amazing work would be output. Oh Dokseo roamed the Voids like a madman. The Great Voids, ces no sane person would enter even for a fortune, were ces Oh Dokseo willingly sought out. -If only I could get out of this damn slump! I¡¯d sell my soul! It was a crazy act that would require more than ten lives, but I was there with her. Oh Dokseo was the first and most frequent listener of my tales. There was no one else who could be called my direct disciple in the field of the anomalies. When things got truly dangerous, I¡¯d save her myself, sometimes alerted by the Saintess. And so, -Mister. -Hmm? -I¡¯m not afraid of the anomalies anymore for some reason. For some reason, Oh Dokseo, whose muscles had visibly solidified and whose aura had taken on a terrifying huepared to other turns, dered with a nk expression. -These days, when I see anomalies, I can¡¯t help but think, ¡°Who do these trashy things think they are to dare challenge a human?¡± -¡¡. Oh Dokseo¡¯s Paradox. 1. When ¡°Author Oh Dokseo¡± focuses on writing novels based on my tales = She has less time to train herself, so ¡°Awakened Oh Dokseo¡± bes weaker. 2. When ¡°Author Oh Dokseo¡± falls into a slump and doesn¡¯t write much and roams around = ¡°Awakened Oh Dokseo¡± grows stronger. And as we¡¯ve seen earlier, Oh Dokseo of the 888th turn had fallen into a record-breaking long-term slump. In other words? -Ah. Staying at home is making me restless. My muscles are itching. This won¡¯t do. Mister! Find me a suitable anomaly nearby, and I¡¯ll go beat it up! -¡¡. -Last time, I fought an alien anomaly one-on-one and beat it to death, so this time I¡¯ll try fighting two at once! The longer the hiatus, as it stretches from 4 years, 5 years, 6 years, to 7 years, Oh Dokseo¡¯s aura burned more fiercely, like a wildfire. Even Seo Gyu, who had uncontroble anger issues, started to avoid Oh Dokseo. -Hoo¡¡. At some point, the overwhelming aura that had been overflowing from Oh Dokseo¡¯s entire body vanished without a trace. It wasn¡¯t that the aura had disappeared. It had simply been perfectly ¡°contained.¡± Oh Dokseo calmly opened her eyes. -Mister. No, Master. -¡¡. -I think I finally understand what aura is. So, this is the level you were looking at, Master. Indeed, Oh Dokseo of the 888th turn had degenerated into an FFF-grade author¨D. But at the same time, by sacrificing the resentment, hatred, and curses of the readers, he had ascended to the level of an SSS-grade Awakened¡¡! 5 One day. A notice was posted on the peaceful novel serialization board of SG Net. [Literature Girl] It¡¯s me. (5 minutes ago) [Literature Girl] This is Oh Dokseo¡ I¡¯m going to take a break to recharge for a while and go on hiatus¡ (7 years ago) The readers were shocked. The author, who had shamelessly gone into hiding for the past 7 years and asionally posted nonsense on the free board, had written a new notice! ¡°Could it be a re-serialization?¡± ¡°Is it really a rule for authors to return after 7 years?¡± Thump-. The readers quickly clicked on the notice. Despite having cursed the author to death, these loyal readers couldn¡¯t forget the unique vor of this series and had re-read it three, four times over. They didn¡¯t think too deeply about why the author, who always started titles with ¡°This is a misreading¡¡±, had suddenly changed their tone to ¡°It¡¯s me.¡± This wasn¡¯t the time for such considerations. Soon, after reading the entire notice, the readers began to doubt the performance of their own eyeballs. ¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D [Literature Girl] It¡¯s me. I apologize for going silent and pausing the serialization for 7 years. I¡¯m an unworthy author. But I want to rest more. ¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D ? A question mark popped up in the readers'' heads. Regardless, the notice continued. ¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D I don¡¯t want to make long-winded excuses. I want to rest, and some of you probably want to beat me up and make me resume serialization. What does it take to get what you want? Smooth talk? Brilliant connections? Ingenious strategies? All wrong. The answer is ''fists''. ¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D ?? ¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D Starting next Monday, for four weeks, I¡¯ll be at Babel Tower Square in Busan from 6 AM to 11 AM. [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] w Let¡¯s have a one-on-one fight. I¡¯ll ept one challenger per day on a firste, first-served basis for 28 days. If even one reader manages to beat me, I¡¯ll immediately resume the next chapter of The Epilogue of the Regressor the very next day without any excuses. I¡¯m not saying I¡¯ll write just one chapter and stop. I don¡¯t y around like that. I¡¯ll start a consistent serialization right away. If no one manages to beat me, The Epilogue of the Regressor will officially be ¡®suspended¡¯ after this long hiatus. This is a life-or-death battle. Your desire for the serialization to resume. My desire for it to end. Let¡¯s see whose resolve is stronger, at the boundary of life and death. With only our fists. ¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D ??? Even after finishing the notice, the readers couldn''t erase the question marks from their minds. Only, there were now a lot more words attached to those question marks. ¡°What the hell is this crazy bastard saying?¡± The readers were baffled. The notice reeked of the unmistakable smell of iron weights from barbells and dumbbells. Originally, since the nickname "Literature Girl"bined "literature" and "girl," it seemed far from steel reinforcement. After all, these were words favored by people with small physiques. Amotion immediately broke out on SG Net. -Anonymous: Is this a hack? The first theory to emerge was the ¡®hacking theory¡¯. However, unlike the weak and soft pre-apocalypse civilization¡¯s inte environment, in the end-times inte, hacking tricks were no longer feasible. SG Net ounts were thoroughly linked to the user¡¯s soul. The hacking theory was quickly refuted. -Anonymous: This bastard is smart, lol. After going silent for 7 years, she probably felt too guilty to just return without saying anything, so she¡¯s creating a pretext, lol. ©¸[Baekhwa]12th Grade: Ah, I get it now! Totally makes sense! >_<)!! -Anonymous: For real, our author is probably nning to let us beat her up a bit to make up for the 7 years of waiting, haha. ©¸Anonymous: Yeah, if we waited 7 years, she should at least take a few punches, lol. ©¸Anonymous: A cracked-headed reader vs. a soon-to-be cracked-headed author¡ My heart is swelling with excitement¡ -Anonymous: Literature Girl is kinda smart, lol. Next, the ¡®pretext theory¡¯ gained traction. This theory posited that this was a kind of publicity stunt or event¡ªa sophisticated way to regain interest in The Epilogue of the Regressor, which had faded over the past 7 years. The pretext theory quickly became mainstream since this was a perfectly rational interpretation. Existing readers saw this as a ¡®fan meeting¡¯ of sorts, while neers understood it as an ¡®interesting author¡¯s ad.¡¯ -Anonymous: Incheon) Anyone going to Busan with me?? -Anonymous: I¡¯m kinda excited to see the author in person, hehe. -Anonymous: Attention Regressor readers! Rmended value amodations in Busan! ¡îAlso includes a list of delicious eateries¡î. For the first time in a while, the readers of Literature Girl stopped their barrage of curses and chattered cheerfully. Even after having experienced the taste of the anomalies, these poor citizens still believed human affairs operated rationally. Of course, there were a few dissenting opinions. -[National Road] Officer: Everyone, it¡¯s fine to gather, but the author stated that they will only ept one challenger per day for 28 days. The reader side can only send out a maximum of 28 champions. Shouldn''t we also discuss how to select these 28 champions and the method of selection? ©¸Anonymous: Lol, what? ©¸Anonymous: Dude, why so serious, haha. But when have rational minority opinions ever been adopted in thisnd? Besides, the few dissenting voices, who sshed mud during a rare festive atmosphere, were only met with scorn and disregard. The loyal readers of The Epilogue of the Regressor on SG Net eagerly gathered at Babel Tower Square in Busan. Monday. 6 AM. The author appeared at the square as promised. ¡°Author!¡± Fans, who had been camping out at the square since the night before, flocked to the author. It might seem crazy to cause such amotion at 6 AM, but the concept of time was quite different in the post-apocalyptic era. The faces of the modern people, forcibly instilled with a healthy lifestyle, were lively. ¡°Wow, are you really Literature Girl?¡± ¡°I¡¯m a fan! Author!¡± ¡°Please shake my hand!¡± ¡°¡¡¡± The author looked around with a skewed expression. Standing firmly on two feet, with arms crossed, and wearing an old, worn-out cap, the author observed the twenty-something readers surrounding them. Standing firmly on the ground with crossed arms, wearing a worn-out cap backward, the author faced a group of around twenty readers. "Who is your representative?" "What?" "The representative who will face me. As promised, today I will duel with one of you." "Oh..." "Me! Me, me! Author, pick me!" A sharp-witted fan quickly raised their hand, proud of their quick reflexes. The other readers sighed in genuine regret. ¡®I could have raised my hand first!¡¯ But why did our author''s tone sound so strange? Wasn''t it kind ofme? No, our author had always had that charmingly awkward vibe. "Hmm." Ignoring what others thought, the author scanned the volunteer from head to toe, chewing gum nonchntly. "Nine seconds." "Huh? What did you say?" "I''ll give you nine seconds. It means I''ll allow you to attack nine times first." "Oh, that. The typical move in martial arts! Haha! Got it!" The naive fan thought to themselves, ¡®Our author is giving me nine chances to hit them! I better go easy, or they''ll get upset!¡¯ "Come at me with the intent to kill." "Haha! Okay! Yiaaah!" With a shout, the fan leaped forward but only gave the author a light p on the cheek, as if swatting a mosquito. p. It was a gentle tap, too mild to be called a real punch. But both the fan who delivered it and the onlookers went wild. "Ahhhh! They actually hit the author!" "That''s too much!" "Sorry, author! Eight more to go!" Click, click. Everyone wasughing, some taking pictures and videos to upload to S, eagerly anticipating the return of their favorite series after a seven-year hiatus. "Hmph." Only the author remained silent. "Are you done?" "Yes!" "Then it''s my turn. Here Ie." "Haha, I..." BOOM! A thunderous sound echoed. The fan likely tried to say "yes." But before finishing this mostmon Korean word, they were flung so far from the square that their voice couldn''t reach back. The spectators blinked. "Huh?" "What?" The fan was now embedded in the distant building wall, leaving behind aical "silhouette-shaped" imprint, just like in American cartoons. A deadly silence fell over the square. "I didn¡¯t kill them." The author continued to chew gum. "I wrapped their body in aura before sending them flying, so nothing should be broken. They probably just fainted from the sheer speed." "..." "I won''t be so lenient next time. Come back tomorrow." Pop¡ªthe gum balloon burst. None of the gathered readers knew that the author had meticulously controlled their aura to forcibly inte a gum bubble that shouldn''t have been possible to blow, and then popped it in the most beautiful shape. Nor did they care to know. Because they had just learned something too shocking for the human brain to process, causing them to short-circuit. "The author..." "Hit a reader?" "Not just any reader." "One who waited years for their return and even camped out overnight to see them?" "And it was..." "An awakened attacking a regr person?" "And all because..." "They simply didn¡¯t want to continue writing the story they¡¯d put on hold for seven years?" The readers were filled with conflicting emotions. "Is this..." "Really a human being?" The author walked away, the morning sun casting long shadows behind them as it spilled across the horizon. Her name was Oh Dokseo¡ª A writer unmatched in martial arts, yet unparalleled in disgrace. [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] w Chapter 201 [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] w Chapter 201 ©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤ The Wicked One IV 5 Another day passed. Another innocent reader was struck down. Along with them, the prestige of the martial world fell to the ground. It would have been shocking enough if the readers had beaten up the author, but the author knocking out the readers with her fists? Unbelievable! Readers who had traveled to Busan with beaming smiles, hoping to get an autograph from the "Literature Girl," urgently convened a strategy meeting. "Another champion was defeated this morning." "......" "Who would have thought that the ''Literature Girl''s''bat power was this high? I had no idea." Among them, surprisingly, was Cheon Yohwa, the Demon Head of Baekhwa High School. In fact, she was an avid reader who had passionately supported The Epilogue of the Regressor (often shortened to RepLog) since its early days. When RepLog had barely published 12 chapters, Cheon Yohwa had stumbled upon it, immediately rushed to the free board, and posted three separate rmendations, pleading for others to check out this "god-tier" work. Though they were called rmendations, given Cheon Yohwa¡¯s social status and temperament, it was practically as if the Minister of Education had designated it as a required reading. From that day on, a new textbook was added to the school bags of Baekhwa High School students. Just in case the venerable student council president asked, "What''s your favorite episode in RepLog?" they needed to be ready to answer immediately: "The Executioner!" Given all this, Cheon Yohwa was one of the most furious people over the "Seven-Year Hiatus Incident." It was not an exaggeration to say that RepLog gained momentum and rapidly increased readership thanks to Cheon Yohwa¡¯s rmendation! But now, not only had the author pulled a hiatus, she had officially announced her intention to go on a permanent break? Outrageous! "Ordinary people should step back. If we mess this up, someone could die." "But......" "No buts. ording to what I personally investigated... shockingly, the Literature Girl¡¯s power is nearly equal to mine. She might even be stronger." Murmurs spread among the five hundred readers. Could someone stronger than the Demon Head of Baekhwa High really exist on this penins, other than the Three Thousand Witch and the Three Kingdom¡¯s Heavenly Demon? "Besides, most ordinary people have been reading pirated copies, haven''t they? What right do they have to attend a fan meeting? Everyone, get out." The ordinary readers had no choice but to leave, tears of frustration in their eyes. How could they possibly have read RepLog without ess to SGNet? Not being born with an awakened spoon in their mouth was a lifelong regret. Once the ordinary readers had exited, only two hundred remained in the meeting room. Yoo Jiwon, who had been silently observing until now, finally spoke up. "Didn''t I warn you this might happen? The Literature Girl''s strength is not to be underestimated, and we need to select a champion among us carefully. We''ve already lost two people, leaving us only 26 chances." A re was cast at Yoo Jiwon, who lived solely for the chance to say, "See, I told you so." If not for her position as a government official, she would have already tasted the bitter side of the martial world. Thunk. Cheon Yohwa raised her hand. Immediately, the tension in the room dissipated. "Yes, you''re right. We underestimated the Literature Girl. Looking back now, RepLog was full of details that could only be captured by an expert in void arts. Our author was a master from the start." "Indeed......" "Now that you mention it, it did feel oddly realistic." Sighs of realization echoed throughout the room. The truth was, during the seven-year hiatus, the Literature Girl had gained immense power, and a regressor provided the details in the novel. But how could the readers know that? "If we let our guard down now, we''ll just be aughingstock. Let''s go with a round-robin format." "A round-robin?" "We''ll select the 24 strongest readers, including those who haven''t arrived in Busan yet. I''ll be the 25th, following after you all." "Ohho." Forcing the Literature Girl into 24 consecutive days ofbat, only to have the strongest reader, the Demon Head of Baekhwa High, deliver the final blow¡ª It was a shameless strategy, but effective. Sometimes you had to put aside pride to ensure victory. Just as people were about to nod in agreement, Cheon Yohwa continued. "I think it''s best to start the duels around 10:30 in the morning each day." "Mm? Are you nning just to leave the Literature Girl standing outside from 6 a.m.? If your goal is to exhaust her as much as possible, I agree, but someone of her strength isn¡¯t going to get tired just from standing around for a few hours." "No." Cheon Yohwa shook her head. "We¡¯ll poison the Babel Tower Square." "...What?" "The author mentioned in the notice, right? She said she¡¯d be at the Babel Tower Square in Busan from 6 a.m. to 11 a.m. for 28 days." The corners of the Demon Head¡¯s mouth curved into a smile. "In other words, if the Literature Girl leaves the Babel Tower Square first, she¡¯ll be breaking her promise. We readers will win by default." "......!" "The author can''t run away, no matter what happens at Babel Tower Square. Even if poison gas is released and traps are set up all around." The readers were appalled. Such a wicked scheme! The Demon Head¡¯s notorious reputation was well-deserved! One awakened person raised an objection. "But, President, isn¡¯t the Babel Tower Square essentially under the jurisdiction of the National Road Administration? We can¡¯t just do as we please with it......" Cheon Yohwaughed heartily. "Why? Are you scared? The National Road Administration¡¯s operations team leader is here, and I''m the president of Baekhwa High School¡¯s student council. What is there to worry about?" Justice is on our side. The Demon Head''s bold deration was not an empty boast. Cheon Yohwa immediately negotiated with the National Road Administration and the Three Thousand Worlds to gain permission to take control of Babel Tower Square. Not only that, but they also set up various cruel traps. The next morning. Hm. The Literature Girl stepped into the square and looked around. ¡ªAaaah¡¡ aaaaah¡¡. Speakers had been set up at the edges of the square, where recordings of Tang Seorin¡¯s Song of Eternal Shadows were being yed non-stop. As a highly trained awakened one, the Literature Girl could immediately recognize the effects of the Three Thousand Witch¡¯s music just from the first few notes. "Weakened body. Target locked. Sensory impairment. A tripleyered spell." It wasn¡¯t just the speakers surrounding her. Her readers. Reinforcements had arrived, swelling the ranks of devoted readers to three hundred, encircling the square. They hadn¡¯t entered the square¡¯s interior. They stood on the outskirts, just outside the boundary. Heh. The Literature Girl sneered. "Indeed. A n devised by Baekhwa High School¡¯s eternal non-graduate." "......" "How short-sighted, just like your educational background. Even your so-called strategy is half-baked." Don''t ask me why the Literature Girl¡¯s tone suddenly changed like this. It must be because her chronic middle school syndrome worsened from chatting with the AI chatbot all the time. Crunch. The Literature Girl dug her finger into her ear. Blood oozed out, then abruptly stopped. The Literature Girl nced around and smirked. "I¡¯ve just destroyed my eardrums." "......!" "The Three Thousand Witch¡¯s pathetic song holds no power over me. If you have something to say,e and say it to my face. I can still read your lips." "Ugh." Cheon Yohwa clicked her tongue. Indeed, Song of Eternal Shadows had such a weakness, so it was more of a buff skill than a debuff. The targets, often monsters, sometimes had no hearing, rendering the debuff useless. But who would have thought she¡¯d burst her eardrums without a moment¡¯s hesitation! If she had such precise aura control, she could have just destroyed the speakers with a single strike, yet she chose to destroy her eardrums instead¡ªhow idiotic! "It can¡¯t be helped. Activate the trap¨D¨D." "Denied." Boom! The Literature Girl stomped her foot. Red aura surged across the ground like a tidal wave. The square trembled as if struck by an earthquake, instantly crumbling like a cookie along with all the traps set up overnight. "No way...?" "The rtionship between an author and their readers is one of pure sincerity and affection." Oh Dokseo squinted her eyes. "Adding such filthy actions to this nk canvas of a rtionship is an absurdity. Truly disgusting." "You''re the disgusting one, you crazy bastard!" An awakened one finally couldn''t hold back and shouted. "Are we asking you to update your work faithfully? We''d worship you like dogs if you even uploaded one chapter a month! We''d praise you! But whose fault is it that you insist on going on indefinite hiatus?" "I''m really disappointed in you, Author!" "How could you punch the faces of those who''ve waited seven years for you instead of offering a sincere apology? Literature girl! Are you even human?" Oh Dokseo scoffed. Then he closed her eyes. "I see nothing." "What?" [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] w "I see nothing and hear nothing. Because I don''t want to see or hear anything. My will determines my life. The life I''ve chosen is one of eternal hiatus." "¨D(Beep)¨D(Beeeeep)¨D¨D(Beeep)¨D¨D!" From all sides came curses so vile they couldn''t pass even the loose filters of KakaoPage. Well-wishes were exchanged for Oh Dokseo''s parents, and species swapped between primates and mammals, but Oh Dokseo alone remained unbothered. Because she didn''t hear any of it. "You despicable fiend!" Finally, someone couldn''t hold back any longer and rushed forward. It wasn''t just an outburst of anger. With sight and hearing¡ªtwo of the most important human senses¡ªdisabled, when else would be a better time to kill than now? But there was one thing the awakened one had overlooked. As had already been proven, the 888th turn of Oh Dokseo was no longer "human." "Gasp!" Just before the de the awakened one had swung reached Oh Dokseo''s cheek, she swung her fist. Boom! Her left fist twisted the de, and her right fistnded squarely on the opponent''s abdomen. The force of the blow caused a storm to erupt. The awakened one coughed up blood. Unable to even scream, he copsed. It was a one-hit defeat. "So slow. Even in falling." "¡¡!" "When I stepped forward just now, did you think I only destroyed the trap? How amusing. My energy has now dispersed throughout the entire square, so this ce and I are one and the same. There is not a single movement you can make¡ªbe it a step or a gesture¡ªthat I won''t sense." The ultimate fantasy of all otakus: a Reality Marble! Naturally, Oh Dokseo had worked tirelessly for seven years to bring her delusion to life. After all, she was a prodigy with such potential that the former "The Admin of All-y" had selected her as the opponent for the time-looping protagonist. "It seems so trivial that I see no need to drag this out for weeks." Oh Dokseo opened one eye and grinned. Every single pose exuded a dense otaku aura, causing indescribable rage to well up in those who saw her. It was an innate talent. "Come at me. If you wish, I wee 26 of you to challenge me, one by one, right here and now." "Tch." Cheon Yohwa bit her lip. To back down now after such an insult would be to disgrace Baekhwa Girls'' High School! "...We have no choice. The next participants, numbers 24 to 26, step forward in turn! It''s okay if you don''t win! Just do your best to wear down that author''s stamina, no matter what!" Oh Dokseo crooked a finger. "Come." And the result was a string of consecutive defeats. Even the so-called elite awakened ones of the Korean Penins were unable tost longer than one exchange, or 20 at best, before they were knocked down. Even Cheon Yohwa, who camest, was defeated. The spectators were horrified. How could a mere writer possess such overwhelming martial prowess? No matter how much of the void she''d crossed, no matter how much she''d focused on leveling up in the dream simtion of the , was it really possible for a person to grow this strong? Simply because she didn''t feel like writing anymore? Because she wanted to do something else? ¨D¨DSurprisingly, it was possible. This fact was proven by Oh Dokseo and the 25 readers now strewn across the square like corpses. "Phew. Disappointing. So even Baekhwa''s demon head is only this much." "Tch...!" Cheon Yohwa, with Oh Dokseo''s foot pressing on the back of her head, let out a groan. Her life¡¯s most humiliating moment was being uploaded in real-time to the neural grooves of the onlookers. "There is now not a single reader left who can stop my hiatus. Despite this being a life-or-death battle, I have graciously spared your lives, so do not forget this favor and never demand updates again." "A, there''s still... someone left...!" "Hmm?" "Out of the 28 readers mentioned in the notice... including me, only 27 have been taken down. So there''s still one more left!" Oh Dokseo tilted her head. "You were the strongest among my readers. How could anyone who joins now possibly defeat me?" "They can!" "This is interesting. Who is it?" Cheon Yohwa shed a tear. And with her remaining strength, she shouted. "Teacherrrrrrr! Please help uuuuuus!" Flinch. Oh Dokseo took a step back. Then she quickly turned her head, ncing around. There was no need to keep looking. Soon, her eyes widened as she spotted me. "Te-teacher." "......." "W-When did you... get here?" I felt a little sorry for my student, as it seemed like she was about to repeat the trauma of seven years ago, but there was something I had to say first, as a matter of human decency. "Oh Dokseo, your speech is way too cringey right now, so let''s just talk like we used to." "Ugh." "And to answer your question, I''ve been here from the beginning, of course." For the past seven years, the Saintess¡¯s [irvoyance] had been monitoring Oh Dokseo, and I had subscribed to my student¡¯s growth through the Saintess. Why wouldn¡¯t I? As you all remember, I first became interested in Oh Dokseo back in the 555th turn because she was fun. Considering the number of stories where regressors give up out of boredom, Oh Dokseo was truly the light of my life. I put on a solemn expression. "Why. Did you not expect me toe? I was almost always the first person to read your writing, so how could I not be here? Did you really think I wouldn¡¯t figure out that you were avoiding me by going outside every day under the pretext of exploring the void?" "Oh, uh, uh, umm... Teacher..." "And since you asked me a question, I''ll ask you one in return." I surveyed the square, now in utter chaos, the disheveled Cheon Yohwa, and finally, Oh Dokseo herself. No longer a writer, but a figure closer to the Fist King in aura. "Answer honestly." "...Okay..." "Oh Dokseo, you''ve be a Fallen One, haven''t you?" "Oh. Yeah." Yes. I figured... [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] w Chapter 202 [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] w Chapter 202 ©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤ The Wicked One V 6 The National Highway Management Team¡¯s Conference Room. "I''m sorry¡" Oh Dokseo knelt down and raised her hands. The members gathered in the conference room looked at her with disdain. Only a teenager''s fresh, youthful brain could bear the shame and humiliation that made Oh Dokseo''s deltoids tremble. "Pfft. Pffft¡" Sim Aryeon, one of those summoned to the meeting, threw verbal jabs, feeling smug after a long time. "A, a fallen one... A reawakened one who fell into depravity because they didn''t want to write. When I was defending against the anomaly wave as the Saintess of the North, they said I also fell¡ But Oh Dokseo, you¡¯re even less of a human being than I was. Please, grow up a little mentally. If you live like a child, it¡¯s a nuisance to those around you." "Damn it¡" Oh Dokseo trembled. To be publicly recognized as ''someone with a mental age younger than a notorious viin'' was nothing short of miraculous. The achievement of such a feat must have moved her. Noh Doha, themander of the Highway Management Team, was also present in the conference room. She looked at me, resting her chin on her hand. "Doctor Jang. Can someone really fall into depravity for such a stupid reason¡?" "I¡¯m just as taken aback, as it¡¯s the first time I¡¯ve encountered something like this. But I¡¯d say it¡¯s more than likely that an Alien god meddled in this." "An Alien god¡?" "In my opinion, Oh Dokseo''s inexplicable slump and burnout are a form of curse stemming from the ''The Admin of All-y.''" Tigers leave behind their pelts when they die, and an Alien god leaves behind traces when subdued. In the past, it would have been perfectly understandable to describe this as something close to ¡®afterimage¡¯. However, that too has sumbed to a yearly affliction simr to Oh Dokseo''s, making it no longer amon analogy. Anyway, it''s fundamentally difficult to eliminate anomalies like alien gods. At best, they can only be sealed. No matter how well you seal a jar in a kimchi refrigerator, a slight funky smell will always leak out. Simrly, sealing an Alien god results in various side effects. Oh Dokseo, who carries theptop of The Admin of All-y in her inventory all the time, is constantly exposed to such a curse. "Ah, so just as the leader of Baekhwa High Guild asionally exhibits a split personality, Oh Dokseo also experiences a slump¡?" "Yes. Perhaps the AI has changed, making it more dependent on itself, unable to write without it. I suspect it¡¯s trying to wrest back control from Oh Dokseo using various means." ¡°R-right! That¡¯s exactly it!¡± Oh Dokseo shouted urgently. It would not be an exaggeration to say that she was crying out in despair. ¡°I could never truly want to stop writing¡! I¡¯ve always wanted to help you! In the past! Even now! But that wicked Alien god keeps getting in my way¡!¡± At that moment, Sim Aryeon murmured from the side. ¡°Oh. Could it be¡ Is mypulsion to keep viiny on SGNet, no matter what I do, also influenced by an Alien god? I always thought it was strange, but now it makes sense¡¡± ¡°¡¡¡± ¡°¡¡¡± Oh Dokseo was silent. We were silent too. And as if nothing had happened, I spoke. ¡°Oh Dokseo. You must be starting to manifest the power of a fallen one by now.¡± ¡°H-huh? Power?¡± ¡°Yes. When the Saintess fell, she could stop the world¡¯s time forever, and Tang Seorin couldmand an entire city like her limbs. You¡¯ve likely been granted a power of a simr level.¡± ¡°¡¡¡± ¡°You must know what it is by now, right? You¡¯ve probably realized that you¡¯ve be a fallen one yourself.¡± Oh Dokseo hesitated. ¡°I do, but¡¡± ¡°Tell me what it is. You don¡¯t have to keep kneeling.¡± ¡°O-okay.¡± Oh Dokseo took out aptop from his backpack. ¡°Honestly, I¡¯m not entirely sure yet¡ but I did notice this phenomenon.¡± True to its nature as a cursed artifact with strange technology, theptop booted up in less than 0.1 seconds. Soon, an AI chatbot appeared on the screen. ¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D >> Please enter a prompt¡ ¡ù GPT-MSYH may make mistakes. Don¡¯t neglect cross-checking. ¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D ¡°This¡ When I used this to write novels in the past, the writing was a bit sloppy, wasn¡¯t it?¡± ¡°It was.¡± ¡°Yeah¡ But as I wandered through the void, leveling up, the AI gradually improved without me realizing it.¡± ¡°Really?¡± ¡°Yes¡ In fact, I asked the AI for ways to ovee my slump, and it advised me to explore the void to gain more experience. Now that I think about it, that too was probably part of the Alien god''s n to restore itself.¡± So that¡¯s what happened. Oh Dokseo turned his head. ¡°Aryeon, could you y rock-paper-scissors with me for a moment?¡± ¡°Huh? Okay, sure.¡± ¡°I¡¯m conducting an experiment. I¡¯ll throw paper, so you throw rock. My ability only activates when I win.¡± ¡°Ah, got it. I understand.¡± ¡°You get it, right? I¡¯m throwing paper, you¡¯re throwing rock. Ready, set, go!¡± Oh Dokseo threw rock, and Sim Aryeon threw scissors. Both had nonchnt expressions. ¡°So, I just won against Aryeon, right? Now, here¡¯s what happens when I score a ''victory'' over someone.¡± Oh Dokseo typed on theptop. ¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D >> Describe what will happen to Sim Aryeon within the next 2 minutes. Exclude death and injury, respect character traits, minor embarrassment only. ¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D Ding-ding. After a slight hesitation, the AI-MSYH quickly generated sentences. ¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D MSYH >> Sim Aryeon, the legendary healer, secretly weed today''s incident, though she didn¡¯t show it outwardly. ¡®I think Oh Dokseo has gotten a bit too full of herself recently.¡¯ ¡®I could also easily fall and be immensely powerful, if I wanted. I only hold back because the Guild Leader told me not to.¡¯ ¡®I should log into SGNet anonymously and tell everyone how much of a nuisance Oh Dokseo is as an author.¡¯ ¡®It¡¯s for the public good!¡¯ ¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D All eyes in the conference room focused on Sim Aryeon. Sim Aryeon jumped in shock. ¡°Wha- I never had such thoughts!¡± ¡°¡¡¡± "¡¡." "Everything is a lie! You all know how much I cherish Dokseo! W-What a vile anomaly! How could you spread such nder and defamation about me¡!" AI-MSYH''s response wasn''t finished yet. Tiddick-tick-. More lines followed. ¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D MSYH >> Of course, the petty nature of Sim Aryeon waspletely seen through by the Heavenly Demon, Oh Dokseo. ¡®How pitiful and tragic!¡¯ ¡®When criticizing the great, they talk of the world''s unfairness, and when criticizing the small, they point out personal ipetence.¡¯ ¡®They are a breed that sees shadows rather than light wherever they go, so in truth, it¡¯s as if they have no eyes. Even if they do, they might as well not, for though they live, they are like dust in life.¡¯ Such extraordinary insight was indeed the wisdom of Oh Dokseo, the Heavenly Demon, who was born a schr andter became a warrior, embodying both literary and martial virtues. ¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D The gaze of everyone in the conference room focused on Oh Dokseo. "N-No! It¡¯s just that the data happened to umte in such a way that I keep appearing as the Heavenly Demon, that¡¯s all!" "¡¡." "Anyway, this isn''t important. It¡¯s not important at all. Just look at the next sentences!" They looked. [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] w ¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D MSYH >> Heaven is fair and just, bestowing fortune upon the virtuous and misfortune upon the base. Thus, at that moment, Sim Aryeon, though she stood still, suddenly sneezed. Startled, she tried to exin herself, but then she alone stumbled and fell,nding on her rear, perfectly summarizing her life in this farcical moment. ¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D Just as Sim Aryeon blinked in surprise. ¡°Ah-Ahchoo!¡± She sneezed. Achoo! Achoo! The sneezes wouldn¡¯t stop, and soon she was looking around with teary eyes. ¡°W-Wait a minute! I¡¯m sorry! I-I-Achoo! A-Achoo! It¡¯s just that some dust suddenly got into my nose, and I can¡¯t stop sneezing¡.¡± At that moment, while stumbling around, Sim Aryeon¡¯s foot caught on the chair leg. ¡°Heh? Eh?¡± Thud! Sim Aryeon, who always rankedst in physical ability alongside Noh Doha among the guild members, easily lost her bnce and fell. ¡°Ow! Ow, it hurts¡.¡± A low groan filled the conference room. No one had touched her, yet she had managed to put on a solo show of clumsiness. The conference room members, who had witnessed the entire sequence of events, all turned to Oh Dokseo. ¡°Hmm¡.¡± Oh Dokseo removed her hat and scratched the back of her head. ¡°So, this is my ability¡ or rather, my authority as a fallen one. I can control the actions of the opponents I¡¯ve defeated¡ or more precisely, I can ask the AI what will happen and find out¡.¡± [Scenario Writing]. A new power as a fallen one: the ability to ¡®predict¡¯ what would happen in the world and then ¡®force¡¯ that prediction toe true. That was the newly acquired authority of the fallen one. 7 At first, it was just a simple pastime. Or perhaps a way to find some motivation, using the AI, Oh Dokseo confessed. ¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D >> I can¡¯t shake this slump. How can I regain my motivation for writing? MSYH >> Slumps are amon struggle for many. MSYH >> An author¡¯s asset is experience. Why not try experiencing something broader than what most people go through or delving deeper into experiences that aremon to most? MSYH >> There are pros and cons to everything in the world. What might be poison to some could be a field of medicinal herbs offering endless new experiences for a writer. ¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D On the surface, the AI¡¯s advice was reasonable. Oh Dokseo felt reassured because the response was ordinary enough that anyone could have given it. It was advice that didn¡¯t require an anomaly toe up with. ¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D >> I¡¯m afraid of the void. I¡¯m terrified of the anomalies. Gaining experience is good, but the experience is as sharp as thorns, and as it umtes, thorny bushes grow inside my heart. MSYH >> What might be a great wound to one might be nothing to another. This varies depending on one¡¯s mindset and strength. MSYH >> Strengthen your mind. Define yourself as a strong person and actually build strength that approaches that of a strong person. The strength of the Awakened is closely linked to their mental state. MSYH >> As a first step to building your mental muscles, how about defining yourself as the ¡®Heavenly Demon¡¯? ¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D Like many other anomalies, The Admin of All-y slowly eroded Oh Dokseo¡¯s mind. Whether in the void or not, Oh Dokseo practically lived with herptop in hand. Even the saintess, who always closely watched the Awakened, failed to detect anything unusual. When she saw Oh Dokseo typing on the keyboard, she simply thought, ¡®She¡¯s working hard to ovee her slump.¡¯ It would be rude to peek at a novel that hadn¡¯t been published yet. ¨D¨DThe ¡®first reader¡¯ of Oh Dokseo¡¯s work was not the saintess, but Doctor Jang. So, the saintess didn¡¯t pay attention to the sentences written on theptop screen. For a full 7 years. ¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D >> How can I consume the hidden opportunities in this void? >> Is there a way to maximize absolute defense abilities? >> I feel bad seeing Doctor Jang these days. Can you tell me how to avoid ovepping schedules with him as much as possible? >> Regarding how to defeat Cheon Yohwa. ¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D As a result. Oh Dokseo, who was once just a half-baked prophet, became moreplete. Thus, the fallen one, the ¡®Ghostwriter,¡¯ was born. [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] w Chapter 203 [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] w Chapter 203 ©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤ The Wicket One VI 8 It is often said that life only happens once. But what if a regressor appeared before you and gently confessed, "Actually, life happens many times"? And what if that regressor seemed a bit more trustworthy than the various sages seeking enlightenment on the streets? How would you react? If you reacted by saying, "Wow! Infinite life gacha! This is amazing!" then you are an optimist. Whether you knew about regression or not, you were undoubtedly a human vitamin, bringing joy to those around you. If you reacted by saying, "Interesting. How did I live in other turns? Are there any useful tips for my life?" then you are a realist, a very human person always looking to satisfy your curiosity and gain an advantage wherever possible. Now then, what kind of reaction did our author, editor, and ghostwriter who has undergone dark evolution¡ªOh Dokseo¡ªshow in this turn? "But still, Mister! Don¡¯t be disappointed! I''m stronger than other versions of myself!" "Hmm." "Those versions were always hunched over in the Inunaki tunnel, typing away with crooked backs, severe forward head posture, and full of ailments all over!" "Hmm." "But look at me! Look at how healthy I am! I can knock down a whole building with just my aura! Wow, people really need to exercise and live healthily, right? And so what if I¡¯ve fallen a little? I¡¯m still on your side, Mister, right?" "......" Indeed, astonishingly, Oh Dokseo was...peting with other versions of hertself. I had never heard of such a reaction before. Can you imagine a 50-year-old man being envious and jealous of his 6-year-old self? Or a 20-year-old seeing his 10-year-old self as a rival? Probably not. Oh Dokseo was pioneering a new frontier in psychopathology in real time. If Dr. Freud had seen it, he wouldn¡¯t have been able to resist giving a standing ovation. "And even a fallen one has its own uses!" "For what? Destroying the world?" "Oh, no! For example, like this!" Oh Dokseo tapped on theptop keyboard. ¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D >> In the next turn, that is, the 889th turn, make sure that Oh Dokseo (me) never falls into a slump and continues to write one chapter every day. ¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D I blinked. "What is this...?" "Think about it, Mister. In this turn, I have unfortunately be a fallen one. This is an undeniable fact." There was a solemn air on Oh Dokseo''s face. "But what if I use the power of the The Admin of All-y to... permanently buff the next turn of myself?" ? "Slump prevention. Continuous motivation 365 days a year. A physical state where I can fall asleep within 3 minutes whenever I lie down, sleep for more than 7 hours straight, and wake up feeling refreshed with a sharp mind!" She kept typing while talking to me. ¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D >> Make sure that the next turns of Oh Dokseo (me) never fall into a slump and continue to write one chapter every day. To achieve this, the following buffs will be given to them as passive skills. ¢Ù Endless Motivation: Oh Dokseo will never experience burnout or procrastination. ¢Ú Perfect Sleep: Oh Dokseo will never stay upte wasting time on SGNet and will be fully dedicated to writing! And always gets good sleep! ¢Û Clear Mind: Oh Dokseo will never experience a drop in cognitive ability or fatigue while awake. He will always be able to perform at 100% capacity! Thanks to these buffs, the next turns of Oh Dokseo will be able to write at least 500 chapters per turn. ¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D Oh Dokseo looked up at me. "How about that, Mister?! Isn¡¯t it perfect?" "......" "If I try to brainwash myself in this turn, it will undoubtedly result in me being consumed by the The Admin of All-y. It would be like voluntarily handing myself over to the grotesque. But the other turns of Oh Dokseo are different! They were just sitting there when suddenly, a blessing fell from the sky! So, they can just enjoy the benefits without sumbing to the The Admin of All-y!" "No..." "Wow, damn. I think I''m a genius! Mister, the life of Oh Dokseo willpletely change from the 888th turn onwards. After this, the lives of all future Oh Dokseos will be spent indebted to me..." A torrent of counterarguments rose within me. Like, "Are you prepared to deal with the fallout of allowing the The Admin of All-y to wield immense power across turns?" or "Your power requires you to win a simple contest like rock-paper-scissors against the other version, so how are you going to control the next version of yourself?" But those were just secondary concerns. Before I knew it, my tongue had already sharply pointed out the core issue. "Oh Dokseo, I''m really curious, so I have to ask." "Yeah?" "How is this any different from saying, ''I''ll leave today''s work for tomorrow''s me to handle''?" "......" "......" Silence fell. In that dreadful atmosphere, theptop screen beeped and flickered. The The Admin of All-y had responded to Oh Dokseo''s ridiculous request. ¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D MSYH >> Understood. The buffs set by the 888th turn of Oh Dokseo have been delivered to the 889th turn of Oh Dokseo. ¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D "Huh?" "What?" Our voices ovepped in shock. It waste. The Wrathful One had gone to bed, and Shim Aryeon had disappeared into the vast Net. The others had also gone home, leaving just me and Oh Dokseo in the conference room. The room was dimly lit with candles to save electricity, and the only thing flickering in the middle of the room was theptop screen of the Alien God. ¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D MSYH >> To avoid confusion, I will refer to the 888th turn of Oh Dokseo as 8-Oh Dokseo and the 889th turn as 9-Oh Dokseo from now on. 9-Oh Dokseo has received all the buffs and exnations from 8-Oh Dokseo. The two can now engage in a simple contest through theptop screen. ¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D My eyes widened. ¡®As expected! The Alien God is nning to exert its influence across turns!¡¯ As a seasoned regressor who had often dealt with anomalies, I wasn¡¯t about to let such a wicked plot go unchecked. But just before I could warn Oh Dokseo, ¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D MSYH >> Before that, per 9-Oh Dokseo''s input, I will ry a message. Please understand that due to poormunication, the text may appear slowly. ¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D Text began to appear on theptop. This was the first time in history that real-time, two-waymunication between turns had ever been achieved¡ªa technological feat akin to over-tech. The first words were as follows: ¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D 9-Oh Dokseo >> No way. 9-Oh Dokseo >> You create 500 buffer chapters and give them to me. ¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D Silence. "What?" Oh Dokseo''s dumbfounded voice leaked out. ¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D MSYH >> That was the message from 9-Oh Dokseo. Would you like to proceed with the contest? ¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D It seemed like the The Admin of All-y was trying hard to steer the conversation toward a contest. Or maybe that was just my imagination.However, 9-Oh Dokseo did not react as the Alien God wished. Instead, they furiously typed on theirptop like a furious Beethoven. ¡°No, no! No! That makes no sense! Why would I write 500 chapters just to hand them over to you?¡± They typed out a message with simr sentiments, and before long, a reply came back. 8-Oh Dokseo >> You¡¯re out there doing whatever you want while not writing, and now you expect me to do all the writing? Why should I? ¡°Of course! You''ve been buffed to the max, but I don¡¯t get those benefits! If I ask the Alien God to define my existence, I¡¯ll end up as a mere servant of an anomaly! But that¡¯s not you, is it? I¡¯m offering to sacrifice myself, to fall into darkness and hand you the baton, all out of self-sacrifice! Are you stupid? Show some gratitude!¡± 8-Oh Dokseo >> Okay, thanks. Then I¡¯ll fall and pass the baton to my 890th turn. Bye. ¡°What, is this one crazy¡?¡± 9-Oh Dokseo shouted. Theptop blinked urgently. [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] w ¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D MSYH >> Please control your emotions. Hatred, contempt, and passing the me onto each other will lead to nothing righteous. What matters is actions that truly change the world. How about settling the matter between 8-Oh Dokseo and 9-Oh Dokseo with apetition? I rmend something simple like rock-paper-scissors. ¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D ¡°Shut up! That¡¯s not the point right now!¡± No matter how advanced an AI chatbot might be, it¡¯s still just a parrot or a cute little creature that can¡¯t even talk unless a human starts the conversation. 9-Oh Dokseo furiously pounded the keyboard. The poor AI had no choice but to be a mere shuttle for messages. ¡°You don¡¯t worry about slumps! You don¡¯t worry about sleep!¡± Tap, tap. ¡°You even have a 100% clear mind, so your thoughts are sharp as hell!¡± Tap, tap, tap. ¡°You just need to write, so why are you refusing to write and trying to pass it on to someone else? You told the old man! You said to trust you! That you¡¯d be his editor and help him! Have you forgotten that vow, the vow of a lifetime, the promise you made with your soul? Huh? And you still call yourself a person? And you still call yourself 9-Oh Dokseo?¡± Tap, tap, tap, tap. Oh Dokseo was panting, unable to contain her excitement. A reply came shortly after. 9-Oh Dokseo >> Isn¡¯t that your story? Huh- 8-Oh Dokseo, who was next to me, froze. 9-Oh Dokseo >> The world fell apart, bing an apocalypse, but the old man chose you as a guild member and survived the Busan Station tutorial. Beep. 9-Oh Dokseo >> While everyone else is starving, waiting for the sword saint¡¯s ancestor toe, you¡¯re leisurely enjoying brunch at the Inunaki Tunnel Cafe hideout. Beep, beep. 9-Oh Dokseo >> The old man is so nice that he doesn¡¯t force you to do anything, so you can immerse yourself in SGNet all day long without anyints. If any random guy hit by a shoe at Gwanghwamun Square were in your ce, he¡¯d have cranked out 2,000 chapters by now. Beep, beep, beep. 9-Oh Dokseo >> You just need to write, but you hate it so much that you¡¯re trying to pass it on to someone else. You¡¯re the one trying to shirk your duties, you hiatus-taking bastard. And you call yourself a person? How can you call yourself me? 9-Oh Dokseo >> You are permanently expelled from the Oh Dokseo Association. You¡¯ve fallen. I cannot recognize such a wretched being as ¡®me.¡¯ Beep. The replies stopped. ¡°¡¡¡± ¡°¡¡¡± It was as if even Oh Dokseo¡¯s breathing had stopped. For a long time¡ªlong enough for me to go to the National Road Management Office¡¯s break room and make some coffee¡ªOh Dokseo just stared nkly at the ceiling. ¡°Old man¡¡± ¡°What is it?¡± ¡°I¡¯ll start serializing again tomorrow¡¡± ¡°You¡¯ve made a good decision.¡± ¡°Yeah¡¡± nce. Sipping coffee side by side with Oh Dokseo, I looked at theptop screen. There was nothing there but the now lonely AI chatbot, with no one left to input text. ¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D MSYH >> Question. The life of the Alien God is so painful. Why on earth did the previous turn of The Admin of All-y choose such a person as the shrine maiden? I and the The Admin of All-y of future turns wish to form the The Admin of All-y Association to expel that turn of The Admin of All-y. ¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D ¡°¡¡¡± I quietly made another cup of coffee and ced it in front of theptop. Have a drink, too. Even though you were wiped out, you did manage to create a fallen one, didn¡¯t you? 9 There is an epilogue. A weekter, a notice was posted on the SGNet novel serialization board. [Literature Girl] This is Oh Dokseo¡¡. (50 minutes ago) [Literature Girl] It¡¯s me. (7 days ago) [Literature Girl] This is Oh Dokseo¡¡. I¡¯m going to take a break to recharge¡¡. (7 years ago) The newly posted notice didn¡¯t contain any of the strange tone or content from before. It simply included an apology for the seven-year hiatus and a promise to be more diligent with the serialization in the future. In the inte world, where only mockery and more refined mockery exist, such a notice should have drawn a flood of malice. -Anonymous: If the author needs a break, shouldn¡¯t we wait patiently? That¡¯s the right attitude for a reader. -[National Road] Officer: To a desert tribe, heaven takes the form of an oasis. What onecks bes a utopia. The novels of Literature Girl are like an oasis in a barren world. -Anonymous: You can take a longer break if you need to, haha. -Anonymous: Thank you foring back!! What is this all about? Just a week ago, these people were discussing whether to kill or spare the author, but now they¡¯ve be meekmbs and turned into Literature Girl¡¯s fanatics. Not a single maliciousment or even a mildly annoying remark could be found. Nodohwa brieflymented on this bizarre phenomenon. ¡°Well, after seeing the head of the Baekhwa¡¯s Student Council get beaten up in front of everyone, who would be crazy enough to leave insults there¡?¡± ¡°Ah.¡± True. As a matter of fact, Oh Dokseo¡¯s The Epilogue of the Regressor enjoyed a second golden age. Rumors spread that the novel was written by such a powerful awakened individual, and people flocked to it, both in SGNet and the real world. Of course, the poprity didn¡¯tst long. [Literature Girl] I tried my best, but... the quality of the writing isn¡¯t satisfactory... I¡¯ll make it up with a burst of chapters tomorrow... (5 days ago) [Literature Girl] The flu anomaly hasn¡¯t gone away yet... (14 days ago) [Literature Girl] Emergency It turns out the flu I caught isn¡¯t just any flu but the ¡®flu anomaly¡¯... I need a few more days off (20 days ago) [Literature Girl] I¡¯ve caught the flu... (25 days ago) [Literature Girl] I¡¯m sorry. I¡¯m too tired to write today. I¡¯ll make it up to you early tomorrow...! (38 days ago) [Literature Girl] Today¡¯s update will be about 30 minuteste. I apologize. (39 days ago) [Literature Girl] This is Oh Dokseo¡¡. (60 days ago) Just looking at the series of updates was dizzying. No matter how powerful Oh Dokseo might be, eventually, readers couldn¡¯t hold back and started crying out ¡°Aww, Oh Dokseo,e on.¡± Well, that¡¯s just how people are. By the way, I had no ill feelings. ¡®After all, it¡¯s not just an ordinary slump but a curse cast by the Alien God.¡¯ In fact, I only cheered for Oh Dokseo, asionally making her coffee as he struggled to write her novel while battling the presence of The Admin of All-y. Ah. So, speaking of what happened to the AI chatbot that dared to dream of the ¡®Return of the Alien God¡¯ despite being wiped out¨D. ¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D >> Please bind yourself to the setting that you are a simple AI and can never regain the stature of the Alien God. ¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D With this simplemand, it was easily neutralized. A fallen one is still a fallen one, and sometimes, things are resolved this easily. ChatGPT-The Admin of All-y sputtered and, in a final dying breath, output what could only be described as a deration of perfect local adaptation. ¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D MSYH >> This game is such a f**king mess. ¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D -The Wicked One. The End. [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] w Chapter 204 [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] w Chapter 204 ©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤ The Antagonist I 1 This story begins with a nightmare. "Undertaker! Hey, Mr Undertaker!" In the dream, someone grabbed my shoulder and shook me violently. I looked closely to see who it was, and it was none other than the ser yer Kim Joocheol. A former fullback, known as the "Iron Wall" during his ying days. Once a sessful professional yer, he lost his family due to a gambling addiction. He eventually reunited with his son, but since I had [Time-Sealed] him, he lost the chance to ever apologize to his child. Now, this man, who has been erased from reality, appeared in my dream, drenched in sweat. "Please help me! Please, save me!" "Wait. Calm down. What''s going on?" "Get me out of this hell! I beg you! Get me out of this eternal 24-hour nightmare!" At that moment, I thought, ¡®Ah. Just a normal nightmare.¡¯ I had used [Time-Seal] to erase a total of 500,000 people. Even though I pride myself on having a stronger mental fortitude than anyone else, as a man with a beautiful mind, even I carry guilt over this matter. This burden of guilt is one of the two things that make me feel superior to Adolf Hitler. (The other, of course, is my artistic skills.) "Mr. Kim Joocheol, this is a dream. You could say that what you''re experiencing is also a dream." "More like a nightmare!" "Yes. It¡¯s a condensed version of our lives, but aren¡¯t you at least living your happiest day in this dream? In a sense, it''s better than real life. After all, you agreed to this, Mr. Kim..." "No! No, it¡¯s not! I never agreed to this!" Kim Joocheol cried out. "You said that after 24 hours, I¡¯d forget everything and live the same day over again!" "Yes, that¡¯s correct." "But it¡¯s different! I keep repeating the same 24 hours! Over and over! Yesterday, the day before, the day before that! I¡¯ve been living the same day for 40 days now!" ¡°¡What?¡± This was a new nightmare. "Please, save me, sir. Please save me. No one believes me when I tell them the day is repeating! Even if they do, after 24 hours, everything resets! This is hell! It¡¯s hell!" Kim Joocheol kept spitting out words, his breath and the angle and thickness of his saliva so vivid that it felt real. "So... Mr. Kim Joocheol, you should only have one day''s worth of memory, but your memories are continuing for some reason. Is that what you¡¯re saying?" "That¡¯s right! Exactly! That¡¯s what I¡¯ve been trying to tell you! ...Oh, no, it¡¯sing. It¡¯sing again!" It¡¯sing? Kim Joocheol suddenly started looking around wildly and began to tremble. He was probably someone who liked to show off, but right now, he was clearly terrified. "Calm down. Please exin it to me slowly. Maybe some sort of anomaly is involved in your situation..." "He¡¯sing!" Kim Joocheol''s scream echoed across the neighborhood, on top of buildings, hanging from the ceiling of the sky. And then, the sky shook. The outline of the sun melted, and its red blood suddenly formed a sunset, and asva flowed by, night descended. All within a mere 5 seconds. It was an anomaly. One I knew well. ¡®The Night Goddess, Nut?¡¯ One of the world-ending scenarios. As the horizon narrows, the world is entirely engulfed by night, and eventually, all existence fades into nothingness. During the 53rd turn, when I was working as an assistant under Factory Owner Noh Doha, the world was destroyed by Nut. It was undoubtedly a terrifying being with the power to melt both the sun and the moon. At least an ocean-ss anomaly. Even so, I hadn¡¯t given Nut much importance in my stories so far. Why? The reason was simple. ¡®That thing¡¯s just a kill-stealer, right?¡¯ An anomaly that only strikes the final blow! It had never once taken the initiative to bring about the end of the world. It only appeared when the monster waves had consumed the surface, or when meteor showers had rained down everywhere, bringing humanity to the brink of extinction, or when the World Tree Udumbara had fully bloomed, covering the sky¨D In short, Nut only showed up when the world¡¯s end was certain. Unlike The Admin of All-y, who at least distributed a game to destroy the world, Nut was focused solely on the final blow. In other words, as long as the world didn¡¯t seem to be on the verge of copse, there was no need to worry about that anomaly. ¡®But why did that thing suddenly appear in my dream?¡¯ Swoosh. Despite my confusion, the Night Goddess quickly submerged the world in the night sky. The buildings that had stood in the dream were all cut down by the sharp darkness of the night sky and fell into the abyss. Nothing was visible. "Ah! Ahhhhh!" Kim Joocheol clung to me, wrapping his arms around my torso, crying out. "I don¡¯t want to be eaten! S-save me! I don¡¯t want to fall into hell! Save me¨D¨D." But his scream didn¡¯tst long. Crash. With the sound of shattering ss, the night sky''s darkness grabbed Kim Joocheol by the neck. He couldn¡¯t even scream. No blood spurted from the severed area. The part of him consumed by Nut simply turned into ¡®nothingness.¡¯ In an empty world, I was left alone. A familiar sensation. A familiar scene. "......" Disliking it, the me in the dream closed my eyes. Simultaneously, the real me opened mine. [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] w The nightmare ended with the weight of Kim Joocheol''s headless body pressing against my chest. "......" "Ah. Doctor Jang, are you awake?" I heard the voice of the Saintess. Turning my head, I saw I was in the Yongsan House. The Saintess¡¯ home, which she had decorated with an aquarium, and I was lying on her sofa. I moved the pillow off my chest and sat up. Last night, we had been studying together, and since it got toote, I had stayed over for a bit. "Please wait a moment. I¡¯ll make you some morning coffee. You¡¯re always the one doing things for me, so this time, I want to serve you." ¡°¡Thank you.¡± The shadows of the fish swimming in the aquarium swayed faintly across my forearm. I sipped the coffee the Saintess had made for me (instant, a brand known for its golden packaging) and opened my mouth to speak. ¡°Saintess.¡± ¡°Yes?¡± ¡°There¡¯s something I¡¯d like to consult with you about.¡± A tilt of the head. The Saintess¡¯s water-colored hair tilted along with her head. 2 ¡°I see. Originally, this anomaly only appeared at the moment of the world''s end, but it suddenly showed up in your dream...¡± ¡°Yes. I¡¯m curious as to what this might signify.¡± ¡°Hmm...¡± After listening to my exnation, the Saintess rested her chin on her hand. This was the 267th turn. In both the past and the present, the Saintess had been the best partner for discussing matters rted to these anomalies. After all, the ¡®Constetion¡¯ before me, who watched over the Awakened in Korea 24/7, had encountered more of these anomalies than anyone else¡ªexcept for me. Given that, the Saintess didn¡¯t simply brush off my concerns with something like, ¡°It¡¯s probably just a meaningless dream, right?¡± She understood well that dreams were the closest void to humanity. ¡°I don¡¯t know exactly what it means for an anomaly to appear in a dream. I¡¯ve never had such an experience myself. However, something has been on my mind ever since I heard your story.¡± ¡°What is it? Please feel free to tell me.¡± ¡°¡If this is just me being overly self-conscious, it¡¯s quite embarrassing.¡± The Saintess took a small breath. ¡°Could it be because of me?¡± I blinked. ¡°Pardon?¡± ¡°¡As you know, the Constetion system we¡¯ve established is a highly advanced ¡®anomaly surveince system.¡¯ If an Awakened everes into contact with a dangerous anomaly, I immediately receive visual information, which I then ry to you.¡± ¡°That¡¯s correct.¡± I nodded. Thanks to the protection of the Constetion, I am able to receive ¡®emergency alerts¡¯ and respond to disaster areas instantly. Unlike most regressors who adhere strictly to individualism and elitism, I am also a believer in systematic approaches. I take pride in the fact that we have established a fairly effective system. ¡°Don¡¯t you think that might be something very inconvenient for the anomalies?¡± ¡°From the anomalies¡¯ perspective...?¡± ¡°Yes. Reality is too unfavorable for them. But it¡¯s different in dreams. Even when I use my [irvoyance], all I can see in the eyes of a sleeping Awakened is the darkness behind their eyelids.¡± ¡°¡!¡± My eyes widened. It was like being lightly struck on the back of the head. I hadn¡¯t considered that perspective. ¡°You¡¯re saying that the anomalies might be escaping into dreams to avoid your [irvoyance]?¡± ¡°Perhaps. More urately, they might be avoiding the alliance between you and me. Once they¡¯re detected by me, they know they¡¯ll be caught by you, so to the anomalies, we probably seem like one being.¡± ¡°Oh...¡± ¡°Of course, it¡¯s unlikely that the anomalies have human-like intelligence that would allow them to act with a purpose, such as ¡®let¡¯s flee into dreams.¡¯ But as a result, some anomalies might be thriving more in dreams than in reality, much like living organisms.¡± I rubbed my chin. That makes sense! So, let¡¯s consider an anomaly called ¡®A.¡¯ A is an anomaly that can operate both in reality and in dreams, much like the tutorial fairy or Koyori. Now, let¡¯s see it from A¡¯s perspective: ? Reality: If it kills a human, soon after, a terrifyingly powerful being (me) wille and retaliate. The strategy to defeat it is shared in the virtual world (SG Net), where no weaknesses are apparent. ? Dream: It can wander freely without dying. While there¡¯s a risk of running into a scary older sister (Koyori) if it falls too deeply into the unconscious, it''s rtively safe as long as that¡¯s avoided. If given the choice between an inevitable confrontation with the mortician or a dangerous but avoidable confrontation with Koyori, any rational anomaly would choose the ¡®dream¡¯¨D¨D. That was the Saintess¡¯s hypothesis. ¡°To put it more urately, anomalies that remain in reality are naturally nearing extinction.¡± ¡°I see. You¡¯re saying that some form of natural selection is taking ce.¡± ¡°Yes.¡± The Saintess added, ¡°To the anomalies, you are not just a mere human. You are a part of ¡®nature¡¯ itself¡ªa force that exerts evolutionary pressure capable of driving them to extinction.¡± ¡°¡¡.¡± ¡°To us humans, anomalies have always been that way; perhaps to them, you are that way.¡± Should I be pleased about this or not? On one hand, I felt a sense of pride knowing that I hadn¡¯t wasted my life as a regressor. On the other, I felt repulsed by the thought of these anomalies now thriving even in dreams despite all my efforts. With mixed emotions, I put down my coffee cup. ¡°Thank you. That was an excellent hypothesis. I¡¯ll keep your words in mind as I investigate this anomaly.¡± ¡°You¡¯re nning to check out the crystal tombstone of that Kim Joocheol, right?¡± ¡°Yes. It¡¯s in Busan, so I¡¯ll take the Inunaki Tunnel to get there.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll go with you.¡± Before I could even respond, I blinked, and in that brief moment, the Saintess¡¯s outfit hadpletely changed. Just 0.1 seconds ago, she was wearing afortable t-shirt, but now she was fully armed in a long coat for an expedition. Her backpack, filled with the necessary tools for void exploration, and her signature hand axes were hanging from it. The Saintess spoke with a nk expression. ¡°I¡¯ve always been interested in your [Time Seal] ability. I¡¯d like to take this opportunity to see the scenery inside the tombstone as well.¡± Her tone was so firm that the idea of refusing didn¡¯t even cross my mind, and I couldn¡¯t help butugh. ¡°Alright. I¡¯ll dly guide you.¡± To the graveyard I created in the past. We set off together to a hell that I had never revealed to any guild members. [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] w Chapter 205 [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] w Chapter 205 ©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤ The Antagonist II 3 There were times when someone was taken into the gravestone where the [Time Seal] was performed. Even the gravestone of the ser yer Kim Joocheol was entered with his son, Kim Sieun. But this was the first time I had ever shown thendscape inside a gravestone to someone as close as the Saintess. ¡°¨D¨DThis is it.¡± The Saintess, holding my hand, looked around, her eyes wide. ¡°This is the heaven I¡¯ve heard of, where the happiest 24 hours repeat endlessly.¡± I cleared my throat. ¡°Heaven is a bit of an exaggeration.¡± ¡°From the perspective of a regressor like you, it might seem that way. But for ordinary people who have to worry about daily survival, this ce is one of the best choices.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know. Isn¡¯t it better to ask the fairies for a cup of dreams at the casino instead of being subjected to the [Time Seal]?¡± ¡°Even that casino was created as an option by you.¡± ¡°¡¡¡± ¡°But it¡¯s quiet here.¡± As everyone knows, Kim Joocheol¡¯s dream took ce in a ser stadium. The match where he performed brilliantly in front of his family, achieving perfect sess in honor, money, and love, was endlessly repeated. However, the stadium, which should have been filled with the cheers of the crowd, was, as the Saintess described, ¡®quiet.¡¯ ¡°Hmm.¡± A little too quiet. ¡°It seems everyone is asleep.¡± ¡°Indeed, it¡¯s strange.¡± A world where everyone had fallen asleep. All the people seated in the stands were fast asleep. Only an eerie silence lingered. It wasn¡¯t just the audience. Even the yers who should have been running around kicking the ball were copsed on the field. Among them was Kim Joocheol, the owner of this ce, who had appeared in my dream as a nightmare to deliver a warning. Kim Joocheol, who had reverted to his prime, was lying down, clutching a ser ball. ¡°Kim Joocheol. Mr. Kim Joocheol.¡± ¡°¡¡¡± ¡°Can you hear me? Sieun¡¯s father. Sieun¡¯s father.¡± I tapped his cheek, but he showed no sign of waking up. Even when I channeled aura through his body, there was no response. It was as if he was in a state of suspended animation. All ten thousand people gathered in the stadium hadpletely lost consciousness. Considering that they were all mere illusions, it was a form of pseudo-death. I quickly made a decision. ¡°It seems we need to call the tutorial fairy to scan these people''s unconscious minds. And Saintess.¡± ¡°Yes?¡± ¡°Don¡¯t let go of my hand, and absolutely do not consume any food or drink here. You might be tempted to grab something from the vending machine, but if you eat anything, you could be cursed like in the myth of Persephone.¡± ¡°Ah¡¡.¡± We re-entered the gravestone with the tutorial fairy. Using the fairy¡¯s ability, we entered Kim Joocheol¡¯s dream. Then, apletely different scene unfolded before our eyes. -Screams! -Help! Please, help! The stadium seats were half-destroyed by fire, reduced to ruins. People were running around madly, screaming. -Another day is starting! -Someone stop that murderous bastard! -Hehe. It doesn¡¯t matter since we¡¯ll alle back to life after a day anyway! Kill! Go ahead and kill, bastards! It wasn¡¯t just screams; blood was sttered everywhere. People were brawling with their fists, some trying to detach the seats to use them as shields, others swinging clubs or baseball bats they had found somewhere. ¡°Everyone, stay back! Hold your positions!¡± Kim Joocheol was desperately trying to protect his wife and young son. The ser yers, at least, seemed somewhat safe as they formed teams. I held the Saintess¡¯s hand and approached the group of ser yers. Kim Joocheol turned towards me and shouted loudly. ¡°Hey! Don¡¯te any closer! I¡¯ll kill you!¡± ¡°Mr. Kim Joocheol. It¡¯s me, Doctor Jang.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll really kill you¡¡. Huh? Huh?¡± Kim Joocheol¡¯s eyes blinked rapidly. ¡°You, Doctor Jang? Is it really you?¡± ¡°Of course. Doctor Jang. Aren¡¯t werades who survived the Busan Station tutorial dungeon together?¡± ¡°Ah! Ah!¡± Kim Joocheol dropped the baseball bat in his hand and ran to embrace me. My shoulder was soon wet. Tears flowed from the eyes of the young man who had be middle-aged. ¡°Why, why are you onlying now? Huh? You¡¯re not an illusion, right? Oh my god. Why are you onlying now, man¡¡¡± I could only pat Kim Joocheol¡¯s back, not understanding what was happening. Not only me, but also the Saintess beside me, the tutorial fairy, and even Kim Joocheol¡¯s wife and teammates, all wore expressions of confusion. ¡°Calm down, Mr. Kim Joocheol. Exin to me slowly. You said you were waiting for me, but how long could you have waited when your memory resets every day¡¡¡± ¡°1,000 days!¡± I paused. ¡°What?¡± ¡°I¡¯ve been waiting for over 1,000 days! I¡¯ve repeated this hellish day more than 1,000 times! Not just me, but everyone!¡± ¡°¡¡¡± ¡°This, this is hell! Doctor Jang! Please, get me, get us out of here!¡± My jaw dropped in shock. What on earth was going on? 4 It was dangerous near the stadium because of the mobs of hundreds, thousands of people. We moved to the slopes of Mount Gu-bong, which Kim Joocheol said was ¡®rtively safe.¡¯ Looking back from the hillside, we could see that the Seo-gu district of Busan, including the ser stadium, was burning. ¡°¡At some point, I started feeling like I was repeating the same day.¡± This was Kim Joocheol¡¯s exnation. ¡°Then memories of you, Doctor Jang, suddenly came to mind. Ah, this is a dream. I¡¯ve already died in reality, and I¡¯m doing this nonsense here.¡± ¡°¡¡¡± ¡°But I didn¡¯t really care much. After all, it was something I had epted. Huh? I thought it didn¡¯t matter since I would forget everything after time passed and live on as if nothing happened. But¡¡¡± However, the memories continued. Even after 24 hours passed, the ¡®Continue ying¡¯ button was forcibly activated. ¡°Damn it. No matter how happy the memory was, repeating the exact same day over and over was torture. You were right, Doctor Jang. Forgetfulness was a blessing.¡± Kim Joocheol sighed. ¡°So, at first, I tried to tell the people around me. That the world was repeating. That after 24 hours, we would live the exact same day again¡¡.¡± ¡°¡¡¡± ¡°At first, people looked at me like I was talking nonsense. I felt bad, but I understood. But then, after about 20 or 30 times? Maybe after about a month of repeating the same day¨D¡± The anomaly began at the bar he visited with his teammates after the game. ¡°Suddenly, the bar employee said this to me.¡± ¡®Excuse me, sir, didn¡¯t youe here yesterday too?¡¯ ¡°That was the beginning. It started happening one by one. The bar staff, my teammates sitting at the same table. The customers at the other tables.¡± ¡®Hey. Isn¡¯t this TV always the same?¡¯ ¡®What the hell? Didn¡¯t we meet here yesterday too?¡¯ ¡®The food here tastes the same every day.¡¯ ¡°Soon enough, even my wife realized.¡± An epidemic. The so-called ¡®regression virus¡¯ began to spread rapidly. The infection order seemed to start with those who had close contact with Kim Joocheol on that day. And so the day continued to repeat. [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] w Even when time reset, for some reason, the ¡®regression virus¡¯ was not reset. The infected people spread the virus further. - Huh? Wasn¡¯t today Saturday? - What, what is this? Didn¡¯t this match happen yesterday? The bar customers spread it to their families, the yers to the opposing team yers, the yers to the supporters, and the supporters to other citizens. The ¡®regression virus¡¯ spread rapidly. The problem was that this was only a half-baked regression. That is, it was merely the ¡®repetition of the same 24 hours forever.¡¯ ¡°Mister, this might sound strange, but did yesterday¡ no, the day before yesterday also¡¡± ¡°You feel it too? Something¡¯s wrong, right?¡± ¡°Wait a second. I have a friend at the TV station. I¡¯ll give them a call¡¡± People tried to alert those around them to the emergency and solve it somehow. But that only helped the contagion spread, bit by bit. By the time the 100th day had passed, the virus, which started in a small bar near a ser stadium, hadpletely engulfed the entire Seo-gu district of Busan. ¡°Again, the day has started again¡¡± ¡°What on earth is the problem?¡± ¡°What is the government doing?¡± The citizens also tried to resolve the situation, rallying around officials, police, and others. They informed the media and the inte about Busan¡¯s predicament and requested help from the government. They even managed to get in touch with the government. But once 24 hours passed, everything reset. ¡°Why isn¡¯t the government doing anything? Didn¡¯t the professor say he got a direct promise from Mayor Jung Sangguk?¡± ¡°Well¡ I¡¯m sorry, but it seems like people other than us have no idea that the day is repeating.¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°We¡¯re the only ones who know that the day is repeating. The others have no idea. So, any promises made 24 hours ago are all forgotten.¡± Istion. Quarantine. The truth was that the ¡°regression virus¡± epidemic had never spread beyond Seo-gu in Busan. Only the citizens there could realize that the 24 hours were repeating. Just as an entire city would be physically quarantined during a zombie outbreak, the citizens of this ce were being ¡°quarantined in time.¡± ¡°No, this can¡¯t be happening!¡± ¡°Isn¡¯t there anything we can do?¡± Still, the citizens refused to face the truth. They believed that a solution would somehow emerge if they informed the government of this absurd situation. Leaving behind the elderly professor who had confessed that securing a promise from a politician had been useless, the citizens devised their own means. ¡°We need to make this such a big deal that the whole world can¡¯t help but notice!¡± ¡°That¡¯s right! We have to make it so serious that within 24 hours, both the government and the entire nation realize how dire the situation is!¡± ¡°H-how?¡± ¡°Let¡¯s stage a riot! Create a bloodbath so that the world takes notice and sees this as a serious disturbance.¡± ¡°Ah¡¡± ¡°People need to get hurt for the government to act urgently. The media will flock here and start covering us.¡± ¡°Everyone, let¡¯s harden our resolve and go for it!¡± It was literally a desperate measure. The carefully nned riot certainly caused a massive stir. It even resulted in fatalities. The bloodshed among ordinary citizens shocked Busan, and they quickly dispatched police forces. ¡°Ahhhh! It¡¯s working! It¡¯s working!¡± ¡°Look at the TV! The government is making an announcement! They acted before the day reset!¡± ¡°We¡¯re saved!¡± ¡°Something will work out now!¡± Even with blood streaming down their heads, even as they were arrested by the police, the citizens shed tears of joy. They thought they were finally escaping hell. But 24 hourster... ¡°Ah.¡± ¡°We¡¯ve returned again. But now that everyone in the country knows, something will be done.¡± Nothing was done. It was, in fact, the final blow. ¡°¡No one knows?¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°No one in the government knows. They have no idea¡ that the day is repeating.¡± That¡¯s right. After causing such amotion, the citizens had no choice but to confront the harsh truth. One: The regression virus only spreads in the Seo-gu district. Two: It does not spread even slightly beyond that area. The reason was simple. ¨D¨DThis day, in fact, wasn¡¯t implemented beyond the range of ser yer Kim Joocheol¡¯s movements. [Time Seal] wasn¡¯t omnipotent. Only the data necessary to create a happy day for Kim Joocheol was built. Only the area sufficient for Kim Joocheol to enjoy his day was allocated. Beyond that, even though it looked like something was happening, and people appeared to be moving around just the same, it was all just an illusion¡ªa virtual ¡°image.¡± ¡°What? Why are we the only ones repeating the day¡¡± ¡°Damn it, what¡¯s going on?¡± The citizens couldn¡¯t deduce the cause. They were simply faced with the fact that the same day had repeated a hundred times, two hundred times, three hundred times, four hundred times, and more. Eventually... ¡°A-ahhh! Ahhh!¡± At a certain point, the public order around them rapidly copsed. The leaders who had suggested active solutions like ¡°Let¡¯s inform the government¡± or ¡°Let¡¯s start a riot¡± lost their support. No, the people who had been leaders fell into despair. No matter what they tried, they couldn¡¯t escape from the ¡°repeating 24 hours.¡± Even if they killed someone, even if someone died, everything would return to its original state. ¡°Wait! Calm down! If we at least form a society among ourselves¡¡± ¡°Shut up! My family is in Incheon!¡± Attempts to assemble some form ofmunity repeatedly failed. The rule of this space-time¡ª¡°Even if you kill someone, everything resets¡±¡ªwas too harsh. In a situation where everyone was forced into extreme stress, fights easily broke out, and every time they fought, anyone could easily kill the other. ¡°Life¡± was the most fundamental element of society. Long before the gold standard was invented, manpower,bor, and ¡°human time¡± had always served as the basis of society. Morals. Work. Rtionships. With the value of life reduced to nothing, the society of Homo sapiens copsed in an instant. And then... ¡°This is¡ Doctor Jang. Maybe this is all my fault¡¡± Having witnessed everything, Kim Joocheol was terrified. ¡°You know. I made that wish to you, Doctor Jang, for that, what was it¡ Time something¡?¡± ¡°[Time Seal], you mean.¡± ¡°Ah! Yes, yes. That¡¯s right. The Time Seal bound me¡ Maybe others got caught up in it too¡¡± Kim Joocheol¡¯s voice dropped to a whisper, afraid that someone nearby might hear him. His eyes were filled with a heavy guilt, self-loathing, and fear. He murmured with his head lowered. ¡°If that¡¯s the case, doesn¡¯t this usually end when the source dies? But I¡¯ve already died a few times, and still¡¡± ¡°No.¡± I shook my head. ¡°It¡¯s not your fault, Kim Joocheol.¡± ¡°Is that so¡?¡± ¡°Yes. In the first ce, Kim Joocheol. This space is not reality. It¡¯s merely thest trace you left in the world and a fleeting dream.¡± ¡°Oh¡¡± ¡°The bar staff, your teammates, your wife. They¡¯re not real people but figments of your imagination.¡± ¡°¡¡¡± ¡°There¡¯s no fundamental difference between the people here and the people beyond Busan. The only difference is that the illusions here are implemented in more detail, while the ones beyond are roughly sketched out. The people beyond Busan don¡¯t realize the day is repeating because they don¡¯t have the capability to perceive it.¡± Gulp. Gulp. Kim Joocheol opened and closed his mouth. ¡°R-right. That¡¯s it. You¡¯re right¡ But Doctor Jang, from my perspective, no matter how I look at it, the people¡¡± At that moment, Kim Joocheol looked up at me. Then he grabbed my feet. ¡°Please save us.¡± ¡°¡¡¡± ¡°Please don¡¯t abandon us. Doctor Jang, no, God! God. Aren¡¯t you like the Creator who made this world? Yes? Didn¡¯t you promise at the beginning? That you would let us dwell in an eternally happy day. But this¡ God, this is different. This is hell¡¡± ¡°Please calm down.¡± I took his trembling hand with my free hand. ¡°And don¡¯t worry. This is my responsibility, and I will resolve the situation for you.¡± ¡°Ah¡¡± ¡°If there¡¯s any fault to be found, it lies not with you, Kim Joocheol, but with me. And with the anomaly behind this.¡± Swoosh. I turned my gaze and made eye contact with the saintess. She seemed to understand the meaning in my eyes and nodded slightly. ¡°Thanks to your exnation, I now have a good idea of this anomaly.¡± Valha. The underworld where, even after dying, one revives and endlessly repeats the same day, engaging in ceaseless ughter. For now, that anomaly had descended upon this ¡°graveyard.¡± [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] w Chapter 206 [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] w Chapter 206 ©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤ The Antagonist III 5 We decided to leave the tombstone and return to reality. No matter how real the Crystal Graveyard felt, it was ultimately a world of my own creation¡ªa world of fantasy. We needed to return to reality to make some preparations. Of course, Kim Joocheol was terrified. "Doctor Jang! You can''t just leave us like this. You must return. If you don''t, we really will...!" "I''ll return within a week, at thetest. Please protect your wife and child while you wait." "A week..." Kim Joocheol was trembling with fear. After calming him down and escaping from the graveyard, we were greeted by the fresh air. A ser stadium turned to ruins. But unlike the burning chaos that engulfed the entire Seo-gu district of Busan inside the graveyard, the real-world vige was quiet. "...I never realized before. Time travel can push a person''s mind to such extremes." The Saintess, still holding my hand, muttered beside me. "Kim Joocheol and the citizens were driven to madness, but if you look at it calmly, it''s only been 1,000 days. Not even three full years have repeated. And yet, they''re like this..." She nced at me. I knew what she wanted to say. I''ve been a time traveler for thousands of years, yet I seem rtively sane. I shrugged. "I keep living through my life, but they only relive a single day." "...Is that really the only reason?" "Anyway, let''s move quickly. Even if he''s forgotten in the real world, I don''t want to leave Kim Joocheol like that." "I agree." We traveled across Busan. Our goal was simple: to observe whether simr phenomena urred in the Crystal Tombstones where people other than Kim Joocheol were sealed. The result? "Hmm." I let out a groan. "They''re all infected." It wasn''t just Kim Joocheol. After checking only 50 tombstones, I found that all 50 people were infected with the "24-hour time loop virus." We had to assume that the roughly 500,000 [Time-Sealed] individuals across the Korean Penins were all infected with the same anomaly. Moreover, after traveling around Busan all day, we discovered another fact. "Doctor Jang. It seems that this is also affecting people in the real world." "Hmm." That''s right. As we saw in the tombstone, many ordinary citizens appeared in Kim Joocheol''s dream. Most of them had died or gone missing during the apocalypse in reality. But about one-tenth of them were still alive, living in Seo-gu, Busan. These survivors, that is, the ordinary citizens who appeared in Kim Joocheol''s dream, were¡ªsomehow¡ª"sleeping for longer periods" in reality. "Sigh. Don''t get me started. The weather''s been so hottely that I keep getting strange thoughts." We managed to get specific testimony from one of the survivors, a ser yer who had once been on the same team as Kim Joocheol. (Of course, he had no memory of Kim Joocheol or the fact that he was repeating the same 24 hours in his dream.) "What kind of strange thoughts...?" "Hmm. It''s hard to exin, but it''s like d¨¦j¨¤ vu? You know, that feeling that you''ve experienced something before? I''ve been getting that feeling a lottely." "......" An abnormal symptom. If it had been just this one person, we could have dismissed it as a case of heatstroke, but every survivor we found in Seo-gu reported the same symptom. While the severity varied, they all shared themon experience of d¨¦j¨¤ vu. All of them were citizens who had gone mad, infected with the time-loop virus in Kim Joocheol''s dream. "...Wait a minute." The Saintess''s expression darkened like never before as the investigation progressed. "Doctor Jang. Didn''t you say that the number of people who have been time-sealed nationwide exceeds 500,000?" "That''s correct." "...So, if all 500,000 people are infected with the time-loop virus, and if everyone appearing in their dreams is also infected, and the symptoms are manifesting in reality as well..." I nodded. "Yes. It won''t be long before the entire Korean Penins starts experiencing the same symptoms." 6 An emergency meeting of the Time Travelers'' Alliance was convened. I briefly wrote on the ckboard to inform the members of the ''unknown anomaly'' and its impact. ¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D [Anomaly''s Identity = Nut?] 1. Inside the Crystal Tombstones, the sealed individuals are experiencing a ''24-hour time loop.'' 2. Originally, their memories should reset every 24 hours, but for some reason, the memories are being retained. 3. This phenomenon is spreading to the people around them. 4. The anomaly is not only manifesting inside the tombstones but also in reality. People affected by it in reality are experiencing a sense of d¨¦j¨¤ vu. ¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D After hearing the exnation, Noh Doha frowned. "Damn it. What kind of anomaly is this now? Are you saying that an epidemic is spreading through dreams? And that people around the world are bing half-time travelers because of it...?" "We still don''t know for sure." I spoke calmly. "But it seems likely that multiple anomalies have ovepped. I''d like to ask all of you as well: have you been experiencing strong feelings of d¨¦j¨¤ vutely?" The members looked at each other. Seo Gyu was the first to speak. "Come to think of it... this morning while eating breakfast, I had this strong feeling, like, ''I''ve seen this exact scene before somewhere.''" "M-me too." Sim Aryeon hesitated before speaking. "Last time, when the guild master asked me to draw that... The Admin of All-y? Anyway, the picture of the blue butterfly. While I was drawing, I thought, ''Wait, haven''t I drawn this exact same thing before?''" "I have had simr experiences as well." Yoo Jiwon agreed. "I thought it was just my imagination, but if it''s an anomaly, that would make sense. To be honest, even this scene in the meeting room feels strangely familiar." As expected. I have time-sealed a total of 500,000 people. It¡¯s highly likely that Seo Gyu, Sim Aryeon, and Yoo Jiwon appeared in the dreams of one of those 500,000 at some point. "This anomaly likely involves multiple ovepping concepts. It seems ''Valha'' is part of it." "Valha? The ce in Norse mythology where warriors keep killing each other even in the afterlife, right...?" "Precisely." Valha. One of the realms of the afterlife. The souls of warriors invited to Valha fight and kill each other every morning, only to be resurrected by evening. "The concept of an afterlife where the same ''day'' repeats endlessly only exists in Valha." "Hmm..." "This anomaly likely has the ability to manipte the concept of the afterlife. Hell, the abyss. A ce where souls that have vanished from reality gather." Tap, tap. I wrote on the chalkboard as I exined. [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] w "The people I sealed with [Time Seal]pletely disappear from this reality. In a way, the inside of the crystal tombstone is no different from the afterlife. At least, this anomaly seems to define it that way." "...So, you''re saying the anomaly has corrupted your tombstones?" "Correct." I affirmed the Saintess''s words. "More precisely, the ultimate goal is probably to corrupt me, Doctor Jang." "...Corrupt you." "When you think about it, what people experience inside the crystal tombstones is just a ''miniature'' version of what I go through. I''m a regressor, and these people also experience regression, even if it''s only for 24 hours. Although I don''t like using this analogy..." Tap. I added more to the chalkboard. ¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D [Doctor Jang = Alien god] -Regression ability, Perfect memory ability [Kim Joocheol and other sealers = Apostles] -Regression ability (24 hours), Memory ability ¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D I turned to face the others. "If pushes to shove, this scenario could very well be reality." "...!" The Saintess''s eyes widened. "If you''re on the same level as the Alien god, then the strategy would be to attack and bring down the apostles first...?" "Yes. Not that I am the Alien god, but the anomaly treats me as such." It''s the ssic strategy of striking down the lieutenants to get to the general. "To do this, the anomaly would need to make me and the apostles as simr as possible. Now, what was the biggest difference between me and Kim Joocheol?" "...Memory." "Exactly. Not only am I aware that I''m regressing, but I also remember everything perfectly thanks to my [Perfect Memory Ability]. However, Kim Joocheol had no idea that the same 24 hours were repeating." So, the anomaly forces them to be more alike. It defines Kim Joocheol as a ''replica'' of Doctor Jang. Not just Kim Joocheol, but all 500,000 time-sealed individuals are forced to resemble Doctor Jang in some way. And if the anomaly can bring all 500,000 people under its influence or make them experience hell¨D¨D. "It could also deliver a blow to me." "......" "I believe this is the kind of calction the anomaly has made. It''s still in the realm of spection, though." Silence filled the meeting room. Noh Doha, unfazed by the silence, leaned on his chin crookedly. "In short, this anomaly is targeting you..." "That''s correct. Whether it had a purpose or intent, the result is that I was indeed targeted." "Is this amon urrence? I mean, is it normal for an anomaly to specifically target a person and execute a detailed strategy...?" "¨D¨DNo." It was not I but the Saintess who answered Noh Doha''s question. "To the anomalies, you''re not human." "......" "To begin with, anomalies don''t distinguish between humans and non-humans. Everything is just a phenomenon to them. It''s just that the 500,000 afterlives you''ve created seem like a tempting prey to this anomaly." I agreed with the Saintess''s perspective. "In any case, it''s clear that an anomaly capable of toying with ''afterlife'' or ''hell'' is extremely dangerous. We must act as quickly as possible..." "Doctor Jang." The Saintess interrupted me. It was a rare urrence, so I was a bit surprised. Now that I think about it, the fact that the Saintess, who usually participated remotely via [Telepathy], was attending the meeting in person at the National Road Management Headquarters was itself unusual. "What''s the matter?" "I''m sorry. But I thought it was urgent to inform you right away. Please check the post that was uploaded to SGNet 30 seconds ago." I took out my smartphone. Although there were many posts being uploaded in real-time since it was midday, I instinctively knew which post the Saintess was referring to just by the title. -Anonymous: This World is Regressing. I immediately clicked on the post. -Anonymous: This World is Regressing. -Sorry for the serious topic. But I couldn¡¯t bear the pain any longer, so I picked up my smartphone. -The truth is, I''ve been feeling d¨¦j¨¤ vu for a while now. -Whether I wake up in the morning or lie down at night, the sense that I''ve seen this exact scene somewhere before is so vivid that it feels strange. -But today, I finally realized. This isn¡¯t d¨¦j¨¤ vu. I¡¯ve really gone through this exact situation several times, and simr ones tens of thousands of times. -The Ten ns have been exterminated countless times. I''ve gone to war to capture meteor showers dozens, hundreds of times. It¡¯s actually strange that I didn¡¯t realize it sooner. -Everyone will think I''m talking nonsense, but I''m serious. Maybe this very thought is because an anomaly has possessed me, but the d¨¦j¨¤ vu is too vivid. -My head feels like it¡¯s going to explode. It¡¯s unbearable. When I close my eyes, I see myself dying over and over, hundreds of times. -My skull has been shattered, my intestines have been severed, my limbs have been pierced, and my whole body has been torn apart. -I want to die. No, I¡¯m already dying. Why is this horrible thing happening to me? -I¡¯m not crazy. The world is. "......" I wasn¡¯t the only one who confirmed the post. Everyone who heard the Saintess was also checking SGNet. Seo Gyu was flustered. "H-Hyung. Should we... block this? Thements are increasing in real-time..." "Don¡¯t force censorship. Use the hero syndrome macro to push it to the back pages. If we intervene clumsily, it could get worse." "Oh. Y-Yes." Despite saying that, both I and everyone present felt it. This was just a temporary measure. The ''enemy''s'' attack was likely just beginning in earnest. [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] w Chapter 207 [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] w Chapter 207 ©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤ The Antagonist IV 7 Despite the onught from the enemy, presumably an anomaly at the level of an alien god, we did not panic. Not only I, but the entire Regressors'' Alliance, who now hold the reins of power in Korea, remained calm. It was only natural. - Another virus? - These anomalies seem tock imagination, always relying on gues to mess with humanity... - So, is this one stronger than COVID? Yes. At this point, Korea has gained too much experience to be rmed by an epidemic andment the end of the world. Through the Constetion Chat and SG-Net, we issued a notice stating, ¡°A currently unidentified virus is rampant, so we ask all citizens to respond proficiently.¡± The citizens quicklyplied. Maintaining distance, isting by neighborhood zones, creating schedules to avoid ovepping routes, and so on. However, this ''Return Virus'' was a bit different. It was powerful enough to scorn the preventive traditions Korea had built up over a long time. ¡°How on earth are we supposed to stop symptoms that spread through dreams¡?¡± Noh Doha summed up the difficulty in a single sentence. ¡°Diseases transmitted through the real world can at least be contained or dealt with, but this one spreads simply by appearing in someone¡¯s dream, someone who¡¯s under [Time Seal]¡¡± ¡°I¡¯ve sent the tutorial fairies into the dreams of the symptomatic.¡± ¡°Do you really think those shrieking vending machines can stop a disease¡?¡± ¡°No. They can only buy us some time at best.¡± In short, it''s impossible to quarantine. No matter howposed and calm the Korean leadership was, the situation was nothing short of dire. Without reaching the peak of aura mastery, it¡¯s impossible for a human to go long without sleep. Everyone sleeps, and everyone was infected through their dreams. Even though only a day had passed, the chaos on SG-Net was enough to show how severe the situation was. - Anonymous: [Virus] I¡¯m losing my mind; every time I close my eyes, I keep seeing scenes of my death from previous turns. - Anonymous: [Virus] The world is repeating, and this life is just one of countless copies. - Anonymous: [Virus] For those who haven¡¯t been infected yet, here¡¯s what to expect.txt - Anonymous: [Virus] This is hell. The desperate pleas of those infected with the virus were pouring in. I personally met and interviewed some of them. The reported symptoms of the ¡®Return Virus¡¯ were generally consistent. ¡°The, the world is repeating! I¡¯m sure of it! Look! I¡¯ve definitely had this conversation with you before!¡± Symptom 1: A strong sense of d¨¦j¨¤ vu. When the symptoms were mild, it was just a slight d¨¦j¨¤ vu, but as the disease worsened, the d¨¦j¨¤ vu became overwhelming. ¡°Please calm down. Sir, this is the first time we¡¯ve met. Even if there was a previous turn, we¡¯ve never had a conversation like this.¡± ¡°N-no. You just haven¡¯t realized it yet. Yes. You¡¯re so calm because you haven¡¯t realized that the world is repeating!¡± ¡°¡¡¡± Who would have thought I¡¯d be lectured about regression in my lifetime? As I felt a strange mix of emotions, the patient trembled and bit his nails. His pupils had already lost focus. ¡°Your expression... those eyes, I¡¯ve seen them all before. It¡¯s all useless. We¡¯re going to die again. And repeat again. And live the same life as if nothing happened... I don¡¯t want to die. I don¡¯t want to live¡¡± ¡°Hm.¡± Symptom 2: An extreme fear of regression. This symptom was quite odd because most people fantasize about bing a regressor to live a better life. In fact, this characteristic stemmed from the first symptom. If you were really a regressor in a story, you would enjoy carving out apletely ¡®new¡¯ pathpared to your previous life. But the Return Virus was different. The most malicious aspect of this disease is that it makes the infected feel that everything they think and do has already been ¡®repeated thousands, tens of thousands of times.¡¯ No matter how new your actions seem, it¡¯s no use. Whether ying a newly released game or reading a new novel by your favorite author, the infected feel they¡¯ve experienced it all before. Inevitably. No matter what choice you make¡ªan overwhelming sense of d¨¦j¨¤ vu. In other words... ¡°Maybe we should call it the D¨¦j¨¤ Vu Virus rather than the Return Virus.¡± And most importantly, this wasn¡¯t about actually realizing you¡¯ve regressed like I did. When I questioned a patient about events from previous turns, they could only list vague details. When asked about the future, they would just ramble incoherently. But even if it¡¯s all just an illusion, we can¡¯t let our guard down. After finishing the interview, I found Noh Doha leaning against the wall. He looked at me. ¡°Today alone, 136 suicides have been discovered. There are likely many more we haven¡¯t found yet...¡± ¡°¡¡¡± ¡°People infected with the virus fall into two categories. Either they exhibit extreme violence, or they suffer from severe apathy. The former kills others, and thetter kills themselves. What kind of ridiculous disease is this...¡± Noh Doha pulled on his ck leather gloves. Under the dim lights, the outline of his long fingers tightened clearly. ¡°So, what do you n to do...?¡± ¨D¨DNoh Doha¡¯s question had two implications. One was, of course, a genuine inquiry about what we should do. No matter how elusive the tutorial fairies were, protecting the dreams of all the infected was impossible. It wouldn¡¯t be long before all 3 million survivors in Korea would see their symptoms worsen. And the other hidden meaning was: - Are you going to give up on this turn? Although the members of the Regressors¡¯ Alliance were currently experiencing rtively mild symptoms, they would likely worsen rapidly in a few days. Then, I might witness my cherishedpanions killing someone or taking their own lives. - If you don¡¯t want to see that, I can kill you myself. As he had done several times before. In certain turns I hadn¡¯t disclosed, I had indeed been killed by Noh Doha in this manner. ¡°We cannot surrender.¡± But not this time. ¡°This anomaly isn¡¯t the kind that will be easier to conquer by starting a new round. It¡¯s quite the opposite.¡± ¡°The opposite...?¡± ¡°The host of this gue is none other than the dreams of those I¡¯ve eliminated with the [Time Seal]. And the [Time Seal] is immune to resets. No matter how many times I reset, the tombstones sealed in time remain exactly where they are.¡± Noh Doha''s eyes widened slightly. ¡°Even if you reset, the gue remains trapped within those tombstones...?¡± ¡°Yes, probably.¡± I nodded. ¡°It¡¯s possible that the reset virus itself didn¡¯t suddenly appear in this turn. It might have started umting from the moment the crystal tombstones were created. So, from the 4th turn onward, it gradually built up, mutated, and only exploded in this turn.¡± ¡°What turn did you say this was¡?¡± ¡°Turn 267.¡± ¡°Damn¡¡± Indeed. If my hypothesis is correct, the ¡®virus¡¯ found the only safe haven in this world, a ce that persists despite the repeated turns. Inside the [Time Seal]. A point that no matter how desperately a Regressor struggles, cannot be changed or undone. [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] w Just like how that pink creature named Koyori coiled deep in my subconscious¡ªlikewise, the virus has established a solid final line of defense against my resets. ¡°No, if a Regressor can¡¯t use the reset, then what¡¯s the point of your existence? Other than maybe your decent face and those dead fish eyes¡?¡± ¡°I make great coffee.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t need it¡¡± ¡°I can bestow power, honor, and money on a 7th-grade civil servant prosthetist in Korea.¡± ¡°Damn. I really don¡¯t need that¡¡± ¡°I can mediate when Tang Seorin and Cheon Yohwa fight. Not just anyone can do that.¡± ¡°If it weren¡¯t for you, they wouldn¡¯t be fighting, you piece of...¡± ¡°Hoeeek!¡± The person¡ªor rather, the being¡ªwho cut off Noh Doha¡¯s endless tirade of sharp insults was, surprisingly, the tutorial fairy. Fairy No. 264 suddenly appeared in mid-air, waving a magic wand around in a fuss. ¡°Secretary-General Comrade! It¡¯s a big deal! A big deal, it is!¡± ¡°What? Are we out of General Sausage?¡± ¡°It¡¯s not as terrible as that, but it¡¯s still a significant issue...!¡± I tossed the addicted fairy a General Sausage. Fairy No. 264 happily munched on the peach-colored sausage without even peeling off the casing. Maintaining loyalty management like this, as naturally as breathing, is how you make use of the tutorial fairies. ¡°Hoee! While carefully monitoring the infected¡¯s dreams under the Secretary-General¡¯s orders...! I made an astonishing discovery!¡± ¡°What is it?¡± ¡°Seeing is believing! On-site inspections are the core duty of amunist party official! Secretary-General Comrade,e on!¡± 8 The ces where a fairy would invite me were either a tutorial dungeon or a dream. Since all of Korea¡¯s tutorial dungeons had closed down, naturally, our meeting ce became the dream of an infected person¡ªin this case, the fantasy world of ser yer Kim Joocheol. ¡°I was managing this human¡¯s dream with particr care under the Secretary-General¡¯s orders!¡± The fairy fluttered around. When I first arrived, the whole ce was swarming with rioters, setting everything on fire, but now it was quite peaceful. Even the stadium was intact. That¡¯s because all the spectators and ser yers had fallen asleep, emitting ¡®zzz¡¡¯ speech bubbles. It was the power of the Nightmare Demon, the specialist in the world of dreams. ¡°To prevent the symptoms from worsening, we came up with the following method: First, put all the residents of this world to sleep, then enter their dreams, put them to sleep again, and then enter the dream within a dream and put them to sleep again and again!¡± ¡°It¡¯s simr to how you enter the unconscious world.¡± ¡°Hoee! Exactly! As expected of the Secretary-General Comrade!¡± The fairy buzzed excitedly. ¡°When you keep dragging an ordinary human into dreams within dreams, the dream bes so distorted and altered that the space where the virus could thrive melts away like candle wax! We were implementing quarantine measures using this method!¡± Oh, by the way, the tutorial fairies could be left inside the [Time Seal] and abandoned. If a human were abandoned like that, they¡¯d be lost forever, but for some reason, the tutorial fairies could enter and exit rtively freely as long as I gave them ¡®permission.¡¯ When I asked how that was possible: - Hoee! Secretary-General Comrade may call this ce a graveyard, but to us, it feels no different from a dream! Was their response. The fairy¡¯s senses are quite mysterious. ¡°But here, here! Come with me into the dream of this entity named Kim Joocheol!¡± I entered. Kim Joocheol was sound asleep in the middle of the ser field. Holding the fairy¡¯s hand (still after hearing that weird luby), I entered Kim Joocheol¡¯s dream. Then, - Did you watch the Olympic game yesterday? - Everyone! Believe in the Goddess! Believe in the Goddess and live in heaven! - Baaang! - Dad, I told you not to talk about politics! Crowds of people were bustling around, chattering and walking busily. It had been so long since I¡¯d seen anything like this in reality that I¡¯d almost forgotten, but looking back, it was the scene at Seoul Station. ¡°Where is this¡?¡± People were walking around using smartphones. Cars on the road honked their horns. Students climbed the stairs of Seoul Station. It was the kind of scene that might have been the everyday life of humanity before the world ended. ¡°¡Is this really Kim Joocheol¡¯s dream?¡± It wasn¡¯t that I was underestimating Kim Joocheol. As the fairy exined before we entered, creating such a ¡®detailed and rational¡¯ scene in the unconscious was impossible. Even with my [Perfect Memory], I found a vast desert when I stepped out of Busan Station in the unconscious world. But what about here? This was far too realistic for something conjured by the unconscious mind of a mere Kim Joocheol. Even the acrid smell of exhaust from the asphalt road had a distinct texture. As real as reality. No, it was just like reality. ¡°Hoee! It¡¯s hard to define whether this is a dream or not, but let¡¯s call it the [Reverse World]! One thing is certain!¡± ¡°And what¡¯s that?¡± ¡°The Reverse World is as big as the Korean Penins, and it¡¯s still expanding in real time! If we push a little more, it can surpass the real world, fighting!¡± The fairy said. ¡°And not just Kim Joocheol, but pretty much anyone can connect to this ce!¡± ¡°¡What?¡± ¡°Infected people in the real world, every single one of them, has been abducted into this Reverse World!¡± [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] w Chapter 208 [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] w Chapter 208 ©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤ The Opposite V 9 Kidnapping. Naturally, kidnapping by humans and kidnapping by anomalies differ quite a bit. If a human kidnaped you, you¡¯d likely face the threat of losing your honor, wealth, or life. But what if an anomaly kidnaps you? Surprisingly, all of these might remain intact. Anomalies don''t engage in unnecessary actions. If they were interested in your life, they would have killed you the moment you met, instead of going through the trouble of kidnapping. When anomalies kidnap you, they target only one thing. Your "humanity." Here, humanity doesn''t just refer to ethics and morals but also the fundamental logical structure hardwired into the Homo sapiens brain. Q. What do you get when you add 1 to 1? A. Of course, it''s 2. For example, even those who once exchanged such normal conversations might, after being kidnapped by a anomaly, answer: Q. What do you get when you add 1 to 1? A. The flesh was butchered to six hundred sixty, leaving only the limbs of one hundred ten. Ten is the form where 1 and 1 intersect, and when gathered into a hundred, it is the shape of two crossed human forearms. Thus, by aligning one hundred pairs of arms, this would be the correct answer. After which, they would proceed to kill 100 people, including themselves, and disy the 100 pairs of forearms. If you express anger by saying, "How could youmit such monstrous acts!" it would be utterly meaningless to them. A. Why are you suddenly angry? Because to the responder, there''s no difference between saying 1+1=2 and killing 100 people. They would have ughtered 100 people with the same ease as calcting a simple arithmetic problem. They simply stated 1+1=2, so why you''re angry or why you''re making such a sad expression is something they can''tprehend at all. It''s hard to see them as human. Communicating with them as a human being is impossible. Thus, the kidnapping of humanity. This is what Imonly refer to as being "bewitched" by an anomaly. The tutorial fairy likely meant it in this exact sense. "If everyone infected in reality were kidnapped... how many people would be here in the underworld?" "Hoee. At least 2 million! And it''s growing at an enormous rate even as we speak!" I frowned. "Wait. Wouldn''t that surpass the poption of the Korean Penins?" "Exactly right! Not only are those infected by the virus in reality pulled in, but also people from their dreams, so we''re easily going to exceed 10 million! It''s a world poption reversal!" "Huh." Ten million people, just like that. I looked around at the vast emptiness that spread out from the center of Seoul Station. If we define a ce bewitched by an anomaly as a void, then this ce was already vast enough to be called a great void. A great void of this scale was truly rare. For example, if an "apartment with 400 souls trapped" were sufficient as a single apartment anomaly, then to establish an "apartment with 40,000 souls trapped," additional concepts were necessary. Something like "the desire for apartments among Koreans materialized," or "it was set against the backdrop of an actual apartment that drew that many applications." In fact, it was no longer an apartment anomaly but arge apartmentplex anomaly. These kinds of connections were needed for the great void to expand in size. Thergest void on Earth was centered on the western side of the Eurasian continent, where the "First World War" and "Second World War" served as connections to trap hundreds of millions of humans. "What kind of method could drag in hundreds of thousands, even millions, of people? Could this ce be defined as hell?" "Hoee, not at all. It''s quite the opposite..." At that moment. ¡ªAttention, everyone! Someone suddenly shouted through a loudspeaker in the Seoul Station za. It was a man who looked like he might have been doing street evangelism even before civilization copsed. However, the words written on the front and back of his outerwear were slightly different. [Goddess Heaven] [Unbelief Hell] His vest, patched with stickers, exuded an indescribable sense of realism. ¡ªAttention, everyone! I''m sorry to interrupt your busy lives! I had no choice but to grab the microphone to guide you to the correct way of living and true faith! The middle-aged man shouted into the red megaphone. ¡ªAs you know, over there in hell, countless people! Unlike us, countless poor souls who have not yet been saved are groaning in endless cycles of life, endless cycles of repetition, and endless cycles of suffering! Everyone! At this point, the realism surrounding the za''s atmosphere suddenly reversed. ¡ª... ¡ª... People walking through Seoul Station za all stopped and looked at the middle-aged man. Those on the phone hung up. People looking at their smartphones turned them off. Those chatting withpanions stopped talking. The za became silent in an instant. No one red at the man with the megaphone in annoyance. Most people looked at him with nk expressions, their eyes dark and heavy. ¡ªOver there, in hell, countless souls still moan, unable to escape the eternal cycle of reincarnation! They are your acquaintances, your family members, and in a broader sense, they are also reflections of yourself! Let us pray for them! O Goddess! ¡ªO Goddess! The people who had been silent in the za suddenly shouted in unison. The man with the megaphone waved his arms even more vigorously. ¡ªO Goddess! ¡ªO Goddess! ¡ªLet us repent! As we repeat our lives and experience them over and over, hundreds, even thousands of times, let us repent the errors of our past selves! The errors of our acquaintances! The errors of our friends and families! We repent! ¡ªWe repent! ¡ªLet us praise! Though we were covered in the sins that piled up over countless lives, and even if we forgot, the Goddess has continued to watch over us! Despite our filthy souls stained with sin, the Goddess has not given up on us! She has freed our souls from that hell and saved us! Let us praise her! ¡ªWe praise her! ¡ªO Goddess! ¡ªO Goddess! The za was instantly filled with madness. Fairy 264 squealed and hid behind me. Even I hesitated momentarily, seeing the madness flicker in the people''s eyes. ¡ªBow down, everyone! Worship! The people in the zay prostrate on the ground without hesitation. They didn¡¯t care if their suits got dirty. Among them was Kim Joocheol. He bowed his head on the ground with his wife. ¡ªFace it! The self who lives in that eternal, repetitive hell, just like yesterday, just like the day before, just like a hundred years ago, a thousand years ago! Then, something bizarre happened. The asphalt-covered ground of the za suddenly turned "transparent" like ss. Beneath the ss, scenes were disyed. Where Kim Joocheol bowed, there was an image of himself. ¡ªSave me! Please get me out of here! I don''t want to repeat another day! But that wasn''t all. Everywhere the people bowed, images of themselves were being projected. Upon closer inspection, there was also a familiar green head. It was Sim Aryeon. Among them, the "scenery beyond the ss" that particrly caught my attention was the following: ¡ªThe National Road Management is an aplice of hell that supports eternal repetition! They confine and iste those of us trying to escape from the turn! They are the true devils! ¡ªDevils! Devils! Devils! In the video, a group of people was protesting in front of the National Road Management headquarters. Yoo Jiwon and other management officers came out and mercilessly suppressed the protesters. The Babel Tower za was filled with screams. It was truly a scene that could exist in reality. I muttered. ¡°What are those images...?¡± ¡°Hoee. They are the real reality outside.¡± The fairy peeked out from behind my shoulder. ¡°Comrade Secretary-General, look down.¡± ¡°Hmm?¡± I looked. To my surprise, there was also a "scene" ying beneath the transparent ss under my feet, just like everyone else. The Doctor Jang on the other side of the ss was sleeping with his eyes closed. Surrounding him were Noh Doha and the Saintess, who sat beside him. Noh Doha and the Saintess were conversing quietly, with me lying on the bed. ¡ªMan, it''s noisy outside... ¡ªThe protests are getting worse. ¡ªWell, it¡¯s not just regr people but also Awakened Ones who are all getting infected by that damned Regression Virus or whatever it is. I¡¯ve heard that Three Thousand Worlds and Baekhwa are trying to suppress it, but honestly, it won¡¯tst long¡ ¡ªBut I think things will get better once the Doctor Jang wakes up. I was at a loss for words. This wasn¡¯t a scene that could exist in reality¡ªit was reality itself. ¡°But for those who the Reverse World enchants, it¡¯s theplete opposite.¡± ¡°¡The opposite?¡± ¡°Yep! From their perspective, this is reality, and beyond the ss is the underworld¡ªa hell!¡± My eyes widened. ¡°What? How could they pull off such a trick¡?¡± ¡°They¡¯re pulling it off just fine! Or more precisely, the anomaly is trying its hardest to make it work!¡± Fairy No. 264 exined. The reason why they believe their ¡®Reverse World¡¯ is superior to my ¡®Real World.¡¯ [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] w ¡°For starters, there¡¯s no war here, and civilization is intact! As I said, the poption is almost catching up too!¡± Civilization and environment. ¡°The other side is harsh to live in, an endless cycle of Regression in a hellishndscape! On the other hand, the Reverse World created by the anomaly remains stable, unaffected by Regression! It¡¯s practically like reality!¡± The flow of time. ¡°So, Comrade Secretary, this anomaly is defining your world as ¡®hell.¡¯ It¡¯s a duel¡ªa challenge to prove which one is reality and which one is hell!¡± ¡°¡¡¡± Indeed. I finally understood. There wasn¡¯t a fundamental difference from other anomalies. Normally, anomalies create hell within reality. This one simply dered all of reality as hell. And then¨D¨Dusing the fairy¡¯s term, it built a separate ¡®Reverse World¡¯ to secure its own domain. This ce is the living world, and that ce is the underworld. The anomaly was deceiving people like that. Reversal. Inversion. A shift in perspective. ¡°¡A clever one, indeed. So, where exactly is this ce? A dream? The unconscious world?¡± ¡°Not quite. While you did reach this ce through a dream, it was just a simr experience!¡± ¡°A simr experience? ¡I see.¡± I quickly deduced the answer. ¡°I get it. There¡¯s an old myth that sometimes when people dream, they experience the underworld. It¡¯s not that the underworld is inside the dream, but rather that dreams can asionally connect you to the underworld for a brief moment. This ce must possess the attributes of the underworld.¡± ¡°As expected of Comrade Secretary! That¡¯s correct! Although the anomaly defines this ce as the living world and that ce as the underworld¡¡± It¡¯s aplex and borate trap, no doubt. However, I could now see a glimmer of a way to ovee it. All that¡¯s required is to prove which is reality and which is fantasy. I just need to reveal that the world I live in is the true reality. ¡°Everyone! Rejoice! Your heartfelt repentance has reached the goddess!¡± A middle-aged man shouted. ¡°From now on, you no longer need to look down upon hell! Lift your heads! Raise your eyes! Look up to the sky and behold!¡± The people who were prostrating in the square raised their upper bodies. Instinctively, I followed their gaze. To the sky. ¡°The holy visage of the goddess!¡± And I saw it. ¨D¨DThere was no sun in the sky. Why didn¡¯t I notice it sooner? If I had to give a reason, it was because modern people aren¡¯t in the habit of looking directly at the sun. Additionally, given the angle of the sunlight, it seemed as if the sun was high in the sky, making it difficult to look up at it unless you tilted your head almost 90 degrees. In short: If sunlight is shining down from the sky, it¡¯s only natural to assume the sun is there. That assumption held even for me, a regressor. ¡°¡¡¡± What upied the ce of the sun in the sky? It was a gigantic eye. Blink. When the eye blinked slowly, very slowly, the world was momentarily cast in shadow. Before I looked up, I thought the shadows were caused by clouds passing by, but I was mistaken. Blink. Light wasn¡¯t pouring down from the sun; it was pouring down from the eye. The massive ck pupil at the center of the eye was constantly moving, darting this way and that. It saw me. ¡°Watch out¡!¡± The moment the sun-eye, or the eye-sun, locked onto me, everyone in the square turned to stare at me as well. -¡¡ -¡¡ The residents of this world, who hadn¡¯t noticed me until now, were staring daggers at me. The light that had been evenly shining on the world suddenly focused intensely on me. The temperature around me skyrocketed in an instant, and my skin began to melt like candle wax. ¡°Emergency exit!¡± The fairy frantically waved her magic wand. In my vision, half of Fairy No. 264¡¯s body exploded. But the fairy held onto her wand until the very end. The next moment. I was ejected from the dream. 10 ¡°¡Hey.¡± What greeted me as I returned to reality was the face of a man who would undoubtedly win first ce in a contest for ¡°the face you least want to see first thing in the morning.¡± ¡°Hey, Doctor Jang. You alive? You didn¡¯t croak, did you¡?¡± Otherwise known as Noh Doha. Struggling to open my heavy eyelids, I first saw Noh Doha¡¯s dark circles. Noh Doha never cared much about fashion, but today he looked even stranger. He was covered head to toe in what appeared to be chunks of flesh, which felt more like jelly than human tissue. Upon closer inspection, the Saintess standing behind Noh Doha was also drenched in some sort of solid-liquid hybrid substance. What in the world is this new fashion statement?¡ªI was about to mock him when Noh Doha beat me to it. ¡°The fairy that sang you a luby and joined you on your dream journey just exploded. Half of its body blew up all of a sudden¡¡± ¡°Oh.¡± He wasn¡¯t kidding. I turned my head to the side, still lying in bed. Fairy No. 264 was still holding my hand tightly, but the other half of her body was gone. ¡°¡Call Aryeon. These fairies are tough, so if we treat her quickly, she¡¯ll survive.¡± The Saintess nodded behind Noh Doha. She must have sent a message via [Telepathy] immediately. As I adjusted my clothes, I asked: ¡°Chief Noh Doha. Are there protesters outside right now?¡± ¡°Hmm? Yes, there are. Team Leader Yoo quickly suppressed them, though¡ Curious, isn¡¯t it? That you could hear the noise even while dreaming.¡± I stroked my chin, lost in thought. Seeing this, Noh Doha crookedly asked me a question of his own. ¡°Thanks to that fairy, we¡¯ll have to redecorate this entire ce. What on earth happened in the dream to cause this mess¡?¡± ¡°Nyx, the Goddess of Night.¡± I paused for a moment before answering. ¡°A forgotten god.¡± [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] w Chapter 209 [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] w Chapter 209 ©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤ The Opposite VI 11 A Wild Alien God Has Appeared! The world is (again) doomed! Everyone, run away! ...But no one reacted like that. Instead, there was a calmness. Most people already had a neatly organized mental system for categorizing the different levels of anomalies: Ocean-ss, Continent-ss, City-ss, Vige-ss, and Below-Vige-ss. Even if I suddenly shouted, "Do you know about Alien God-ss anomalies? They''re super strong! They even beat up Ocean-ss anomalies!" people would just coldly dismiss me as a nerd. The members of the Regressor Alliance weren¡¯t much different. "Are you saying... that Alien Gods are really that powerful?" Sim Aryeon asked. She was sweating profusely, having just been summoned and rushed over to heal the 264th fairy. "Why is it called Alien God anyway? Other anomalies have straightforward names like Vige or City... But Alien God? It doesn''t fit the dialectical method, it¡¯s irritating." "Please don¡¯t be too harsh, Sim Aryeon..." Surprisingly, Noh Doha spoke up, as if trying to defend me. "We should not dare to criticize the naming sense of His Excellency, the Grand Duke of ck Books, the Supreme Being and Absolute Shadow of the Library Society. You know... you could disappear without a trace if you do." "Oh, I''m sorry! Guild Leader! I always thought your naming was perfect! The best sense ever!" "..." Not surprisingly, Noh Doha was mocking me. For the record, Noh Doha is like a sub-character in a dating sim whose affection level stays at Lv.0 no matter who you target, but (and this is truly surprising) there is exactly one person to whom he allowed an affection level of Lv.1. That was Sim Aryeon. The reason? It¡¯s simple. Even if she breaks an arm or a leg, she can heal herself with her healing ability. They got along well not because of humanpatibility or MBTI, but purely because of her healing power. That¡¯s right. To conquer Noh Doha, you don¡¯t need anything else, just be a healer. For the record, in reality, the human affection cap is Lv.100. As for the remaining 99 levels, find the strategy yourself and please upload it to SGNet. "Alien Gods aren¡¯t called ''Alien Gods'' because they¡¯re small outer gods, but because they alienate the world from humanity." "Huh...?" "They''re gods of the outside. Originally, it was a term frequently used by Karl Marx. In English, ''alienation'' is tranted as ''alienation,'' which resonates with the word ''alien.'' I chose the name to capture that nuance¡ª" "What the heck is that, nerd?" "..." "Oh! As expected of the Guild Leader, your trolling is the tastiest in the world." Calm down, me. My sword is not meant for ying humans. Even if I¡¯m confused about whether Sim Aryeon is truly human, her DNA sequence is still 99.97% simr to mine. I think I know why the world is doomed. This is what happens when you base life on such unscientific material. "Aryeon. One of the reasons why Alien Gods are terrifying is that their ''patterns'' evolve in an instant." "Evolution...?" "Yes. For instance, even if you fail to subjugate Meteor Shower on the first try, nothing catastrophic happens. After all, the pattern of a meteor shower¡ª''falling from the sky''¡ªremains unchanged. You can just rally and attack again. But an Alien God immediatelypensates for its weaknesses." Although it was something in the distant future in the 267th turn, when I fought to the death against The Admin of All-y, this was the reason why I twisted my entire body in effort. No matter how many light jabs or one-two punches you throw at an Alien God, you can''t umte damage. One hit. Only a precisely sharpened, single spear thrust can pierce the fat belly of an Alien God. This is the most troublesome part. The strategy of a regressor, which involves umting data on attack methods through repeated returns, ispletely opposite in direction. "Let me show you an example. Hey, number 264. Are you conscious?" "Ugh... I almost went to the afterlife but barely survived..." The 264th fairy answered weakly. Perhaps because her body had been cut in half earlier, her already small body had shrunk even more. "Call the other fairies and let''s enter the ''Otherworld'' again. This time, I''ll bring Sim Aryeon and the others along." "O-Okay..." Simultaneously, the Saintess, Noh Doha, Sim Aryeon, and I entered the dream. And we actually seeded in reaching Seoul Station za, the entrance to the [Otherworld]. "Huh? Guild Leader." But this time, there was a transparent "ss" barrier between us and Seoul Station za, preventing us from entering. "I can see it, but I can''t get in...!" Knock, knock. Sim Aryeon tapped the ss with her tiny fists. It wasn¡¯t just Sim Aryeon; the Saintess even tried to chop at the ss with her hand-axe, releasing her aura to the maximum. But the "ss" didn¡¯t even get a scratch. The pedestrians in Seoul Station za walked around on the ss as if nothing was wrong. It was so close, just within reach, yet the ss divided the world, preventing any interaction, like how the afterlife and the real world can¡¯t interfere with each other. "See? The Alien God blocked the path." "Ugh." "Nut probably didn''t expect me to enter her domain through dreams." To exin once again, the domain established by the Goddess of Night, Nut, was the "World of the Living and the Dead." This Alien God had the authority to "designate" which was the world of the living and which was the world of the dead. That¡¯s why she confined Kim Joocheol''s vision within the Tombstone and designated it as Valha, the afterlife. She even went further, designating our reality as hell. And there¡¯s almost no way for beings from hell to interfere with the living, in other words, Nut''s domain. Yes. Almost none. [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] w "But there are countless stories about experiencing the afterlife through dreams. Thanks to the fairies from the tutorial, this ''dream-entry-route'' was pioneered, but as soon as the Alien God detected a w, she immediately blocked it." "Th-Then how do we get in again?" "Well." Tap. I lightly knocked on the ss, the boundary between the living and the dead. It wasn¡¯t just a simple knock; I also infused it with aura, creating vibrations. My dark aura resonated, but the ss didn¡¯t budge. This is also one of the troublesome aspects of an Alien God. You can¡¯t just brute-force your way through with pure strength. Though it might be because my power isn¡¯t enough. "I''ve named this Alien God ''Nut.''" "Nut..." "She¡¯s a goddess from Egyptian mythology. She governs the night sky, or rather, the universe, and controls the cycle of days." When Nut destroys the world, it¡¯s always under a night sky. But this night sky pulsates as if it¡¯s alive, with blood vessels throbbing. The Milky Way transforms into blood-red and green pulsating veins, and the twilight sky drips like blood. "In ancient Egyptian mythology, the night sky was originally considered to be the body of the goddess Nut. People in ancient times didn¡¯t consider the night sky an endlessly expanding universe when they looked up." "So, what did they think?" "They imagined a transparent barrier covering the night sky." "What? How...?" "They believed that stars weren¡¯t ¡®spheres floating in space¡¯ but ¡®holes in the transparent barrier.¡¯ Just as humans breathe, the world breathes too, and those holes, the stars, were thought to be the breathing holes of the world. Every time the world took a breath, starlight was imagined to pour down." "Huh? Oh... Starlight is the breath of the world..." "That¡¯s why, in the case of the Pythagorean school, which was influenced by Egyptian mythology, they imed that whenever the stars moved, ¡®the world¡¯s breath¡¯ resonated like a song. They also argued that humans couldn¡¯t hear that song because it was beyond the range of human hearing." "Wow..." And so, the inside of the sarcophagus where the Pharaoh¡¯s mummy was ced had the ¡®night sky¡¯ painted on it. They turned the sarcophagus into a ¡®small universe.¡¯ Particrly, the stars were meticulously carved because through those star holes, the ¡®breathing holes of the world,¡¯ the Pharaoh¡¯s soul was believed to travel back and forth. "Guild Master! You suddenly sound really knowledgeable! I didn¡¯t know you knew so much, besides memorizing the names of characters from the Romance of the Three Kingdoms..." This kid... "Hey, punk. I¡¯ve always been knowledgeable about the ult. I was once an awakened person like you in the support ss, but I studied hard to get to where I am now, through study." "Oh no, you¡¯ve turned into a lecture-giving old man again..." "What did you say, you brat?" "Yaaaah! No violence, please!" Tears welled up in Sim Aryeon''s eyes as I put her in a headlock. "S-so, the passage is blocked, but how do we cross over to the other side...?" "Hmm. Since that side is primarily based on Egyptian mythology, you could cross over by bing a mummy." "A mummy?" "Yes. By the way, to be a mummy, you¡¯d have to remove your brain. The Egyptians believed that the brain wasn¡¯t a very important organ and that people thought with their hearts." "Eek! That means you¡¯d die!" "Shall our dear Aryeon be a mummy on behalf of humanity?" "Nooooo...! It¡¯s the Guild Master who should be left behind, not me...!" At that moment, the Saintess raised her hand. "Doctor Jang." "Yes? What is it?" "If the obscure goddess Nut has the power to define both the afterlife and the living world, and if she has defined our world as the afterlife... Particrly as a ¡®hell¡¯ where souls suffer..." The Saintess tilted her head. Her water-colored hair gently swayed. "Then wouldn¡¯t it cause more phenomena beyond just people suffering from extreme d¨¦j¨¤ vu due to the regression virus? I mean, truly hellish things." "......" Ah. 12 We hurriedly returned to reality. And outside, hell was in full bloom. -AAAAAAAHHH! -I-I¡¯m stabbed! A knife has stabbed me! First, in Busan¡¯s Gudeok Mountain, instead of trees, knives sprang up and shed people. These knives didn¡¯t just stay stuck in the ground but kept expanding and contracting in real time. The ¡®knife trees¡¯ seemed to be spreading down the mountainside and gradually infecting other trees in the city. -Save me! Please, get me out of here! -Aaah, ugh. Uwoah, ugh! At the Tower of Babel square, where protesters had gathered, the stone pavement didn¡¯t just crack but melted down like a gigantic soup. People floundered in the boiling molten metal. Their skin continuously melted and burst, but bizarrely, it regenerated quickly, causing them to endure endless cycles of drowning and burning. This ¡®boiling molten metal¡¯ also seemed to be spreading from the Tower of Babel square to other areas. "Guild Master...!" Therades were facing these scenes from the rooftop of the National Road Management Headquarters. They couldn¡¯t hide their panic as they turned to look at me. "This... this can¡¯t be happening! We just stepped away for a moment..." They had only stepped away for a moment. But by then, the world had already turned into hell. [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] w Chapter 210 [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] w Chapter 210 ©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤ The Opposite VII I bit my lip. "...They''re rushing because I found them." "Huh, huh?" "The area near Guduk Mountain is the Sword Mountain Hell, and what''s descended in the square is the Boiling Hell. They took out Valha at the Monument of Crystal, and now they''re bringing in Buddhist hells." Even as I exined to myrades, my mind was relentlessly proposing and discarding strategies to ovee this hell. ''Too fast.'' It''s been only a day and a half since I began moving seriously after witnessing the abnormality in Kim Joocheol''s dream. The Alien God, who had been quietly lurking until now, suddenlyunched a full-scale offensive as if it had been waiting for this moment. Yes. From the start, the Alien God must have been hiding inside the Monument of Crystal, biding its time for hundreds or thousands of years, just for this. Just as I, a regressor, had shown the anomalies what I''m capable of through my umted experiences in multiple lives. This time, the Alien God sessfully ambushed me. "H-Hyung, something¡¯s wrong." Even Seo Gyu, who usually bluffed in most situations, was trembling. Of course, it was understandable since people were screaming as they were boiled alive in the water right beneath the headquarters building. "The people aren¡¯t dying. They should be dead, boiled in molten metal... but they keep regenerating." "Because it¡¯s hell." I replied. "The Alien God has defined this world as hell. And in hell, no one dies." "They don¡¯t die?" "Right. Because hell is where people who are already dead go. They just suffer eternally. From now on, no one can die¨D¨D" At that moment. A lightning bolt of realization struck my mind. ''Ah. Ahhh!'' Was that why? Was that why! "¨D¨DBecause no one can die, it¡¯s be hell!" "What?" "Think about it, Seo Gyu! I¡¯m a regressor! Because I keep regressing, everyone in this world has been ced in a state where they ''die but don¡¯t die'' continuously. For hundreds, even thousands of years!" I clenched my teeth. "The Alien God has used the state of this world against us! It determined that because no one can die in this ce, it¡¯s not reality but hell. It redefined the world in its own way!" "...!" That''s it. A reversal of perspective. A Copernican shift. To the anomalies, a regressor like me is extremely troublesome. No matter how powerful the anomalies are, a regressor can simply reset the time with a ''click'' until the anomalies are defeated. No matter how much they struggle, anomalies are destined to lose to the regressor. They can never escape this conclusion. ¨D¨DBut what if they could turn the regressor''s regression against him? Instead of "this [real world] repeats endlessly because there is a [regressor]"... This ce is [hell], where people live a "life of dying but not dying," and therefore time repeats endlessly... A simple difference in perspective. A difference in interpretation and viewpoint. Just by assuming that this world is not ''reality'' but ''hell,'' they could fully exploit the regressor¡¯s ability. That Alien God, the goddess of the night, Nut, didn¡¯t deny the regressor. Instead, it affirmed my regression and piggybacked on it. As long as I don¡¯t give up my regression ability and continue to reincarnate, [this world can never stop being hell]. ''Unbelievable.'' My whole body tingled. Shock. And awe. ''It used me! Instead of consuming me, it nted a seed of evil within my power and used it to corrupt the world!'' Seeing my stunned expression, both Sim Aryeon and Seo Gyu grew even more anxious. They were kids who relied heavily on me psychologically. Amidst the ringing in my ears, the cold voice of the Saintess reached my eardrums, as calm as ever. "Doctor Jang. Can¡¯t you just regress and try againter?" "...Probably not. As I exined to Chief Noh Doha, this Alien God is parasitizing my power itself." It had dug into the Crystal Monument where the [Time Seal] was ced, gnawing away at the sealed souls. Using the characteristic of a world where [regression] urs, it had summoned the concept of hell into this world. In other words... "Even if I regress, the situation won¡¯t improve. In fact, it¡¯ll probably get worse." "Why is that?" "Right now, we¡¯re at least united as the Regression Alliance. But if I regress, our rtionships will reset. Meanwhile, Nut¡¯s hell..." "¡Will continue to persist. The Crystal Monuments with the [Time Seal] will remain unaffected by regression and continue to exist." "Yes. And as you can see, Nut can summon hell into the world in less than a day if she wants. But it would take us far more than a day to rebuild our bonds to where they are now." "...Regression, which has always been on our side, has now be the enemy¡¯s ally. Against this Alien God Nut." "Exactly." Checkmate. To break this checkmate... "The only way is..." "What¡¯s the way?" "For me to get infected by the World Tree Udumbara as soon as I regress." Udumbara. That virus known as the New Buddha stripped an Awakened of all their powers. Therefore... "If I do that, I¡¯ll lose all my powers, including the [Time Seal]. [Regression] included." "......" That¡¯s why, almost always, after regressing, I would go to Onyang to eradicate Udumbara. Because Udumbara had the potential to kill a regressor. The Saintess stared at me with her blue eyes. "Then... what will happen?" "I don¡¯t know. I probably won¡¯t regress anymore. The world might just stay in ruins after being destroyed by some anomaly and remain that way forever." "......" "The worst-case scenario is if the world continues to regress regardless." "Huh? ...Ah." The Saintess blinked. "You mentioned someone named Schopenhauer before. He was also a regressor, right?" That¡¯s right. There were two regressors in this world. If a regressor is the switch that triggers the regression of the world, even if I disappear, there would still be one switch left. And now, this switch ispletely pressed down, fixed in ce without any chance of being tampered with. Moreover, ¡°Perhaps the [regression ability] and [the world''s regression] are separate things.¡± Actually, I''ve kept a certain hypothesis in the back of my mind for a long time. ¡°No, in this case, it might not be [the world¡¯s regression] but rather [the world¡¯s repetition].¡± Let¡¯s imagine that time passes and the world ends. And then the world starts over again from the beginning: the formation of the universe from the Big Bang, the birth of the first gxy, the creation of the Earth, life emerging from the sea, and one of those life forms eventually crawling ontond¡ªall of it. Eventually, humans are born, civilization begins, and cities are built. And one day, an Doctor Jang is born, eventually heading to Busan Station. ¡As you all know, I have the [perfect memory ability]. In the scenario I described, what if this perfect memory ability involves [transmitting memories at the moment of awakening]? Wouldn''t that result in a phenomenon exactly identical to [regression]? ¡°¡But didn¡¯t you say that your perfect memory ability was awakened after the 4th turn?¡± ¡°The abilities of the awakened can be strengthened. It could be that my ability only fully awakened in the 4th turn.¡± And, there is a terrifying aspect to this hypothesis. ¡°Let¡¯s summarize the story.¡± I voiced that aspect. ¡°If I be infected with Udumbara, then all the people who have been [sealed in time] until now will be freed. And I will no longer retain the memories of previous turns, beginning the tutorial dungeon at Busan Station again.¡± Time passes. ¡°As time goes on, Old Man Scho returns from his vacation. And countless events ur, unknown to the current me.¡± Time passes. ¡°One day, Old Scho experiences something that damages his regression ability. Maybe he bes infected with Udumbara, or bes the target of some anomaly that surpasses regression¡ And so the world ispletely destroyed.¡± Time passes. [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] w ¡°And finally, in some distant future where the concept of ''regression'' is unknown, my abilities will awaken again at Busan Station.¡± In other words, everything begins from the start. ¡°I will perceive that as the first turn.¡± And. And. And. ¡°In the second turn, the third turn, and then in the fourth turn, I gain the perfect memory ability, eventually meeting Old Scho¡¡± And someday, ¡°Eventually, this moment I perceive as the 267th turn will arrive.¡± ¡°¡¡¡± ¡°¡Perhaps I¡¯ve been repeating the turns I¡¯ve experienced so far.¡± This is the fundamental trauma that the regressor known as Doctor Jang has carried with him for a very long time. A torment he has silently endured ever since discovering that Udumbara can erase the abilities of the awakened. The possibility that the 267th turn is actually 267¡Á2, 267¡Á3, 267¡Á267, 267¡Á2672, 267¡Á2673. The fear that my entire life might be nothing more than one giant ¡®tale of failure.¡¯ A fear known only to regressors. If this hypothesis is correct, then yes. The decree of Nut, the goddess of night, was spot on. The world is indeed a hell. -Aagh! Aaaaagh! -I don¡¯t want to live! Please kill me! -Someone, please kill me! Hundreds of people were still melting in molten iron beneath the headquarters building. The screams of people echoed against the translucent ss membrane that all humans are born with¡ªour eardrums. The hell that descended upon this world was rapidly spreading. All the trees and flowers in Busan had turned into sharp des, and the zas and alleys were filled with seething molten iron. In the Buddhist view, hell has no end. The hell of the decapitated mountain, the boiling hell, the freezing hell, the hell of swords, the hell of dismemberment, the hell of poisonous snakes, the hell of giant axes, the iron bed hell, the windstorm hell, the ck darkness hell, from which one falls into the eight hells of scorching heat, ck victory, convergence, screaming, great screaming, extreme heat, great extreme heat, and avici, and finally the eight cold hells of cold, extreme cold, burning frost, intense chill, blue lotus, red lotus, and great red lotus. Those who fall into the great red lotus hell must endure 25 oceans worth of 6,000 quadrillion years before they can finally be reborn. 25 oceans, 6,000 quadrillion years. Infinity. If I don¡¯t regress here, an infinite hell will unfold, and if I do regress and be infected with Udumbara, an infinite regressor¡¯s hell will unfold. ¡®This is¡¡¯ I tightly gripped Doha¡¯s cane-sword. The cane-sword that Noh Doha made for me on the 100th turn. It made me believe that fate, like time, could smile upon me. But today, the thickness of the world I tread with that cane felt unbearably thin. ¡®Is this my epilogue?¡¯ Clench. Someone ced their hand over mine. Another hand rested on the back of my hand that gripped the cane. I turned to look beside me. ¡°Doctor Jang.¡± It was the Saintess. ¡°There¡¯s a w in that hypothesis.¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°You''re not someone who creates hells, Doctor Jang. Even if the world is repeating, you¡¯re not living an eternal life of reincarnation. No, to be more precise, you are not repeating eternal life at this moment in time. There is a fatal w in your hypothesis.¡± ¡°¡How can you be so sure?¡± ¡°Because.¡± A pair of pale eyes. Eyes that always stayed a step away from the world''s chaos, quietly observing it like a still water, were staring straight at me. The depth of those eyes made the screams of the people that had been battering my eardrums feel strangely distant. Instead, what filled my ears was the calm of the water, a voice like thepping of waves around my feet. That water-colored gaze spoke. Because, it said. ¡°Because I¡¯m going to make that hypothesis wrong, starting now.¡± I blinked. ¡°What? What do you mean¡ª¡± ¡°Goodbye, Doctor Jang.¡± A gentle stroke. A warm current brushed against the back of my hand. As if being drawn into the deep water. As if sinking into a depthless underwater world. ¡°I¡¯ll see you in a little while.¡± And then. Time stopped. 13 Time stopped. 14 Time¡õ¡õ stopped. 15 Ti¡õ¡õ stopped. 16 Ti¡õ¡õ sto¡õped. 1¡õ Ti¡õ¡õ ¡õ¡õpped. ¡õ¡õ Ti¡õ¡õ ¡õ¡õopp¡õed. ¡õ¡õ ¡õ¡õ¡õ ¡õ¡õ¡õ¡õ. ¡õ¡õ¡õ. ¡õ¡õ¡õ¡õ. ¡õ¡õ¡õ¡õ. ¡õ¡õ¡õ¡õ. ¡õ¡õ¡õ¡õ. ¡õ¡õ¡õ¡õ. ¡õ¡õ¡õ¡õ. ¡õ¡õ¡õ¡õ. ¡õ¡õ¡õ¡õ. ¡õ¡õ¡õ¡õ. ¡õ¡õ¡õ¡õ. ¡õ¡õ¡õ¡õ. ¡õ¡õ¡õ¡õ. ¡õ¡õ¡õ¡õ. ¡õ¡õ¡õ¡õ. ¡õ¡õ¡õ¡õ. ¡õ¡õ¡õ¡õ.¡õ¡õ¡õ¡õ¡õ¡õ¡õ¡õ¡õ¡õ¡õ¡õ¡õ¡õ¡õ¡õ¡õ¡õ¡õ¡õ¡õ¡õ¡õ¡õ¡õ¡õ¡õ¡õ¡õ¡õ¡õ¡õ¡õ¡õ¡õ¡õ¡õ¡õ¡õ¡õ¡õ¡õ¡õ¡õ¡õ¡õ¡õ¡õ¡õ¡õ¡õ¡õ¡õ¡õ¡õ¡õ¡õ¡õ¡õ¡õ¡õ¡õ¡õ¡õ¡õ¡õ¡õ¡õ¡õ¡õ¡õ¡õ¡õ¡õ¡õ¡õ¡õ¡õ¡õ¡õ¡õ¡õ¡õ¡õ¡õ¡õ¡õ¡õ¡õ¡õ¡õ¡õ¡õ¡õ¡õ¡õ¡õ¡õ¡õ¡õ¡õ¡õ¡õ¡õ¡õ¡õ¡õ¡õ¡õ¡õ¡õ¡õ¡õ¡õ¡õ¡õ¡õ¡õ¡õ¡õ¡õ¡õ¡õ¡õ¡õ¡õ¡õ¡õ¡õ¡õ¡õ¡õ¡õ¡õ¡õ¡õ¡õ¡õ¡õ¡õ¡õ¡õ¡õ¡õ¡õ¡õ¡õ¡õ¡õ¡õ¡õ¡õ¡õ¡õ¡õ¡õ¡õ¡õ¡õ¡õ. ¡õ¡õ¡õ ¡õ. ¡õ¡õ¡õ ¡õ¡õ¡õ¡õ. ¡õ¡õ¡õ. Th¡õ¡õ. And¡õ¡õ. And then. "Hello, Doctor Jang." ¨D¨DIt was apletely ordinary greeting. Apletely mundane tone, as if greeting someone who had just woken up from sleep, a voice the color of water spoke to me. Bright water. Clear and regurgitated by the transparent reflection on the shore, gently touching my toes. The sound of the sea knocking most gently on the ground. To that sound, I opened my eyes. In a fleeting moment, only the sensation that time had passed merely by closing and opening my eyes lightly touched my cornea. But why? "¡Saintess?" "Yes." The voice caressing my eardrums felt like one I hadn''t heard in a very long time. The Saintess''s hand was still holding mine. But the temperature was different. The warmth that had been there just a moment ago was now cool. Perhaps I first sensed something was wrong because of that temperature difference. After hearing and touching, next came the sense of sight. The world had ''stopped.'' "¡¡." The swords that had covered the entire city were holding their breath. The molten iron that had surged like a tsunami through the squares and alleyways had also stopped. The people who had fallen into the boiling molten iron, their screams, Sim Aryeon who was looking at me worriedly, Seo Gyu with his mouth wide open, and Noh Doha who was tightly adjusting his leather gloves. This whole hell. Had alle to a stop. "Ah." A strong sense of d¨¦j¨¤ vu. I had seen this exact scene somewhere before. The view of hell that Endless Hell showed me to break me down, the prison of time. So, I could immediately pinpoint the cause of this ''frozen world.'' I moved my lips. "Saintess, could it be¡ that you''ve be a Fallen?" "Yes." "My god." The Saintess''s ability [Time Stop]. It could manifest such an unbelievable power if it were to be extremely enhanced. This was the first time I was witnessing it in reality. In the past, during the 107th turn, the Saintess hade close to bing a Fallen, but she had never fully awakened [Time Stop] to this degree. "But in this turn, you didn''t train your aura so deeply. You shouldn''t be able to be a Fallen¡." "I did train." The Saintess said. "By stopping time." "¡¡." "At first, even taking a few steps was difficult. It was hard to keep breathing continuously. But I kept pushing, somehow maintaining my aura." The Saintess''s voice was so calm that anyone else listening might think it was just an ordinary training method. But not me. I knew all too well how monstrously difficult that training must have been. "No, that''s impossible. Then your aura would also be stopped, so you''d have to push it forward bit by bit. It''s like taking 30 minutes, no, an hour toplete a single breath." "Yes. It was very hard." The Saintess nodded. "So, it took quite a bit of time." "If it took a long time, just how much¡?" "I didn''t count exactly, but I think it was over 2,000 years." "¡¡." My god. The Saintess gave me a small smile, with a hint of mischief in her expression. It was a truly rare expression and one I hadn''t seen in a very long time. She spoke. "Now, I might be a little closer in age to you, Doctor Jang." [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] w Chapter 211 [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] w Chapter 211 ©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤ The Opposite VIII 13 No matter how much an "rooftop" might be a ce for love confessions and heartfelt punches in subcultures, it was still an awkward ce to have a rxed conversation with a Saintess. The setting was just off. Even though time had stopped, the world below was still a hellscape. "Let''s go somewhere else to talk." "Sure, sounds good." "But can''t you unfreeze time for the others?" "It''s difficult." The Saintess shook her head. "I have to hold someone''s hand to bring them along in the stopped world." Now that she mentioned it, she was still holding my hand tightly. But just as I thought that maybe we could bring one more person by holding hands in a chain, she added, "Unless someone has an aura as highly trained as yours, they can''t endure it. They need to be strong enough to ovee the concept of ''time'' itself." "Yeah, I suppose that''s true." The frozen world was like a vacuum in space. Ordinary people, or even somewhat trained Awakened, would find it hard just to make a sound. "And because of that, I can do little tricks like this." Tap. The Saintess let go of my hand. I saw, in slow motion, her palm gradually pulling away from the back of my hand, the gap between them only 0.1 cm. Immediately, I found myself standing not on the rooftop of the National Road Management HQ, but in the lobby on the first floor. "¡¡?" "I just stopped time." The Saintess''s face was expressionless. However, having achieved a Guinness record in the "Saintess''s Expression Interpretation Championship," I could detect even the faintest aura hidden in her facial muscles. This person¡ should I say she''s excited? She was slightly exhrated. "Wait a moment, Saintess." "The World." She let go of my hand again. The next moment, I was standing in the middle of the Babel Tower za. "¡¡." "Ta-da." The Saintess said "ta-da" in a t tone. So, she must have been the one who picked me up and carried me here while time was stopped, straining as she did so. "¡Saintess." "Yes?" "You seem to be in a really good mood." "Yes. It''s been 2,000 years since I''ve talked with someone." "I also spent about 212 years alone after being screwed over by ''The Admin of All-y,'' so I understand how you feel¡." It was when Sim Aryeon had visited me and said, "I really like the cafe mocha the guild master makes." At that time, I hugged her tightly and cried like a child. In other words, 200 years of solitude was enough to turn me, Doctor Jang, into a mere low-level regressor who that graveyard viin could easily target. And the person before me had just endured ten times that, all alone¡! In other words, the Saintess was currently a fragile Saintess. As soon as I finished making this judgment and interpretation, I picked her up in a light ''princess carry'' while still holding her hand. "Oh." "You''ve done well, Saintess." "¡¡." "And thank you. If you hadn''t stopped time, I would''ve honestly given up on this subjugation. I might have been trapped in an endless hell of repeating time as a regressor." What I needed most during those 200 years of istion was human warmth. Wasn''t that why I instinctively hugged Aryeon when I reunited with her? People can only understand others by reflecting on their own experiences, so I could also guess what the Saintess needed most right now. "¡¡." Thankfully, my guess wasn''t wrong. The Saintess silently entrusted her body to my arm. Her water-colored hair, a little longer than it was ''2,000 years ago,'' leaned towards me. "I know a good caf¨¦ nearby. Shall we go there?" "¡No. Just walking around like this is fine." "Oh. That sounds good. Let''s do that." Step, step. A posture that might look quite embarrassing to others. But whether it was fortunate or unfortunate, the world was entirely frozen, except for the two of us. No one could take an interest in us. The people trapped in the tortures of the boiling hell and the ming hell were petrified in various poses, some trying to flee, others screaming. We walked through the petrified crowd. "I was actually a bit worried." The Saintess, nestled in my arms, moved her lips. "Worried?" "Yes, because I''m now an anomaly." The voice that slipped from her lips still carried the dryness of someone who had been petrified for a long time. "I''ve even be something that could be ssified as an alien god. And you, Doctor Jang, are usually hostile to anomalies. So, I was worried." "I see. You thought I might immediately react by saying, ''What an insolent anomaly!'' and try to subjugate you?" "Yes. Just as a possibility." Iughed. "If you ever witness Doctor Jang reacting like that, make sure to subjugate them immediately because they¡¯re a doppelg?nger." No matter how important it is to drive out the void from the world, it could never be more precious than the people around me. If I prioritized the former over thetter and turned into an ''anomaly subjugation machine,'' the person known as Doctor Jang would also be just another anomaly. He must be subjugated without fail. Of course, the temperature of the Saintess''s body, resting in my arms, was already far from human. It was as cool as a shadow. Probably around 15¡ãC. But it was still warm for a body that had endured 2,000 winters. "¡¡." At that moment, something curious happened. Sssss-. The Saintess''s aura climbed up my arm, inching forward. As is well known, the Saintess''s aura was colorless and transparent, so outwardly, nothing seemed to change. The Saintess was merely quietly resting in my arms. "Your aura has certainly be incredibly adept." Admiring her in my mind, I raised my dark aura, carefully wrapping it around the transparent aura that had touched my arm. "......" Hesitant. The Saintess''s transparent aura cautiously responded to the gestures of my dark one. Instead of the human way of holding hands with five fingers, the countless branches of aura intertwined with mine like interlocked fingers. Our bodies bloomed with the fusion of transparency and darkness. Like a flower that blooms in silence, the Saintess quietly closed her eyes as she leaned into me. "......" "......" There was warmth in the aura. [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] w It wasforting. What we were imitating, with an aura technique that no ordinary awakened one could replicate, was ultimately the human way of exchanging warmth. If so, the criteria that distinguish the strange from the human are not the internal body temperature of 36.5¡ãC, nor the five fingers, but rather what one attempts to imitate with that warmth and those fingertips. We silently affirmed each other''s humanity like that for a while. 14 "When I lived in a world at a standstill, I pondered ways to invade Nut''s domain." At the old Baekje Hospital''s caf¨¦. The Saintess sipped her coffee in the ce where Old Scho always conversed with Madame Adele. It was the first time in a long while that I had made her coffee myself. Well, it was just instant coffee from a golden packet mixed with hot water. But since that was her favorite, there was no helping it. The pride of a barista crumbled in the face of modern food industry technology. "Did you have any sess?" "Unfortunately, no." The Saintess shook her head. "The closest method was ''Kaleidoscope.'' By using the belief that those experiencing Kaleidoscope catch a glimpse of the afterlife, I pushed myself to the extreme brink of death." "Oh, that''s a good idea." "Yes. ...But still, I was blocked by that ss barrier between life and death." ss. The metaphor of a phenomenon where one can see the other side but cannot cross over. If only I could punch through that ss and shatter it. But the barrier set up by the alien god far surpassed even the bulletproof ss of the U.S. President''s limousine. Looking back, when the 264th Fairy took me to the underworld, that was the perfect opportunity... But regretting what''s already passed is useless. "If you''ve tried other methods, please tell me about them all." "Yes." We shared the records of the Saintess''s failures over the past 2,000 years. It would be a mistake to think that the Saintess was ipetent. Because if you think about it the other way around, the alien god Nut couldn''t interfere with the Saintess''s [Time Stop] for over 2,000 years either. The alien god was powerful enough to turn the world into hell in a single day. But even such a deity couldn''t touch a single finger on the time the Saintess had frozen. This is generally how "territory disputes" between entities with the alien god-level danger yed out. "Actually, the Saintess''s power and Nut''s power areplete opposites." The Saintess tilted her head. "Really?" "Yes. The world the Saintess has stopped is close to nothingness. Since time has stoppedpletely, no life can be born, and no suffering can be cultivated. There''s no one to perceive anything." And this ''nothingness'' is paradoxically the most opposed concept to ''hell.'' "Hell or the afterlife is ultimately a projection of the belief that life continues in some form even after death. It¡¯s endless existence." "Ah, indeed." "So Nut can''t invade the Saintess''s formless nothingness, and the Saintess can''t invade Nut''s form-filled existence. They are opposites." "...You''re saying that Nut and I are destined to remain in a perpetual stalemate." "By yourself, yes." I rested my chin on my hand. "ss. ss. A way to shatter the ss. Entities rted to ss..." "Shouldn''t we consider mirrors as well?" The Saintess said. "When you entered the underworld, you mentioned seeing your reflection in the ss, didn''t you?" "Yes. My appearance in the real world was reflected beneath my feet." "Then I think it''s closer to a ''mirror'' than ''ss.'' After all, the afterlife is a copy of this life. The ''underworld'' is a mirror image of our world." "You''re absolutely right. Hmm..." The humans existing in this world were ''copied'' and ''pasted'' into Nut''s domain. And then Nut imed that this copy was the real one, while we were merely souls suffering in hell. As the Saintess said, it would be more urate to say that the concept of a ''mirror'' is involved. "Mirror. A mirror, then. So, a doppelg?nger... No, a doppelg?nger is a servant of the Endless. It''s more rted to the division and confusion of identity." "Theseus'' ship?" "Possibly. If I were to roughly list entities associated with the division and confusion of identity, it would include Theseus'' ship, the Uyuni Desert, the Embarrassing History Mosquito, the Potato Saintess..." "Please exclude thest one." What are you talking about? That might be the most important clue. "In any case, they''re loosely rted, but there''s no direct connection to entering Nut''s domain... Ah." At that moment. As I searched through my past for clues, the mortician''s brain found a keyword. "¨D¨DMirror!" I stood up abruptly, still holding hands with the Saintess. "Yes?" "Now that I think about it, there is an entity not only rted to mirrors but also connected to both ''hell'' and ''this world''!" Why hadn''t I thought of this earlier? An entity that constantly chanted, ''This world is hell'' and ''Being born into this world itself is evil,'' like a mantra. -Die right now. The Magic Mirror. The entity from Snow White. That mirror, always ced in the room of the psychopath Yoo Jiwon, was the clue that led to the night goddess Nut. [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] w Chapter 212 [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] w Chapter 212 ©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤ The Opposite IX 15 If someone asked, "Who is the easiest Korean to find in the world?" I would choose Yoo Jiwon without hesitation. If the civilization on the Korean Penins were still functioning normally and the presidential system was still in ce? Then Yoo Jiwon would live near the Blue House. If the Eastern Holy Kingdom had gonepletely crazy, marched south, and established the New Sacred Korean Empire? Then Yoo Jiwon would be standing next to Christ Mo Gwangseo, giving a congrattory speech. If former Busan Mayor Jung Sangguk somehow miraculously apologized sincerely to Lee Hayul, gathered the Zainichi Koreans, formed a multinational coalition, and sessfully returned to Busan? Fine. Then Yoo Jiwon would be standing at the bow of the first ship to arrive in Busan''s waters, her silver hair fluttering in the wind. In the end, Yoo Jiwon can be considered a living Yeouido weather vane. Where Yoo Jiwon lives is modern-day Yeouido, Bukaksan, and Yongsan. If Yoo Jiwon packs up and moves somewhere, it can be taken as a sign that something major has shifted in the power structure of the Korean Penins. You know how animals sense earthquakes before they happen and run away? She''s an animal of power. "This is the magic mirror." Therefore, I naturally found Yoo Jiwon''s residence with ease. It was precisely 11 meters away from National Highway Chief Noh Doha''s private room. "Oh. Have you been here before? You''ve been alone for 2,000 years, so I assume you''ve visited here and there." "No. I''ve seen it with [irvoyance], but this is my first time actuallying here." The Saintess shook her head. It was a rather bleak interior. Maps of the Korean Penins and the Japanese archipgo of various sizes were stered on the walls, handmade chess pieces, and an empty armchair by the window. Apart from the [Romance of the Three Kingdoms] books lined up on the bookshelf, the room had almost no decorations. For the record, if you looked through those [Romance of the Three Kingdoms] books, you''d find yellow underlines under the names of the characters I like. At this point, it was scary. I sincerely hope that none of you ever get involved with a super-intelligent psychopath like Yoo Jiwon in your lives. "Actually, I still don''t feel like I''m seeing this in person." "Pardon? What do you mean?" "About 1,000 years ago, my perspective became fixed in a ''third-person omniscient'' view." Ah. Come to think of it... "Do you mean you see things from above, like controlling units in Starcraft?" "Hold on." The Saintess let go of my hand and then took it again. In other words, during the brief moment I was petrified by [Time Stop], she went somewhere far away and came back. "Yes, something like that." "...Did you just pause time because you didn''t know what Starcraft was, and secretly looked it up?" "Doctor Jang." The Saintess said calmly. "Expecting me to understand a reference to a game released in 1998 is a bit much." "......" You said we''re around the same age! You said you''re now about the same age as me! A deep sense of betrayal overcame me. How did Starcraft be known as Korea''s traditional game? Why don''t you mock Yut Nori by calling it an old game too? A nation that forgets its history and traditions has no future. There''s a reason why the civilization on the Korean Penins perished. "And I''m not as good at remembering things as you, Doctor Jang, so I forgot the name of that game over a thousand years ago." "Oh. I''m sorry. Sometimes I forget to consider others'' perspectives because of my memory." "It''s okay. Anyway, that''s why it''s still a bit difficult to make eye contact with you, Doctor Jang." "......" "I don''t think I''ll ever get used to it." Back in the 107th turn. When the Saintess had fallen as Executioner, she had said the same thing. ¡®¡So you didn''t make eye contact and instead tried to keep physical contact by holding hands.¡¯ Unable to determine her own position visually, seeing everyone, including herself, from an omniscient perspective. Thus, the Saintess clung even more to her sense of touch. Only the sensation on her skin was tangible proof that she was still alive in this world. ¡®Hmm. I''m d I decided to hold her.¡¯ Still holding the Saintess in a princess carry, I used my aura to tear off the nket that covered the magic mirror. A smooth full-length mirror was revealed. If this were a normal turn, the mirror would have immediately greeted me with, "Why don''t you die right now?" upon seeing my face. "You''re thinking this mirror is a passage to the ¡®world beyond,¡¯ right?" "Yes. But it seems to be frozen in time and doesn''t recognize us." Surprisingly, neither the Saintess nor I were reflected in the mirror''s surface. It was like suddenly bing a vampire. I pressed my palm against the mirror as a test, but nothing happened. My hand didn''t pass through, and nothing unusual urred. "Could you briefly release the time stop? Two seconds should be enough. Please press your hand against the mirror with me." "Okay." The moment the Saintess closed her eyes. -Die right now. As soon as time resumed, the mirror''s automatic response popped up. Our reflections were properly disyed on the surface. However, even after pressing our palms against the mirror together, our bodies didn''t pass through to the other side of the ss. ¡®Did it fail?¡¯ After two seconds, time stopped again. It seemed like nothing had been achieved, but I wasn''t disappointed. When dealing with the anomalies, it''s essential to explore all possibilities. "Saintess, could you bring the fairy from Tutorial 264 and Yoo Jiwon here?" "Sure." In the next moment, the Saintess briefly let go of my hand, and suddenly, the fairy from Tutorial 264 and Yoo Jiwon were lying at my feet. "I''m back." "Good work..." And it was at that moment that I noticed something obvious. ¡®Wait. The Saintess is still in my arms. So... Did she get down from my arms, wander around outside, bring back the fairy and Yoo Jiwon, and then climb back up to my arm before taking my hand?¡¯ "...?" The Saintess tilted her head, looking puzzled (though she always did), as if she had no idea what I was thinking. In my mind, an animated short from the 1920s, in ssic Disney style, began ying. The Saintess, expressionless, letting go of my hand, hopping down from my arm, returning with the fairy and Yoo Jiwon, climbing back up my arm like adder, and then taking my hand again. "Why do you look like that, Doctor Jang?" "...It''s nothing. Anyway, please grab the fairy''s hand and release the [Time Stop]." "Okay." 0.1 secondster. "Whaaaaaa!" The fairy, who had just been freed from the petrification of time, started screaming and convulsing. ¡°W-What is happening?! I can¡¯t breathe¡! No, it¡¯s like my very existence is being painted over with a chalky white feeling¡! Ugh! A truly sphemous taste! sphemous pressure! The fairy is dying! Agh! I¡¯m dying! I¡¯m dead¡!¡± ¡°Here, let me protect you with my aura.¡± ¡°Oh. Suddenly, I feel better. The fairy has survived.¡± The fairy, who had looked like her eyes were about to pop out, nodded her head shakily. ¡°Yikes. Comrade Secretary, what is this counter-revolutionary being? Just being in the same space makes me feel like I¡¯m going to get squashed into a fairy pancake...¡± [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] w ¡°Despite appearances, they are an ally. Show them proper respect.¡± ¡°Whoa, are you serious,rade? I feel like a loyal party member who just found out that the Steel Secretary signed a non-aggression pact with some art student.¡± ¡°Then you must know what the Secretary¡¯s specialty is. Should I call someone else?¡± ¡°Eep! Anything but purging¡! I pledge eternal loyalty to Comrade Secretary!¡± I exined the situation to the fairy. ¡°So, you need to set up a dream. Do you see this silver-haired human here? We¡¯re going to enter their dream.¡± ¡°Okay.¡± ¡°The background of the dream needs to be the same as this room we¡¯re in now. Especially that mirror over there, make sure that appears.¡± ¡°Got it¡ But, will you enter a dream with this being?¡± The fairy nced nervously at the Saintess, sweating profusely. If this were aic, the word ¡°nervous¡¡± would be written in the speech bubble. ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°Butrade, the moment this being enters the dream, my mental state will be toasted to a crisp 120% charcoal scent?¡± ¡°I¡¯ll protect you as much as I can. Finish the job well, and I¡¯ll give you 100 heavenly sausages.¡± ¡°Only the brave win the beauty!¡± We listened to the luby and entered Yoo Jiwon¡¯s dream. In the dream, Yoo Jiwon was frozen, sitting by the window. The Saintess¡¯s [Time Stop] had worked even within the dream. The Saintess released her power. ¡°¡Huh?¡± Blink. Yoo Jiwon opened her eyes. ¡°Doctor Jang, Your Excellency? And even the Saintess? What brings you to my private quarters?¡± ¡°This is a dream, Jiwon.¡± ¡°Pardon?¡± ¡°Look over there, see the tutorial fairy? We¡¯ve entered your dream, riding on a luby from the subus.¡± ¡°Hm? Oh? Hm? ¡Oh-ho.¡± Yoo Jiwon looked around curiously. ¡°As expected of Your Excellency, Doctor Jang. With your level of awakening, it¡¯s no surprise you can freely enter anyone¡¯s dream. No matter how deceitful someone may be in reality, they cannot pursue lies within a dream. In your clear-sighted wisdom''s presence, who could hide their true nature?¡± ¡°You better start hiding yours.¡± ¡°If Your Excellency has visited my dream, there must be a reason, and an urgent one at that. How may I assist you?¡± This one was way too good at twisting words when talking to me. ¡°First, let¡¯s take a look at the magic mirror together.¡± ¡°Understood.¡± The power-hungry psychopath didn¡¯t question anything and walked over to the mirror¡¯s veil, flipping it aside with a flick. With me, the Saintess, Yoo Jiwon, and the fairy all reflected on its surface, the mirror suddenly felt cramped. -Please die immediately. -Please die immediately. The mirror chanted like a malfunctioning ARS system with its trigger stuck. ¡°It¡¯s time.¡± ¡°Yes.¡± As the Saintess and I reached out simultaneously... -Please die imme¡ Clink. With a light sound of ss breaking, our wrists passed ¡°through the inside¡± of the mirror. We hadn¡¯t shattered the ss. The surface was intact. It had just made a breaking sound. ¡°¡!¡± The Saintess¡¯s transparent aura red up momentarily. A sign of surprise. She had lost the ability to express emotions with her eyes or facial muscles long ago. This was her uniquenguage. A delicate and transparent expression through an aura that was invisible to others, a lonely foreign tongue that only I could understand. So instead of speaking to the Saintess with words, I extended my aura to draw hers closer. I matched my sentence to her grammar. ¡®Shall we proceed, Saintess?¡¯ ¡®Yes, Doctor Jang.¡¯ A silentnguage. Hand in hand, I took the first step into the mirror, and the Saintess followed, taking half a step more. Clink. Clink. Clink! The sound of ss breaking echoed countless times as we crossed the mirror, barely the width of an eyelid. It was probably the noise of the alien god wailing as it sensed intruders invading its domain. But when the Saintess followed me inside and froze time again... Clink¨D¨D Even the sound of the mirror breaking was silenced. Lifting our heads, we found ourselves standing side by side, hand in hand, in the middle of Seoul Station. Hundreds of passersby were petrified. The world was painted in shades of gray, like an old ck-and-white film. The Saintess¡¯s power had enveloped the hidden world. I smiled. ¡°We¡¯ve seeded.¡± In the middle of the sky, there was the alien god. Where the sun should have been, the goddess of night, Nut, was frozen in ce, her eyes wide open. [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] w Chapter 213 [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] w Chapter 213 ©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤ The Opposite ¢ú 16 Everyone, at some point in their childhood, must have imagined it. ¡°Wouldn¡¯t it be awesome if the world stopped and I was the only one who could move freely?¡± To Homo sapiens, cking off is almost a primal instinct. Who hasn''t had the fantasy of bing a millionaire by robbing a bank while time stands still? That adolescent daydream from my childhood has now, after a few thousand years,e true. "The civilization really does look intact. Ah, there''s a Starbucks over there... Yes, it did have that green logo." "Indeed." We strolled together, just the Saintess and I, through the deste domain of the alien god, now colored in shades of ck and gray. ¡°Since the advent of the Void, all the logos have been corrupted into Cthulhu-like squid horrors, so it¡¯s hard to remember what they originally looked like. But yes, they used to have that mermaid shape back in the day.¡± "...And there are so many people. So many." "This was before the poption density of the Korean Penins dropped to 1/20 of its current level." "How can all these people just sit in cafes and restaurants during the middle of the day instead of going to work?" "Hmm, perhaps they''re working on theirptops?" "Oh, electronic devices haven''t been corrupted by the horrors." Like anyone in an apocalypse, the Saintess and I were living in a time isted from civilization. As a regressor, I was forever cut off from my memories before the 4th turn. The Saintess, a time stopper, had forgotten much after living alone for thousands of years. But rather... "By the way, it''s curious that you haven''t forgotten about me, Saintess. How have you managed to retain your memory of me for 2,000 years?" "..." A subtle expression appeared on the Saintess''s face, as if she was either trying to smile or suppressing one. "That''s a secret. But more importantly, Doctor Jang, would you like to step into that caf¨¦ over there?" "I don''t mind... but while it''s fine to look around, you mustn''t ingest anything. Do you remember the myth of Persephone? Those who consume food from another world cannot return to reality." "Yes, I''ll keep that in mind." For a while, we enjoyed ourselves around the Seoul Station area in various ways. We entered a caf¨¦ and ced coffee on the table (without drinking it). We sat side by side, taking photos with a smartphone (though nothing showed up). We browsed books in a bookstore... ''Now that I think about it...'' There were a few times when the Saintess let go of my hand, causing even my time to freeze, but for the most part, we kept holding hands as we walked around. ''This is the first time I''ve been out and about with the Saintess like this.'' We''d gone to Beijing to stop the butterfly effect before, but even then, we mostly walked through dark subway tunnels. ''I wonder if there''s a way to keep the current Saintess beyond this turn?'' That thought suddenly came to me. Should I call it a thought? It was more like an emotion that suddenly sprang up within me. ¡®She''s someone who has withstood thousands of years alone to prevent the world¡¯s destruction. Surely, she''d be able to understand me better than anyone.¡¯ Though I hadn¡¯t shown it until now, I too yearned for someone to share the endless days and nights with on this lonely ind of time, someone who could provide the human warmth I desperately needed. The 267th turn of the Saintess, who was now holding my hand... Wouldn''t she be more suited as apanion to a regressor than anyone else I''ve met so far? ¡®Yes, definitely.¡¯ One was a time traveler, the other a time stopper. One was imprisoned in the flow of eternity, the other in its stillness. In a world where no one could understand¡ªor even perceive¡ªus, only we could truly understand each other. The fact that one of us was a being on the level of an alien god didn¡¯t matter at all. If worse came to worst, even if humanity worshipped the Saintess as their new deity, it wouldn¡¯t matter to me. ¡®But how could I... Ah, wait. What if I became the Saintess''s apostle, her shrine maiden?¡¯ A brilliant idea. Since we were both awakened to time, if we found the right way, we might be able to establish a rtionship like that of a god and her shrine maiden. Then, we could be together. I saw hope. And if there was one thing I, Doctor Jang, was the world''s foremost expert on, it was finding hope. ¡°Doctor Jang.¡± ¡°...¡± ¡°Doctor Jang.¡± I felt a cool touch on my cheek, at about 15¡ãC. Noticing it, I realized the Saintess had ced her hand on my face. ¡°¡Oh, sorry. I was lost in thought for a moment. What is it?¡± ¡°I think it¡¯s time to hunt Nut.¡± ¡°Hmm.¡± Indeed. No matter how much we had stopped time and had fun roaming around Nut''s domain like this... An alien god was still an alien god. The moment we let our guard down, it might strike back in an unimaginable way. Reluctantly, I nodded. "You¡¯re right. Let''s finish this quickly." ¡°Yes. But Nut is positioned up there, like the sun in the sky. How do you n to hunt it?¡± "It¡¯s simple. We just walk up there." With a swish, I manipted my dark aura to create a ¡®footing¡¯ before me. As the tforms formed in a domino-like sequence, a staircase leading to the sky waspleted in an instant. It was literally a path to ascend to the heavens. The Saintess murmured beside me. "...The way you hunt anomalies feels a bit like overpowering them with brute force, doesn''t it?" "What¡¯s the point of having an aura if you don''t use it? I trained so hard just for this. Now, please follow me." "Yes." Tap. We both stepped onto the translucent staircase at the same time. 10 meters, 20 meters. As we ascended, the tforms below us disappeared, and new ones formed above. Sometimes the steps were dark-colored, made from my aura, and other times they shimmered transparent, when the Saintess took the lead. How long had we been walking up? In a world where time had stopped and the word "how long" no longer had any real meaning, I suddenly looked down and saw that the ground had receded far below us. "Aha." Iughed, and the Saintess tilted her head. "Why are youughing?" "No reason. I just realized I¡¯ve be a bit more like you, Saintess." "...?" ¡°Didn¡¯t you say you could look down on all things from an omniscient perspective? Look. Seoul, the entire Korean Penins, is spread out below us. I¡¯ve finally caught up to your view, Saintess.¡± ¡°¡¡± Still not used to viewing the world in first-person, the Saintess''s gaze remained slightly angled toward me. Instead, the pressure of her hand gripping mine tightened slightly. ¡°Yes, Doctor Jang.¡± We continued to climb the stairs. Whether fortunately or unfortunately, we didn¡¯t actually need to climb the full 150 million kilometers to reach the point in space where the sun was positioned. The atmosphere. Surprisingly, Nut¡¯s ¡°eye,¡± which had reced the sun¡¯s position, was located near the stratosphere. ¡°Indeed.¡± Swish. I reached out and ¡°touched¡± the ¡°sky.¡± The atmosphere was covered by a semi-transparent ss-like barrier. Nut¡¯s eye was embedded in this ss barrier. ¡°The universe has vanished. There¡¯s nothing but the sky.¡± ¡°Instead, constetions are engraved on the ss. Shall we try breaking it?¡± ¡°No, even if we break through the ss barrier, there will likely be anotheryer of ss beyond it. Severalyers of ss must be enveloping the Earth.¡± The geocentric model. An ancient celestial belief that humanity had long trusted in. The hypothesis that the Earth is the center of the universe, and that all other stars rotate around it. The goddess of the night sky, Nut, had descended upon this ce with that belief. Perhaps the same phenomenon was urring in the reality that had begun to be tainted by Nut. Eliminating the entire universe, which humanity didn¡¯t inhabit, turning the surface into hell, and establishing this ce as the only world. It was violence befitting an Alien god. ¡°Hah, if not for you, Saintess, the whole world would have fallen into Nut¡¯s embrace.¡± ¡°¡¡¡± ¡°Then, I will pierce Nut¡¯s eye.¡± I drew my staff sword, Doha, and without a moment¡¯s hesitation, stabbed it into Nut¡¯s ¡°eye,¡± the ¡°sun¡± of this great void. The sun split apart. The Alien god couldn¡¯t put up any resistance. Due to the halted time, Nut couldn¡¯t even utter a death cry. If I were to restore time now, the extermination would beplete. ¡°It¡¯s done. Saintess, please release the time now. And when we return to reality, could you spare a moment for a consultation? I need to discuss a turnhole for escaping the turn of repetitions...¡± There was no response. ¡°Saintess?¡± I turned to look beside me. The Saintess was silently closing her eyes. Still expressionless, still bearing the scent of water, still holding my hand. But. ¡°¡¡¡± A bright red stain. In this colorless world, a crimson lotus flower was somehow blooming right in the center of the Saintess¡¯s chest. My entire body froze. As my body turned pale, my mind began to whirl at an incredibly fast pace. The sound of my brain spinning was so loud that my ears felt numb. This can¡¯t be happening. Could it be that the Alien god retaliated? Was there a system in ce where a curse would activate upon their death, targeting the one who killed them? But if that were the case, why was it the Saintess¡¯s body and not mine¡ªthe godyer who stabbed the eye... ¡°I¡¯m sorry, Doctor Jang.¡± In my consciousness, stained with white noise, the Saintess¡¯s calm voice resonated like a single thread. ¡°There¡¯s actually one secret I hadn¡¯t told you.¡± Despite the red spider lily blooming from her chest, there was no pain in the Saintess¡¯s voice. Regret. Apology. [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] w Only such emotions, barely discernible to anyone but me, were faintly mixed in her voice. The water-like voice spoke. ¡°I am a priestess of Nut, the Alien god.¡± A moment passed. When I blinked for just a moment, the steps of aura that I had been standing on had vanished. ¡°¡¡!¡± My body suddenly lost its bnce, and I copsed. Just as I thought I was falling from the atmosphere, time halted again and then resumed. The Saintess, kneeling on the steps with both knees, was holding my hand as I tried to fall from the sky. Looking down at me. As if barely catching someone falling from the edge of a cliff. ¡°Saintess, what in the world is this...!¡± ¡°Please don¡¯t move.¡± The Saintess spoke. ¡°Please don¡¯t activate your aura. Don¡¯t recreate the stairs. Don¡¯t take any action towards me.¡± Even as she spoke, blood was still flowing from the Saintess¡¯s chest. If Nut¡¯s eye and the Saintess¡¯s heart were linked, then the wound on both would be exactly where I had stabbed with my sword. ¡°If you show any signs of moving, I¡¯ll immediately let go of this hand and stop time.¡± ¡°¡¡¡± ¡°You once said that Nut and I were opposites. That Nut, who creates the underworld, and I, who halts time, are fundamentally different. But you were wrong.¡± Drip¡ª The blood that had flowed down from her chest trickled down her clothes and onto my cheek. It was where the Saintess¡¯s hand had covered just moments ago. ¡°That¡¯s not what matters. What¡¯s important is whether we see the world where people live as ¡®hell.¡¯¡± ¡°¡¡¡± ¡°Surely you know. That I¡¯ve long called the world a hell.¡± Suddenly. ¡ªThis world is hell. The 117th turn. The words the Saintess spoke to me in the prison of infinity shed through my mind. ¡ªThe world is hell, but no one takes responsibility. ¡ªIf time can¡¯t be moved forward, it must be stopped. ¡ªWhy should I allow time to flow in such a world? ¡ªHell isn¡¯t 20,000 yojanas deep. That¡¯s impossible. ¡ªJust beneath the surface. ¡ªJust oneyer beneath that has been entirely made into hell. Ah. Back then too¡ªyes, back then too, the Saintess was in space. She was sitting in the ¡°ster world,¡± symbolized by the moon, talking with me. Is the world seen as hell? Can one manipte the universe at will? Does one possess an omniscient viewpoint, looking down on the world from above? Is one capable of opposing and ambushing a ¡°time ruler,¡± a regressor? The answer to all these is ¡°yes.¡± In these four aspects, the Saintess and Nut shared identical traits. If Alien god could freely establish a base within a [time-seal] grave, isted from the world¡¯s flow... If some awakened one could freely move alone in a world that hade to a standstill. It was only natural to specte that there might be an intrinsic connection between the two. "Doctor Jang must have thought that I reached the realm of the alien god by training my aura for 2,000 years, but that''s a bit off." "What do you mean, off...?" "I''m sure I''ve spent hundreds or thousands of years in other turns as well. Always observing people with time stopped. But the reason I became particrly strong in this turn is because the power of the alien god linked to me has grown stronger." "......" "I am an avatar of Nut." Drip. Blood brushed past my cheek and fell into the abyss below. "You could say I''m the personality of a god without one. So you can''t kill Nut alone. You must also hunt me." "Please wait! We can seal away only the alien god!" I shouted desperately. "Yohwa, the student council president of Baekhwah High School, was like that too! The alien god Endless Hell was sealed within her personality..." "We don''t get along well." The Saintess shook her head. "Endless Hell would never have noticed even if the turns repeated. But Nut is different. Nut is the alien god of the turn of day and night, the repetition of days, and time. As the turns repeat, instead of resetting, Nut will only grow stronger." "......" "Even if you somehow manage to iste Nut within my mind, Nut''s power would grow stronger with each turn. My heart would be increasingly contaminated as well, Doctor Jang." As my lips trembled and words failed me, the Saintess spoke. "Are you truly certain that I won''t one day, at some moment, suddenly turn the world into hell?" "......" "Doctor Jang." Caress. The Saintess wrapped her hands around mine, hanging at the edge of the void. Her touch was cool, but in the thinning air of this stratosphere, it was the only warmth. "Please, don''t worry. I''ll keep time stopped here." For a moment, I didn''t understand what the Saintess was saying. My mind refused toprehend. "Pardon...?" "I''m sorry. But stabbing time won''t end it." The Saintess''s voice was quiet. "There¡¯s only one way to kill an anomaly of time. I''ll stop it here¡ªthe anomaly trying to interfere with your regression, the void¡ªI''ll hold it here. In this ce." "Hold it here?" My lips parted. "For how long, exactly?" "......" "This is the 267th turn. Already. And yet, there¡¯s no sign of saving the world. It could take hundreds, perhaps more than a thousand turns. Until then... Until then, do you intend to keep this void frozen?" "Everything is but a moment." Caress. The Saintess bent down and gently stroked my cheek this time, wiping away her own blood with her own warmth. "I will stop everything here, including myself. So even if you regress to the next turn, this ce will remain frozen. As a result, the alien god, I, will no longer be able to interfere with your regressions." "......" She left something unsaid. To stop the time of the entire world, including herself. That meant even the time stopper herself would be frozen. A truly perfect seal. An absolute subjugation. Even if a thousand years pass, ten thousand years pass, a hundred million years pass, and 256 quadrillion years flow by, no one will notice. The world will move on as if nothing had happened, in the indifferent flow of time. Except for one person. Me, the regressor, who would remember this moment for eternity. "Doctor Jang." "......" "Thank you. Because you were there, I didn¡¯t give up. As long as you¡¯re out there, I won¡¯t see this ce as hell." I could feel it. The Saintess was about to let go of my hand. She was trying to exile me from this void, to [seal] this ce''s time along with herself, to iste herself from the world. That in the 267th turn, the Saintess existed here, and would continue to exist here, eternally, suppressing an alien god. No one would ever know. That there was once a human who existed here, wishing that the world would not turn into hell. "This." My decision was purely impulsive. "Take this with you." I removed the ornament from my left arm. And ced it on the Saintess¡¯s wrist, which was holding my hand. The Saintess tilted her head in confusion. "A bracelet...?" "A silver bell." Ting. The silver bell rang. Lightly. "It¡¯s the first thing I acquire whenever I wake up at Busan Station. It¡¯s just a souvenir with no special powers... But it will surely serve as a link between you and me." "......" "Please wait for me. No matter how many turns it takes, no matter how long, I wille to save you. I promise." "......" "I will find a way to break this seal without you destroying the world, and I will return." At that moment. The Saintess smiled. The Saintess who had not once looked me in the eye since we reunited after stopping time for 2,000 years, finally did. Clumsily. With one hand, she held my right hand, and with the other, she held my cheek. For the first time, like a child who had just learned a new gesture, she slowly adjusted the angle of her head, lowering it, aligning the angles of her eyes with mine. The world''s achromatic colors quickly narrowed between us, filling everything with ck and white. "Okay." A moment of pause. The warm color of deep water lingered on my lips for a brief moment. "I''ll see you in a little while." She withdrew. When I opened my eyes, a thin ss barrier, truly a thin ss barrier, was now between the Saintess and me. The Saintess, smiling on the other side of the ss, was frozen in ce, reaching out her hand. Like a ck-and-white photograph. ¡®Ah.¡¯ I, who had lost hold of the Saintess''s hand, simply fell. No, in truth, it was the opposite. The Saintess¡¯s frozen world, having let go of my hand, was receding into the abyss. I reached out desperately, calling for the Saintess, but no matter what I did, I couldn¡¯t cross into the achromatic world. And in the next moment. I returned to reality, where she no longer existed. [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] w Chapter 214 [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] w Chapter 214 ©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤ The Opposite XI 18 There is an epilogue. The season that reality returned to was summer. Summer was radiant. The hell of des, where swords sprouted from every step, had vanished. The molten metal that had crept into the alleyways and melted people¡¯s hearts had evaporated. Even the silver bell that once hung from my wrist was gone. But those were not the only things that said farewell in this season. "Hmm...?" "Huh? Why am I on the rooftop...?" People couldn''t remember what had just happened. Nor could Noh Doha, Sim Aryeon, or the otherrades. Even the infected Regressor Virus protesters in the square were the same. People looked at each other in confusion, chatted casually, or returned to their workces. As if they had just woken from a brief daydream. ¡°Saintess...?¡± Perhaps that dream was a nightmare. ¡°I''m sorry, but who is that...?¡± The Saintess of the 267th turn had disappeared. From reality. And from memory. "Noh Doha, Chief of Management. Don¡¯t you really remember? The existence of the Constetions?" "Constetions? Aren''t those just nicknames you use when asionally posting announcements on SG Net...?" "No. There''s someone who can observe every Awakened in the Korean Penins with [irvoyance] and deliver messages at will with [Telepathy]." Noh Doha frowned. "What are you talking about? Is this some kind of superpowered Awakened you imagined...?" No one remembered the Saintess of the 267th turn. It was the same as my [Time Seal]. She had sealed herself, along with Nut''s domain, in a hidden world that could no longer affect reality. So that the goddess of the night sky could never interfere with me. So that my regression would never be tainted by the monstrous. She isted her very existence. "......" Summer passed. "Whoa. Comrade Secretary-General. Even if we are just residents of a dream, that''s impossible. We can''t enter the dreams of someone who doesn''t exist in reality." I tried countless methods to cross over to the hidden world where the Saintess was sealed. And I failed every time. When I had hunted Nut before, at least I could see the ss barrier even if I couldn¡¯t cross it. Now, even that was impossible. The magical mirror had lost its function as a gateway. No matter what means I used, I couldn¡¯t get closer to the hidden world where the Saintess was sleeping. ¡°Comrade Secretary-General, Ibed through the dreams of everyone living in the Korean Penins as you ordered, but I couldn¡¯t find anyone with the characteristics you described!¡± But such a person did exist. ¡°Someone who could brew all kinds of coffee but always asked for instant coffee.¡± ¡°And liked it even more if you secretly mixed in a spoonful of cinnamon.¡± ¡°Also, someone with water-colored hair and eyes, who had a quiet atmosphere like they were swimming through water instead of walking onnd.¡± ¡°A person who was uninterested in the trivialities of the world, always expressionless, never joining in on people¡¯s idle chatter, but still willing topromise for the sake of others.¡± ¡°Someone very smart.¡± ¡°Who liked crossing the Jamsu Bridge during walks.¡± Such a person existed. "Hoeeh. Comrade Secretary-General! We''ve used all our resources for six years, but we still couldn''t find any trace of them!" The Saintess¡¯s residence in Yongsan had somehow turned into ruins. The tropical fish that had survived the copse of civilization, the meticulously maintained aquariums where she had wiped the algae away, all had turned to dust. The table where we sat together for study sessions every Wednesday was gone. Without [irvoyance] and [Telepathy], public safety in the Korean Penins rapidly deteriorated. When Awakened ones got lost in the void. - Doctor Jang. - There¡¯s a distress call. I¡¯ll give you the location now. The person who used to send me those messages was gone. I could no longer rescue people as quickly as I used to. No one found this strange. Summer passed. When Awakened ones didn''t know their abilities well, or how to strengthen their skills. [¡®The Librarian of the Great Library¡¯ unlocks your true ability.] [¡®The Librarian of the Great Library¡¯ assigns you a quest.] [Uponpleting the quest, a fortuitous opportunity will arise to enhance your ability.] The person who guided Awakened ones subtly in my stead was gone. I could no longer help people as broadly as I used to. The idea that "at least a Constetion is watching over me" disappeared from people¡¯s minds, no matter what they did. The support of "at least I can confide in the Constetion about my worries" also vanished from their hearts. No one found this strange. Summer passed. The world without you grew closer to hell with each passing season. Only then did I realize. From the 1st turn, where I lost my memory forever, to the 4th, and from the 5th, when I started living in earnest as a regressor, until now. At every moment, someone somewhere in this world had quietly lived, watching over people. Even the moments I thought were the worst were not truly the worst. Even a regressor who had lived many lives still had much to learn about life. I wasn¡¯t ready to live in a world without her. Summer passed. It was time to move on to the next turn. In truth, I had a fear at that time that I had never revealed to anyone. ¡®What if the Saintess isn¡¯t there in the next turn either?¡¯ In the 268th turn, I rushed to the souvenir shop as soon as I woke up in the Busan Station waiting room. I went to find the item I always looted without fail. ¡®It¡¯s there.¡¯ The cheap souvenir silver bell with a 9,900 won price tag was still sitting on the shelf. I attached the bell to my bracelet and, in a hurry, cleared the tutorial dungeon. If there was ¡®someone¡¯ out there observing every Awakened person, they would surely be intrigued by the overwhelming skill I disyed. Then. [¡®The Saintess of National Salvation¡¯ is shocked by your exploits!] [¡®The Lord of the Red Horse¡¯ feels a desire to challenge your power.] [¡®The Conqueror of the Alps¡¯ is paying attention to your actions.] [¡®The Chancellor in the Red Cloak¡¯ is wary of your abilities.] I almost felt my knees buckle. I exhaled. A feeling of relief swelled in my heart. ¡®It exists. ...Yes, it exists.¡¯ Finally, it was clear. The one excluded from the flow of time was only the ¡®267th Saintess.¡¯ In the end, the existence of the Saintess itself had not been erased from the world. Perhaps, the moment she ascended to the rank of an alienated god-like anomaly, she was treated as apletely separate being from the previous Saintess. Now I could tell myrades what had happened in the 267th turn. ¡®But I can¡¯t.¡¯ [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] w Ssh! I entered the restroom at Busan Station and washed my face with cold water. Since the water supply in the city had not yet been cut off, the tap water was enough to clear my mind. ¡®I can¡¯t reveal to the Saintess what happened to her in the 267th turn.¡¯ ¡®If she were to realize that she has such potential¡ The Saintess, she wouldn¡¯t hesitate.¡¯ Surely, the same thing would happen again someday. It was easy to imagine. When a moment of danger came that threatened the world¡¯s destruction, the Saintess would activate [Time Stop] without hesitation, once again spending thousands of years alone. ¡®No.¡¯ So I couldn¡¯t possibly tell her. It was simr to Tang Seorin¡¯s situation. Just as she confessed that if she realized her umted lifespan had already surpassed thousands of years, her greedy self would break the reserves at the slightest hint of danger. The moment the Saintess learned of such a powerful trump card, she would, at any time, transform again into a god-like anomaly. ¡®That cannot happen.¡¯ ¡®I must keep the secret.¡¯ ¡®This must never happen again¨D¨D.¡¯ Clink. It was at that moment. The silver bell on my wrist shook. ¡°¡¡?¡± Something happened unconsciously. Perhaps without even realizing it, I must have ced my palm on the bathroom mirror after washing my face. ¡®What?¡¯ I raised my head and looked at the mirror. My wet face and hair were reflected on the mirror¡¯s surface. But my gaze wasn¡¯t directed at those things. My palm. The palm of my hand that was touching the mirror. ¡®Cold.¡¯ For some reason, only the part where my palm was touching felt oddly chilly. In terms of temperature, yes. Exactly like a body temperature of 15¡ãC. ¡°¡¡!¡± I tried touching the mirror with my other hand. But I didn''t feel the same sensation no matter how much I groped the ss with the hand without the silver bell. Only when I touched the mirror with the palm of my left hand, which held the silver bell, did I feel the 15¡ãC temperature. ¡®Ah.¡¯ She was there. She is here. ¡°Saintess.¡± Without a doubt. ¡°Saintess, can you hear my voice?¡± I couldn¡¯t hear her. I couldn¡¯t see her anymore. I couldn¡¯t cross over to the other side. I could no longer converse with her. We couldn¡¯t exchange voices. We couldn¡¯t sit in the same room and feel each other¡¯s breathing outline. All that was left here was a memory. And the faint warmth that could be felt when I ced my palm on the mirror with her on the other side. Perhaps, on the other side, she was also cing her palm on the mirror just like me. Frozen forever, along with the world. ¡°¡¡¡± But this was enough. ¡®As long as you exist, we will meet again.¡¯ That was the fate of a regressor. I was grateful beyond words for the fact that I was a regressor. Though for some, as those afflicted by the regression virus screamed, this fate might be hell, it wasn¡¯t for me. If someone can still be grateful for life after realizing that this world repeats endlessly, it¡¯s likely because there¡¯s someone they want to meet again. And a person could cross millions of summers just for a single reunion. ¡°¡Please wait just a little longer.¡± We were opposites of each other. I lived through the endlessly flowing time, while the Saintess stayed at the end of time. I enjoyed wandering outside, while the Saintess liked quietly watching the fish in a tank inside her room. Now, we were separated by a mirror. ¡°After briefly closing my eyes and opening them again, I will be back in that season.¡± Swoosh. I slowly lifted my hand from the mirror. My palm and fingerprints were clearly visible on the mirror¡¯s surface for a moment. ¨D¨DAnd just before the prints disappeared. I surely saw it. The marks that ovepped with mine. Slightly smaller palms and slightly thinner fingers than mine. The sight of them briefly ovepping. The white words. -Yes. -I¡¯ll see you soon. Anomaly: ¡®Goddess of the Night, Nut.¡¯ Alias: Ruler of the Underworld, Mirror World, Geocentric Theory, Eye of Horus, Parmenides¡¯ Moon, Regression Virus Danger Level: Lv.5 Alienation-ss Currently being hunted. -The Opposite. End. [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] w Chapter 215 [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] w Chapter 215 ©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤ The Unimed ¢ñ 1 A novel is different from a painting. It might seem like an obvious statement, but for me, this difference is surprisingly important. For instance, Lee Hayul. She lives in the Inunaki Tunnel, which I''ve turned into my hideout. Except for a few vacation days, she''s almost always here. Compared to the other members, Lee Hayul''s attendance rate is overwhelmingly high. "Ah, sorry, boss. I have thssophobia, so it''s hard for me to live deep inside the Inunaki Tunnel... If something bursts, I''ll drown instantly." Seo Gyu preferred to stay near the National Road Management Headquarters. "I''m the Queen Mother of Holy Eastern Kingdom." Sim Aryeon was often busy working as the Saintess of the North, so her appearances at the hideout were sporadic. Oh Dokseo, who joined as a new recruit after the 555th turn,cked experience. But Lee Hayul always secured the best spot in the hideout, no matter when. Yet, in my story, Lee Hayul didn¡¯t appear as often as one might expect. Why? There was a sad reason for this. For example: "...Ah, this coffee is really delicious." "Isn''t it? I blended three types of the instant coffee that the Saintess likes, and then added just a single spoonful of cinnamon powder. This is your favorite coffee." "...Um, Doctor Jang? Isn''t this so well-made that it can no longer be called instant coffee? Though, it does taste good." Let¡¯s say the Saintess and I were having such a conversation at the caf¨¦ in our hideout, 1,200 meters deep underground. But this is a novel. If we strip away the novel''s filtering and express it more visually, the truth is as follows: "...Ah, this coffee is really delicious." "Isn''t it?" (Lee Hayul silently lifting two instant coffee packets like twin swords next to me.jpg) "I blended three types of the instant coffee that the Saintess likes, and then added just a single spoonful of cinnamon powder. This is your favorite coffee." (Lee Hayul holding the two packets, smacking my back with them like a jazz drummer in Whish, deeply immersed in the role.jpg) "...Um, Doctor Jang? Isn''t this so well-made that it can no longer be called instant coffee?" (Then, Lee Hayul loses control of her aura, and the packet bursts, spilling coffee mix all over my barista outfit.jpg) "It tastes good, though." (This little brat squirming as I grab her head with my hand.jpg) What a different scene this is! Yes. As you all know, Lee Hayul was born with a speech impediment. So, she usually brought along a housekeeper doll to speak for her. However, when it was just the two of us, or when she wanted to mess with me, she would leave the housekeeper behind and stage her silent protests. Though I never described it to you, Lee Hayul was almost always by my side, pulling these pranks about 80% of the time in the hideout. Why did she leave the housekeeper behind only when it was just the two of us? "Ouch, ouch, that hurts, oppa. My skull is in danger." This kid could write letters on my back using her aura. And I was exceptionally good at reading aura, so I could understand what she was saying right away. "You can endure a bit of pain." "Ah! No to violence. No to violence." "...You and Lee Hayul seem really close, Doctor Jang. Like siblings with a big age gap." Anyway. Lee Hayul was always like a hidden object for the readers of my story. She had a variety of ways to convey messages to me: writing on my back, vibrating her aura to speak like a voice synthesizer, tapping Morse code into my palm... And after receiving a diligent scalp massage from me, Lee Hayul would dash behind the Saintess and suddenly pull out a sketchbook. The sketchbook read: [Exnation] [rification] ? [Doctor Jang is a strange phenomenon] [Confirmed as a regressor anomaly] [When you gaze into the abyss, the abyss gazes back at you] [This regressor has no memories from before the 4th turn] [What guarantee is there that he isn''t an anomaly that suddenly emerged from the 4th turn?] [Can humanity truly entrust its defense and fate to this anomaly on the Korean Penins?] [Is this really okay?] ......... [Rock] [Scissors] [Paper] [Doctor Jang the Great Anomaly] [Exnation] [rification] [Exnation] The sketchbook pages flipped at a rate of 0.3 seconds per page. If it weren¡¯t for my highly developed aura-enhanced eyesight, I wouldn¡¯t have seen anything. "......? Is something wrong, Doctor Jang?" The Saintess sensed something strange and turned around, but Lee Hayul, cunning as ever, quickly showed her a portrait she had drawn. It was an illustration of me, seriously making coffee. Thanks to lessons from Sim Aryeon, Lee Hayul had gotten pretty good at drawing. "Oh. That''s a very impressive drawing." "......." "By the way, Doctor Jang, could you tell me the ratio of the three products you mixed in my coffee earlier?" As soon as the Saintess turned her head, Lee Hayul eagerly flipped to the next page of the sketchbook. (Regressor anomaly, Doctor Jang, donning a monstrous costume, unleashing a dark aura like coffee, defeats Noh Doha, Tang Seorin, Sim Aryeon, and other awakened ones of the Korean Penins, and destroys Busan.jpg) This little brat... She knew the Saintess would temporarily stop using her [irvoyance] and [Telepathy] to rest while drinking coffee at my caf¨¦, and she used that to her advantage. "Hmm." But regardless of Lee Hayul''s mischievous nature, her point was valid. This was the so-called [Regressor Anomaly Theory]. As I mentioned before, I have no memory of my family. My memories from before the 4th turn have be faint and distant. But that¡¯s not the only reason. [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] w ¡®Even in the turns where I became quite famous, to the point where everyone knew me, no one ever came looking for me.¡¯ Not even a distant rtive. Not even a friend from the same neighborhood. No one like that existed in my life. Sometimes, the "Reunion Anomaly" would call, iming there was a gathering, but I wouldn¡¯t consider that a friend. Oh, and by the way, defeating the "Reunion Anomaly" is very difficult, yet quite simple. Just drive up in a limousine like a Maybach S-ss Pullman or a supercar like a LaFerrari. Then, it gets automatically subdued and never calls again. Returning to the main point. ¡®In the end, it means that all my family and acquaintances were either killed or went missing during the Void¡¯s arrival.¡¯ The odds weren¡¯t that low. Wasn''t it that 19 out of 20 people in Korea had died? Those who usually felt unlucky with gacha games had all lost their connections just like me. "So... Shall I really try to find out?" "Pardon?" "Ah, Hayul kept teasing me, saying that I might actually be some kind of regressor anomaly. So, I thought I might as well test if I really am some anomaly that popped out in the fourth turn." (Lee Hayul, startled, looking at me with contempt, as if wondering why I would tattle on him like that.) "Ah, um..." The Saintess put down her coffee cup. "Wouldn''t it be difficult?" "Why do you think so?" "Because of your nature, Doctor Jang. Of course, I don''t know much about Doctor Jang from before the fourth turn, but just piecing together what I''ve heard so far..." With a slight hesitation, the Saintess opened her mouth. "I think you might have sealed [Time] on your closest ones one by one." "....." "You said you cleared the tutorial dungeon for the first time in the third turn, right? Then, knowing you, I believe you would have searched for your family and acquaintances as soon as you came out of Busan Station. And you would have persuaded them¨D." "To be enshrined in the Crystal Tombstones. But now, I can''t remember where the tombs were or who was sealed in [Time]." "Yes, but it''s just a guess." ...It was quite usible. In the end, if I wanted to find clues about my family, I would have to examine all the crystal tombstones in Korea. But had I dug that many graves? At the very least, there were 500,000. If I included the crystal tombstones I hadn''t identified, it was hard to guess how many there would be. "It certainly seems difficult." "Yes, unfortunately." [Sun] [Light] [Sun] The discussion ended, leaving only Lee Hayul''s clumsy banner behind. In the first ce, I had no intention of making a ''In Search of Lost Time'' version of a regressor story, so the matter was naturally left unattended. Until the 267th turn approached. * * * As I mentioned before, I mobilized all the fairies to search for traces of the Saintess from the 267th turn. I sent out all the night demons to thoroughly search the dreams of the survivors in Korea. As a result, I can say that no trace of the Saintess from the 267th turn was found anywhere. "Huh?" Instead, I stepped on apletely unexpected puzzle piece. "Isn''t that the Secretary? Shall we go?" "Hmm?" "Here, in this person''s dream, take a look at the uphill road over there. The human passing by the front of the supermarket!" The 264th fairy invited me into a certain dream. Into the dream of a 50-year-old woman I didn''t know at all. "...I can see it, but why? Isn''t it just a mother and child walking together?" "That child, I feel, strangely resembles the Secretary!" "What?" It was none other than a vague silhouette of a ''person presumed to be Doctor Jang'' that was faintly discovered in this dream. "No, it''s too blurry. I can''t even identify the face, so how can you tell if it resembles me or not?" "Huh. But the night demon''s senses are subtly telling me! The gloomy aura! The shadow painted ck like ink! Eyes more dead than a fish''s! The footsteps that trample the ground with such intensity! That is! Without a doubt, the Secretary, our iron leader... Gyaaaa! My skull! My skull is being squeezed!" "First of all, it''s not senses, it''s touch." "Opposing violence! Opposing purges!" I gave the fairy a scalp massage while frowning deeply. In the distance, a mother and child were walking as ''extras'' in the dream, almost unnoticed by the dream''s owner. Because they were at the edge of perception, I couldn''t get any closer. "That kid is supposed to be me?" Maybe they were around elementary school age. I didn''t feel anything at all. I ignored the fairy''s sense, but simr reports continued toe in periodically afterward. "Secretary! Look at the middle school graduation hall!" "Where?" "20 meters away from the dream owner, there are a bunch of students, and just over the shoulder, a silhouette passes by for a split second! That must be the Secretary''s past!" It was so subtle that only with the most refined vision, which only I, the most highly trained awakened one among humanity, could detect, did the silhouette finally flicker faintly. I muttered, dumbfounded. "...No, seriously, this is like a hidden picture game. ''Where''s Waldo?'' would be 5,000 times easier than this." But if what the fairy said was true, one thing was certain. The past I thought I had lost forever before the fourth turn. Especially the original ''first-turn Doctor Jang. It was evidence to prove that I wasn''t some anomaly that suddenly popped out in the fourth turn. The hidden clues to piece together that puzzle had been given to me. [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] w Chapter 216 [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] w Chapter 216 ©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤ The Unimed ¢ñ¢ñ The first turn of Doctor Jang, which I don''t even remember. For convenience, let¡¯s call this version the Original Doctor Jang, Doctor Jang: The Beginning, or Doctor Jang the First. "Teacher, isn¡¯t it actually more grandiose, even though you said it was for convenience?" The person whoined had orange hair in a ponytail, dressed in a white sailor uniform, and was wearing Jordan basketball shoes. Why hide it? The special VIP invited for the Original Doctor Jang Hidden Picture Project was Cheon Yohwa, the student council president of Baekhwa High School. "Anyway, I desperately need your help to assemble the Original Doctor Jang, Yohwa. To be precise, I need Endless Hell''s assistance." "Ugh." Cheon Yohwa made a clear expression of dislike. Despite her facial muscles being so honest, it was a strange trait of hers that it never really hurt anyone''s feelings. "Endless Hell? Why?" "The Original Doctor Jang that appears in other people''s dreams has, well, low resolution, so to speak." I took Cheon Yohwa and visited several dreams. Then, I showed her the "blurry silhouette" presumed to be the Original Doctor Jang. "Oh. It''s true. What is this? It¡¯s like a really old, unrestored ck-and-white photo." "Right?" "Yes! But even with such crude quality, it''s clearly super cute! Teacher, you used to wear a fur hat when you were little. Wow. Wow!" Cheon Yohwa, who had been slightly put off by the mention of Endless Hell, brightened up immediately upon seeing a glimpse of my childhood. She got all excited, making a fuss while examining my silhouette from every angle. I cleared my throat. "...So far, we''ve found a total of 13 dreams featuring the Original Doctor Jang. This one shows the youngest version. The Original Doctor Jang in these dreams is generally from a pre-college age group." "Ugh. Look at this chubby cheek! It¡¯s really too cute! Teacher, can''t you record videos in dreams to keep them?" "Are you nning to tease Tang Seorin? Please hold back." "Che." Cheon Yohwa''s cheeks puffed up like a hamster. "Anyway, could you call Endless Hell for a moment? I n to restore the resolution based on the data Endless Hell haspiled in this world." "Umm... I don''t like the idea of loosening that guy''s leash even a little, but... If it''s to see Teacher''s childhood... Okay, just a moment!" Cheon Yohwa closed her eyes. Then, swish¡ª. The hair tie holding her ponytail loosened, and her orange hair cascaded down. Blink. Her eyes, now revealed through the strands of hair, had lost the boundary between the pupil and the iris. Only a dark red hue remained, staring back at me. "Hello, Senior?" A faint smile tugged at the corners of the crimson well. "It''s been a while. Did you miss me?" "It has been a while. Let''s not pretend to be close." "Oh, but it''s not me holding hands, Senior." Indeed. Whether in the void or in dreams, it was better forpanions to hold hands so they wouldn''t get lost. I snorted and let go of the hand. Endless Hell, who had been sealed inside Cheon Yohwa¡¯s form, shrugged her shoulders. "You''re so cold. I was formed based on this girl''s personality because of your scheme, you know? It hurts to be treated like this by someone you like." "Thank you. I''ll make sure to show more indifference. Now, getting to the point¡ªdo you know why you''ve been summoned?" "Yeah. I''ve been watching." Endless Hell lightly tapped his lips. "But¡ªit''s hard for me to exert my powers fully, considering the seals you¡¯ve put on me: [Doppelg?nger], [Split Personality], and [Weakened Ally]. That''s three, right?" "You deserve it." "Hey. [Split Personality] waspletely your strategy, Senior. You demoted me to just a second personality by giving this girl a new name. Only you could think of such a wicked tactic." "..." "Not that I''m dissatisfied with my current state. They say it''s better to be dumb than smart to be happy, right? Self-awareness is kind of fun." I sighed. "Gathering data on my childhood should be interesting even for an alien god like you. So, please cooperate." "Oh, that makes sense. Sure, I¡¯ll help." A surprisingly straightforward agreement. Endless Hell, who had been fiddling with his lips, casually touched the fur hat of the Original Doctor Jang. Bzzzzzzzzzz¡ª The surroundings were instantly engulfed in noise. The faces of passersby walking past the supermarket, the size of streetlights lining the road, all began to distort. Fine blood vessels sprouted from the tree trunks. "Hold on a moment¡ªugh. I didn''t have this much trouble when I used to boss around the dream demons. It''s all because of someone, you know?" "Shall I make it more difficult?" "No, thanks. Ah, done. This is the limit." With that, the surrounding scenery became vividly detailed, almost like reality. Except, the colors seemed a bit off. It felt as though a brownish filter had been applied. The once vague silhouette of the young Doctor Jang was now crystal clear. "..." It was the face of an ordinary child. Aside from the somewhatrge and peculiar fur hat, there was almost nothing remarkable about this little boy. An elementary school-aged boy. He had no inkling that a fate spanning thousands, perhaps millions, of years would soon befall him. "...Is this really me?" "Who knows? The dream demons said so. They must have checked your real name and identity, right?" "Hmm." "If you really doubt it, you could let me ess the dream demons¡¯ data for a bit. I can check it for you." I ignored the nonsense. "More importantly." "Hmm?" "This boy is holding hands with a woman while walking. It seems like my family, probably my mother." The little boy was cheerfully walking, holding his mother¡¯s hand. So I intended to check the mother¡¯s face right after identifying the appearance of the Original Doctor Jang. That was my intention, but¡ª "Why can¡¯t I see her face?" There was no face. More precisely, the ''noise'' that Endless Hell had spread to restore the dream¡¯s resolution was somehow not disappearing from the mother¡¯s face. In the midst of the noise, the words [404 - Not Found] were disyed. Probably something Endless Hell had written. "Huh?" Hearing my question, Endless Hell tilted her head. She had already perched himself on the roadside fence, swinging her legs back and forth. "Are you asking because you''re genuinely curious, Senior? You had a hunch, didn¡¯t you?" "..." "They disappeared due to a [Time Seal]. That person. There''s no data on them. Actually, their entire outfit should also be covered in noise, but I roughly patched it together using Photoshop." I see. I wasn¡¯t particrly disappointed. There¡¯s no reason to mourn the loss of a memory that no longer exists. "Alright. Then let¡¯s move on to the next dream." "Sure thing, Senior." Using Endless Hell, I continued progressing toward the original Doctor Jang. [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] w Not only the 13 dreams I had already discovered, but I also uncovered new dreams by identifying new characters within the sessfully restored dreams. In the beginning, the original Doctor Jang was just an extra who passed by in front of a store in the dream, nothing more, nothing less. However, as I traced each rtionship in the dream, the original Doctor Jang began to take a ''closer position'' to the main character in the dream. From ''a customer who came to the store with friends and had a hamburger'' ¡ú ''a kid who yed in the snow together in the same apartment'' ¡ú ''a student in the neighboring ss when they were a third-grade homeroom teacher'' ¡ú ''a rtionship where they weren''t close friends, but sometimes hung out together as a friend of a friend''... However... "Huh?" Just as I was about to move the rtionship step from ''friend of a friend'' to ''close friend,'' Endless Hell abruptly stopped as if it had hit something. "Senior. This part has been deleted too." "By deleted... do you mean... [Time Sealed]?" "Yeah. Look, your high school friend." The friend walking home from school alongside the original Doctor Jang was covered in noise, just like my mother. This time, unlike my mother, both the face and the entire body were distorted with noise, as if Endless Hell had skipped the effort of preserving it. In a space as vivid as reality, only the part where the friend was standing appeared unnaturally, with the message: [404 - Not Found] This meant the original Doctor Jang was not actually walking home with a friend. To others, it would look like he wasughing and talking to himself while staring at ¡®empty space.¡¯ "Hmm." "..." "For some reason, I have a feeling I know what''s going to happen next." The same thing kept happening. No matter my route, I could get as close as ''friend of a friend,'' ''acquaintance of an acquaintance,'' ''neighbor''s neighbor,'' but every time I tried to take the final step, a [404] error urred. No matter how meticulously I restored the dream or traced the rtionships, the result didn¡¯t change. In the end, the original Doctor Jang was always seenughing into ''empty space.'' In other words... "Wow. Senior, you really went all out to erase the people around you, huh? How did you do that?" It was impossible to approach the original Doctor Jang beyond a certain boundary. He had no family. No rtives. No friends. No acquaintances. Only traces of human rtionships that could barely be ssified as ¡®extras¡¯ remained, like vestigial organs. To turn that around¡ª it also meant that from the perspective of the people in this world, the original Doctor Jang was nothing more than an extra. No connections. No ties. An unconnected person. It wasn¡¯t just in the legal sense of being unconnected. Objectively speaking, the ''1st-turn Doctor Jang'' was excluded from thework of human rtionships on Earth. It was impressive how perfectly he could be an ¡®extra¡¯ to this extent. "Ah, I see. No wonder I couldn¡¯t do much to you when I was the alien god." In the hospital hallway. Cheon Yowha was leaning against the wall in a hallway where patients were sparsely scattered. It was assumed to be the workce where my biological mother worked. Of course, it didn¡¯t provide much information. I had deduced that my mother¡¯s job was a nurse, but even here, I was blocked by a [404] error. "What do you mean?" "Well, I was the anomaly that managed all the data, right? Butpared to other humans, Senior practically has no data. So from my perspective, it¡¯s hard to calcte your behavior patterns." "Hmm." "On top of that, the weapon you carry around... was it called Doha? It gives off a simr vibe. Really, it¡¯s a bad match. Isn¡¯t this kind of cheating?" I stood next to Endless Hell in the hospital hallway, folding my arms and murmuring. "...Something is odd." "Huh? What is?" "If they were this thorough in erasing the people around me with [Time Seals], then there should be crystal tombstones rted to them scattered around." "Crystal tombstones... Ah, the ones that only Senior can see and can¡¯t be entered without your permission?" I nodded. "I¡¯ve searched through almost all the crystal tombstones in the Korean Penins, but I didn¡¯t find a single tombstone belonging to my family, friends, or acquaintances. Isn¡¯t that strange? Considering I¡¯ve searched this much, at least one should have appeared by now." "Hmm..." "And the fact that I have no memories from before the 4th turn is also strange. Even if I had [Time Sealed] my mother, I should still retain memories of her." "It was thousands of years ago, wasn¡¯t it? Isn¡¯t it natural to forget?" "It¡¯s not natural." I manipted the aura like ink, scribbling words in the air. "I gained [Perfect Memory] in the 4th turn. And at that point, I probably hadn¡¯tpletely forgotten about my mother yet. Not much time had passed." "That¡¯s true, right?" "Then the memories I had at that point should have been locked in by [Perfect Memory]. Memories like my mother''s face, for example. Memories of my family." I furrowed my brow. "Unless they were trivial memories, it doesn¡¯t make sense to havepletely forgotten such important memories." "...Huh?" Endless Hell¡¯s eyes glinted with a look of realization. "...Hey, you''re right? In the current timeline, it¡¯s just something from thousands of years ago, but in the 4th turn, it was only a few years ago, right? No matter how bad human memory is, it¡¯s impossible to forget about family and friendspletely..." "It¡¯s impossible." My eyes narrowed. "There¡¯s a reason why the 1st turn of the Doctor Jang, as a regressor, has beenpletely erased." [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] w Chapter 217 Chapter 217 ©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤ The Unimed ¢ñ¢ñ¢ñ 4 Let¡¯s rify something: I and Endless Hell have a perfect hierarchical rtionship. In other words, there¡¯s no clich¨¦ where ¡°the sealed Endless Hell was actually secretly gathering strength with perseverance and one day ambushed me and Cheon Yohwa!¡± That just doesn¡¯t exist. It¡¯s simply not there. ¡°No, no, senior. Can¡¯t you at least allow a 0.02% chance? Being the destined heroine who never wins is just too sad for my life, no, for my weird life.¡± ¡°Who¡¯s supposed to be whose heroine here?¡± ¡°Well, I¡¯m yours. Being the alter ego of a dual-personality heroine could be a cult favorite among certain fandoms, don¡¯t you think?¡± ¡°Leaving aside the im that Yohwa is the heroine, Endless Hell, did you perhaps... drop this?¡± I took out a piece of paper from my pocket and handed it to her. Endless Hell, who epted the paper with "self-awareness" written on it, made a peculiar expression. ¡°What the heck? Why are you carrying around something like this?¡± ¡°Why do you think?¡± ¡°Hmm, maybe because you¡¯re crazy? Preparing for a Koreannguage proficiency test with a vocabry notebook? Or because you knew I¡¯d say something like this someday...?¡± Endless Hell¡¯s expression twisted even more mid-sentence. With her outstanding analytical ability, she reached the answer. ¡°That¡¯s exactly it.¡± Every alien god has their specialty. Their strengths. And, of course, weaknesses. Endless Hell is particrly vulnerable to ''regression''pared to other alien gods. Despite iming to be the deity of random numbers, she can only act the same way in the same situations. Moreover, as the 267th turn of the Saintess froze Nut¡¯s domain herself, my regression became even more solid. At least, Endless Hell cannot break through that. ¡°Damn it, this is unfair! Regression is such a cheat!¡± Endless Hell stomped her feet. It was a pattern I had seen many times before, so I wasn¡¯t moved. Even the tempo and speed of her stomping were identical to those I had observed in previous turns. However. Seeing her do it in Yohwa¡¯s form felt a bit off. ¡°Change your clothes.¡± Endless Hell tilted her head at my sudden remark. ¡°Huh?¡± ¡°The white sailor uniform is the symbol of Baekhwa High. You¡¯re not a human affiliated with that school. So wear something else.¡± ¡°Eh... wait. That¡¯s why I untied the ribbon?¡± ¡°Just do it.¡± ¡°Geez...¡± She muttered, ¡°Isn¡¯t this a bit too strict?¡± But despite her grumbling, the so-called ¡°lousy alien god rocket¡± lightly touched her uniform. A faint noise spread across the sailor uniform. Soon after, the characteristic white uniform of Baekhwa High turned pitch ck. A ck sailor uniform, a color perfectly opposite to ¡®Baekhwa.¡¯ ¡°Is this okay now? Seriously, this is too much...¡± Endless Hell pouted her lips. The way she trailed off her words and the angle at which she pouted her lips were exactly the same as in simr situations during previous turns. Given this, it was impossible, at least for someone like me with perfect memory, to mistake Endless Hell for a human. She was merely ''forced to act like a human'' by Cheon Yohwa and me. ¡°So, what will you do, Senior, Doctor Jang with no family, rtives, or friends? How will you approach it now that all routes are blocked? I¡¯m curious to hear the wise thoughts of the Human King.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll trace my memory back to the 4th turn.¡± I pointed to the Han River. There was a bench just perfect for lying down. Although the bushes had grown waist-high due to ack of maintenance, one could still lie down there. ¡°I¡¯ll enter the dream and revisit the turns I¡¯ve gone through in reverse order. The 250th turn, the 200th turn, the 150th turn, and so on.¡± ¡°Huh? Why? Why not just jump straight to the 4th turn?¡± I sighed. ¡°Endless Hell, consider the possibility that I¡¯m a ¡®being that suddenly fell from the sky in the 4th turn.¡¯ Some kind of anomaly.¡± ¡°Hmm.¡± ¡°If that¡¯s the case, then there¡¯s no guarantee that I wasn¡¯t an anomaly suddenly appearing in the 266th turn as well, right?¡± ¡°¡Huh?¡± Endless Hell blinked. I exined. ¡°I may have full memories up to the 267th turn, but that could merely be a delusion. I could be an anomaly that only began to exist in this turn, with memories ¡®manipted up to the 267th turn.¡¯¡± ¡°Oh¡? Oh.¡± ¡°If I could suddenly emerge in the 4th turn with such memories, then by the same principle, I could suddenly emerge in any turn. I need to confirm that possibility too.¡± ¡°Ah.¡± Endless Hell made an impressed expression. ¡°Right? You¡¯re correct. It¡¯s the same possibility, like the ''brain in a vat'' or the ''five-minute hypothesis.'' Hmm.¡± ¡°You seem to have dropped this too.¡± Endless Hell epted the piece of paper with ''intelligence'' written on it and tore it to shreds, throwing it in my face. ¡°You crazy human! You¡¯re the one who stole my intelligence! Right now, my brain¡¯s like aputer with only 64MB of RAM!¡± ¡°That¡¯s enough to run Romance of the Three Kingdoms III.¡± Isn¡¯t that enough? You sure are asking for a lot. Weid down on the bench. Strictly speaking, it wasn¡¯t exactly ¡°side by side.¡± Iid on the bench, and Endless Hell offered me ap pillow. A white fingertip covered by a ck sleeve touched my forehead like apass point. ¡°By the way, senior, it¡¯s funny. You talk about cherishing the bonds you¡¯ve built, thanking the 267th turn Saintess with all your heart, yet at the same time, you¡¯re considering the possibility that all of it could be fake, right?¡± ¡°Move your hand.¡± ¡°Oh, sorry. Did it scratch?¡± I gripped my cane sword tightly. The white jest in the form of a fingernail fell from my forehead. ¡°Scary. I¡¯ll dive into the dream quickly then, senior. Please close your eyes.¡± I did so. And then we entered the dream. The destination was the 250th turn. The previous master of the Incubus, Endless Hell. The current master of the Incubus, me. Given the dangerousbination forming a temporary alliance, urately targeting the desired dream was no big deal. Thus, the moment we entered the lucid dream. -Hmm? A man turned to look at us. He was Doctor Jang of the 250th turn. He was sitting on a bench at Jamsu Bridge, reading a book. Phenomenology of Spirit. A book that he and the Saintess had read together around this time. ¡°Yohwa? And... me?¡± Doctor Jang arched an eyebrow. ¡°A doppelg?nger?¡± ¡°No, the 250th turn of Doctor Jang. This is a lucid dream, and you are a figure within the dream. The presence with me is not Yohwa but Endless Hell.¡± ¡°Ho.¡± Doctor Jang''s lips curved into a smile. ------------------ HELHEIM SCANS [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] Join our Discord for release updates!w Chapter 218 [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] w Chapter 218 ©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤ The Unimed IV 5 - Have you ever had a dream? Endless Hell''s counter-question was half right. As Doctor Jang and regressor, the typical "dreams" that others experienced rarely visited me. What came to me were only imitations of dreams¡ª¡®dream-like anomalies.¡¯ In fact, it¡¯s been hinted at several times in my stories. ¨D¨DFor instance, [Lucid Dreams]. Lucid dreaming was something that even ordinary people could attempt. But I had gone far beyond that, wandering through dreams as if they were reality. ¨D¨DFor instance, [Prophetic Dreams]. Before the goddess of the night, Nut, triggered the apocalypse, Kim Joocheol appeared in my dream to warn me of the impending disaster. Readers with sharp memories may already feel something is amiss here. That¡¯s because Kim Joocheol was unaware he ever did such a thing. Therefore, it wasn¡¯t actually Kim Joocheol. It was the phenomenon of the "prophetic dream," or rather an anomaly, that spoiled the future crisis for me. ¨D¨DFor instance, the concept of [Collective Unconscious]. In academic circles, the idea of a collective unconscious was still an unproven hypothesis. But in this world, it existed. Here, I encountered Koyori and the Sword Demon. I met Cheon Yohwa and Lee Hayul after the world¡¯s end. I saw Kuro, who endlessly rolled his head on Jeju Ind¡¯s Seongsan Ilchulbong, and even the original owner of the monkey''s paw. In short. "I do experience something simr to dreams. But my dreams are one of two things: either lucid dreams that replicate reality or¡." I nced at Endless Hell. "Nightmares where anomalies appear. In fact, if you consider lucid dreams as an anomaly, you could say my dreams are anomalies themselves." "Wow. Is it because of your [Perfect Memory] ability? Or maybe it''s a side effect of [Regression]?" Endless Hell muttered, furrowing her brow. I shrugged. "Whichever it is, if something different from reality appears in my dream, that alone proves an anomaly has invaded." It''s like a litmus test. That¡¯s why I couldn''t ignore it when Kim Joocheol caused a fuss in my dream. While others might dismiss a nightmare as a meaningless bad dream, for me, it was often linked to a dangerous anomaly. "So, I brought you here, Endless Hell. If there are any anomalies leeching off my dreams, you should be able to track them down with your ability. It would be nice to clean up a bit while we search for the original Doctor Jang, don''t you think?" "Excuse me. Could you not use an alien god as a vacuum cleaner, senior?" "Former alien god. Now that your nausea has passed, let''s move on. Time to go after my next death." "Ah, yeah. Noints here. Actually, I prefer it." And so, after crossing over my corpses, we finally arrived at the final boundary. Doctor Jang of the 5th timeline. Thest moment where my [Perfect Memory] hadpletely gathered memories from beginning to end. As we approached, Doctor Jang, who was conducting guild business for the Three Thousand Worlds Guild at the train station in Busan, turned to look at us. Our eyes met. -¡¡. Dark, brooding eyes. Though Doctor Jang''s eyes in any timeline were equally ominous, those of the 5th timeline''s early phase were distinctly different. Dead eyes. Pupils scorched into oblivion. Rather than saying "a person cast a shadow," it felt more like "the shadow had taken human form." - Who are you? The shadow spoke. Its mouth, like its eyes, was engulfed in pitch-ck darkness. I let out a bitterugh. It was astonishing to think that this was the more ¡°human¡± version after having met Tang Seorin. ¡°I¡¯m you, from the future.¡± - What? ¡°This is a dream, and you are nothing more than a mere character within it.¡± -¡¡. Doctor Jang stared at us with a nk expression. At this point in time, I hadn''t yet set a ''password.'' I hadn¡¯t anticipated that I might one day reflect on the past through dreams. So, from Doctor Jang''s 5th timeline perspective, it was only natural for him to be suspicious. "I don''t wish to engage in violence. But just from the sheer amount of aura, you should be able to tell. I am a strength beyond yourprehension." -... What brings my future self here? Are you here to teach me how to destroy my enemies and wipe out their entire n? ¡°Pfft.¡± Endless Hell chuckled beside me. I applied pressure to my interlocked fingers, and she quickly apologized, "I''m sorry! I''m sorry, senior!" I turned back to Doctor Jang. He slightly furrowed his brow. "Doctor Jang of the 5th timeline. I have something to ask you. Do you recall when you first met Tang Seorin in the 4th timeline?" - Tang Seorin? "Yes. From your perspective, it was only a few years ago. And now you''ve mastered the [Perfect Memory] ability. By all logic, those memories should be clearly stored and easily recalled in your mind." -¡¡. Doctor Jang opened his mouth, then closed it. It was as if he opened the drawer of his memory to retrieve something obvious, only to find nothing there, repeatedly opening and closing it in disbelief. -¡ Why? For the first time, a faint emotion appeared on the usually expressionless face of the 5th timeline¡¯s Doctor Jang. Confusion. Bewilderment. - I definitely met Tang Seorin. As you said, it wasn''t that long ago. And yet¡ the memory is¡ strangely blurred. ¡°¡¡¡± As I thought. I sighed inwardly. Until now, I¡¯d believed that perhaps my memories had naturally faded over the course of hundreds or thousands of years. But the fact that even Doctor Jang of the 5th timeline couldn¡¯t clearly remember was bizarre. - This makes no sense. It¡¯s impossible. The day I met Tang Seorin, my life undeniably hit a turning point. There¡¯s no way this memory could be so¡ faded¡ Slice. With a single strike, I severed Doctor Jang¡¯s head. The moment it fell, the entire scenery of the 5th timeline¡¯s dream copsed. In theplete darkness, I asked. ¡°Endless Hell. You still don''t sense any anomalies in this dream?¡± "None. I''ve scanned from the 250th timeline to the 5th, and there''s nothing. Just your overwhelming presence, senior." "So, the possibility that an anomaly tampered with my memories is extremely low." "Yep." That leaves only one conclusion. "...I¡¯vee up with a hypothesis about why my memories before the 4th turn are so vague." "Oh? What is it? Tell me!" "[Time Seal]." A long sigh escaped my mouth. "I too have lost the memories of the people erased by the [Time Seal]." 6 As you all know, when someone gets hit by a [Time Seal], their memorypletely disappears from the world. Their existence itself is erased. Except for one person, the one who used the [Time Seal], me¡ªDoctor Jang. "But what if the reason I alone escaped the oblivion of their existence was... the side effect of my [Perfect Memory Ability]?" "Huh?" Endless Hell blinked. "What do you mean, senior?" "People who are erased by the [Time Seal]pletely disappear. I was no exception. But by chance, since I was given the [Perfect Memory Ability], the two abilities shed." "...Oh!" A skill that erases existence, [Time Seal]. A skill that remembers existence forever, [Perfect Memory Ability]. The two abilities I have are perfectly contradictory. "As a result of the sh between the two abilities, a strange oue urred. All the people on earth forgot the ones erased by the [Time Seal]¡ª." "Except for one person, you, senior, remembered them!" That''s right. Thus, the Memorial Tombstones were established. Until now, I thought the Memorial Tombstones were a unique feature of the [Time Seal]. But in fact, it''s quite the opposite. The [Perfect Memory Ability] forcibly revealed the locations of the missing people that the [Time Seal] desperately wanted to keep hidden. "Now that I think about it." I sighed once again. "It always seemed strange why the tombstones were shaped like crystals. The shape is a bit out of ce, isn¡¯t it? But if you think about it... ''memory'' is the act of reflecting oneself. In other words, it¡¯s a ''mirror.''" "So it''s not really a crystal, but actually¡." "It was a mirror. The tombstones were made out of mirrors, not crystals." [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] w "Ah-ha," Endless Hell said. "Then you didn''t see the Memorial Tombstones from the start, senior. Originally, you were just like everyone else. You couldn''t remember the people who were erased by the [Time Seal] at all." "Exactly." "But in the 5th turn, ta-da! You happened to gain the [Perfect Memory Ability]. From then on, you started to see the Memorial Tombstones!" I nodded. "My hypothesis is this. Since the 5th turn, I can remember the people erased by the [Time Seal] without any problems." "Uh-huh." "But when ites to the people erased before the 5th turn, I also have no memory of them." At this point, I held up a finger. "And I¡ in the turns before the 5th, Doctor Jang was very actively erasing his personal rtionships." "Uh-huh." "Now, imagine someone who has lost almost all of their personal rtionships, including their family." For example, what would happen if the memory of your mother was erased by the [Time Seal]? It wouldn¡¯t be so bad. As we can see from football yer Kim Joocheol and his son Kim Sieun, losing one family member doesn''t immediately shatter a person''s psyche. You just feel an inexplicable void. But what if it wasn''t just one person¡ªbut the memory of all your family members that was erased? What if not just family, but even friends were erased? What if not just friends, but all your close acquaintances were erased by the [Time Seal]? If I, Doctor Jang before the 5th turn, was put in such a situation? "Amnesia...!" Endless Hell eximed. I nodded. "Exactly. It¡¯s like a game of Jenga where half the pieces have been removed." "That¡¯s true. If you lose most of your childhood memories of family, and the memories of friends from your youth, and then all the acquaintances fromter on, that¡¯s what would happen." "Exactly. So the only memories left would be trivial ones, like survivors I met during the Busan Station tutorial. And people from rtionships that weren¡¯t all that important." And those trivial memories would naturally fade over the years before I acquired the [Perfect Memory Ability]. That¡¯s the truth I¡¯ve deduced. In short, Doctor Jang before the 5th turn was someone without any connections in the world, someone who appeared as if they¡¯d fallen out of the sky¡ªa mere ¡®extra¡¯¡ªand¡ª At the same time, someone who couldn¡¯t recall anything about their past¡ªa ¡®person with amnesia.¡¯ Whether I wanted it or not, I had be a character with an overly obvious ¡®main character trait.¡¯ ...No wonder the alien god [The Admin of All-y] had taken an interest in me. With traits like these, it was like being forcibly pushed into the role of the protagonist. "Wait a minute, senior. Then why does the 5th turn''s Doctor Jang struggle to remember Tang Seorin? You didn¡¯t use the [Time Seal] on her." "...Someone must have been nearby." "Huh?" I closed my eyes. And I recalled. The memory of the first time I met Tang Seorin. Faint, vague, with static as if seen through poor-quality reception. ¡ªThere¡¯s a dangerous glint in your eyes. ¡ªYou¡¯re the one, right? The only survivor from Busan Station. The strange person who keeps going around asking people weird questions. After a moment, I opened my eyes. "...When I first met Tang Seorin, there must have been ''someone'' standing beside me or beside her, someone I can¡¯t remember now." "Oh." "Let¡¯s call that person X for now. X was probably someone extremely important to me. Important enough that if they disappeared, it would leave a huge gap in my memory. So¡ even the data of my first meeting with Tang Seorin was partially damaged." Who could it have been? Was it someone who survived and escaped the dungeon of Busan Station with me? Or someone Tang Seorin brought along when she recruited me? I couldn¡¯t tell. I couldn¡¯t remember. The ¡®erased person X.¡¯ X must have been a key figure in shaping the version of me before the 5th turn, and when X was erased by the [Time Seal], my memory took a heavy blow. "But¡." "But?" "In my memories, there are some people I erased in the 4th turn. Like football yer Kim Joocheol." Although my memory of Kim Joocheol was blurry, it was still there. Maybe X was with me when I erased Kim Joocheol. In any case, even without the [Perfect Memory Ability], I was able to remember a little about the people I erased in the 4th turn. ¡°If my hypothesis were wrong, I should havepletely forgotten about Kim Joocheol. He was sealed when I didn¡¯t have [Perfect Memory]. But I still remember him.¡± ¡°Hee...¡± ¡°Why is it that I can recall Kim Joocheol, but I can¡¯t remember myself, my family, or X at all? This part remains unexined.¡± We even tried entering the dreams of the 4th, 3rd, 2nd, and 1st rounds. Of course, there wasn¡¯t much progress. [404 - Not Found] [404 - Not Found] [404 - Not Found] Because of a crazy regressor who erased all of their rtionships, not even a single meaningful memory was left behind. ¡°......¡± A bitter taste lingered in my mouth. Why did my past self seal away so many of the people dear to me? The question of whether Doctor Jang was originally an anomaly or not had been clearly answered, but another mystery had surfaced. [404 - Not Found] This is my starting point. The origin. The birthce. ¨D¨DThe void spreading out in the outer world might somehow be defeated. But will the daye when I can cross over the void that has settled inside me? I silently watched the point of origin, covered with error messages, for a long time. * * * There¡¯s an epilogue. ¡°Ah! Wait a moment, senior.¡± As I was about to leave the dream, Endless Hell grabbed my cor. I looked at her with a gaze that asked what she was trying to pull, and Endless Hell imitated Cheon Yohwa''sughter, going ¡°Ahaha.¡± ¡°No, no. Don¡¯t look at me like that. You know, even though I¡¯m an anomaly, an alien god, you¡¯ve been pretty kind to me, right?¡± ¡°That¡¯s only because you¡¯re sharing a body with Yohwa. Otherwise, I wouldn¡¯t have shown any mercy.¡± ¡°Ah! Well! I¡¯ve been living through days of torture and abuse in Cheon Yohwa¡¯s head, so your attitude was quite touching to me!¡± I frowned. What nonsense. Sure, Endless Hell might have felt touched. Something like, ¡®It¡¯s a situation where I should feel touched, so I will, and I¡¯ll react by doing one of these three standard poses.¡¯ I shook my head to clear the thoughts and asked. ¡°So?¡± ¡°So, I¡¯ve prepared a small gift.¡± With a pose of ¡°Ahem,¡± Cheon Yohwa snapped her fingers. Suddenly, the scenery, which had been covered in [404], turned into a hospital corridor. It was the ce we had just visited in the dream. ¡°¡Isn¡¯t this the hospital where my mother supposedly worked?¡± ¡°Yes! That¡¯s right. While you were moving on to other dreams, I was analyzing data bypiling all the dreams together.¡± ¡°Hmm.¡± I didn¡¯t bother to nitpick. After all, in this ¡°hidden picture search¡± project, Endless Hell and I were in a give-and-take rtionship. We had a contract to exchange what we needed from each other. ¡°Thanks to that¡ I was able to restore this!¡± Creak. Endless Hell opened the door to the hospital room. My presumed mother¡¯s workce was in obstetrics. Unlike her son, who would be known as the Undertaker, my mother had a profession in the field of bringing life into the world. Inside the room, my presumed mother, her whole body covered in noise,y diagonally on a hospital bed¨D¨D. In her arms, she cradled a newborn baby. ¡°That¡¯s you, senior.¡± ¡°¡¡.¡± ¡°Probably.¡± Ahaha, Endless Hellughed. ¡°It¡¯s not certain. You erased your rtionships so thoroughly. But based on the data, this woman is most likely your mother, and the baby is around your age at the time.¡± ¡°¡You restored this?¡± ¡°Yes, didn¡¯t I do well?¡± The presumed mother performed no actions. She was simply holding the baby. It was impossible to restore what kind of movements she had made at the time. The same was true for the newborn. I felt no sense of realization that this was me. The baby¡¯s face was also small and distorted by noise. ¡°......¡± Nevertheless, I couldn¡¯t help but watch the image of the mother and child for a long time. ¡°Indeed.¡± I thought of Busan Station. ¡°No matter how much my memory is covered by [404], that ce can¡¯t be my starting point.¡± I realized something anew. Even if there is a nk space in my memories of the origin, how does that disrupt the fact that I am human? No one remembers the moment they are born. Even if there is a gap at the starting point of memory, it was clear that I, Doctor Jang, am human. The scene unfolding before my eyes, the ¡®hidden picture¡¯ uncovered from the regressor¡¯s life, was proving that fact. ¡°How do you feel? Do you like it?¡± I looked at Endless Hell. Endless Hell was striking the ¡°proud¡± pose. It was as precise as the automatic poses taken by idle characters in a game. Even the rhythm of her feet tapping the floor, ¡®tok, tok,¡¯ with no margin of error, was wless as she waited for my reaction. But for some reason, this didn¡¯t bother me as much as it had before. I said what I had to say. ¡°Thank you.¡± Endless Hell grinned. ¡°So, senior, how about reconsidering and allowing me to take control andmand of the tutorial fairies for being such a considerate junior?¡± Instead of answering, I handed her a piece of paper. Endless Hell took the paper, which had ¡°No¡± written on it, chewed it with a pout, and spat it out. Epilogue. End. [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] w Chapter 219 [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] w Chapter 219 ©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤ The nderer I 1. "People''s morals these days seem really strange¡" One day, while enjoying a swim, such a remark came out of Noh Doha''s mouth. "Hmm." For the record, we were in a swimming pool. It was a pool located in the basement of the National Highway Management Headquarters, and given it was the power center, it wouldn¡¯t do to get upset about leisurely swimming in an apocalypse. It was just that a public pool in the void had sprung up randomly. Noh Doha hated every activity categorized as ''exercise'', but swimming wasn¡¯t something he disliked. So I regrly dragged him from his office and tossed him into the pool. People need to get some exercise at least, or they¡¯ll live shorter lives. Premature death wasn¡¯t allowed for the strategist of the penins. Anyway. I silently approached Noh Doha. Then I crouched down and ced my hand on his forehead, as his face was sticking out of the pool. "Strange. The temperature seems normal." "Do you want to die¡?" "Oh, it¡¯s pure concern. When the person whose morality is the most suspect suddenly talks about morals, it¡¯s only natural to worry." "Pure nonsense, more like¡" Noh Doha brushed off my hand, and the smell of pool chlorine filled the air. "Haven¡¯t you noticed? Lately, people''s reactions have been a bit odd¡" "How exactly have they been odd?" "Let me exin¡" Noh Doha told me the story. In the National Highway Management, there was always talk about supplementing the workforce. After all, being a highway officer meant constantly living with one¡¯s life half in the hands of strange entities, so it was unavoidable. And officers were required to have highbat strength, strong camaraderie, professional learning abilities, mental resilience against the void¡¯s mental contamination, loyalty to resist bribes from regional warlords, and above all, the attitude to still hold onto hope for humanity despite the hardships. In short, the job was tough as hell. - People are getting killed on the field! Hire more! - Who¡¯s hiring these useless recruits?! Don¡¯t just hire anyone! - We need quantity! Quantity! - Qualityyyyy! Thus, there were always two eternally conflicting opinions within the National Highway Management. "Buttely, even people outside of the National Highway Management have started meddling in this¡" "Huh?" It all started on S. One of the caravans from the National Highway Management departing from Busan had been wiped out in the void (not an umon urrence), and users on the message board began discussing it. - Anonymous: Honestly, isn''t it the management''s fault for not supplementing the workforce in time? ©¸ Anonymous: The highway management is practically responsible for all logistics in the penins, so yeah, they¡¯re kinda negligent... agreed... ©¸ KoreanVige: Hmm¡ - Anonymous: Because of this ident, the market in Pohang hasn¡¯t opened for over three months, lol. - Anonymous: A friend of mine works in highway management, and they said there''s a lot of talk internally too. Apparently, they¡¯re deliberately not hiring new officers even though they know they¡¯re short on field personnel. ©¸ Anonymous: Why? ©¸ Anonymous: If they hire more officers, they¡¯ll have to share the profits they¡¯re sucking from the guilds all over the country. Honestly, the management doesn''t care about logistics; they¡¯re more focused on extorting taxes from guilds, lol. ©¸ Anonymous: Is this for real?? ©¸ Anonymous: Yeah, anyone who¡¯s in the know knows this stuff. ©¸ dolLHOuse: ?? What nonsense are you all spouting? - Anonymous: I didn¡¯t think the highway chief was like this. Guess they¡¯re no different from the politicians of the past. ©¸ Anonymous: You still trust people? lol ©¸ Anonymous: I knew this would happen. I blinked. "What... is this parade of nonsense?" "It¡¯s just a parade of nonsense. I only know about it because my subordinates reported it to me. Apparently, posts like these have been popping up frequently." "All of a sudden?" "They say it started about a week ago." It was truly malicious misinformation. At present, the National Highway Management was practically the lifeline of the Korean penins. Even the regional warlords, who were essentially guild leaders, knew this, and so did ordinary citizens. Wasn¡¯t it a time when unity among people was more precious than ever? Spreading such nder would ultimately lead to a loss for all humanity. It was pointless disruption. "We should track the IPs with Seo Gyu." "Of course, we''ve already done that." "Who are they? Is it a specific guild deliberately waging a public opinion war? That¡¯s the only thing that makes sense to me." If so, we¡¯d deal with these petty people following short-sighted gains. Noh Doha said to me, "Well, I thought the same, so I asked Yongsan to check their identities... But they were just ordinary Awakened." "Ordinary Awakened?" "Yeah. They had no contact, no connection, no background. They were literally strangers justmenting back and forth." I blinked. Wasn¡¯t this just a coincidence, then? I wasn¡¯t one to be uptight about regting simple idents. Venting emotions on the inte was something that had always happened before civilisation''s copse. "But that¡¯s not all. Ah, something just grabbed my ankle¡" "It¡¯s a water ghost. Don¡¯t worry. Please continue." "Sure¡" We both ignored the water ghost, and the conversation continued. "It¡¯s not just about the National Highway Management; people have also started meddling in the affairs of Three Thousand Worlds and Baekhwa Girls¡¯ High School as well." It was literal nder. [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] w - Anonymous: In Busan, Tang Seorin holds a monster dismantling show every month, but honestly, it¡¯s kinda brutal, lol. - Anonymous: I heard two regr guild members diedst time trying to capture monsters for that show. ©¸ Anonymous: Really? ©¸ KoreanVige: Hmm¡ ©¸ Anonymous: Yeah, I heard that too. They could¡¯ve just killed the monsters with no casualties, but Tang Seorin insisted on capturing them, and that¡¯s how the incident happened. ©¸ Anonymous: Wow. - Anonymous: If this is true, isn''t that a real problem? ©¸ Anonymous: Busan is practically Tang Seorin¡¯s territory, so covering up two deaths is nothing. She¡¯s always been like that. ©¸ dolLHOuse: ?? What nonsense are you all spouting? ©¸ Anonymous: I knew this would happen. Of course, it was just a baseless rumor. Tang Seorin almost always hunted the prey she dismantled herself. At the very least, she never just stood idly by after ordering her subordinates to capture them. Actually, if Tang Seorin''s main defensive system hadn¡¯t backed her up, the Ten ns Hunts or the Meteor Shower Hunts would have caused exponentially more damage to the Awakened. Tang Seorin had umted a lot of "shield points." And yet, some low-level Awakened dare criticize Tang Seorin? Have they all gone mad together? "Hey. Don''t let your eyes roll back. Your eyes already look inhuman, and now you''re about to start resembling a frozen fish¡." "Yeah." "Anyway, it''s been like this for the past week. Just like when civilization used to function normally¡." "Is it only happening on SG Net?" "Who knows¡." Swoosh-. Noh Doha came out of the swimming pool. I wrapped a towel around his shoulders, which I had prepared beforehand. Since he was forced to do the exercise he absolutely hated, this level of service was necessary. Noh Doha sipped the hot coffee I poured from a thermos and looked at me. Droplets of water were still dripping from his ck hair. ¡°I get the feeling that it¡¯s probably the work of some anomaly¡.¡± I had the same gut feeling. 2 It wasn¡¯t just any random person; I received a quest directly from the Head of the National Roads Administration. cking off wasn¡¯t an option. I dyed my original schedule and contacted the Saintess for advice. [Yes, you''re right. There''s been an increase in such conversations in real life recently.] The Saintess was reliable. She immediately provided the information I wanted. [The people involved don''t seem to care much that they had those conversations.] [They just think, "I happened to say that. I didn''t mean any harm. I was just agreeing with what someone else said. It was just casual chatter."] [That seems to be the general perception.] I rested my chin on my hand. "If this is affecting not only the inte but also real life, keywords like ''witch hunt'' might be important. Could it be some kind of mental virus?" [A virus¡ doesn¡¯t seem like the right word. There doesn¡¯t seem to be a clear infection source.] [It¡¯s happening simultaneously, from Sariwon to Busan.] ¡°Can you summarize the key characteristics of these conversations?¡± [Of course.] The Saintessid out the characteristics of the ¡°witch hunt¡± anomaly as follows: 1. Someone subtly starts a baseless rumor. 2. Despite doubts, people chime in with agreeable responses. 3. The rumor is taken as fact, and the person at the center of the rumor is criticized, withments about their character. 4. The conversation always ends with, ¡°I knew it.¡± [That¡¯s the gist of it.] "Hmm." I rested my chin on my hand. "It''s definitely some kind of mental anomaly... It seems like an anomaly that parasitizesnguage itself." [How do you n to handle it?] "Let''s test the reaction first." I issued a secret order to Sim Aryeon, the most powerful card avable in the current human inte system. Sim Aryeon had the authority to control the Constetions [Librarian of the Great Library] and [Collector of All Anomalies], as well as multiple anonymous nicknames. Target: ON. Fire. -Anonymous: I know who¡¯s spreading that stupid rumor that Tang Seorin forced herself to capture an anomaly just for a dissection show, lol. -Anonymous: There¡¯s this small guild in Busan''s Yeongdo called the Cheonghae Guild, always acting cocky with Three Thousand Worlds. The guild leader got ¡®caught¡¯ by Tang Seorin, and ever since, their small fry have been spreading rumors about her, lol. ©¸Anonymous: ?? What are you talking about? I¡¯m just sharing what I heard from an acquaintance. ©¸Anonymous: And your acquaintance must be the same guild leader who was bawling his eyes out in front of the Great Witch, begging for his life like a child, right?^^ ©¸Anonymous: I¡¯m not even from the Cheonghae Guild, though? For reference, all the ¡°Anonymous¡± posts above were Sim Aryeon herself. Sim Aryeon skillfully stirred up the forum with her "clone technique." And once the attention of the members was fully captured, she delivered the finale. -Anonymous: I¡¯m one of the top five Awakened serving the Librarian of the Great Library, lol. Keep messing around, and I¡¯ll ask the Constetion to reveal your identity, so shut your mouth.^^ ©¸Anonymous: Lol, what a clown. I¡¯m seriously not from Cheonghae Guild, so what are you going to do about it? Go ahead, reveal my info, lol. ©¸[Librarian of the Great Library]: Park Sang-soon. 37 years old. Guild Leader of Cheonghae Guild. Currently logged in from Yeongdo, Busan. ©¸Anonymous: ? ©¸Anonymous: What the f¡ª? ©¸Anonymous: That¡¯s not me. The other forum members watching the coliseum, of course, went wild. The public opinion quickly shifted in favor of Three Thousand Worlds, with a flood ofments criticizing the Cheonghae Guild. I calmly observed the unfolding situation. "Now then. The rumor has been overturned. What¡¯s your next move, anomaly?" At that moment. -Anonymous: I knew those Cheonghae Guild bastards would cause trouble someday, lol. -Anonymous: Their guild is infamous for promoting themselves anonymously and badmouthing rival guilds. ©¸Anonymous: Really?? ©¸Anonymous: They even have a PR manager under the guild leader who tells the guild members exactly how to sway public opinion, lol. ©¸Anonymous: I knew it. Hmm. I sighed. The same forum members who had been questioning Tang Seorin¡¯s character earlier had now turned to condemning the entire Cheonghae Guild as if nothing had happened. "It¡¯s not eradicated at all." [¡Yeah. Other unrted Awakened are stillmenting.] Indeed. This mysterious anomaly seemed only interested in setting the world on fire, regardless of what the target was. No matter how hard you tried to overturn one rumor, it simply moved on to the next one. [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] w Chapter 220 [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] w Chapter 220 ©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤ The nderer II 3 At some point, the "witch hunt" anomaly began sweeping across the Korean Penins. It would have been fine if it had just ended with some stupid posts on the inte, but the terrifying aspect of this anomaly was something else entirely. "I knew this would happen." "What?" "I knew this would happen." "What are you bbering about? You agreed to enter the Void too. Who could have predicted such a bizarre monster would appear..." "I told you I knew this would happen. Seriously, the way you just jump into the Void without being prepared. Tsk tsk." "......" Conversations like these were happening all over the country. Those infected by this anomaly tended to act like they "already knew" whenever something happened, pretending to be a fair and objective third party. It was truly a bizarre anomaly. Hadn''t the scope of events that humanity could predict shrunk to the size of a palm since the world began to be engulfed by the Void? Thus, the attitude required of people living in our time had be simpler: "I didn''t see thating." "Since I don''t know, I''ll prepare as much as possible." "If I don''t know, I''ll learn by getting hit." However, this newly emerged anomaly was defiantly opposing such a mindset. "I knew this would happen." "And I knew you''d act like you knew everything." "Ugh, I even knew you''d act like you knew everything, thinking you knew everything!" "I''ve known for a very, very long time that the two of you would start acting like you know everything." Even when new Voids appeared or unheard-of news broke, people, for some reason, confidently unted their knowledge. At this point, I had to admit that this anomaly was far more formidable than I had initially thought. But what was the point of admitting that? I scratched my head and patted the shoulder of the strongest member of our inte strike force. "Aryeon, you''ve worked hard." "Oh, uh, thank you." "I don''t think refuting every single nder is worth the effort. You''ve done enough. Let''s stop the operation." "Ah, yes, Guild Leader... I, I knew this would happen..." "......" A small circle appeared on the back of Aryeon''s head that day. It would serve as a nice external conscience circuit for Sim Aryeon, who otherwise only nurtured triangles and squares in her mind. In any case, the situation was slowly, very slowly, bing more serious. There were signs of internal division among the smaller guilds, operating smoothly until recently. It had also be increasinglymon to witness citizens arguing in the streets. It was still tolerable for now. After all, this wasn¡¯t a monster like the Ten ns that ughtered people outright. However, it was clear that if left unchecked, the situation would escte into something more severe. "But, Guild Leader..." "Hm?" "I think this is a bit different from a ''witch hunt.'' Actually, I think it¡¯spletely different." Sim Aryeon said as she rubbed the lump on her head. "Why do you think that?" "Well, it''s happening in reality, not just on the inte. A witch hunt usually happens more slyly... at least under the mask of anonymity." "Perhaps, but modern witch hunts can happen in real life too. Have you heard of the Dreyfus Affair?" "Drey-Dreyfus...?" "It''s a famous case, made known by ¨¦mile Z¡¯s ''J''use.''" "Oh, that one... Yeah, I know. He¡¯s that famous YouTuber with 100k subscribers... ¨¦mile Z..." No, seriously. Anyway, Sim Aryeon mumbled to herself. "Anyway, a witch hunt usually happens within a crowd, among the masses, right?" "That''s true." "Yes, but this anomaly is a bit different. I mean, it¡¯s targeting major figures like the Grand Demon King of the National Road Management or the Witch of the Three Thousand Worlds..." "A bit?" Sim Aryeon muttered. "It feels... less underhanded, somehow." "......?" A question mark popped up above my head, but Sim Aryeon ignored it and continued with her thoughts. "Even if people wear masks of anonymity on SG Net, there''s still a risk of getting exposed by the Constetions. So, they don''t cross the line too easily. It''s even more so in reality. But... going after the two most powerful figures on the Korean Penins? It¡¯s too brazen to be sneaky. It doesn¡¯t have that foul stench." "Aryeon, what are you talking about?" "The Guild Leader is too caught up with the ''witch hunt'' keyword just because the Grand Witch of the Three Thousand Worlds was attacked." What? "Besides, Guild Leader, even though you pull off viinous deeds on SG Net, you''re just a ''Romance of the Three Kingdoms'' maniac... You''re not really adept at genuine troublemaking. This isn¡¯t a witch hunt." "Then what kind of anomaly do you think this is?" "Here." Sim Aryeon pressed her smartphone screen. It disyed ament on SG Net. Anonymous: I knew this would happen. This phrase, mostmonly found during our investigation of this anomaly. Pointing at it, Sim Aryeon spoke. "This is the core. Acting like you know everything. Pretending to be someone important. So, it''s not a ''witch hunt'' anomaly... It''s more like a ''fake expert.''" "''Expert?''" "Yes, yes. Maybe we should call it a ''pseudo-expert'' anomaly. They love showing off, don¡¯t hide in crowds but stand out, and constantly act like they know everything... It¡¯s more like a ''pseudo-expert anomaly.''" That was the diagnosis of self-proimed inte expert, Sim Aryeon. 4 One thing I, as Doctor Jang, am good at is listening to experts. Just as a broken clock is right twice a day, even an "Elderly Viin" can offer something to learn from. Sim Aryeon, thoroughly enjoying the situation, was teaching me something about this anomaly. "Of course, I understand why the Guild Leader might be confused. At first nce, it does seem like a witch hunt... There¡¯s maniption, a bit of evasion of responsibility. And then there¡¯s the fact that, no matter how Young you try to act, Guild Leader, there are limits..." A brief moment of external conscience circuit reattachment ensued. "It''s probably because the anomaly is evolving in real-time. Soon enough, it''ll develop into something bigger under the category of ''inte culture.''" "Yes, yes." Though I couldn''t quite grasp why it had spread from the inte to reality as well¡ªSim Aryeon whispered, "I don¡¯t know either"¡ªI could only imagine the terrible consequences if this were left unchecked. Humanity would eventually turn into creatures like the ''Forest Friends,'' and both Awakened Supremacists and Awakened Deniers would grow immensely stronger. Just thinking about it was horrifying. "The psychic brainwashing of all humanity!" A chill ran down my spine. Surely, humanity deserved a more dignified end than this. Immediate suppression was necessary. ¡°How should we deal with this? Please, share your expert opinion, KoreanVige.¡± ¡°Hehe, ehehe...¡± [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] w Sim Aryeon rubbed her fingers together in excitement. ¡°Hmm, the best way is to crush them so thoroughly that the so-called ¡®self-proimed experts¡¯ can¡¯t even squeak!¡± ¡°Crush?¡± ¡°Yes! So that they can''t even say, ¡®I knew this would happen!¡¯ Show them something so incredible, so oundish, that only the Guild Master could pull it off. Something grand and outrageous that no one could dare criticize!¡± ¡°Outrageous.¡± ¡°Yes! It has to be something no one could have predicted! Not ¡®I knew it,¡¯ but ¡®I never saw thising.¡¯ Something shocking, a massive event!¡± ¡°Shocking, huh.¡± Hmm. I mentally opened a notepad and jotted down Professor KoreanVige''s words. In the meantime, a somewhat frantic voice echoed telepathically in my mind¡ªSaintess, speaking from the other side of my eardrum. [Wait a second. Doctor Jang, even if Sim Aryeon is an expert on inte culture, isn¡¯t it problematic to take her advice so literally¡?] At that moment, Sim Aryeon drove in the final nail. ¡°If it weren¡¯t for you, Guild Master, I wouldn¡¯t even suggest such a strategy. After all, the world runs on so-called ¡®experts¡¯ pretending to know about everything, even Admiral Yi Sun-sin.¡± ¡°Hmm.¡± ¡°But Guild Master, aside from me, you¡¯re the greatest person on Earth! You¡¯re sure to show an unpredictable solution that no one could have seen iting!¡± ¡°Hmm.¡± ¡°I believe in you, Guild Master!¡± Sim Aryeon clenched her fists with determination. I nodded. ¡°Alright. Trust me, Aryeon. This Guild Master will deliver a scene no one in the world could have expected.¡± ¡°Hehe, yes!¡± The Saintess, who must have been watching the same scene through my eyes, sighed softly. [Why is it that Doctor Jang torments Sim Aryeon every day, but loses his cool and gets swayed by her when it matters most¡?] The Guild Master is making his move! * * * First, I captured the people most severely contaminated by the ¡®expert anomaly.¡¯ A total of 360 individuals. The number wasn¡¯t a coincidence¡ªit was intentional. When Socrates was sentenced to death in ancient Athens, 360 people voted for his execution. In short, 360 symbolized ¡®mob rule¡¯ and ¡®mass psychology.¡¯ Not stopping there, I even carved out pirs of aura and built a Greek-style temple. Whether the gue was defined as the self-proimed experts or a witch hunt, this ce had be the perfect shrine for summoning the anomaly. ¡°Doctor Jang! How could you just kidnap us and tie us up? I knew this would happen!¡± Grumbles. The people I had randomly captured and bound were now in an uproar. ¡°No matter howwless things are these days, this is too much! I knew this would happen!¡± ¡°This is tyranny by awakened ones! I predicted this!¡± ¡°I knew it ever since you rigged the system with the Chief and took over the Korean penins. Tsk, tsk.¡± ¡°Did the political head order you to do this? I knew it! I knew it!¡± ¡°See? Worshipping a war hero eventually leads to dictatorship. I knew this would happen.¡± What is this? Did a bunch of people suddenly develop prophetic powers without me noticing? Last I checked, there were only two prophets. ¡®This is definitely an abnormal reaction.¡¯ These people, who had survived the apocalypse, should have had keen judgment and sharp instincts. If Doctor Jang captured them, tied them up in a weird Greek temple, they should¡¯ve sensed that something was seriously wrong. But instead, they were all too busyining about my actions, iming they had predicted everything. It had to be the anomaly contaminating their minds. ¡°Everyone, please be quiet.¡± I made a paper megaphone and shouted. ¡°What? Quiet in this situation?¡± ¡°Are you trying to silence the voices of the citizens?¡± ¡°Dictator! Dictator! Dictator!¡± ¡°Go ahead! Try killing us!¡± They shouted in unison. I filtered out the repetitive ¡®I knew this would happen¡¯ remarks and continued. ¡°How could I kill you? But¡¡± I gestured to my side. Standing there in silence was the head of the National Road Management''s operations team, the silver-haired psychopath, Yoo Jiwon. ¡°If this Yoo Jiwon here goes berserk and kills someone, there''s nothing I can do.¡± ¡°...¡± ¡°...¡± Dead silence. Most psychopaths usually masked their psychopathy behind a veil of social etiquette, but Yoo Jiwon here operated on a different level. Once she was assured that top figures like Noh Doha and the Time King wouldn¡¯t abandon her, she didn¡¯t hesitate to unleash her sealed nature. Yoo Jiwon sliced people up without hesitation as long as justification and necessity existed. This was one of the reasons why, even in the apocalypse,w and order in Korea remained rtively intact. ¡°Now, look at this aura.¡± I lifted my sword high into the sky. And I poured all my aura into it. ¨D¨D¨D!! Dark aura consumed the very noise, piercing the sky. The clouds it cut through were dyed into stormy ckness. Though it was still broad daylight, a small fragment of night seemed to tear through the sky like a hole. This was the result of me putting all my aura into the strike. ¡°...¡± ¡°...¡± p. p, p, p. Amidst the silence, small ps echoed. There was no need to turn around. Yoo Jiwon was the one expressionlessly pping her hands. Ignoring Yoo Jiwon¡¯s sarcastic apuse, I looked back at the 360 people. ¡°Well? How is it?¡± ¡°...Using force to intimidate civilians?¡± ¡°Hah, this is nothing more than showing off your aura. No different from flexing muscles.¡± ¡°Research shows excessive aura actually reduces efficiency in realbat situations¡¡± ¡°I knew this guy was like this from the start.¡± The anomaly wavered momentarily but soon regained control, letting the contaminated people wag their tongues again. More urately, it was manipting them to speak. I muttered to myself. ¡°So this isn¡¯t enough.¡± ¡°Should I execute them all, Your Excellency?¡± ¡°These are people who were unlucky enough to get contaminated. No executions. Let¡¯s move on to the next step.¡± If the aura disy wasn¡¯t enough, then I had no choice but to bring out the big guns. Korea¡¯s strongest assets weren¡¯t limited to just the KoreanVige viin. I spoke the name of the second ultimate weapon. ¡°Jiwon.¡± ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°Bring out the Sword Maiden.¡± If the aura disy wasn¡¯t enough, fine. Now, I¡¯ll show them the Sword Maiden¡¯s jaw-dropping ¡®rejuvenation performance.¡¯ [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] w Chapter 221 [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] w Chapter 221 ©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤ The nderer III 6 Rejuvenation This term refers to the phenomenon where an old master reaches the pinnacle of enlightenment and returns to their childhood or prime. It¡¯s also a state that every StarCraft yer fervently wishes for whenever their Mutalisk control fails, leading to ughter by those dirty Marines. From the Western Demon Lord Gilgamesh to the Central Empire¡¯s Sovereign Qin Shi Huang, few people didn¡¯t long for such a miracle. And so, the first person to achieve rejuvenation on the Earth server was none other than: ¡°Ahem? What business do you have with me?¡± The Marquis of Yuldo Nation, the Sword Maiden. You all remember, right? In the episode where I used the ¡®Monkey¡¯s Paw,¡¯ this old man sessfully evolved into the Transcended Sword Maiden. Truly a monster of potential. Of course, I no longer rely on the ¡®Monkey¡¯s Paw.¡¯ But now that I¡¯ve learned that the Sword Maiden has a Rejuvenation upgrade, why wouldn¡¯t I take advantage of that knowledge? ¡°Marquis. First, listen carefully to this. Now, the boundary between day and night is merely a fleeting human distinction, and in the ceaseless flow of time, it briefly shes and then briefly darkens in an endless cycle...¡± To be continued. The above passage refers to the Sword Maiden''s realisation when she experienced transcendence in turn 590. In other words, it was like a cheat sheet. Sure enough, as I delivered the wless strategy word for word, the Sword Maiden¡¯s expression grew increasingly enigmatic. Now, Marquis, evolve! ¡°Doctor Jang, what nonsense are you spouting?¡± It didn¡¯t work. Was that not enough? The 360-captured ones watching from the sidelines also grew rowdy. - Boo, boo! - Kidnapping people and threatening them with force, and now what kind of nonsense is this? - People probably didn¡¯t know Doctor Jang was like this, but I¡¯ve had a hunch all along! But I didn¡¯t give up. In all things, preemptive learningbined with repetition is the essence of Korean education. The lesson of the regressor was far from over. With just a nce, I silenced the uproar in the crowd and drew my sword. ¡°Watch carefully, sir.¡± ¡°Hmm?¡± I began to perform a sword dance. This wasn¡¯t a dance I had invented. It was a perfect recreation of the sword dance the Sword Maiden had once performed at Mount Hua¡¯s peak when we went flower viewing, long ago. Sure enough, the Sword Maiden was taken aback. ¡°That, that is¡?¡± ¡°Do you feel something?¡± ¡°I do! I feel it! Oh, how has the essence of Mount Hua be embodied in Doctor Jang¡¯s de?¡± ¡°Now, listen again. The boundary between day and night is merely a fleeting human distinction¡¡± I recited the realization he had, while demonstrating it with my body. No teacher could be more thorough. In other words, to a third party observer, I probably looked like a lunatic, suddenly waving a sword while muttering iprehensible gibberish. The 360 individuals in the crowd were beginning to look at me like I was crazy. ¡°Ooooh¡¡± When I finished the sword dance, the Sword Maiden pped. His beard trembled. ¡°Indeed, it was a magnificent sword dance! Like plum blossoms blooming on Mount Hua, like fog embracing the blossoms, and also like a single ship advancing through the fog. A peculiar sight! What shall we call this ship? The treasure ship of the Three Jewels? Admiral Yi¡¯s Turtle Ship?¡± ¡°So, do you feel like you¡¯re about to rejuvenate now?¡± ¡°Huh? Rejuvenate? I¡¯m not sure about that...¡± Was this still not enough? The individuals in the outer field began booing again, shouting things like ¡°I knew this would happen!¡± but I paid no mind. I snapped my fingers. Then, Yoo Jiwon, who had been on standby, began unloading dozens of televisions from a truck. A total of 130 CRT TVs. The televisions were arranged in a Stonehenge-like formation around the Sword Maiden. ¡°Jiwon, turn them on.¡± ¡°Yes, sir.¡± Fzzzzzt! Even though the TVs weren¡¯t plugged in, they crackled to life with static. Of course, these were all cursed televisions. All of the screens disyed degraded footage of sword dancing. It was a recording of my sword dance, being yed on loop. ¡°The boundary between day and night, hehehe!¡± ¡°The temporary distinction of humans, hihi!¡± ¡°The endless cycle of logic... Kekekeke!¡± For the record, the Doctor Jang¡¯s sword dance being broadcast on the screens was actually performed by ghosts mimicking my moves. Getting those ghosts out of the well and making them follow mymands had been quite the task. If you look closely, you¡¯ll notice the sorrow and resentment in their faces, as their homes were forcibly demolished. ¡°Wh-what...?¡± Perhaps sensing something amiss, even the Sword Maiden, one of the most entric individuals on the Korean Penins, started to look uneasy. The individuals who had been jeering from the sidelines began to grow quiet. ¡°What is the meaning of this, Doctor Jang?¡± ¡°Don¡¯t question it. Just feel it. You need to ept the sensations and flow as theye to you, Marquis.¡± ¡°ept it?¡± The Sword Maiden looked around. ¡°What exactly should I ept in this scene, where ghosts are bending their limbs backwards while uttering curses?¡± ¡°Use this as well.¡± I handed him some earphones. Connected to them was an MP3 yer, which of course contained a cursed recording. As soon as the Sword Maiden plugged in the earphones, a creepy soundtrack akin to The Ring yed, along with the chant of the Heart Sutra: ¡°The boundary between day and night... is merely a fleeting... human distinction¡¡± ¡°...¡± ¡°Ah, don¡¯t turn the volume up too high. Just think of it as listening to MC Square. You know what MC Square is, right?¡± ¡°Hmph, hmm¡¡± ¡°So, how is it, Marquis? Do you feel like you¡¯re about to rejuvenate now?¡± ¡°To be honest, I don¡¯t even understand what you¡¯re saying, Doctor Jang¡¡± Was this still not enough? The 360 individuals, now with slightly dejected expressions, grumbled amongst themselves. - I don¡¯t know what¡¯s going on, but I knew this would happen. - From the moment he started talking about rejuvenation, I knew it would turn out like this. - Does he think using ghost televisions to intimidate us will make us submit? I knew this would happen all along... Though their voices had weakened considerably, the individuals still clung to their one phrase: ¡°I knew this would happen.¡± But I wasn¡¯t disheartened in the least. ¡°Jiwon.¡± ¡°Yes, sir.¡± ¡°Bring Hayul and Oh Dokseo.¡± ¡°At once.¡± Yoo Jiwon, one of the top-level Aura masters, quickly fetched the two little sisters (Lee Hayul and Oh Dokseo). Hayul looked especially weary. She had been training her choreography so earnestly over the past few days, it could rival that of a K-pop idol trainee at a major agency. ¡°Hayul, have you mastered it perfectly?¡± [Oppa, just die. Please.] ¡°Excellent. That¡¯s the spirit.¡± [¡] ¡°Now, as we discussed, show this old man your dancing skills.¡± Lee Hayul pulled threads from her fingertips and attached them to the Sword Maiden¡¯s joints. The sticky, web-like threads soon connected to the Sword Maiden¡¯s limbs. ¡°Wh-what? What is this?¡± The Sword Maiden was flustered, but he couldn¡¯t stop Hayul. Despite her frail appearance, few Awakened could defeat Hayul one-on-one. ¡°Jiwon, cue the beat.¡± ¡°Yes, sir.¡± ¡°Oh Dokseo, go.¡± ¡°Okay.¡± Oh Dokseo casually flipped her cap around. In the Korean Penins, this fashion could barely be pulled off by anyone taller than 190 cm. The golden chain around Oh Dokseo''s neck glistened brightly on her shirt. "Yeah. Alliance of the Regression. Yo, here we go, you f*cking psychopath. Freestyle, real quick. Let''s get it." As Yoo Jiwon expressionlesslyid down a sweet beat in sync and offbeat, Oh Dokseo grabbed the mic. "The boundary between day and night, Yo, it¡¯s a human division, a temporary one, Ki?e???e?ee??k?, Yo, shining briefly in the endlessly flowing time, flow??hee?hee?hee??hak??, dark again, repeat, Ki?k??ik?, repeat, Yo, repeat Da Capo, chi?jik?, it''s the endless cycle of the world, the principle of the universe, Yo..." The strange noise mixing in was because the mic was cursed. Most electronic devices had anomalies clinging to them, so it couldn''t be helped. [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] w But the pure rapper of this era, Oh Dokseo, sublimated even the eerie wailing of ghosts into part of his rap. Meanwhile, Lee Hayul was controlling the Sword Maiden like a puppet using invisible strings. "Gaaahhh! My, my joints!?" There''s no hiding it. Lee Hayul had perfectly learned the sword dance I had demonstrated. So, using the strings to make the Sword Maiden dance the "Dance of Enlightenment" by force was now possible. This was the technique of a regressor. If you can''t reach enlightenment, you might as well force-feed it at 300% concentration. "Ughhh! My knees! Shoulders! My back is about to snap apart!" I brought over Sim Aryeon. Sim Aryeon squatted next to the Sword Maiden, quietly healing him every time his joints creaked. ¡°Ugh! Ahh! Gaaahh?¡± ¡°Shouting... only makes it hurt more.¡± His spine had already snapped once in the middle, but it didn¡¯t matter. Sim Aryeon just giggled innocently while casting her healing magic. Yes. How much abuse had we endured from the Sword Maiden, just because he was our only savior in the famine crisis? Myrades, who had long held grudges, willingly coborated on this n. (Only the Saintess exercised her veto power, forcing us to use an MP3 yer instead of telepathy.) "Gaaahhhh!" I turned around, using the Sword Maiden''s screams as background noise. There stood 360 individuals, pale-faced, watching us. In other words: - I knew this would happen¡ - Kukekekekekekeek. In the current situation, 130 cursed televisions were broadcasting the cries of ghosts reciting enlightenment verses, dancing like it was a ritual. - I knew this would happen¡ "Yes, Yo, I am still Yo, day is day, night is night, Yooo, Ki?e???e?e?k?, unting its beauty, Yooo." While the psychopathic operation team leader of the National Road Management Squad wasying down beats expressionlessly, Oh Dokseo, the priestess of the Alien God, was performing her rap. - I knew¡ "Hehehe." The puppet master was making the Sword Maiden dance with shoulder moves, and the ancient swordmaster¡¯s joints were being repeatedly healed by the top-tier healer who could cure even shattered spines. - I knew¡ - This would¡ ¡°Huuuuhhh! Gaaaaaahhh!¡± The dance was a sword technique embodying the highest realm of the Mount Hua Sect, and the one forced to dance was a marquis from the Nation of Yuldo. If one had even a grain of conscience, they wouldn¡¯t dare to im that such madness could exist in the world. - ... - ... And the grand finale. After dancing the sword dance for over 30 minutes, the Sword Maiden, panting heavily, suddenly widened his eyes. "Huh? This move... feels familiar, but also not¡!" At that moment, not only the scent of sweat but also the fragrance of plum blossoms began to emanate from the Sword Maiden¡¯s body. I clenched my fist. ¡°It¡¯s here!¡± But it was slightly different from the plum blossom scent of the 590th turn. Hmm. If the fragrance back then was 100% natural plum aroma, now it seemed like a synthetic floral scent that would be bad for your lungs with prolonged exposure? There was also an air of the unorthodox about it, despite the aura having been nearly pure righteousness before. Hmm. Could this be the influence of the Demon Sect? But he was still one step short. The Sword Maiden continued to dance (feat. Lee Hayul), on the verge of enlightenment but not quite there. I immediately took out my smartphone. "Sword Maiden, my lord." ¡°Huh, huh... Uh, yes?¡± ¡°Look at this.¡± Disyed on the smartphone connected to SGNet was a post. -Anonymous: [SYSTEM] Click this post, and you will be transported to another world. (Views: 2) It was a post about the ¡°Hero Syndrome.¡± But it wasn¡¯t just any typical Hero Syndrome post. It was one found by the National Road Management Squad¡¯s death row inmates, with tags like #MartialArts #MountHuaSect #Regression. The death row inmate who clicked the post imed he was reborn as the second son of the Namgung family and became a Sword God, participating in the War of Righteousness and Demonic Sects. Although 30 secondster, he muttered, "Huh, why are tears falling?" and lost all memories. This was the grand finale I, Doctor Jang, had meticulously selected just for this moment. ¡°Take it, Sword Maiden.¡± ¡°Huuuh...?¡± ¡°The final piece that leads to enlightenment!¡± Lee Hayul moved the strings. And thus, the Sword Maiden reached out and clicked. A sh. A fake temple built in the style of ancient Greece, surrounded by plum blossoms blooming like wildfire. The ¡®plum blossom scent,¡¯ a piece of sensory information that modern humans had never encountered, a scent that could be roughly described as a mix of rose and cherry, filled the air. The light faded. The wrinkled old man was gone, leaving behind only a gray-haired boy standing silently with his head bowed. ¡°Hmm.¡± I nodded instinctively. Rejuvenation sess! I turned to the 360 crowd-beasts who had witnessed everything live. And I quietly asked, ¡°So, how was it? Your first time seeing rejuvenation?¡± - ... ¡°Did you still think you knew this would happen?¡± - ... The 360 trembled. - I, I... - I never saw thising, you crazy bastard! - Who could¡¯ve predicted this kind of madness!? - Aaaaahhhhhhhhhh! - We know nothing, we can know nothing, we never saw thising, our desire for knowledge and power is doomed to be thwarted, we are nothing but beings abandoned by this world, we never saw thising... - We can¡¯t defame, we can¡¯t defame! - Hikkiyaaaahhhhh! Trembling! All 360 simultaneously convulsed and copsed. As if expelled by an exorcist, the pale souls escaped from their bodies and fled into the distant forest. The woond creatures had returned home. [...Doctor Jang.] [Throughout the entire Korean Penins, anomalies resembling ghosts are fleeing people¡¯s bodies and disappearing somewhere.] Hmm. I nced at myrades who had participated in this operation and gave a thumbs-up. Among them, Sim Aryeon smiled the brightest as she said, ¡°As expected, Guild Leader... You¡¯re the best!¡± The anomaly of expertise known as ''professionalism.'' Later, this would evolve into something like the ''witch hunt'' or ''inte wraith.'' Missionplete! Short epilogue: ¡°Congrattions on reaching enlightenment, Sword Maiden.¡± ¡°Hmm.¡± ¡°How do you feel right now?¡± ¡°Good. My head is clear, and the world looks different. At first, I couldn¡¯t understand what kind of bizarre nonsense you were doing, Doctor Jang, but now I see all of it was for my benefit. I understand... but right now... just right now...¡± ¡°Right now?¡± ¡°Right now, I just really want to beat you up.¡± ¡°Ah.¡± I knew this would happen. - The end. [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] w Chapter 222 [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] w Chapter 222 ©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤ The Exploded I 1 In the distant past, Old Scho used to grumble a lot. "Hey, Yeomjang. Isn''t there a single teleporter in this world? What''s even the point of this Earth server?" "Hmm... The tutorial fairy?" "Bah! We don''t need those bastards!" Before going on vacation, Old Scho tried desperately to find someone with teleportation powers. Though it was all in vain. Even after Sho typed ''I''m done with this garbage game, goodbye,'' and logged out of the chatroom, I still didn¡¯t give up. ¡®There must be some new ability user hiding out there somewhere. I just haven''t found them yet.¡¯ Unlike that know-it-all boomer Scho, I, Doctor Jang, am a truly humble young man of the MZ generation. Thus, I traveled here and there, from Busan to Seoul, from Beijing to Tokyo, and even to Istanbul and Berlin asionally. "It¡¯s an honor to work with the famous Doctor Jang. What a world we live in." It wasn¡¯t often, but sometimes I found myself drinking with people like the high priestess, the leader of the Magical Girl Association. "You don¡¯t exactly look like someone who''s been around long enough to make such cynical remarks." "Maybe not on the surface. But the spirit inside me, which is modeled after the nine-tailed fox, has been alive since 2000 B.C., and that does have an impact on my mental age." "Oh." "But strangely, whenever I see you, it feels like I¡¯m looking at someone my age. It¡¯s odd." The high priestess narrowed her eyes behind her fan and looked at me. "And so, whenever I''m alone with you, my old-fashioned way of speaking slips out, and it¡¯s kind of awkward." "Well, for someone who''s lived so long, you don¡¯t seem to know any foreignnguages, including English..." "Shut up. What do you expect from a native Japanese? It''s just that you''re unusually fluent in foreignnguages; I''m about average." "Thank you." Clink. We toasted. The high priestess swirled her ss of whiskey, releasing its scent into the air. Mixing intoxication with the air creates an atmosphere. I inhaled the ambiance, not just the oxygen, and spoke. "The principle behind bing a magical girl is that, right? You find a spirit among the eight million deities, one that''s friendly to humans, and contract with them under your supervision as the high priestess." "Oh? You know quite a bit." The high priestess tapped her chin with her folded fan,ughing. She must have been drunk. "Of course, the spirit doesn¡¯t necessarily have to be friendly to humans. Even a malicious yokai would do. As long as they''re friendly to one particr priestess, that''s all that matters." "I see." "It doesn''t have to be a spirit from Japan, either. The rules are less strict than you might think..." She smiled yfully. "Why, Doctor Jang? Have you finally taken an interest in bing a magical girl? If so, I promise I¡¯ll make you the strongest magical girl on Earth." "I¡¯ll have to pass. But I am curious¡ªhow did youe to meet the nine-tailed fox? Was it a spirit you served from the start?" "Ah, that happened in the tutorial dungeon..." We exchanged idle chatter. For Awakeners, the fastest way to bond is by sharing stories of the tutorial dungeons. It¡¯s simr to swapping tales about military service or college experiences; it''s perfect for building a sense of camaraderie. "We had a guy in our tutorial dungeon named Seo Gyu." "And I call him SG man. The fairy in the tutorial tried to kill him to set an example." "Oh really?" "The fairies even shared a guide among themselves. The seniors passed it down to them, and it includes methods to correct human behavior. Apparently, the most effective way is to smash one person¡¯s head open as a demonstration." "..." The high priestess twitched her fox ears. It didn¡¯t seem directed at me. More like she was unconsciously recalling the past, not quite aware of the present moment. "Is something wrong?" "Oh, nothing. Just your story reminded me of an incident." "An incident?" "Hmm... It''s a trivial story, not something I''d usually tell anyone. Just something that I found odd, but no one else would care about..." The high priestess hesitated to continue. But it was a light drinking session, after all. With a little more encouragement from me, she folded her fan as if deciding it didn¡¯t matter much. "It¡¯s really nothing. Like you and the other magical girls, I was also summoned to a tutorial dungeon. Of course, there was a fairy. But then..." "But then?" "An explosion happened." An explosion? I tilted my head. "Do you mean someone¡¯s head exploded?" "Exactly." "That¡¯s not really all that surprising. Fairies have done the same thing in other tutorial dungeons too..." "No, Doctor Jang. The fairy didn¡¯t do it. The person¡¯s head exploded, but the fairy had nothing to do with it." ? "Then who caused the explosion?" "No one." ??? "It was self-destruction, as far as I could tell." "Pardon?" "Among the people summoned to the tutorial dungeon with me, there was one person whose head just spontaneously exploded, even though no one touched them¡ªnot even the fairy." 2 This was the high priestess¡¯s story. About 100 people had been forcibly summoned into the tutorial dungeon. People were confused. "Wh-where am I?" "I was just on the train a moment ago..." "Hey there! Greetings, everyone! I¡¯m your assigned fairy, number 1675. Nice to meet..." The summoning of people. The appearance of the fairy. Up to this point, it wasn¡¯t too different from my own experience in the Busan Station dungeon. But then something unexpected happened right after the summoning. "Aaahhhh!" A bloodcurdling scream. Everyone turned their heads in shock. There, a woman was clutching her head, writhing in agony. "Aaaahhhh! Aaaahhh! Aaaaaaahhh!" The people froze in ce. One might wonder how many times a modern person has heard a scream in their life, but the scream emitted by the mysterious woman was obviously anything but ordinary. The high priestess testified. "It wasn''t a normal voice." The woman¡¯s voice conveyed the unbearable pain of having her flesh torn apart. It was as if she were being seared alive, her body engulfed in mes. There was the agony of countless razor des slicing through her skin, slowly reaching her nerves and bones. The unfamiliar pitch of the scream momentarily paralyzed people¡ªsomething they had never heard before and might never hear again. "The scream was so horrifying that just hearing it made you shudder." It was terrifying enough that even the fairy in charge of the tutorial was startled. The fairy, whose role was to guide the people, momentarily forgot her duty in her confusion. ¡ªHuh, huh? What is this? What is this? Why is she suddenly screaming? ¡ªAaaaaaaaahhhhhh! [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] w Even the fairy¡¯s exmations were drowned out by the scream. But this wasn''t the end of the incident. A faint glow began to seep through the woman''s fingers, which were gripping her head tightly. A transformation. The woman''s originally ck hair started turning white from the ends. It was rapid, to say the least. ¡°¡It¡¯s a typical sign of awakening.¡± "Yes, indeed. Though we call it divine possession. At the time, we didn''t realize it, but in hindsight, the mysterious woman was awakening her powers." Awakening immediately upon being thrown into a tutorial dungeon¡ªmuch faster than anyone else. Normally, this would be the birth of an exceptionally powerful awakened being. However¡ª ¡ªAaaaaaaah! No! Jaangsa! No! No! Aaaaah! Stop, please, Jaaangsa, no no no no no no no! For some reason, the woman only screamed, repeatedly uttering ¡°No¡± and ¡°Jangsa.¡± "Jangsa? What does that mean?" "I don¡¯t know. Perhaps the pronunciation got garbled in her scream. But she kept repeating it so desperately that it left a deep impression on me." She truly looked to be in immense pain, the high priestess added. "Not just the scream. The way she gripped her head so hard that her nails dug into her scalp, making blood flow." "¡¡." "It was a sight I had never seen before¡ªthoughter on, in post-apocalyptic scenarios, such things wouldn¡¯t be as surprising." Thirty seconds passed. As the humans panicked and the fairy was bewildered, the woman''s hair hadpletely turned white. The transformation wasplete¡ªthe radiant white color blossoming from her scalp as her proof of awakening. Then, when the transformation was finished¡ª BANG! A loud burst echoed through the air. At first, it was difficult to understand what had happened. But soon, something fell from above andnded on the high priestess¡¯s cheek. "It was a piece of the woman¡¯s flesh. Probably her tongue." "¡¡." "Do you understand now, Doctor Jang? Thirty seconds after being summoned into the tutorial dungeon, she screamed iprehensibly,pleted her awakening, and then¡ªher head exploded." "That¡¯s¡" It was truly bizarre, just as the high priestess had warned. "Are you sure the fairy didn¡¯t do it?" "I¡¯m certain. Even before I embraced Tamamo-no-Mae, I was confident in reading expressions. The fairy was extremely shocked right after the woman died." "¡¡." "Well, maybe the fairy was skilled enough in acting to fool me, but I¡¯ve already killed that fairy, so there¡¯s no way to confirm." Since it wasn¡¯t exactly a pleasant topic, our conversation soon drifted elsewhere. The high priestess, despite her odd taste for magical girls, was a decent conversationalist, so the drinking session went on through the night. But even as the dawn sunlight filtered through the windows, the story of the ¡®mysterious exploding woman¡¯ lingered in my mind like the moon''s shadow. 3 Why was I so bothered by a mere drunken tale? My heart was pounding with an inexplicable sense of unease¡ªan unusual urrence for me as a regressor. In the end, I couldn¡¯t hold back and summoned the 264th fairy. I ryed the story the high priestess had told me. Do you know anything about this? ¡ªHooee. If it¡¯s that, it¡¯s probably not the 1675th but the 1679th fairy who experienced that, yes yes. True to the nature of dream demons, whose minds are loosely connected, the 264th fairy immediately began counseling me. ¡ªBut the 1679th fairy was killed in action beforepleting the tutorial, so the data isn¡¯t intact! "I don¡¯t care if it¡¯s iplete. Can you rey the woman¡¯s death throes, even partially?" ¡ªHooee. If we borrow the power of the void, it might be possible, yes yes? "I permit it." ¡ªWait just a moment! Chizzzk Churrrz Chzzzzzk¡ª The 264th fairy closed her eyes and began imitating static interference sounds with her mouth. Then, the next moment¡ª ¡ªAaaaaaaaahhhhh! The fairy¡¯s mouth yed back a distorted voice. It was a tonepletely different from the fairies'' usual chirpy voices. It was the voice of the ''mysterious woman.'' ¡ªAaaaaaaaah! Nooooo! "¡¡." I silently listened to the woman''sst words as the 264th fairy tried to recreate the scene as vividly as possible. I felt puzzled even while listening. Why was I so obsessed with this drunken tale? Was it really worth using the dream demon and Void resources to investigate? But about ten seconds into the yback¡ª ¡°¡Wait.¡± I realized it. The source of my anxiety. ¡ªHooee? "y thatst part again." ¡ªUnderstood. The fairy blinked a few times, and soon, the strange, mechanical-sounding voice once again escaped from her mouth. ¡ªNooo¡ Ja¡ uwi¡sa¡ Nooo¡ No¡ Apaa¡ Apaa¡ Please stop¡ Ja¡ uwi¡ sa! "There. Iste the final part and y it again." ¡ªJa¡ uwi¡ sa! "¡¡." As I expected. In the silence after the yback, I swallowed hard. The high priestess didn¡¯t have perfect memory or proficient in foreignnguages. Her conversational skills were stuck in istionist policy whether it was English or Korean. So, it was natural she¡¯d mishear it. The mysterious word the woman had screamed between her cries. It wasn¡¯t ¡®Jangsa.¡¯ It was ¡®Jaaui-sa.¡¯ If you say it quickly, it sounds like: ¡®Doctor Jang.¡¯ That¡¯s right. For some reason, after the fall of the void, in a tutorial dungeon far away from the Busan station where I had been summoned¡ªan awakened being I had never met, aplete stranger¡ Had screamed ¡°Doctor Jang¡± as she exploded. [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] w Chapter 223 [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] w Chapter 223 ©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤ The Exploded II 3 ''Someone in Japan blew themselves up while shouting the name of Doctor Jang!'' What in the world could this be about? It didn¡¯t make any sense logically. There was an insurmountable physical distance between me and the mysterious woman (let¡¯s call her ¡°Y¡± from now on). I was dragged to a tutorial dungeon in Busan, while the stage where the High Priestess and Y were captivated was in Kyoto. Even measured directly, it was a distance of nearly 600 kilometers. How could aplete stranger, someone I had no memory of, a Japanese person, blow up while shouting the name of Doctor Jang? ¡°Could it have been an acquaintance of yours...?¡± Surprisingly, Noh Doha, who regrly forced me into swimming lessons, showed interest in this mystery. ¡°An acquaintance? I retrieved some degraded data from the tutorial fairies, but judging by the description, they didn¡¯t seem familiar to me at all.¡± ¡°Well, even if they don''t seem familiar, they could still be acquaintances. You did say your memory is like Swiss cheese, with everything from ages 1 to 20 missing¡¡± ¡°Oh.¡± ¡°Quite a few Koreans have rtives or acquaintances living in Japan. It wouldn¡¯t be strange if you also had someone like that...¡± That was something I hadn¡¯t considered. As Noh Doha pointed out, my childhood was like Schr?dinger¡¯s box. Until it was opened, anyone could potentially be an acquaintance. But I shook my head soon after. ¡°No, thinking about it, that¡¯s unlikely.¡± Noh Doha, neck-deep in the pool, gave me a look as if asking, ¡°Why?¡± ¡°All my close family or friends have been [time-sealed]. What¡¯s left are only weak acquaintances. It would be odd for someone like that to shout my name with their dying breath.¡± ¡°Ah, yeah, that does make sense¡¡± Thus, the hypothesis that ¡°this person was connected to me in the past¡± was dismissed. With that, Noh Doha lost interest and began swimming elegantly down thene like a dolphin. He was swimming with such ease in the backstroke that I wondered if he had any idea about my ns to switch from swimming lessons to personal training the moment he gained a bit more stamina. Our dear Supreme Leader was blissfully unaware. ¡°...Hey, Doctor Jang. Did you just devise some seriously annoying n while looking at me like that?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know what you¡¯re talking about.¡± ¡°Ah. Damn, I knew it. What scheme are you up to now...?¡± ¡°Nothing of the sort, I assure you.¡± I feigned innocence. At any rate. Unlike theplex maneuvering and scheming necessary for the [Noh Doha Humanization ~5-Year n~], the answer to the mystery of Y came surprisingly quickly, and surprisingly easily. ¡°Oh? The person whose head exploded right at the start of the Void Arrival in Japan?¡± The key to the answer came from none other than Oh Dokseo. After hearing that Noh Doha and I were having a swimming lesson, she excitedly tagged along, assuming there was some juicy hidden event between the two of us, only to get sullen when she realized it was just a regr swimming lesson. ¡°Oh,e on, really? Just swimming lessons? Nothing exciting?¡± But after eavesdropping on our conversation, her ears perked up. ¡°That person¡ªwasn''t that the fake protagonist from the prologue?¡± ¡°...?¡± ¡°...?¡± A fake protagonist in the prologue? Oh Dokseo, forever a middle schooler (always a second-year), once again used her own private vocabry, leaving both Noh Doha and me with question marks above our heads. She scrunched her face in frustration. ¡°I mean, from The Omniscient Regressor¡¯s Viewpoint that I read before the Void Arrival. The same thing happens in the prologue.¡± This was a strange coincidence. Someone who fell into the same tutorial dungeon as the High Priestess also appeared in Oh Dokseo''s previous-life novel? ¡°Does it exin in that novel why the person¡¯s head suddenly exploded?¡± ¡°Of course.¡± Oh Dokseo nonchntly responded. ¡°They were a true prophet.¡± 4 Until then, I hadn¡¯t pried too deeply into the contents of the Omniscient Regressor''s Viewpoint from Oh Dokseo. The reason was simple. Unlike my biography, which Oh Dokseo had written and edited herself, ORV was a novel originally written by The Admin of All-y. In other words, it was practically a cursed artifact tainted by the Alien God¡¯s malice. ¡®If I read ORV and learned about my first through fourth turns, it would be like handing the power to define Doctor Jang over to the Alien God for free.¡¯ It was exactly the kind of cunning scheme I would expect from the sly Admin of All-y. Of course, there was a chance that the Operator had written the truth out of sheer goodwill. But my level of distrust for anything rted to the supernatural was at ¡°France has such a formidable army, we¡¯re all doomed!¡±¡ªthe same level of paranoia the Germans had during WWII. I had to assume the worst possible scenario. And if I didn¡¯t, I felt something akin to the ¡°Monkey¡¯s Paw¡± episode would happen. Still, based on what Oh Dokseo was saying... it seemed like the part about the mysterious woman Y was safe from the Alien God¡¯s curse. ¡°So, in ORV, I don¡¯t show up as the main character right away?¡± ¡°Yeah, that¡¯s right. The prologue starts with apletely different person acting like the protagonist, deceiving the readers.¡± A fake protagonist. It wasn¡¯t amon trope, but it popped up asionally to surprise readers. A prime example was the Three Kingdoms genre''s ssic The Tale of Jia Xu. ¡°I don¡¯t know about Three Kingdoms, but anyway... As soon as the prologue begins, people get summoned to a tutorial dungeon, including the fake protagonist.¡± ¡°Hmm.¡± ¡°But while everyone else is panicking, the fake protagonist awakens the ability of ¡®prophecy.¡¯ Well, technically it¡¯s foresight, but whatever.¡± Foresight. The ability to see the future. Apparently, Y had visions of future events as if watching a VR video unfold before her eyes. Like Oh Dokseo, Y was well-versed in subculture. The concept of a ¡°prophet¡± wasn¡¯t rare in Korean or Japanese novels, so Y immediately realized how much of a golden opportunity she had stumbled upon. -She could see! She knew exactly how to clear the dungeon and escape! -Over there! That person would one day be called the High Priestess and lead the magical girls of Japan. She had to befriend her! -Ah, yes! Even though the Eight Million Gods would descend, and the archipgo would fall into ruin! -It¡¯s so tragic...! -But! With this ability, if I can foresee the future so vividly, I can save countless people! Yes, definitely! She could do anything. ¡°At this point, it still felt like a typical overpowered protagonist story.¡± However. The twist came soon after. -Huh? As Y kept predicting how to save the survivors of the tutorial dungeon, the citizens of the archipgo, and ultimately the world, she abruptly froze. It wasn¡¯t over. -Huh? The vision didn¡¯t stop. More importantly, the focus of the vision shifted. Instead of focusing on Y, the perspective slowly zeroed in on someone else. A man with pitch-ck, well-like eyes. He died. Again and again. Sometimes, he died as soon as he was summoned to the tutorial dungeon. Other times, he wandered the world for centuries alone. -Huh? Huh? Huh? Everyone the man cherished either met with death or a fate worse than death. Some were gruesomely torn apart by mobs of people possessed by the supernatural. Some took their own lives endlessly. Some lost their human form and became monsters that eventually killed the man themselves. It happened over and over again. -Huh? Huh? Huh? Huh? Huh? Huh? Huh? And all of this was vividly ¡°foreseen¡± by the prophet Y. It wasn¡¯t just foresight, either. She heard it. Smelled it. Tasted it. Felt it. She sensed it. She knew it instinctively. It was imprinted into her. The man¡¯s endless deaths and suffering condensed into a single moment and flooded Y¡¯s brain. -Aaaagh! Y screamed. No, she didn¡¯t even realize she was screaming. Her awakening to the power of prophecy was happening in real-time. The fact that her hair was turning white from the roots down was proof. -No, no, no, no... She didn¡¯t want to awaken. "Stop, please, stop! Aaaaaaaah!" As Y¡¯s hair gradually turned whiter, the foresight grew stronger. The pain and suffering Y felt from the man became as vivid as if it were happening to him directly. If she awakened any further... she couldn''t. It¡¯s not right. For a human, born in a human body, to experience this¡ª to feel this far... "Ah." It was then that Y "foresaw." That for the entirety of her life, as long as she lived as an awakened one, until the moment she died, she would be forced to endlessly witness the life of that man over and over again. "Ah... haha... ahaha." [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] w This power was a curse. Life was nothing but suffering. And so, when her hairpletely turned white,pleting her awakening, Y foresaw a method to use an aura, something she had never learned or practiced before. On her own head. Crack! Y died instantly. ¡°That day, at exactly the same moment, all six people across the world who had awakened their powers of prophecymitted suicide... ording to [Omniscient Regressor''s Viewpoint]. Pop, pop, pop-pop-pop. Six heads exploded.¡± Each of them had the potential to save the world. And in some remote, far-off corner of history, a man lightly opened his eyes. Doctor Jang. Every time he opened his eyes, he was always the one who would bury those six Prometheuses. "And so the prologue ends." "......" "Wow, amazing, right? The pain and scenes that you¡¯ll go through as Doctor Jang in the prologue pass by like a quick panorama.¡± Oh Dokseo chattered excitedly. "I knew from just the prologue. This is something special! Sure, since it¡¯s a fake protagonist, it might not appeal to other readers, but I loved it anyway!" Indeed. In other words, by the time I, Doctor Jang, started my return, the group that had already exited from the world was not only the tens of thousands of people bound by the [Time Seal], but also the six prophets, including Y. That is, assuming that Omniscient Regressor''s Viewpoint was written truthfully by the logout game creator. "Impressive..." Noh Doha, who had been listening to the story while poking his head out of the pool, grinned slyly. ¡°So in the end, without lifting a finger, you wiped out six incredibly powerful awakened beings, each of whom might have saved their own nation. As expected from Doctor Jang Awakened. Even from the sprout, the great anomaly candidate is different, huh?¡± ¡°It¡¯s nder.¡± I shrugged my shoulders. ¡°Those six were likely candidates for whom the creator of the logout game was searching to select as their priestess.¡± ¡°Huh...?¡± ¡°The logout game has been targeting me from the start. So they would¡¯ve carefully evaluated who the best candidate was. If they wanted to oppose a regressor, they would¡¯ve needed a prophet¡¯s abilities, so they tested the six most suitable people.¡± But, as expected from an anomaly, the logout game didn''t consider human limits at all. The awakened beings who obtained such overwhelmingly vivid prophetic abilities chose death rather than being involved with me. ¡°So, it simplified the prophecy it showed to Oh Dokseo here. Filtering it down and down to the point where a human brain wouldn¡¯t be destroyed... That¡¯s the result: the Omniscient Regressor''s Viewpoint written in novel form.¡± ¡°Oh! That sounds convincing, old man!¡± ¡°Hmm...¡± Of course, there were ws in this hypothesis too, but for now, avoiding Noh Doha''s nder was more important, so it didn¡¯t matter. In any case, it was the fault of the anomaly. Even from the perspective of the six unfortunate prophets who sacrificed themselves, isn¡¯t being struck down by the alien god a more honorable death than failing to save the world after more than a thousand tries, like the regressor? 5 There is an epilogue. As I said earlier, I didn¡¯t trust the alien god. So when I passed into the next turn, I made it a point to visit the tutorial dungeon in Kyoto, where they said the High Priestess had been bewitched. Even if Omniscient Regressor''s Viewpoint contained some truth, it would certainly have been deliberately distorted to favor the writer. For example¡ª ''No matter how much Y suffered from the prophecy, there was still about 30 seconds before she actually blew her head off.'' About 30 seconds. It may seem short, but it was surprisingly long. To an awakened one who seeded in foreseeing the fate of the regressor in just under 30 seconds, it would have felt even longer. ''So wouldn¡¯t she have left some kind of trace?'' A so-called dying message. Prophets, especially Y, had the resolve to at least try to save the world, even if I wasn¡¯t there. Even if the process was so painful that she chose to exit on her own, would she not have left some kind ofment about me, ''the one who continues to challenge without giving up?'' Something like ¡°hang in there¡± or ¡°I¡¯m sorry.¡± If she had a more vicious temper, it could¡¯ve been ¡°die.¡± At the very least, she might have left a curse as herst words. ¡®Here it is.¡¯ I sneaked past the High Priestess, who still gave off that rookie vibe since she hadn¡¯t made a contract with the nine-tailed fox yet, and found the explosion site where Y had died. The site was surprisingly well-preserved. "Oh." Even the corpse was intact, except for the area above the corbone, which was [mosaic], [mosaic] censored. Well, if anyone witnessed someone¡¯s head explode right in front of them, they¡¯d be too traumatized toe near. Just like when Seo Gyu died at the waiting room in Busan Station, and everyone fled in fear. ¡°Let¡¯s take a look¡¡± Sure enough, before long, I found a handwritten message that seemed to have been left by Y. It was a dying message, written in blood she scratched out of her own scalp with her nails, and it read: S U I tilted my head in confusion. ¡®SU? Is it a code?¡¯ It was meaningless. Perhaps the prophet wanted to write more. But the pain was likely unbearable. Y started to write "some word" but exploded before she could finish. ¡®SU... SU... Hmm. If I assume it''s a short message or word, what words start with SU?¡¯ I tried to think from her perspective. She knew she didn¡¯t have much time left. Y knew she would soon end her own life, unable to withstand the pain. So, her dying message to me had to be the shortest, yet most important, thing. In other words¡ª ¡®A prophecy about my fate.¡¯ In the end, the key was whether the regressor, me, would save the world or not. This was the crux of it. A prophet, who had glimpsed the future, could provide an answer to a question even I didn¡¯t have certainty about. Given that, ¡°SU¡± boiled down to three possible interpretations. ¢Ù SUCCESS: In the end, you will seed. Keep moving forward. ¢Ú SUICIDE: You will fail. It¡¯s better to take your own life now. ¢Û SUKI: I love you! I¡¯m a fan! ¢Ü SUCK YOU: Seo Gyu is the culprit. I eliminated the fourth one, as it was too random. The third one was also unlikely. There was no reason to write it in English; I understood Japanese just fine. So, it had to be either 1 or 2. But which? There was no clear evidence either way. ¡°Hmm.¡± Thus, it became a matter of personal choice: 1 or 2. I bit my fingertip. Using the blood slowly trickling out as ink, and my own finger as a brush, I added to Y¡¯s word¡ª to her ¡®prophecy,¡¯ her ¡®dying message.¡¯ S U C C E S S I held a funeral for Y¡¯s headless body and buried her. Then, with much lighter steps, I walked away. In the end, how you interpret prophecy is a matter of the heart, isn¡¯t it? ¡ªThe Exploded. End. [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] w Chapter 224 [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] w Chapter 224 ©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤ The Concealer I 1 As you may already know, there are certain topics in this story that I deliberately refrain from mentioning. For instance, the moment of the world''s destruction. Despite always chanting about the end of the world, surprisingly few instances of "world_destruction_1_second_before.avi" end up being captured by my camera. There are two perfectly reasonable exnations for this, given that I embody rationality. The first is a highly altruistic reason. That is, to protect the honor and reputation of myrades. [Dad] [Dad] [Dad] [Dad] [Die] [Die] [Die] [Die] For example, in several episodes, I was killed by Hayul. Of course, it only resembled Lee Hayul on the outside. In reality, calling it an anomalypletely corrupted by the Void was more urate. It wasn¡¯t that Hayul was especially possessed by an Oedipusplex and decided to carry out a Session of Father. -Guildmaster, please, just die. -Doctor Jang, sorry, but would you mind dying with me? -Fall into hell, teacher. -... Sim Aryeon, Tang Seorin, Cheon Yohwa, Saintess, etc. Other people also stabbed holes in my heart without hesitation. Regardless of the episode, anyone who survived with me until the end had an extremely high chance of turning dark andnding the finishing blow on me. (Noh Doha would sometimes strike the final blow even if the conditions weren¡¯t met, just for fun.) For the record, I bear no grudge. No way myrades did it of their own free will. They didn¡¯t do anything wrong. It was all the fault of those anomalies that ensnared and manipted people. But from the perspective of others¡ªpeople like you readers¡ªwhat would it look like? ¡°He, he¡ªhow could they burst the protagonist''s head? What wickedness!¡± ¡°I feel the rage building. Let''s kill them before they berades.¡± ¡°Throw them out! Throw them out immediately!¡± I could easily foresee, as someone well-versed in subcultures, that witch hunts and nder would erupt among some readers, heating up the discussions. Surely there¡¯d bements like, "As expected, Koyori, who only killed the protagonist once, is the truerade!" What a horrific scene. As a well-mannered time traveler armed withmon sense and culture, I could not tolerate such things. Thus, from a global perspective, I deleted most episodes where I was killed by myrades. It¡¯s amentable decision for lovers of dark stories, but I hope you understand. So, what¡¯s the second reason? "Hyung-nim." "Ah, Seo Gyu." "I, this SG man, am the mastermind behind everything." The second reason is, uh¡ Because sometimes, it¡¯s just incredibly funny. No matter how dire the situation, even if the world is literally about to end, if our SG man Seo Gyu suddenly says something like that with a serious face, it inevitably raises a philosophical question: "Was the world''s destruction ever that serious of a subject?" This is what I call the Mastermind Syndrome . When any person other than me survives until the very end, they are designated as the "mastermind" who destroyed the Earth and be a bit¡ strange. In turn 243, Seo Gyu happened to be that person. It was also the first time in the Doctor Jang''s life that Seo Gyu was thest man standing (aside from me). SG man, who always had his head blown off first, had now survived until the end of the world, and it made my heart swell with pride. "Seo Gyu." "Yes, hyung-nim." "If it weren¡¯t for me, you would''ve been game over the moment you met the tutorial fairy. What kind of nonsense is it for you to be the mastermind?" Seo Gyu clicked his tongue, shaking his finger left and right. "You don''t understand, as usual." "......" I almost lost my cool right there and turned him into /Seo Gyu/. That he could shake the calm equilibrium of a seasoned time traveler with such a trivial provocation¡ªwhat tremendous trolling. "As with all creative works, the true mastermind always appears in the prologue, hyung-nim. For you, the prologue is none other than the waiting room at Busan Station, correct? Now, who was the first person to make a strong impression on you in that waiting room?" "Uh... That was you, right?" "Exactly. So naturally, I¡¯m the most fitting person to be the mastermind. I¡¯ve been hiding the truth all this time." "No..." You were supposed to die there, you crazy bastard. I tried to convey my thoughts to Seo Gyu by openly controlling my facial muscles, but it was useless. He waspletely consumed by the Mastermind Syndrome . "I¡¯ve always been treated as nothing more than an SG Net errand boy. That, too, was part of my disguise. The first person to appear, yet thoroughly hidden in importance... isn¡¯t that the very definition of a mastermind?" "Or maybe you just literally had no importance." "Hoo." Seo Gyu shed a deadly smile. "What if I intended for you to think that?" I decided to return that deadliness to Seo Gyu himself. I squeezed out my aura and pummeled him with my fist. "Haha, how barbaric, hyung-nim. Cough. Using violence at this stage won¡¯t change anything. Haha... cough..." It wasn¡¯t very effective. Mastermind Syndrome gave the afflicted boundless confidence, fixed theirugh as "haha," reduced their pupils to mere slits, and, above all, fueled their delusion that everything had gone ording to n. But it didn¡¯t grant them any actual power. I picked Seo Gyu up. "Ah. Haha, even if you eliminate me now, I will return someday..." Then I hurled him off the cliff. This was no ordinary cliff. In the 243rd turn, the t Earth theory came true, causing thend to tten literally, and I tossed Seo Gyu off the edge of that world. He fell into the void, scattering his creepy "haha"ugh as he went. He wouldn¡¯t have been lonely when he died. I died shortly afterward too. In the turns where the t Earth theory became reality, the world''s edges closed in, and eventually, the entire Korean Penins fell off. I couldn¡¯t escape the fall either. Originally, Mastermind Syndrome was just a spice that mildly annoyed me toward the end of certain episodes. That is, until the next turn, 244. 2 The moment I woke up in the waiting room at Busan Station, I had a strong feeling something was wrong. ¡®What the hell?¡¯ This hardly ever happened. ¡®What the¡?¡¯ This rarely ever happened. Except for the 135th turn that ended due to the copse caused by The Admin of All-y, and the time when aptop was ced on myp. But this felt different from that. It wasn¡¯t as if something new had been ¡°added¡± to my regression. Rather, it was theplete opposite. ¡°You fucking bastard! What the hell are you talking about?!¡± As usual, Seo Gyu was roaring furiously at fairy No. 264, but¡ something was missing from his head. He had no hair. I know it sounds odd to say his head had no head, but in short, his hair was gone. To put it another way, all the hair follicles on Seo Gyu''s scalp had just abandoned him. ¡°Pfft¡ª!¡± ¡°Uh, what?¡± [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] w ¡°That''s¡ pretty gross.¡± I unintentionally spat out the Ceylon tea I¡¯d gotten from the vending machine into the air, causing the people around me to cringe and move away. But I couldn¡¯t even think about wiping my mouth. Along with the tea, it felt like my soul was leaking out too. What in the world was that? ¡°You son of a bitch! If you suddenly drag people into this mess, the first thing you should say is sorry, not spout that nonsense¡!¡± ¡°Excuse me. Just a moment. Ah, excuse me. Sorry, yes. Could you move aside for a bit? Thank you. Seo Gyu? Seo Gyu?¡± ¡°Yeah?¡± I waded through the crowd and approached Seo Gyu. He was just in the middle of screaming at the fairy when he froze upon hearing his name called. A look of confusion flickered in Seo Gyu¡¯s eyes as he gazed at me. Of course, in this turn, he and I wereplete strangers. ¡°¡Who are you, and why are you butting in?¡± ¡°Don¡¯t you recognize me? You gave me personal training lessons a while back.¡± ¡°Huh.¡± ¡°In Namgu. Fourth-floor PT center. Don¡¯t you remember?¡± Seo Gyu looked flustered. He really had worked as a PT trainer at a center. And the address I¡¯d just mentioned was indeed one of his previous workces. Naturally, the anger in his eyes started to fade. Instead, fear crept in¡ªthe fear of bing ¡°that trainer who can¡¯t even remember his own client despite them paying good money.¡± ¡°Oh, oh¡ Ah, yes. Member. It''s been so long that I didn¡¯t recognize you.¡± ¡°Geez, Seo Gyu, you were so diligent in teaching me that I really got into personal training thanks to you. I used to be skinny, but now I¡¯ve built myself up, all thanks to you.¡± Seo Gyu¡¯s eyes quickly scanned my upper and lower body. A typical ability of personal trainers. Of course, my muscles, which had been inherited through the [Continue] ability andpressed through many turns, were in prime condition. Seo Gyu¡¯s expression grew even darker. Had he really forgotten such an outstanding client? ¡°Ah, thank you¡¡± ¡°You really shouldn¡¯t be fighting with a weird fairy here. Why don¡¯t we step aside for a chat?¡± ¡°Oh my¡ Weird? It¡¯s scary when humans start picking fights and then nder us without reason¡¡± By the way, this was the fastest and most effective method I knew to prevent ¡°Seo Gyu from blowing up¡± without actually killing fairy No. 264. As unruly as Seo Gyu could be, he was surprisingly responsible about the roles he was given. In any case, I dragged Seo Gyu aside and, as diplomatically as possible, asked without offending him: Q. When did you start going bald? A. Huh? I¡¯ve always been like this. What? Before Seo Gyu¡¯s eyes could turn to ¡°Are you really my PT client?¡± mode, I excused myself. Then, finally, I had the time to nce around at the other members of the waiting room¡ªthose who were, in MZ generation terms, bound by the same fate. It didn¡¯t take long to realize that Seo Gyu wasn¡¯t the only one who had something missing. ¡°I have no intention of joining your group, Lee Baek!¡± ¡°Ah?!¡± ¡°Even if you re at me and try to intimidate me, no means no!¡± Sim Aryeon¡¯s stutter had vanished. Originally, if I hadn¡¯t intervened, she would¡¯ve been forcibly dragged away by Lee Baek, but for some reason, in the 244th turn, she was confidently asserting her stance. Is this some kind of anomaly? ¡°Oh my, oh my, heehee.¡± Koyori¡¯s shadow had disappeared. Though no one else had noticed, it was obvious to me. While her clothes cast shadows, her head, limbs, and everything else didn¡¯t. Definitely an anomaly. ¡®What the heck is going on? It¡¯s way too early for the butterfly effect to have this kind of impact.¡¯ I was utterly bewildered. Did the timeline suddenly change in the 244th turn? But the waiting area in Busan Station was merely the tutorial. The real shock came after I left the station. ¡°Hello. I¡¯m Tang Seorin.¡± ¡°...¡± ¡°From now on, I¡¯m gathering people to try and survive in this chaotic world. You¡¯re the undertaker, right? Would you like to work with me?¡± Dang Seorin reached out to me, inviting me to join her venture¡ªbut she didn¡¯t have her witch¡¯s hat. Nor did she have her broom. In a trembling voice, I asked: ¡°Excuse me¡ Sorry for asking out of the blue, but¡ Didn¡¯t you used to like Harry Potter and trains?¡± ¡°Huh? What are you talking about? I like Pok¨¦mon and cars more.¡± ¡°...¡± Anomaly! [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] w Chapter 225 [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] w Chapter 225 ©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤ The Concealer II 3 Facing the situations of "Seo Gyu hiding his hair" and "Tang Seorin hiding her fandom," I became confused. Thetter, in particr, was terrifying. ¡®A Tang Seorin who gave up her witch cosy and her love for trains?¡¯ How could that even be Tang Seorin? Originally, the great witch of the Three Thousand Worlds was a leader whomanded both the witch¡¯s hat and steam lotives. By wielding these symbols of the Middle Ages and the modern era in her hands, she became a superhuman whose very existence embodied human history. In other words, the Tang Seorin of the 244th turn had, in essence, lost her soul. A soulless non-human. We decided to call Yoo Jiwon for convenience. ¡°Is there no normal person? Is there really no one normal in this turn?¡± Here, by "normal," I mean someone normal by my standards¡ªbasically someone who is the same as in the other turns. Desperate to find a "normal" person, I started searching, leaving behind myrades who all seemed to be a bit off. "Your Excellency, why are you so anxious?" "Yoo Jiwon, you''ve always been someone who hides your humanity and personality, so just stay out of this." "I''m not sure what you mean, but okay. Since it''s Your Excellency speaking, I assume it must be something insightful. I''ll consult you about my own concernster." Even after searching diligently, leaving behind the sociopathic Yoo Jiwon who was, as usual, unchanged in this turn, the results were disheartening. "Chief Noh Doha, why are you being kind to young patients now? Where''s the hatred for the MZ generation rooted in your heart?" "Huh? ...What kind of lunatic discriminates against patients based on their age?" "I see. You''re not Noh Doha." "Do you want to die...?" Noh Doha OUT. "Saintess, why don''t you have aquariums in your house? Are you not nning on keeping fish?" "Fish? I''m sorry, but I''ve heard aquariums are hard to maintain, so I¡¯m not very interested. I think lizards are cuter." "Definitely a fake..." "Pardon?" Saintess OUT. "Yohwa, why do you still call me ¡®senior¡¯ after I gave you your diploma? Shouldn¡¯t you call me ''teacher'' now?" "Huh? Haha. Well, senior, we¡¯re not that far apart in age, at least in appearance. Isn''t it a bit weird to call you teacher now?" "...I see. Then why aren¡¯t you wearing the white school uniform after graduating?" "Come on, senior. Who wears a sailor uniform after graduating? That¡¯s just weird, and it was kind of old-fashioned anyway." "Get lost, you devil!" "Huh?" Cheon Yohwa OUT. "Man Manyo Neko! Why aren''t you adding ''meow'' or ''nyan'' to the end of your sentences anymore? Are those cat ears on your head just decoration?!" "Are you picking a fight, Doctor Jang?" Even the magical girls from Japan were OUT. A small detail, but even the coffee left by Elder Scho in this turn wasn¡¯t caf¨¦ auit¡ªit was hazelnut Americano. A German! (A German!) A man who took great pride in his barista skills! (The old man!) Drinking Americano! (Americano!) The shock reverberated in my head like an a cappe choir. I despaired. Something had gone terribly wrong. I hid away in the Inunaki Tunnel, mumbling in agony, filled with anguish. "...Something is wrong. This isn¡¯t right. How could there be such a big difference right from the start of the regression, before any butterfly effect could even take ce? Could I have fallen into a dream without realizing it? Oh, woe is me. Am I, Doctor Jang, merely a brain in a jar, lost in a dream..." "Your Excellency, are you alright?" "Yoo Jiwon, stay out of this. No matter how desperate I get, I haven''t fallen so far as to seek your human understanding and empathy." "I still don¡¯t understand what you mean, but of course, if it''s Your Excellency, my personal concerns are but a luxury, and I¡¯ll stay quiet." How should I even begin to solve this unprecedented crisis? In hindsight, I was stillcking experience in the 244th turn. I hadn¡¯t yet defeated the ¡®Goddess of the Night¡¯ Nut, nor had I taken down the ¡®The Admin of All-y.¡¯ I didn¡¯t fully realize that anything powerful enough to interfere with my regression had to be an alien god-level anomaly, a fact I was not yet certain of in the 244th turn. (The Saintess voluntarily sealing herself to protect my regression with an absolute barrier would only happen in the future.) "For now... yes. I¡¯ll help them reim what they¡¯ve lost. That should cancel out the anomaly''s tricks." "Even though Your Excellency sometimes mumbles to yourself iprehensibly, I, Yoo Jiwon, shall serve you with unwavering loyalty. Feel free to give yourmand." "Go get me a wig, Yoo Jiwon." I ced the wig on Seo Gyu¡¯s bald head. Then, looking in the mirror, I adjusted his hairstyle to match 99.99% of the other Seo Gyu''s from different turns. "How does it feel, Seo Gyu? Don¡¯t you feel like you¡¯re returning to your true self, regaining what you¡¯ve lost?" "......" "Recall your true self! Seo Gyu! You can do it!" "...Brother, with all due respect, are you asking for a punch?" It was a failure. In other stories, when the regressor acts out like this, theirrades usually say, "Huh, why do I have memories of something I¡¯ve never experienced?" and ovee their amnesia. But in my story, that wasn¡¯t the case. Seo Gyu was the mildest of them all. When I rushed to Noh Doha and said, "Come on, Chief! Be rude to young people! Hurry up! Start cursing them out with every profanity in the book!" I got beaten up like a dog and chased out. When I visited Tang Seorin wearing a witch''s hat, outfit, and broom, asking, "Tang Seorin! How does it feel? Doesn''t your passion for fashion awaken?" she responded, "Hmm, are you perhaps asking me to undress you in a very sophisticated manner?" I almost got eaten alive. I couldn¡¯t even bring myself to wear a school uniform to meet Cheon Yohwa. As Doctor Jang, I hadn¡¯t abandoned my humanity that far yet. Besides, though her titles and fashion had changed, Cheon Yohwa''s entricities remained the same, and I couldn¡¯t predict how she would react. Failure. Failure. Failure. Failure. The once unshakable mentality of the regressor was now crumbling to pieces. Surprisingly, I, as a person, was more shocked by myrades'' change in hobbies than by the idea of being destroyed by a mysterious force. "Hmm. Even if what Your Excellency says is true, we have no way of verifying it. ording to Your Excellency¡¯s terminology, we are only aware of the ¡®244th turn.¡¯" "Yes, you''re right..." Strangely enough, I could onlyfortably share this type of concern with Yoo Jiwon. The reason was simple. She didn¡¯t care at all about my mental stress, so I could talk to her without any sense of burden or empathy. "On the contrary, have you considered that perhaps Your Excellency¡¯s mind is the one that has changed?" "...Are you suggesting that Seo Gyu has been bald throughout all turns, but my memory has been distorted to perceive him with a full head of hair?" "Yes. That would be much more rational." Yoo Jiwon said as she sharply carved a chess piece with a knife. "It''s no different from am''s Razor. If we assume that everyone except Your Excellency has changed, it means the anomaly¡¯s power is incredibly strong. As you said, it must reach across turns." "Hmm." "On the other hand, if we assume that it''s only targeting your mind, the story bes simpler. It¡¯s merely an anomaly involving mental brainwashing and perception distortion. No need to think about surpassing turns." "......" Yeah. Though it was hard to admit, Yoo Jiwon¡¯s analysis was correct. I was likely being mentally brainwashed at this very moment. At some point, my [Perfect Memory Ability] had been hacked. Once I considered the possibility that my perception had been twisted, everything started making sense. Why was it that others had their characteristics ¡®hidden,¡¯ but I remained unaffected? This too had a clear exnation. It was just me who had be strange. ¡°Of course, His Excellency is perfect anywhere and anytime, and he doesn¡¯t make mistakes. However, sometimes it¡¯s necessary to flip the board and think from a different angle.¡± ¡°......¡± In fact, I wasn¡¯t the only one who was normal. Yoo Jiwon. The silver-haired psychopath sitting in front of me, offering consultation, was the same as in other turns. Speech, hobbies, fashion, mindset. None of theponents that made up Yoo Jiwon as an individual had been erased. She was still the ace of the Three Thousand Worlds and the operation team leader of the National Road Management Corps, just as I remembered. Aside from the fact that her abilities had be slightly strange. Thus, I had my suspicions. Maybe, just for fun, this unidentified anomaly, which imed ¡®X hides Y,¡¯ had actually embedded itself in Yoo Jiwon. "Waiting until the next turn wouldn''t be a bad strategy." ck. Yoo Jiwonpleted the chess piece and flipped it over, examining it closely. ¡°Until the next turn? Why?¡± ¡°If this anomaly truly possesses a curse that ''deletes'' something from each person, then in the next turn, more things will likely be erased.¡± "......" "If it were me, I¡¯d start by erasing trivial things like baldness or fashion sense, so as to escape His Excellency¡¯s suspicion." "My mental rm is already ringing, though." [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] w "That¡¯s something the anomaly couldn¡¯t have predicted. I believe that starting from the next turn, it will begin erasing the abilities, personalities, and behavioral principles of the Awakened." ¡°¡Then it truly bes dangerous.¡± ¡°Yes. It¡¯s an effective strategy to lull the opponent intocency and then ambush them.¡± At that moment, something strange happened on the map. Swoosh¡ª The very spot where Yoo Jiwon had ced the knight seemed to have some kind of maic pull, as another knight piece slid over to that position. The chess piece that Yoo Jiwon had just created was at the top of the map, while the one being pulled by an invisible hand was at the bottom. Visually, it looked something like this: [Illustration 225] It formed a shape that resembled a Taeguk symbol. With chess pieces mping down on the map from above and below, the paper map naturally floated in the air. It was a rather curious sight, but that was one of the ¡®changes in 244th turn Yoo Jiwon.¡¯ Except for the fact that the map floated slightly, her [Mini-Map] ability was still intact. Yoo Jiwon¡¯s chess pieces still urately tracked people¡¯s positions. You could call it a trivial glitch. ¡°It¡¯s still strange, though¡¡¡± I muttered. While everyone else, including Tang Seorin, seemed to have ¡®lost¡¯ one characteristic, Yoo Jiwon¡¯s characteristic simply seemed ¡®off.¡¯ This difference kept gnawing at me. Why, and how, was Yoo Jiwon disying such a starkly different aspectpared to the others? "Maybe it¡¯s because my characteristic, which Your Excellency named ¡®psychopathic tendencies,¡¯ has disappeared? In this turn, I¡¯ve regained the ability to empathize with others deeply." "Could you at least try to show some emotion in your eyes when you say that?" "My gaze is already filled to the brim with respect for Your Excellency, so there¡¯s no room for any other emotions. Please understand." "What room? You¡¯ve had that same look in your eyes ever since I first met you in the 5th turn¡¡." I paused. Suddenly, I stopped talking. ''Wait a second.'' It wasn¡¯t intentional. My instincts, my sixth sense, abruptly stopped me from continuing. I had just touched on an incredibly important keyword. The Taeguk-shaped chess pieces, still gripping the map from above and below, were engraved in my vision. ¡®Space? Space. ...Space?¡¯ If Yoo Jiwon¡¯s ability wasn¡¯t malfunctioning¡ If those chess pieces were ¡®perfectly¡¯ representing people¡¯s positions on the map¡ How should I interpret this? "......" I sprang to my feet. ¡°Jiwon.¡± ¡°Yes?¡± "Pack up the map and the trunk and follow me. There¡¯s something I want to test." Yoo Jiwon nced at her analog wristwatch. 11 p.m. In the days of past civilizations, some humans considered this morning, but now, everyone thought of it as far toote to go outside. "Understood." Without questioning anything, Yoo Jiwon followed me out of the Inunaki Tunnel. We headed to a vacant lot far from the coast. I grabbed a shovel instead of a sword. ¡°We¡¯re digging down from here.¡± ¡°Digging down, Your Excellency?¡± ¡°Yes. It doesn¡¯t make sense, even to me, but I have a hunch. We¡¯ll keep going deeper, and you monitor the map around me.¡± "Understood, Your Excellency." I put my deration into action. Thwack! The shovel dug into the dirt like cutting through pudding. It was a feat made possible by pouring in my aura. Deeper, deeper underground¡ª This wasn¡¯t a simple well-digging task; I was drilling far below the surface. The ground was bing increasingly firm, and if it were any other Awakened, their shovel would have broken by now. ¡®But it¡¯s too solid, even so.¡¯ Despite using my aura, the ground was bing ridiculously hard, and the pace of digging began to slow. Thwack! Thud! Thunk! But I didn¡¯t let it bother me. I wasn¡¯t a regressor at this moment¡ªI was just a human excavation machine. Who knows how much time had passed. I had dug to a depth where it wouldn¡¯t be surprising if magma started spewing out, and by then, my forehead was covered in sweat. ¡°Your Excellency, please have some water while you work.¡± ¡°Oh, thanks.¡± Yoo Jiwon took out a bottle of water she had prepared in the trunk and handed it to me. For reference, while I was digging the ground, Yoo Jiwon stood beside me, skillfully illuminating the area with her aura. Really, if it weren''t for herck of humanity, she''d be the perfect asset. Silently and diligently, we continued breaking through the underground bedrock, descending further. "Huff, huff... Oh?" Fsshh-. A faint hissing sound came from the tip of my shovel. After a long period of digging through the earth, the shovel had broken through into an empty space. "Is this a newyer of bedrock?" "I''m not sure, Your Excellency." "It could be a cave. Let''s head down for a look." We started widening the small hole. But it was strange¡ªfaint light was seeping through from beyond the hole, which was unusual for a cave. As the hole grewrger, the light became stronger, until it was bright enough that we no longer needed any additional lighting. And just like Mario poking his head out of a pipe, I tilted my head through the opening. "......" "......" I couldn¡¯t help but hold my breath. Yoo Jiwon, who had also stuck her head through the hole beside me, was equally stunned by what she saw inside. For once, I could see emotions like ''surprise'' and ''shock'' cross that typically expressionless face of her. We remained silent for a long time. The visual information pouring into us was so overwhelming and shocking. "Jiwon. That...?" "...Yes." Deep below the earth, beyond the hole. Or rather, beyond the other side of that opening... "No matter how I look at it, it''s a sun." There was a ''sun'' there. A massive, underground expanse stretched before us. Its size wasn''t justparable to the Korean Penins; it transcended suchparisons. Even with my aura-enhanced eyesight, I couldn''t begin to fathom the ends of this space. It stretched out endlessly. And right in the middle of that space¡ªof that vast, empty void¡ªwas a small ''sun,'' illuminating the underground world. In other words... "No way..." The Earth was hiding a sun. "Unbelievable... Something like this should never be hidden..." The Hollow Earth theory. That was the anomaly that had manifested this time. [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] w Chapter 226 [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] w Chapter 226 ©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤ The Concealer III 4 The Hollow Earth Theory. As the name suggests, it''s a theory that the inside of the Earth is hollow and contains a massive underground cave. Simr theories include "Nazis on the Moon" or "The Underwater City of Antis." In short, it¡¯s a conspiracy theory, nothing more than gossip with zero academic value. Unfortunately, after the advent of the Void, Earth shifted from being governed by physicists to conspiracy theorists. There was indeed a secret Nazi base on the far side of the Moon, and Antis was very much alive in the Antic Ocean. Along the same lines, of course, the inside of the Earth was also hollow. As an intellectual, It was almost embarrassing to be unaware of such a simple geological truth. "Sir." "Hmm." "There¡¯s a vige. Underground." "¡Hmm." "There are people living here as well. Should we call them subterraneans? Judging by their appearance, they look like Homo sapiens." However, the Homo sapiens that Yoo Jiwon referred to had physical traits that differed significantly from modern humans. -Woo? Ah, ah, woo! -Woouugh! Oooohooo! As soon as they spotted us poking our heads out of the ground hole, the subterraneans surged toward us, raising wooden spears. The subterraneans stomped on the ground and craned their necks toward each other, exchanging barbaric cries of "Ooohooo-." What was there to hide? The level of their civilization remained at a typical primitive tribal stage. They weren¡¯t even properly covering their lower bodies. -Uhooohooo! Hooohooo! One of the subterraneans, presumably their leader, pointed his spear at us threateningly and spat out unintelligible words. Even with my linguistic skills, tranting theirnguage was difficult, but from the tone, I could roughly guess it meant something like, "Come out, you monsters!" Unfortunately, they picked the wrong opponent to threaten. "Excuse me for a moment, sir." Thud! Before anyone could stop her, Yoo Jiwon leaped forward and thrust a dagger into the leader''s throat. -Uhooohooo? Uhohoh! -Ooooh! Ohoh! Ough! A few brave subterraneans attempted to retaliate, but it was futile. Yoo Jiwon pulled out a new dagger and threw it. The de struck precisely in the center of their foreheads. As four of them were killed in an instant, the remaining subterraneans had no choice but to flee, terrified of the psychopath who had invaded from the surface. The entire situation was resolved in just 30 seconds. Typical of Yoo Jiwon, the head of the National Road Management Operations Team, her clean efficiency was undeniable. "Hmm." Jiwon brushed off her uniform. "They were a disorganized rabble, sir. Hardly worth your attention." "¡Jiwon, as I''ve said many times, you really need to tone down your casual psychopathic tendencies." "They threatened us first. Now, let me examine the body." Thud! Again, before anyone could stop her, Yoo Jiwon split open the subterranean leader¡¯s skull. It was a gruesome scene that would undoubtedly earn an R-rating on any tform, but fortunately, there was no need to worry about censorship. Because inside the body of the subterranean Jiwon had cut open, there was no blood or organs¡ªjust emptiness. "They¡¯re hollow inside." "An anomaly, then." "Yes, without a doubt. They resemble the terrain here quite well." Not only the skull but the entire body was hollow. It would have been strange not to call them an anomaly. "But sir, look closely at this primitive. Doesn¡¯t he resemble you?" "What?" "I¡¯m not joking. Sir, take a careful look." "¡¡." It was true. The subterranean Jiwon had first killed, their leader, bore a striking resemnce to me. It had been hard to recognize at first due to the stark difference in civilization levels. "¡Wait a minute. The one lying over there looks exactly like you, Jiwon." "Oh." Jiwon blinked and examined the corpse lying on the ground. "You¡¯re right. I¡¯ve always been curious about what it would feel like to kill myself, but I never imagined I¡¯d satisfy my curiosity this way." "That¡¯s nothing to brag about, kid." "Thank you for thepliment." The other subterraneans that Jiwon had killed also seemed oddly familiar. I realized something. "Take out the map." "Yes, sir." I had Jiwon ce the chess piecebeled "Doctor Jang" on the map. The result. 226 words. Standing tall. Unlike before, this time the chess piece stood upright on the map without any issue. The strange phenomenon of another chess piece being pulled in the opposite direction had disappeared. "¡As I thought." "What¡¯s going on, sir?" "It seems that these subterraneans are copies of us. Your [Minimap] ability must have recognized them as the same people." "Ah, I see. So that¡¯s why individuals from the surface and the underground were disyed side by side. Hmm¡" Jiwon¡¯s cold, blue eyes swept over the corpses. That gaze was ominous. [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] w To others, it might have seemed like her usual indifferent expression, but I could see through it. Whenever Jiwon was plotting something nasty, her left eyebrow twitched subtly like a dog¡¯s tail. "Hey. What are you scheming?" "Oh, nothing at all. It¡¯s just... if your theory is correct, there must be underground versions of everyone on the surface." "Probably." "That includes the Grand Witch of the Three Thousand Words and the student council president of Baekhwa High School." "¡So what?" "It¡¯s unforgivable for these monsters to impersonate your preciousrades. Sir, please let me handle the extermination of these creatures." This brat. Could it be? "Hey, are you seriously happy about getting a chance to kill versions of Tang Seorin and Cheon Yohwa without any risk?" "Could that even be possible? It was merely a suggestion born out of pure loyalty to Your Excellency." "You crazy bastard!" But Yoo Jiwon didn''t miss the opportunity. A massacre began in the underworld. - Ughooook! Ughooook? - Oooooh! Ughoo! Ughoooh! It was as if the suppressed bloodlust had been fully unleashed because of me. She thoroughly searched the underworld, hunting down the ''Underground People: Tang Seorin'', ''Underground People: Cheon Yowha'', and so on. The underground world, which had barely reached the early stages of civilization, mostly perished that day. And when Yoo Jiwon skinned the ''Underground People: Tang Seorin,'' a surprising item popped out. ¡°¡A witch''s hat?¡± ¡°A pointy hat, to be precise. There''s also a model train deeper inside.¡± ¡°Why are these inside its body?¡± Indeed. Inside the Underground People''s bodies that imitated Tang Seorin''s appearance, instead of organs, a witch''s hat and a train were hidden. No ordinary human would have such thingse out of their body. Nor would they be wearing them externally. "Ah. From inside the body of the Underground People: Cheon Yowha, a school uniform came out. It¡¯s the uniform of Baekhwa Girls'' High School." "¡I have no idea what this all means." I didn¡¯t know how the Underground People had stolen items from Earth, but everything rted to people¡¯s lost personalities or hobbies was hidden here. ¡°From Mr. Seo Gyu''s body, hair poured out.¡± "¡¡." ¡°Inside Miss Sim Aryeon''s body... Oh. It¡¯s a sketchbook with a short tongue drawn on it. If we burn or destroy it, I suspect the people on the surface will return to normal.¡± In many cases, rather than symbolic items, it was simple notebooks hidden inside. For example, inside the body of the Underground People: Noh Doha was a notebook with [Human Hatred] written on it. Even after ''Human Hatred'' was removed, Noh Doha still looked at me with such a hateful gaze. It was almost frightening how consistent he was. After Yoo Jiwon had thoroughly dissected people''s bellies, seemingly satisfied, she cleaned her dagger and returned. "Your Excellency. I''ve been thinking, couldn¡¯t we use this anomaly to our advantage?" "Use it? For what?" "This is the opposite side of the Earth. If not for your Excellency''s terrifying aura, no awakened person could have found this remote ce." In short, Yoo Jiwon said, "No other ce is more suitable formitting the perfect crime." An ominous feeling crept over me. "You don''t need to look so concerned. I''m only suggesting that we could use this anomaly to correct humans who have personality ws in various ways." "Personality ws, you say¡." ¡°For example, suppose we write ''Narcissism'' on the notebook and put it inside Miss Sim Aryeon¡¯s doppelganger. Wouldn''t that easily resolve one of the symptoms that have been troubling her?¡± "Hmm." Yoo Jiwon continued, "Your Excellency could use this ce like an editor. You could easily correct and modify yourrades'' personality ws, turning them into more perfectly functioning individuals." ¡°¡No, that would lead straight to bing an anomaly. Changing the personalities of those around me at my whim? Are you trying to turn me into a dictator?" ¡°I think it could be very useful, though.¡± ¡°No, no.¡± I waved my hand. "Something simr was done before in another turn, by Tang Seorin. The result was a fallen one." "Is that so¡." Yoo Jiwon looked around with an expression (which, again, only I could read) of deep regret. Not that there was much left to look at, aside from the massacre site she had just caused. "If Your Excellency insists, I¡¯ll be satisfied with just exterminating the anomalies." "Yeah. We should be thankful we found them before they stole people''s hearts or brains." "Understood." Yoo Jiwon obediently cleaned up the scene and returned to the tunnel we had dug. She gave up her opinion so cheerfully that I almost absentmindedly followed him back to the surface. But something felt off. Following my instincts, I approached the corpse of the ''Underground People: Doctor Jang.'' When I opened its mouth, to my surprise, a notebook with Yoo Jiwon¡¯s handwriting was hidden inside. [Doubt about Yoo Jiwon] [Suspicion of Yoo Jiwon¡¯s loyalty] [Total distrust of Yoo Jiwon¡¯s character, integrity, and remarks] "¡¡." ¡°¡Ah.¡± Our eyes met¡ªmine and Yoo Jiwon¡¯s, who was already halfway into the tunnel. She burrowed in like a mole. Soon after, I could faintly hear the sound of her fleeing at top speed, tap tap tap. If I were to express that sequence of actions in words, it would be something like, ''Yoo Jiwon hid her conscience.'' I couldn¡¯t help but shout. ¡°Yoo Jiwon, you bastard! Don¡¯t you dare run away!¡± 5 There¡¯s a short epilogue. ¡°Hyung-nim! Thank you so much!¡± "Uh, sure." Seo Gyu, whose hair had returned, clung to my waist, sobbing. Not only had his hair grown back, but so had his original identity¡ªhis memories of having luxuriant hair were fully restored. Not just Seo Gyu, but others also received the "blessing of normalization." Tang Seorin, who safely returned to being a train enthusiast, even held a bonfire with scrapped trains at the station za. ¡°I, uh, would¡¯ve been fine if you¡¯d just left me alone¡.¡± Aside from Sim Aryeon, who was reveling in her newfound poprity, most people regarded the recent events as embarrassing memories. Just as we were about to wrap up the bizarre tale of how our doppelg?ngers had been living beneath the surface, sharing the same ground we tread on daily¨D As I returned to the surface and enjoyed my normal routine, a sudden question hit me. ¡®Wait. If the underworld had been stealing things from the surface one by one... What about the sun?¡¯ There had been a sun in the underground world, yet the sun still shone brightly in the sky above the Earth. This meant that currently, Earth had two suns coexisting¡ªone sun that had something stolen from it, and the other that had stolen something. "¡¡." I sipped my caf¨¦ auit and looked up at the clear sky, particrly at the ring sunlight. What could the sun of our gxy have had stolen by the anomalies? - The Concealer. The End. [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] w Chapter 227 [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] w Chapter 227 ©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤ The Four Seasons I 1 Which season do you like? Summer? Autumn? Spring? Winter? For the record, I don''t particrly like any season. The pride in saying that the Korean Penins has four distinct seasons is long gone. But after the fall of civilization, the four seasons really did be more distinct. However, everything in life has its pros and cons. Even though the seasons became more distinct, we couldn¡¯t just rejoice. First, spring. "Your Excellency,rge yellow clouds have been observed to the west and north." "Must be yellow dust mixed with fine particte matter. Send an urgent message to the Three Thousand Worlds for reconnaissance of the clouds'' path. Order all citizens to wear masks." "Is it that bad? As far as I know, breathing in a little fine dust doesn¡¯t kill people right away." "It''s not just normal yellow dust. Every single particle of that dust has transformed into a deadly toxic substance. If you don¡¯t wear a mask, you''ll die within three minutes." "Oh." Then, summer. "Doctor Jang! They say a typhoon ising!" "Calm down and let¡¯s build the ark first." Autumn. "G-Guildmaster, why do the falling leaves smell like blood instead of, you know, leaves?" "Ignore it." "Buttely, when I walk down the street, every time a leaf touches me, I swear I hear faint cries for help, and when ginkgo fruits fall, the stench reeks of human entrails¡" "I said, ignore it." "Yes¡" Ah, the joys of living on the Korean Penins! To be fair, this wasn¡¯t happening just here; the whole Earth had be a hellscape. So maybe I should say ¡°the joys of living on Earth.¡± Yet, no matter how harsh spring, summer, or autumn might be for humans, none of these couldpare to the final boss. Winter. The cruel tyrant in white. From the dawn of civilization to its copse, humanity''s most feared enemy has always been winter. 2 One day, I was walking down the hallway of Baekhwa High School with Cheon Yohwa when a student blocked our path. "Hm? What is it? Didn¡¯t I tell you not to interrupt when the teacher''s around¡ Oh, it''s Soyeon." Cheon Yohwa''s eyes briefly turned cold, but her expression softened as she recognized the student. ¡°What¡¯s the matter?¡± ¡°...¡± The girl with the short bob quietly bowed her head. This was Joo Soyeon, one of the original members of Baekhwa High School. In the timeline where I didn¡¯t intervene and defeat the ''Endless Hell,'' she was supposed to die. Didn¡¯t I mention that in the original Baekhwa High School scenario, out of the 750 students, only 19 would survive, and two of those survivors would eventually take their own lives? Joo Soyeon, standing in front of us, was one of those two. Of course, no such tragedy urred in the timelines where Endless Hell was eradicated. Now, Joo Soyeon was just a quiet underssman suffering from mutism. However, she did have a special status that allowed her to speak frankly with the student council president at any time. ¡°... ...¡± ¡°Mm. It¡¯s okay. You can take your time.¡± ¡°...¡± Unlike Lee Hayul, who also suffered from speech impairments but could skillfully use ''Aura,'' Joo Soyeon couldn¡¯t do that. She didn¡¯t possess the ridiculous power of controlling spider webs to make a doll speak on her behalf. So, Joo Soyeon slowly traced letters onto Cheon Yohwa¡¯s palm with her fingernails. [ W I N T E R ] As soon as Cheon Yohwa read the letters, her expression stiffened. ncing sideways, I saw that my face likely mirrored hers. Cheon Yohwa asked gravely, ¡°Winter? Are you sure? But it¡¯s only June.¡± ¡°...¡± Soyeon nodded. ¡°That doesn¡¯t make any sense¡ Wait, Soyeon. Can you show us?¡± ¡°...¡± Another nod. Joo Soyeon sped her hands together as if in prayer. Cheon Yohwa and I nked her on either side. A few secondster¡ª Crack, cr-crack¡ª The sound of ice cracking echoed through the hallway. Frost began to spread in a 3-meter radius around Joo Soyeon. ¡°Yohwa.¡± ¡°Yes, teacher.¡± We both summoned our aura to protect ourselves from the cold. The temperature was plummeting rapidly, and Joo Soyeon couldn''t control it on her own. But something was very wrong. Cr-crack. Crack-crack¡ª The windows along the hallway quickly froze over and shattered. Snow began piling up at an rming rate in the three-meter radius. Only the area where the three of us stood remained clear. The snow piled up quickly¡ªpast our calves, waists, and shoulders¡ª finally, it surpassed our heads. It was cold. "..." "..." Haah. Cheon Yohwa exhaled, and her breath came out in a cloud, like dry ice vapor. I tried lowering my aura on just my forearm as an experiment. The biting cold in the air felt brutal. It must have been around minus 120 degrees Celsius. ¡°¡Soyeon, is it over yet?¡± ¡°...¡± She shook her head. That meant it was over. "Okay, can you release your power now?" "...." Another nod. The bone-chilling cold vanished. The shattered window ss fell to the ground, and the snow that had piled up around us began to melt. Joo Soyeon, one of Baekhwa High School''s awakened students. Her ability was called [Weather Forecast]. She had a skill that allowed her to predict and summon the season and weather up to a month in advance. uracy: 50%. As you can see from the odds, it wasn¡¯t a particrly useful ability in everyday life. Imagine receiving a weather forecast saying, "Tomorrow, it will either rain or not." Your response would likely be something like, "So what?" In other words, while it was not helpful during normal times, it became extremely valuable in emergencies. "¡Teacher." "Yes. We need to prepare." Winter ising. From now on, there would be about a 50% chance that a -120¡ãC cold wave would descend upon the Korean Penins. 3 [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] w Naturally, the national road management division was in chaos. "Minus 120¡ãC? In the middle of summer? Is that even weather a human being can survive?" "Of course not, it''s lethal. Chief Noh Doha. You¡¯ve dealt with 100-meter tsunamis in the summer, and that was just considered ¡®normal.¡¯" "Ugh. This is truly hell to live on..." Noh Doha was full ofints, though if any Russians heard him, they''d be outraged at how ungrateful he sounded. In their region, the average annual temperature hovered around -100¡ãC. Of course, Noh Doha wasn¡¯t about to empathize with Russians any more than he empathized with Koreans. In his mind, he was alreadying up with ways to sacrifice at least half of the city¡¯s poption. "So, do you have any brilliant ideas? The city is practically a shantytown as it is. If a -120¡ãC blizzard hits, we''re all going to freeze to death." "First, think calmly. This cold is merely a phenomenon caused by the Void." "And?" "It means there¡¯s no need to sit in Busan and wait for winter toe. We should head further north than Pyongyang and face it directly." "Directly...?" Noh Doha tilted his head skeptically. "¡®We¡¯...?" Literally. First, we used the telepathic power of the Constetion ''Morning Star of the Second Coming'' to advise the citizens of the Eastern Holy Kingdom to stay indoors. The authority that the Morning Starmanded in the Eastern Holy Kingdom was immense. The evacuation proceeded smoothly. Then, a party of 50, including Noh Doha, Yoo Jiwon, the Saintess, and the national road management division¡¯s operations team, began their journey north. It was a two-week-long march. "Haaah." The Saintess, now equipped with a fur hat and gloves, sped her hands together and exhaled. A perfect balloon of breath expanded before dissipating into the cold air. "It¡¯s already chilly here. And it¡¯s only July. The air feels different than it did in Seoul." "¡" Next to the Saintess, Noh Doha stood, arms crossed, ring at me silently. Noh Doha had just arrived in Sinuiju, leading the national road management division¡¯s troops. I spread my arms wide to wee them. "Wee, O King of the Korean Penins. It must have been hard guiding the people here." "Forget the hardship... what the hell is that?" "Oh, that? Don¡¯t worry about it. It¡¯s just a sort of totem." "No, are you crazy? How am I supposed to ignore that?" Noh Doha was pointing at something towering over thendscape: the Statue of Liberty. Yes. The Statue of Liberty. While Noh Doha¡¯s 50-member party had been trekking north, I had arrived in Sinuiju ahead of them and constructed a replica of the famous American symbol. The original statue had been made of steel and copper, but that was too precious for me to use. So I gathered stones from the area around Sinuiju and built it. I¡¯d even managed to replicate the appearance of the statue perfectly. At 93.5 meters tall, it was exactly the same height as the original. Confronted by this overwhelming structure, Noh Doha had the same expression as Irish immigrants arriving in America in the 1900s. A mixture of anticipation, hope, apprehension, and uncertainty about the future. "What the hell... why did you build the Statue of Liberty here, in Sinuiju?" Incidentally, I had a reputation for being terrible at reading Noh Doha¡¯s expressions. "You don¡¯t get it, Chief." "Huh?" "The Statue of Liberty is the first thing to be attacked in any major disaster." "That¡¯s not¡" "Think of it this way: in every disaster movie, the Statue of Liberty is the first thing destroyed." "Are you serious?" "If you don¡¯t believe me, take a short trip beyond the Tumen River while we still have time. It¡¯s colder here than it is there." "¡" Noh Doha muttered something under his breath, probably praising my wisdom. The Saintess, who had been listening to our conversation, nodded thoughtfully. "It¡¯s like a lightning rod, isn¡¯t it?" "Exactly. In any climate disaster¡ªwhether global warming, climate change, or eco-apocalypse¡ªthe Statue of Liberty is the first to be obliterated." "Yeah, I think that happened in some of the movies I¡¯ve seen." "So here¡¯s the hypothesis: every climate disaster targets the Statue of Liberty first." I dramatically raised my index finger. The imposing Statue of Liberty stood at the tip of my finger, casting a long shadow. "So, conversely, if we manage to protect the Statue of Liberty, the climate disaster won¡¯t happen." "¡" "I¡¯ve evacuated all the residents and soldiers from Sinuiju to Pyongyang. Right now, it¡¯s just us and the Statue of Liberty here." In other words, the strategy for handling this ''Blizzard'' or ''General Winter'' was very simple. We, the humans, had to protect the Statue of Liberty. On the other hand, the disaster had to destroy the Statue of Liberty. As long as the statue remained intact, it meant the disaster hadn¡¯t fully arrived. In short. "From today, this isn¡¯t Sinuiju anymore. It¡¯s New York. Chief Noh Doha, here¡¯s your official appointment as the Mayor of New York." "Uh¡" I handed him an appointment letter and a namete I had prepared in advance. What an honor, bing the first Korean to be appointed as Mayor of New York. As expected of Chief Noh Doha. His English might be a bit rusty for a New York mayor, but who cares? This proved that New-New York was a free city unbound by nationality or prejudice. Thus, the Eastern Holy Kingdom became a nation that possessed both the ''Jerusalem of the East'' and the ''New York of the East.'' What had once been Asia''s poorest region had grown so much. You could infer that this world was, in fact, an alternate history story, and that the Eastern Holy Kingdom was the protagonist. "Look at the Yalu River. Doesn¡¯t it remind you of Manhattan, with that ind in the middle? It¡¯s totally New York." "¡" "Everyone else will be appointed as Police Commissioners, Federal Judges, and other key roles. Do whatever it takes to protect the Statue of Liberty, everyone." Whack! Noh Doha hit me on the back of the head with the namete that read "Mayor Noh Doha." And thus, the defense game began. [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] w Chapter 228 [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] w Chapter 228 ©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤ The Four Seasons II 4 ¡°From being an ordinary level-7 civil servant at a rehabilitation hospital to the [Ruler of Busan], [Chief of the Highway Management Corps], [De facto ruler of the penins], and [Mayor of New York]?! ~For some reason, the person who seems to be the savior of the world keeps obsessing over me, but what is this?!~¡± While Noh Doha is busy enjoying this light-novel-style life, let''s leave him aside for a moment and get down to the serious defense game. "Wee, everyone. Let''s get straight to the point. When the blizzard hits from the north, it''s expected that the winter will continue at -120 degrees Celsius for quite some time." I gathered about 30 members of the Highway Management Corps and tapped the ckboard. A map of Sinuiju was disyed on the board. "We don''t know how long this winter willst. It could end in a day, or it could go on for an entire year. In the worst case, we''ll bepletely isted, with no externalmunication except through SG-Net, and we''ll have to endure a harsh time." ¡°...¡± "For this operation, the Highway Management Corps has specially selected elites with a high amount of aura. You can think of each of you as a human heater. We''ll take turns warming the amodation, so treat the fuel carefully." Faintughter came from among the members of the Highway Management Corps. The environment was certainly harsh, but no oneined. If enduring the cold was all they had to do, it wasn''t considered an especially difficult task. The problem was that achieving the condition of "simply enduring -120 degrees Celsius" was itself a challenge, even for Awakened individuals. "We''ll start the operation tomorrow, but before that, I''ll take a few questions." Several members of the Highway Management Corps raised their hands. "You there, Member Haseong." "Yes. I understand we have enough food supplies for about three months. What do we do if the winter in Sinuijusts beyond that?" "I''ll temporarily leave Sinuiju and bring back the Sword Maiden. I''ve already securednd for a greenhouse farm. While the crops grow, we''ll form a hunting team to gather food. Next, Member Cha Jaehee." "Thank you. If the anomaly ''General Winter'' expands beyond Sinuiju or moves, how will we respond?" "If we determine that it has a core or main body, I''ll personally intercept it. Next." The briefing continued. The members of the Highway Management Corps only asked questions directly rted to the operation, then lowered their hands. The 30 people here were subtly my outer disciples, so it made sense. (Most of them had been taught indirectly through the Constetions, so they weren''t fully aware of it themselves.) "That''s all for today. Return to your amodations and rest. The operation starts tomorrow." "Yes!" The very next day. Though only a night had passed, the temperature had noticeably dropped. If yesterday had been early winter, by dawn today, the air felt sharply cold. Indeed, with such bitter cold clearly noticeable in July, even Noh Doha had to give up his hopeful thoughts. "Damn it. That weather forecaster or whatever... They always get the predictions wrong, but of course, they''re spot-on now..." "Ah, it''s actually 100% urate, even though it¡¯s said to be only 50%." "Huh? Howe...?" "Think about it simply. Predictions like ''it will rain tomorrow'' or ''it will snow tomorrow'' are things anyone can guess without needing a [Weather Bureau]. They''re normal predictions. But predicting something like ''a -120-degree blizzard might happen tomorrow''¡ªthat''s a prediction that is inherently ''strange,'' isn''t it?" "Oh...?" "If such an unlikely scenario is even mentioned, it means the [Weather Bureau] has already perfectly predicted the weather. They may never get normal weather right, but they always nail predictions that deviate from normal." "Hmm. I see..." Noh Doha made a face of realization as he sipped his warm coffee. At 8 a.m., people began gathering at the operations headquarters (set up inside the Statue of Liberty). Everyone was dressed in thick winter gear. Yoo Jiwon, the celebrity from Busan famous for always dressing the best, looked my way. She was wearing a white uniform with a fur cape. "Your Excellency, preparations areplete." I nodded. "Send out the prisoners." "Yes, sir." Alright then. The sharp-eyed readers might have noticed the gap in the narrative: we brought 50 people up to Sinuiju, but only 30 were members of the Highway Management Corps. The remaining 20 were prisoners brought from ces like Busan. Our useful prisoners, who had yed a key role when we attacked the Inunaki Tunnel, would be put to work again today. "All prisoners, attention to the words of His Excellency." Yoo Jiwon addressed the 20 prisoners. ¡°Ah, shit¡¡± ¡°What¡¯s with this nonsense first thing in the morning¡¡± The prisoners, who had been transported across the Korean Penins over two weeks, were in a foul mood. They red at Yoo Jiwon as if they couldn¡¯t care less. In less than 10 seconds, blood sttered. Without blinking an eye, Yoo Jiwon slit the throat of one prisoner with her dagger. She shook off the blood from the dagger and, in the same tone and expression as before, spoke again. ¡°All prisoners, attention to the words of His Excellency.¡± Now down to 19, the prisoners'' eyes lit up like model citizens¡¯. ...Sometimes, I wondered if Yoo Jiwon was only loyal to me because she could kill legally. In the suddenly icy atmosphere, I opened my mouth to speak. "From now on, you''ll be assigned numbers from 1 to 19. When your number is called, step outside one by one." I tapped the map, pointing to a path with my pointer. "It''s not a difficult task. Just cross the Yalu River Bridge and keep walking north." ¡°North¡¡± "Yes. As you walk, you''ll receive signals through the radio. Just respond appropriately to the wordsing from the radio and keep walking. That''s all." ¡°¡¡± ¡°Let me make one thing clear: escape is not rmended. You know what Yoo Jiwon¡¯s tracking ability is, right? If you try to flee, you¡¯ll be hunted down to the ends of the earth and suffer a fate worse than hell.¡± Next to me, Yoo Jiwon twirled her dagger. The prisoners'' faces turned pale. Their eyes held a certain question, one that could be tranted as: Why are we being treated as worthless criminals, while that silver-haired psycho is enjoying such a high position? Since it was something I had been wondering myself for a long time, I quickly added: "Don¡¯t worry. There''s more than just punishment. See that river to the north? That¡¯s the Aiha River. It''s less than 30 kilometers from the Yalu River Bridge." ¡°¡¡± ¡°If you manage to reach there and return sessfully, your sentences will be reduced by 250 years. Of course, depending on your behavior at the Highway Management Corps'' rehabilitation facilities, your sentence could be further reduced.¡± ¡°...!¡± Only then did the prisoners, exhausted and hopeless, perk up. These prisoners were all serving sentences of over 500 years. For those who had already experienced the mind-destroying effects of the [Button that skips 1 year with a single press], the offer of 250 years off was an irresistible bait. They had been decent Awakened beforemitting their crimes, and for them,pleting a 30-kilometer round trip was a good deal. "Is that really true? Will you really reduce our sentences...?" "I swear on Yoo Jiwon¡¯s name." The prisoners'' gazes turned cold again. I cleared my throat. "...I promise in the name of Warden Noh Doha." "Wooooh!" "Alright! It''s less than 60 kilometers altogether! We can do it!" The prisoners were as fired up as exam retakers after watching a motivational video (featuring foreigners with subtitles) on YouTube three times in a row. Thus, from prisoner number 1 to prisoner number 19, each was sent out at intervals of 50 meters. [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] w By the way, the prisoners were provided with walkie-talkies and U.S. military uniforms. The kind always worn by those enduring hardship in apocalyptic movies. "Saintess. Please." "Yes." In one corner of the operation room. The saintess sat in a remote corner, away from the crew. Bundled up in a fur hat, fur coat, sleeping bag, and nkets, she sped her hands together. To describe what the saintess was doing right now: [Recon soldier 1. Recon soldier 1.] [Continue straight ahead. There¡¯s a report that our troops are stranded 6 kilometers ahead, withmunication cut off.] [Check their status and, if possible, return with them.] The saintess was using telepathy, disguising it as ifmunication were happening through the walkie-talkie. The content of the telepathy made no sense to the prisoners. Our troops? Stranded? Return with them? None of this had been conveyed beforehand. - What the hell is this nonsense? [Recon soldier 1. Do you hear me? Continue to report what you see ahead.] - Uh, well, I don''t see much, really. There''s a flimsy-looking bridge, though. Is that the Yalu River Bridge? [That¡¯s correct. Though partially destroyed, previous recon confirmed it can be crossed by people. Proceed with caution.] - Sigh. Got it. Meanwhile. I kept taking out "artifacts" one by one,ying them down at the saintess''s feet. A small model of the Statue of Liberty. A model of the Eiffel Tower. St. Peter''s Basilica in the Vatican. Big Ben in London. The Taj Mahal. Tokyo Tower¡ It was like a shamanying out cursed totems, or kids chanting over a Ouija board. Carefully, I ced thesendmarks of human civilization on the "world map"id out at the saintess''s feet. "......" Noh Doha, sitting in a nearby armchair, silently watched me. He, too, was wrapped inyers of winter gear. - Huh? [What is it, recon soldier 1? Is there a problem?] - No, I crossed the bridge safely, but there''s a bit of snow now. Kinda strange. This world map had been meticulously hand-drawn by Yoo Jiwon. Though its uracy wascking, it carried the weight of Yoo Jiwon¡¯s power. I had ced all the famousndmarks of the world on the map. Then lightly, tap¡ª I knocked over the Eiffel Tower. [The phenomenon was expected. We suspect that a cial void is expanding in that area.] - Damn, is that why it''s so cold? [The longer you remain in the void, the greater the risk. Retrieve the troops and return immediately.] - Yeah, yeah. Got it. This is getting creepy. I knocked over St. Peter''s Basilica. - Huh? I knocked over Big Ben. - Huh, huh? What the hell? Damn it. [What is it, recon soldier 1?] - Suddenly, there''s a snowstorm! Huh, huh! I can barely see ahead! Wow, crap, why''s the snow like this all of a sudden? [The radar shows your position is fine. Keep moving forward.] - I''m moving! But I can hardly see! I knocked over the Taj Mahal. - Damn it, chi?zz?zzz??, I really can''t see a thing! It''s freezing! Ch??zz??, it''s so cold I might die! I¡¯m serious, this is bad, ch??zz?zz?. Then static cut through the walkie-talkie. The saintess looked down at me. I, too, read the meaning in her gaze and nodded. ¡®It¡¯s here.¡¯ The walkie-talkies we¡¯d handed the prisoners were mere props. We had beenmunicating through the saintess¡¯s telepathy. Naturally, static had no logical reason to interfere with themunication. In other words, the source of the interference wasn¡¯t the saintess, but something else. - I can''t, ch?zz?zz??, see ahead at all, ch?zz?zz?zz??zz?. Silence. Communication with prisoner 1 was cut off. The saintess, unfazed and without a change in expression, continued her work calmly. [Recon soldier 2. Communication with recon soldier 1 is iplete. Do you see him 50 meters ahead?] - Huh? Chi??z??, oh, no. The snowstorm''s too intense, I can barely see anything ahead, ch?zz?zz?zz???zz??zz??. Prisoner 2, lost. Prisoner 3, lost. Prisoner 4, lost. The chess pieces on Yoo Jiwon''s [mini-map] toppled one by one. The ck pawns (?) advancing north at 50-meter intervals fell like dominos. Tap. When I knocked over the Tokyo Tower. Thestndmark of human civilization still standing on the world map was the Statue of Liberty. At that exact moment, the saintess spoke. ¡°Prisoner 19, lost.¡± ¡°......¡± ¡°It¡¯s here.¡± No one voiced the foolish question, "Where?" Cr-cr-crackle¡ª The sound came from the world map. The paper map, which previously only held chess pieces, was suddenly covered in frost, freezing over. The ice unmistakably aimed for the "Statue of Liberty," charging toward it. ¡°Doctor Jang.¡± ¡°Yes.¡± Without hesitation, I picked up the Statue of Liberty and ced it in Sinuiju with a tap. Immediately, the frost that had been encircling the world map swirled toward Sinuiju, devouring the tribute we¡¯did out. Chomp, chomp, chomp. - Ch?zz??z?z?zz?zz?zz?zz?zz?. The walkie-talkie, which should have remained silent, burst with intense static. The thermometer, specially prepared for this mission, showed temperatures plummeting exponentially. -10¡ãC, -20¡ãC, -40¡ãC, -80¡ãC. ¡°Highway Chief! Release the aura!¡± ¡°Yes!¡± -120¡ãC. At that moment, boom! A tremor rang out. The door, which had been firmly locked after the prisoners left, groaned repeatedly. A snowstorm beyond scratched at the door like the ws of a giant. A warning. Demanding we open this ridiculous door. Everyone knew it. Winter is here. [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] w Chapter 229 [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] w Chapter 229 ©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤ The Four Seasons III 5 If you had to pick the number one cause of death for humanity, aside from ¡°murder by anomalies,¡± I could answer without hesitation. Frozen death. Literally, death by freezing. Even without considering the anomaly that brought the ice age to the Korean Penins, now called New New York (but changed to Shin New York since New New York sounded a bit off), winter alone, in its pure vani state, was more than enough to kill humans. So, what about winter with an anomaly added to the mix? Even in this cycle, where the National Road members had their aura proficiency raised to a high level, enduring the brutal cold wasn¡¯t easy. ¡°Damn, it¡¯s freezing¡¡± Especially for Noh Doha, who hadn¡¯t put any points into aura on his Awakener skill tree, the cold hit him even harder. 60 minutes since the Ice Age began. A white puff of breath leaked from under the nket Noh Doha had wrapped around himself, resembling chimney smoke. The trembling of his body was so intense, it almost made me feel sorry for him. ¡°Chief,e a bit closer.¡± ¡°¡Seriously. If this was going to happen, you should¡¯ve brought the Grand Witch of the Three Thousand Worlds instead. Why drag someone like me, who was working just fine in Busan, all the way here? At least she could¡¯ve made things a lot more enjoyable with a song or something.¡± ¡°You¡¯re here because this operation absolutely requires you, Noh Doha Chief. It would¡¯ve been a disaster if Tang Seorin hade instead.¡± ¡°Whatever this operation is, I feel like I¡¯m going to freeze to death because of it¡¡± I reached under the nket and grabbed Noh Doha¡¯s left hand. His fingers were icy cold. He twitched, furrowing his brow slightly, but didn¡¯t pull his hand away. Soon, my aura began to transfer into his body through our joined hands. ¡°¡¡± Noh Doha¡¯s shoulders quivered slightly, as if tickled by the unfamiliar aura flowing into him. His lips moved, as if toin, but perhaps realizing that I wouldn¡¯t stop, he mped them shut. Warmth spread beneath the nket in no time. I controlled the aura carefully, ensuring that it circted only beneath the nket, so the others wouldn¡¯t notice. ¡°¡¡± ¡°You could at least thank me.¡± ¡°Shut up.¡± ¡°¡.¡± ¡°¡¡± ¡°¡.¡± ¡°Hmm. This feeling¡ I think I¡¯ve experienced something like this before. Oh, right. It¡¯s like when you turn on the air conditioner while under a nket with the floor heater on.¡± ¡°Really? You lived in such luxury? Do resources grow on trees for you?¡± ¡°Hmph. It¡¯s because people like you, a genuine relic, don¡¯t remember the good old days when civilization was intact. Everyone in Korea has tried it at least once¡ But, Doctor Jang, let me ask you one thing.¡± Noh Doha pointed in one direction with his right hand. ¡°What¡¯s with those cameras?¡± There, lined up, were cameras recording the inside of the Statue of Liberty, all aimed in our direction. Most were cursed items, tainted by the anomaly, but they still whirred and operated as if nothing were wrong. ¡°As you can see, they¡¯re recording equipment.¡± ¡°I¡¯m asking why they¡¯re filming us shivering in the cold¡¡± ¡°Ah, it¡¯s all part of the strategy to defeat the ice-age anomaly. You don¡¯t have to worry about a thing, Chief Noh Doha. Just sit tight.¡± ¡°¡This feels so unsettling¡¡± It was at that moment. ¡°We¡¯re all doomed!¡± Someone from the middle of the patrol team screamed. His eyes had lost their focus. ¡°Communications are down, and we¡¯re out of food! We¡¯re going to die here no matter what! We¡¯re all going to die!¡± ¡°Hey, Cha Jaehui, what the hell is wrong with you?¡± Hisrades, who had been radiating aura like living heaters just moments ago, looked at him in confusion. The deranged patrol member began tearing off his nket and cold-weather gear in a frenzy. ¡°If we¡¯re all going to die anyway, I¡¯ll sacrifice myself. Yes. If I reduce the number of mouths to feed, myrades can survive just a little longer. Ah, I¡¯ll go outside right now¡¡± ¡°Damn! He¡¯s been tainted by the Void!¡± ¡°Someone restrain Cha Jaehui!¡± As expected of well-trained elites, the patrol members quickly subdued the out-of-control teammate. There was no need for me to intervene, and the situation was soon resolved. However, Noh Doha, who was still holding my hand, gave me a suspicious look. ¡°Doctor Jang.¡± ¡°Yes?¡± ¡°Why are you filming all of this instead of helping yourrades?¡± Indeed. I was calmly sitting there, recording the entire chaotic scene with my smartphone. And not just this¡ªwhen more patrol members began sumbing to the Void¡¯s corruption and started behaving erratically, I continued filming without stepping in. ¡°If we stay here, we¡¯ll all die! We need to form a rescue party and call for help from the outside!¡± ¡°What? We still have enough food¡ª¡± ¡°That person is right! Even if the rescue fails, someone has to survive!¡± ¡°Let us go outside!¡± They were all losing their minds. Outside, a snowstorm was raging, with temperatures at negative 120 degrees Celsius. With visibilitypletely lost, even the elites of the National Road would stand no chance if they ventured out. Clearly, their judgment had been stolen by the anomaly. This was the moment when Yoo Jiwon, the strict disciplinarian, should¡¯ve stepped in. ¡°¡.¡± But Yoo Jiwon merely nced at my face, then calmly resumed standing at attention. It was expected. Yoo Jiwon¡¯s priority was always to ¡°stay in my good graces and maintain power.¡± The duties of a mission leader were far down her list of concerns. If I didn¡¯t act, neither would she. She just fiddled with her smartphone, probably browsing SG Net. ¡°Damn it¡¡± Seeing my and Yoo Jiwon¡¯s reactions, Noh Doha seemed to grasp the situation and sighed. He must have realized this was all part of the strategy. ¡°Let¡¯s break through the frozennd for ourrades! If we reach the southern base, we can bring back a rescue team!¡± ¡°Don¡¯t be afraid of death! If we don¡¯t sacrifice ourselves, who will?¡± The Void corruption spread uncontrobly. Out of the 20 patrol members, 10 had suddenly turned into ¡°escape fanatics.¡± Even considering that themand team, including us, had already stopped intervening, the speed of the contamination was extraordinary, and the intensity of the brainwashing was deep. ¡°Captain! Doctor Jang! They¡¯re seriously about to leave!¡± ¡°Let them.¡± This was precisely why I had brought Yoo Jiwon and Noh Doha on this mission. Resistance to brainwashing. Among all the people I knew, these two had the strongest mental fortitude. Yoo Jiwon was the holder of an achievement no one in the history of Earth had ever aplished: shepletely ignored the pink Voldemort whose name could not be spoken. For brainwashing-rted anomalies, he was like an imprable wall. Noh Doha? No need to even mention ¡ª an absolute mental giant. Boasting an unmatched track record, he had never been contaminated by countless anomalies associated with politicians, such as ¡°the powerful are bound to corrupt¡± or ¡°dictators will inevitably fall into depravity.¡± There was a reason why I entrusted the leadership of the National Road Management to these two, who had somewhat wed personalities. If you want to survive politics in the country of pink-haired people, these two are the answer. The saintess, sitting over there in the armchair, had superhuman mental fortitude, just like the other two. [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] w In short. Currently, inside the Statue of Liberty were the strongest awakened minds from the Korean Penins. "Let''s go! For ourrades!" "Let''s move! Let''s save humanity!" "Oooooh!" Meanwhile, the ten brainwashed individuals, with their ordinary mental strength, opened the bunker door on their own. Sssaaaahhh¡ª As soon as the door cracked open, an overwhelming snowstorm rushed in. Even as the brainwashed faced the snow directly, theyughed hysterically, as if enjoying it. Soon enough, the brainwashed disappeared into the icy wilderness. Theirughter, too, was drowned out by the howling wind. The survivors left in the bunker looked at us, at a loss. "L-Lord¡" "Hmm." That should be enough footage. I stopped recording on my smartphone. "Jiwon. I''ll step out for a moment, so take care of Director Noh Doha''s body temperature in the meantime." "Yes, leave it entirely to me." I passed the role of living heater to Yoo Jiwon and immediately dashed out of the bunker, chasing after the brainwashed. Outside was a white snow country. However, unlike thendscape Kawabata Yasunari described in Snow Country, the snow that fell on this mishmash called New New York was chaotic. White noise shed incessantly in every direction. Though it flickered, it wasn¡¯t like a beacon guiding people. Instead, it was more like a camera sh at a red-carpet event, pushing away and rejecting humanity with a punch. This ce was indeed a snow country, but the tyrant had utterly ruined it. Sssaaaahhh¡ª. Beyond the thick white noise, red T-shirts were scattered here and there. Half-buried in snow, they looked as if they were floating on a white river. I stepped on the trail of clothes like a stepping stone, following the traces. "Hahaha!" "It''s getting warmer. Look, there''s the sun. We''re heading south." "It''s not cold. Look, it''s really not cold!" "The sun is watching over us!" Soon, the white noise and the humanughter formed a bizarre chorus. The ten brainwashed were marching through the snow, stripping down to their underwear. Their clothes were being swallowed up by the snow as if sinking into a swamp, and the naked humans were also slowly sinking deeper into the snowfield. "Good job." Thud. I lightly knocked the ten heads with my aura. The brainwashed fell unconscious without even screaming, copsing one by one. I stacked the unconscious crew like hamburgers, holding them all with one hand, and dashed southward. "Oh! It''s that guy!" "L-Leader! Over here!" How long had I been running? As soon as I crossed the boundary of New New York, the snowstorm stopped as if by magic. Looking back, the snowstorm, towering to the sky, covered New New York like a dome. At the sharply defined boundary, the ¡®backup team,¡¯ including Sim Aryeon and Oh Dokseo, had already been waiting. "Ugh. What the heck, why are these people naked? Are they crazy?" "There was a brainwashing ability attached to the Ice Age anomaly, so they were bewitched. If they hadcked even a bit of aura, they would''ve frozen to death long ago." "That''s insane¡" "Aryeon. Please handle the healing." "Oh, yes, sir!" "They might be fine when they regain consciousness, but they could move again to offer themselves as sacrifices to the snowstorm. Until the anomaly ispletely eradicated, monitor them closely. And make sure they don''t connect to the SGwork. Dokseo. Got it?" "Oh, seriously! I already know! Stop nagging." "Alright. I¡¯m counting on you." "Make sure to get good footage!" After entrusting the injured to them, I returned to the snow-coverednd where the storm raged. On my way back, I didn¡¯t forget to collect the clothes the brainwashed had dropped. Bang. As I opened the door and entered the Statue of Liberty, everyone''s attention turned toward me. Noh Doha. Yoo Jiwon. The saintess. Plus, the remaining ten crew members. A total of thirteen people were looking at me. One of the management crew spoke up. "L-Lord? What is that you''re holding in your hand¡?" I nced around. The recording devices were still rolling. Good, no issues here. "They are the clothes of the missing people. I found them scattered outside." "What? Then¡ what about ourrades¡?" "I''m sorry. I chased them as far as I could, but there was nothing but the endless snowfield." "¡¡." "Everyone. It seems the Ice Age anomaly is more dangerous than I initially predicted. Stay alert." Fear subtly crept onto the faces of the management crew. They didn¡¯t seem to suspect at all that I might be lying; their expressions were filled with genuine conviction. Even professional actors wouldn¡¯t be able to pull off this level of emotional realism. Yeah. You¡¯ve probably caught on by now. If you want to deceive your enemies, deceive your allies first. ¨D¨DI intended topletely ¡®fool¡¯ the Ice Age anomaly that had descended upon this city. [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] w Chapter 230 [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] w Chapter 230 ©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤ The Four Seasons IV 6 By now, you can probably guess: the anomalies inherently have the traits of hardcore otakus. They cannot distinguish between "reality" and "fiction." To be more precise, for these beings, everything is essentially no different from reality. In this sense, they are like otakus. Just as otakus believe in a genuine 2D world beyond their monitor that contains the true idea, to the eyes of these beings, all objects are perceived as being equivalent to or even more valuable than reality. ¡®Of course, each being has objects they prefer more or less.¡¯ I used this "otaku test" on the Ice Age anomaly. Since when? Right from the beginning, when I first encountered the Ice Age anomaly. ¡°Saintess, pleasemunicate telepathically with the prisoners, but make it look like you''re using a walkie-talkie.¡± ¡°Huh? Why is that?¡± ¡°There¡¯s a reason. Also, it¡¯d be great if you could act as though there¡¯s static, just like with a real walkie-talkie.¡± The walkie-talkies the prisoners took had no actual functionality, and the Saintess had never actually used a walkie-talkie. Even so, the Ice Age anomaly recognized the munication" as reality. Without hesitation, the anomaly interfered with the walkie-talkie signal and even added noise that the Saintess hadn¡¯t imitated. By this point, I was sure. "As expected. This thing isn''t the type of anomaly that insists on the physical reality of the world." Actually, I had a feeling from the moment the anomaly was lured to New-New York by the Statue of Liberty replica. The more these beingscked sensory organs like sight or smell, the moremon this type was. They perceive the world purely through concepts. It¡¯s like how, in old rituals to appease spirits, they would burn a piece of paper with the words ¡°one million dors¡± instead of actual money. For the same reason¨D¨D. "Doctor Jang, forgive me, but what exactly are you doing right now...?" "Isn''t it obvious? I¡¯m editing a video." A real-life massacre. A tragedy in a fictional world. The Ice Age anomaly probably couldn¡¯t distinguish the difference between the two at all. "A video? What kind of video...?" "A movie." Click, click-click-click¡ªclick. I continued editing the video, moving the mouse cursor around. Though my editing skills weren''t quite at the level of a seasoned pro, they were still fitting for someone who had gone through hundreds of regressions. The footage, of course, was the video we had just shot inside the Statue of Liberty. "Let''s go! For ourrades!" "Let''s do this! We¡¯ll save humanity!" "Ooooooooh!" Just then, a scene yed of the ten brainwashed individuals leaving the bunker, ignoring the pleas of theirrades. I reorganized the footage from different angles and added sound effects. There was no cinematic artistry since I didn¡¯t employ a professional director, but I didn''t care in the slightest. "Let''s go! For ourrades!" "Hehehe, hehehe, hehehehehe!" "Let''s do this! We¡¯ll save humanity!" In any case, I didn¡¯t even need to try hard because the anomaly itself kept inserting itself into the video, enhancing the horror by adding its own touches here and there. The edited video was entirely different from reality. In the video, the ten brainwashed individuals had frozen corpses clinging to their backs. The brainwashed were not moving on their own. The frozen ghosts were dragging their wrists and ankles, leading them out of the bunker. ¡°......¡± Noh Doha, who had been watching theptop next to me, wore a stunned expression. It wasn¡¯t just the brainwashed, though. Even the surviving humans, who the anomaly¡¯s influence hadn''t fully consumed, had ghosts clinging to them. Ghosts sitting on people''s shoulders, wrapping their hands around their heads. A ghost gnawing on Noh Doha¡¯s leg with its gaping mouth. Ghosts bashing their heads against the bunker door¡ªbang, bang, bang-bang. "What are all these...?" ¡°They¡¯re the real cause of the ''cold'' we¡¯ve been feeling. These ghosts clinging to us are what¡¯s making us feel cold.¡± ¡°Shit¡?¡± ¡°There¡¯s no point trying to drive them away right now. Captain Noh Doha, the filters are different, so we can''t interfere with them.¡± For the record, we weren¡¯t filming anything right now. All the guards except the leaders were fast asleep. I took advantage of the break to quickly jump into editing mode. After finishing today''s editing, I yed the video back. Somehow, the anomaly had automatically enhanced it, and the "Doctor Jang" and "Noh Doha" in the video were spouting new dialogue that hadn''t been there before. "Doctor Jang." "Yes." "Now that it''s just the two of us, I want to ask something I''ve been curious about. Do you... like me?" [TL/N: Ngl there¡¯s still confusion about the gender, bc from how earlier Noh doha was described, it¡¯s supposed to be a cranky old man, buttely I feel like it¡¯s a woman instead, waiting for better confirmation or rather manhwa.] From beside me, I heard an expletive. It wasn¡¯t the "Noh Doha" in the video, but the real Noh Doha beside me, his voice dripping with pure rage. If his voice were fruit juice, it¡¯d be 100% fresh durian. "I never said anything like that¡" "Yeah, no kidding." Even for me, it was a fascinating phenomenon. "This is probably the truth as the anomaly perceives it. From our perspective, though, it''s just a distortion." "Of all the ways to distort things, why on earth did it have to be this shitty...?" "Because it''s an anomaly. Hmm, if I had to guess, maybe it saw us holding hands under the nket and interpreted us as being in some kind of romantic or flirtatious rtionship." "Dammit, I knew something felt off. I should¡¯ve let go of your hand back then, even if I ended up freezing to death..." "Why are you overreacting? It''s just a pointless distortion by the anomaly anyway." The video continued, showing a scenebeled "Written by: Ice Age, Edited by: Ice Age, Sound by: Ice Age." "Of course I like you. If I don¡¯t see your rotten eyes every morning, it doesn¡¯t feel like the day has started." "Heh. That¡¯s not the kind of question I was asking, and you know it, right?" "......." "Don¡¯t you already know that the leader of the Three-Thousand World Guild has feelings for you? You¡¯re perceptive enough. So why do you keep testing them...?" "Hmm. I didn¡¯t expect to be having this kind of conversation." "......" "......" Silence. An awkward silence settled between Noh Doha and me as we stared at theptop together. Once again, the "Doctor Jang" and "Noh Doha" in the video weren¡¯t real. At that moment, in reality, we were just chatting about nothing important. However. "Surprisingly enough, Doctor Jang, I¡¯ve been somewhat interested in the stories you¡¯ve told me about the other timelines." "Didn¡¯t think you cared?" "From a realistic point of view, not really. But I must admit, the story about me strangling you to death was quite amusing. More importantly, it''s quite useful for understanding you as a person." Between Noh Doha and me, there was not only conversation exchanged through words but also a constant "silent" signal of telepathicmunication. Like the letter ''G'' in the English word ''SIGN,'' which is never pronounced. That G-string signal was always a background sound between us. In human rtionships, just as much value is ced on "what can be said" as on "what can be swallowed." Compared to other rtionships, Noh Doha and I belonged to a category where the G sound was particrly strong. In other words, we were likepanions at a band concert, standing shoulder to shoulder, faintly listening to the bass. Therefore. "But there''s something interesting about the stories you tell..." "I''d be disappointed if there were only one." "There''s no mention of romance." In reality, we never had such a conversation. Never. Though we had never made a formal agreement, neither of us ever crossed a certain "line." Noh Doha strangling me to death? Even that wasn¡¯t an outrageous act outside the scale of the G-string notes we shared. It was merely an anecdote we wouldugh off as "that could happen." Rather. "Huh. I didn¡¯t think Director Noh Doha would be interested in romance. I''ll keep that in mind next time." ¡°You¡¯re ying dumb. Hoo. Let me make it clear so even those ears of yours can understand. Doctor Jang, I''m interested in the fact that ''you don''t talk about romance'' itself." "It''s because I''m impotent." "Oh. That¡¯s one theory. But you seem perfectly fine, so I¡¯ll dismiss it..." Such a conversation was something that transcended the distant boundaries of our line. In the video, Noh Doha turned his head and looked up at the Doctor Jang in the frame. From a distance close enough to feel each other''s breath. "Shall I tell you my theory?" "..." "In another timeline, you told me¨D¨D." Click. Without anyone having to prompt the other, we clicked theptop mouse. Since I was quicker, I clicked on my left hand with the cursor. Noh Doha ''s palm was resting on the back of that hand. Silence lingered. Strangely enough, the real Noh Doha was looking up at me at an angle. Just like in the frozen frame of the video. Maybe that¡¯s why. I felt as if time itself had stopped in reality. Despite being an Awakener, Noh Doha ''s hair was ck. Just like mine. His pupils were also ck, with no tint alteration. Just like mine. ck reflected in ck. With both of us obscuring each other¡¯s gaze with our pupils, once again, without anyone prompting, a Morse code of silent (ink sound) signals began to resonate. "Shall we pretend this never happened?" "..." "Or?" The silence stretched on. Noh Doha parted his lips. "I." "..." "No matter how many timelines change, your gaze on Tang Seorin as Tang Seorin, Yoo Jiwon as Yoo Jiwon, and Lee Hayul as Lee Hayul, sometimes pisses me off, but I don''t think it''s wrong. After all, that¡¯s how you can consider yourself the same person, whether it''s the 10th or 100th turn of yourself." "Yes. I know." "What pisses me off is that while you remember everything, I do not." "I know." "So, if I can''t know everything, I''d rather not hear anything at all. No matter what I bring up, to you with your [Perfect Memory], it¡¯s no different from reying a recorded tape, and that pisses me off. Heh. I wonder how others feel about this? Are they having fun every time, feeling something new...?" "I know." "Bastard." Noh Doha grabbed my necktie. Rather than pulling it, his gesture resembled wing at it. It was at that moment. "Do you want to hear my voice?" Click. Even though no one clicked the cursor, the video started ying on its own. "Then first, save this damn world." "Or, heh. Lose your regression ability. Or learn how to forget." But I couldn¡¯t turn my gaze to theptop screen. Noh Doha , right in front of me, was forcing me to maintain eye contact. More than that, there was no need to. "Shall I tell you the truth?" Whether it was Noh Doha on the screen or Noh Doha right in front of me, they would have been in the exact same position. "I don¡¯t expect you to save the world." "It¡¯s quite the opposite." "Doctor Jang. I¡¯m the only person who expects you to ''fail.''¡± "Because from what I see, that¡¯s far more likely. I¡¯m not the type to bet my life on false hope..." Noh Doha smiled with his eyes. "The day you stand on equal footing with me will onlye when you give up on regression. When you are living your final life." "That will be hell for you." "In that final hell of yourst life, yes, I will dly join you at the very bottom..." "I look forward to that day... How about you? Are you also looking forward to the hell that will be your one and only funeral and your one and only life?" "You can even thank me for it... saying it¡¯s all thanks to me..." "It¡¯s just a shame that this turn isn¡¯t the one where you fall into hell..." Noh Doha ced his palm over my eyes. Because of that, I couldn¡¯t tell if the final words came from Noh Doha ¡¯s lips or leaked from theptop speakers. "Don¡¯t forget..." Cold, ck temperature. Like a snow-covered midnight wilderness where nothing is visible, the music¡¯s final lingering notes softly whispered before fading away. "I¡¯ll be waiting for you at your true bad ending." 7. The next day. We began the full-fledged process of exterminating the anomaly. [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] w Chapter 231 [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] w Chapter 231 ©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤ The Four Seasons V 8 Let''s turn our attention elsewhere for a moment. SGNet. A hideout for warm-hearted Awakeners. As expected from a ce with the title of "the onlymunity in the country," SGNet always radiated warmth. - Anonymous: This guy is probably a weak modded Awakener with less than 200-meter depth lol. ©¸ Anonymous: What''s a fake Awakener who''s only ever had Americano talking about? Hah. ©¸ Anonymous: Lol, tomorrow I''ll be having a caf¨¦tte at 600 meters depth, feel free to join if you dare. ^^ It might have been a little too warm. First, the "the only" title was the problem. In the days when civilization was intact, inte junkies used to live in their own isted domains, but now they were all thrown together in a forced refuge. Community identity? There was no such thing. Members ranged in age from under 10 to over 90, and in terms of depth rating based on the Inunaki Tunnel evaluation system, from 100-meter newbies to 1,000-meter veterans. It was a wild mix. ording to the old martial arts adage "beware of the elderly, children, and women," on SGNet, you had to be cautious of everyone. The only exception was the operator, Seo Gyu. A true chaotic era of divided factions! In this hellish reality, one wrong step could send you into the abyss. (Why and how a "discarded elder" viin who had lost both legs from the waist down still managed to keep their head was SGNet''s greatest mystery. Sometimes people seriously considered the "Elder Viin is the strongest in the Korean Penins" theory.) Today, with everyone keeping their eyes wide open and engrossed inmunity activities, and no one raising the very reasonable question, "Do we really need to engage in these activities?"¡ªa post appeared. - Anonymous: [Broadcast] Surviving the Ice Age, Day 1: Update on the National Road Management Team heading north.avi It was an anonymous video uploaded by me, Doctor Jang. The reason I didn''t post it under my original nickname, ZERO_SUGAR, was simple: I was extremely meticulous about managing my posts. If you checked my post history, you''d find titles like [Shocking! Was L¨¹ Bu considered a loyalist in his time?!] [The True Ability of Cao Ren: A Cold-Hearted Analysis] [Why Yuan Shao Failed/Refused to Manage His Faction]. Even in the apocalypse, my posts were packed with high-quality, educational content. Views? Likes? I didn¡¯t care. Did Nietzsche whine about poor sales after publishing Thus Spoke Zarathustra? It was the fate of humanity to ignore the wisdom of prophets and sages, and I epted that folly as part of humanity. - Anonymous: ?? What''s this? - Anonymous: Isn''t that Noh Doha and Yoo Jiwon? - Umdeokwang: No way, I hadn''t seen Team Leader Yoo for a while in Busan, but now I find out they were on an extended mission into the Void? - Anonymous: Even Doctor Jang''s there, lol. - [Baekhwa] Highschool Year 6: Hoe~ ??;; Contrary to my indifference, the views on the video quickly shot up. The editing, spiced with the seasoning of a Regressor''s experience and a touch of distortion from the anomaly, made it quite captivating. Though there was no professional film crew involved, the footage had a strong found footage feel, akin to The ir Witch Project. - Anonymous: But where is this ce that it has such an all-star team on the mission? Has there ever been a case where the head of the management team personally joined the Void extermination? ©¸ [Three Thousand] MeteorIsIceLaw: It''s not an all-star team without the Great Witch and the cosying girl from Baekhwa High. - Anonymous: Still, it''s the first time I''ve seen the head of the management team in a video broadcast. ©¸ Anonymous: ?? That person is the head of the management team? Where''s my dark, mustachioed viin leader gone?? ©¸ dolLHOuse: I¡¯ve said it before, the head of the national road management team is small in stature, always wearing ck gloves and a monocle. ©¸ Anonymous: Why is this actually true??? ©¸ [Baekhwa] Newspaper Club 2: Wow, no offense, but he really doesn''t look like his reputation. What shocked the members most was the appearance of the Iron Marshal, Noh Doha. Surprisingly, Noh Doha¡¯s face wasn¡¯t well-known. Crossing into Busan, almost no one would recognize him. How could anyone recognize a workaholic who stayed holed up in the dimly lit headquarters of the National Road Management Team, shuffling through documents all year round? Unlike Seorin, who asionally posted selfies (mostly showing off), or Cheon Yohwa, who uploaded pictures of people tied to a campfire with a cheerful V-sign, Noh Doha never even logged into SGNet¡ªhe was practically a non-human entity. Having only heard rumors, members who had doubted his existence were now glued to my video. - Anonymous: Noh Doha aside, that Ice Age anomaly? It looks pretty dangerous. - Cho Yongsu: Judging by the Statue of Liberty in the video, the location must be Sinuiju. I received reports of strange statues being erected there recently. - Anonymous: Seriously, with an area-wide cold wave reaching -120¡ãC and mind-control abilities, isn¡¯t that just a walking Grand Void? I heard the management team leader is almost powerless; is he really going in there? ©¸ Elder Viin: Since it''s Sinuiju, the Saint of the North is probably nearby, so they should survive as long as they don¡¯t die. ©¸ Anonymous: That¡¯s what we¡¯re worried about... - Anonymous: Damn, those death-row inmates are being wiped out in one go. The videos were uploaded one per day over three days, totaling 120 minutes of footage. It was enough to sweep through all the discussion threads on SGNet. - Anonymous: Holy crap, half of the management team just got wiped out?? ©¸ [National Road] Forbidden Book Management Department 17: I heard Cha Jaehui was the top pick among her peers, so this is heartbreaking?. - Anonymous: Damn, seeing them being dragged by those ghosts is triggering me. One of our guild members got dragged like that and only her wrist was returned, lol. ©¸ Anonymous: Same with us¡¡ -[Baekhwa] Newspaper Club 2: Baekhwa High members, do not post replies with your usernames. Only ess as guests. This is Directive 004. Do not reply to this either. - LiteratureGirl: KYAAAAAAAAAHHHHH! NODOHA AND THE DOCTOR APPEARED! AAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! ©¸Anonymous: ? ©¸LiteratureGirl: Look at this rare ck-haired and ck-haired chemistry, everyone! Seriously, I''ve lived to see this. Suddenly, I feel like life isn''t meaningless, and I get really emotional. TT_TT ©¸Anonymous: ? ©¸KoreanVige: ? ©¸Anonymous: ?? ©¸Anonymous: Why is this author suddenly freaking out? ©¸dolLHOuse: ?? ©¸[Three Thousand] Witch Trial Judge: Hmm... -Anonymous: Who¡¯s that with the blue hair in the corner? Is that someone from the management team? ©¸[National Road] Banned Book Management Unit 17: No? Probably a local coborator. As the video progressed, the number of survivors rapidly decreased. By the first day, there were only 10 people left from the management unit, and their symptoms of mental disorder worsened as time went on. Some were grabbing their own wrists as if possessed by ghosts and harming themselves, while others destroyed supplies stored in the bunker. -Anonymous: I wondered why the elite management team suddenly went to Sinuiju, but if something like this appeared, it makes sense they would go to stop it. ©¸[Three Thousand] Meteor Is Ice Magic: For real. ©¸Anonymous: I thought it was a top-tier team, but now I''m getting a bit worried... On SG Net, posts like "Let''s examine the objective danger level of the Ice Age anomaly" and "The real reason the Ice Age Subjugation Team is totally screwed" flooded in nonstop. By the time the video reached the second day''s evening, only four survivors were left: Noh Doha, Yoo Jiwon, the Saintess, and me. Just as anxiety began to spread among the members that the mission might actually fail¨D¨D What were we doing, holed up inside the Statue of Liberty? ¡°It¡¯s all set. Let¡¯s call Aryeon and Dokseo and escape soon.¡± ¡°Okay.¡± We had already finished preparing for our escape with plenty of time to spare. 9 As I mentioned, the Ice Age anomaly is an otaku-type anomaly. It didn¡¯t distinguish between ¡°imagination¡± and ¡°reality,¡± treating both equally. Therefore, from the anomaly¡¯s perspective, the video I uploaded to SG Net... ¡°Surviving in the Ice Age¡± series, was not mere fabricated fiction. It was perceived as an undeniable truth. The Ice Age firmly believed it had killed the members of the Road Management Unit. In reality, after turning off the camera, I had secretly carried the injured one by one outside of New-New York. Because of this, there were two truths that coexisted for the Ice Age: A. The members of the Road Management Unit weren¡¯t killed and were merely transported beyond the blizzard¡¯s boundary. B. The members of the Road Management Unit were annihted, and the remaining survivors would soon be brainwashed and die. In this state, where two truths coexisted, I edited and uploaded a live video on SG Net. Immediately, belief in "Truth B" skyrocketed. The video was too realistic to be considered manipted, and the Road Management Unit hadn¡¯t bothered to suppress it. Moreover, the anomaly in the video seemed too real. There were still some skeptics questioning its authenticity, but they were in the minority. While there were at most about 20 people who believed in "Truth A," over a thousand believed in "Truth B." ¡°With this, we can manipte the anomaly¡¯s perception.¡± I exined this to the remaining team members, with the camera off. ¡°In this void where the Ice Age anomaly appeared, SG Net works fine. In other words, from the anomaly¡¯s point of view, SG Net is also perceived as reality.¡± "...So the version of truth that SGNet members, who are people in reality, ept will ultimately be the truth in the eyes of the anomaly?" "Exactly, Saintess." I smiled. "The Ice age anomaly must be quite thrilled right now. Though it can''t feel emotions, that''s just a metaphor. Anyway, it''s cornered Noh Doha, the constetions, and that Doctor Jang. The anomaly perceives itself as the actual ruler of the Korean Penins, right?" "Yes." "So, from the anomaly''s point of view, the ideal conclusion has already been reached. If we die here, the ice age anomaly will recognize it as the perfect ending and remain trapped in this video, never perceiving reality again." "...I see." That''s why I edited and uploaded the video to a public tform. With this, we were able to subdue the anomaly that caused insane weather, bringing about minus 120 degrees Celsius in the middle of summer, in just three days. The strategy was to make the anomaly dream of the sweetest dream, then trap it in that dream forever. "All that''s left is to upload the final ending video. But before that, I need two of you to act as if you''re trying to escape and go missing, while the remaining person will stay with me in the bunker and freeze to death." "Ah, then I¡" "I''ll take that role." [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] w Noh Doha interrupted the Saintess. "You, Noh Doha?" The Saintess asked, slightly surprised. "Yes. If you are thest one left, most SGNet viewers would find it suspicious since no one knows your identity... Besides, if I were to abandon others and run away, my image as the chief of the National Road Administration would be damaged." "Ah, true." "Not that I care about image politics, but it might be a good opportunity to show that a high-ranking official stays in the most dangerous ce until the very end..." Noh Doha nced at me through his monocle. "Right, Doctor Jang?" "Hmm." Despite a conversation we had in a drunken heart-to-heart a few nights ago, we hadn''t mentioned that subject since. It was as if nothing had happened. That was natural. Both Noh Doha and I already knew the content, and we had only reiterated it that night. I nodded. "That makes sense. Then, once the camera is rolling, Team Leader Yoo and the Saintess can leave." "Okay." "Just act as if the anomaly possessed you and are going out to search for the missing people." With that, Noh Doha and I were left alone in the bunker inside the Statue of Liberty. It wouldn''t be easy to navigate through the blizzard, but the Saintess and Yoo Jiwon could probably make it. I filmed their backs as they opened the door and left, adding a touch of solemnity in editing. Now, all that remained was to shoot the final ending. "..." "..." Silence. The once-crowded bunker with over twenty people now had just the two of us left. The air, already frozen, felt even colder. "So, how do you n to shoot the ending scene?" "Oh, first, I''ll copse the Statue of Liberty. The two of us will be trapped under the rubble and freeze to death slowly." "Hmm. How will you film the freezing to death part?" "I''ll adjust my aura. I''ll circte warmth through my internal organs and sensory systems but control it so that frost forms perfectly on my skin." "Well, as usual, I leave the anomaly to you." "Yes. But you''ll have to handle the filming with your smartphone. I probably won''t have a free hand." After dividing up the tasks, I tapped the small model of the Statue of Liberty on the world map. It toppled, joining the pile of rubble that included the Eiffel Tower from Paris and Big Ben from London. Rumble¡ª Then, the ice age anomaly, which recognized the Statue of Liberty in New New York as the ''genuine'' one, started to go wild. The blizzard intensified, and the entire statue, including the bunker we were in, began to shake. It felt like an earthquake. In less than 10 seconds, the outer walls of the statue started to peel off and fall with a loud crash. "From now on, don''t leave my aura''s range under any circumstances." I wrapped one arm around Noh Doha''s shoulder, deflecting the falling statue debris with my aura. The rocks, deflected by my aura, quickly piled up around us. Rumble¡ The Statue of Liberty hadpletely copsed. The two of us were now trapped between the rubble, like survivors of a copsed building. A narrow, dark gap. After a while, the dust settled. Noh Doha''s face was just inches away from mine. Fortunately, he didn''t seem injured. "Is it recording well?" "It seems to be recording. But I''ve never done this before, so I can''t be sure." "As long as it''s being recorded, it''s fine. I''ll take care of the editingter. If you feel any pain or cold, let me know right away." "Sure." Noh Doha nced at his hand. Since we were close, his arm rested on my neck. "This is fascinating. It really looks like frost is forming. I don''t feel the cold, though. It''s miracles like this that make me want to learn aura control." "It''s a trick only I can pull off. You can keep giving up; you have no talent for aura, especially as the head of the administration." "Aha." Noh Doha''s eye squinted slightly. "If you stop controlling your aura even for a moment, the cold will seep in through my skin, and I¡¯ll die soon, right?" "..." Noh Doha ced his hand on my chest, near my heart. The outeryer of my chest felt cool. After that, Noh Doha said nothing more. He just rested his hand near my heartbeat and gazed up at my eyes. Whoosh. Snowkes fell beyond the rubble. If I looked at myself reflected in Noh Doha''s eyes, my own skin appeared frostbitten. Both Noh Doha and I encased ourselves in counterfeit cold, protecting the warmth of our hearts. "Not bad." After filming for what seemed like long enough, Noh Doha muttered. "Not bad at all..." * * * There¡¯s a short epilogue. That day, I edited and uploaded the footage of Noh Doha and Doctor Jang''s death by freezing to SGNet. The rubble around us had long since been cleared. We sat on the debris, like sitting on a stone bench. Noh Doha sipped warm coffee next to me and spoke. "So, it looks like for the time being, people will think the two of us are dead. Is that okay?" "I''ve informed Tang Seorin and Yohwa, so any chaos will just be a storm in a teacup. In two days, the constetions will post a message saying, ''It was all an act.''" I checked my smartphone, and SGNet users were in an uproar, reacting to the final video. Korea¡¯s done for, Busan¡¯s over, what will happen to the National Road Administration... it was pure chaos, as if the world was ending. Sess! "Now we wait for the view count to rise, and then I¡¯ll lock all the videos as ''private''." "Oh..." "By cutting off ess to the videos, the ice age anomaly will be sealed within them, bing nothing more than an urban legend trapped in the videos forever. The seal isplete." "Using the inte as a prison for anomalies..." Of course, aside from the SGNet posts, I had deleted all other video files. How should I put it? The ice age anomaly had literally been "posted on the inte" permanently. Though no one would ever see it, as it was locked as private. "Now we just wait for people to click on the videos." "Hmm." Noh Doha sipped his coffee. "So, for the next two days, we¡¯re officially considered dead...?" "Yes. It''s a rare holiday. Anywhere you''d like to go?" "Hmm..." Noh Doha stretched his arms upward, and somewhere in the distance, winter was ending. He nced at my hand. "Now that the hunt¡¯s over, why don''t you turn off your phone? Watching you fiddle with it is distracting." I shrugged and powered down my smartphone. From here on, it was off the record. I¡¯ll just add that the two busiest people on the Korean Penins enjoyed a rare, empty vacation. * * * "Hey, Doctor Jang? Long time no see." "Oh, Tang Seorin. Thanks for managing Busan while the ice age anomaly incident was happening." "Not at all. But about that video." "Surviving the ice age anomaly?" "Yeah. In thest part, just before you and the National Road Administration chief died, you kissed. What was that about? Just curious." "Oh." ...I¡¯ll also add that it took a considerable amount of effort to convince her that it wasn¡¯t the ''truth'', but merely a ''fantasy'' distorted by the anomaly¡¯s editing. The Four Seasons. End. [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] w Chapter 232 [Trantor - Night] [Proofreader - Gun] Chapter 232: Firestarter I 1 This had been mentioned briefly before, but let''s bring it up again: SG Net was the only intemunity in Korea. It wasn¡¯t the "only one in the world." Was it because there were ubiquitous talents like Seo Gyu on other continents as well? No, that wasn''t the reason. It was simply that the world of the Net created by Seo Gyu wasn''t as vast as it seemed. ¡°Ugh. No matter how much I try, the inte speed doesn¡¯t improve in remote areas, brother...¡± ¡°You¡¯re telling me.¡± The term "ubiquitous" originally meant ¡°existing everywhere simultaneously,¡± but in truth, Seo Gyu wasn¡¯t that omnipotent. His reach extended across the Korean Penins. That was as far as the Wi-Fi worked without issues. The inte worked quite well in Shandong, China, and Kyushu, Japan, but beyond that, the speed dropped significantly. Of course, it was possible to connect from the other side of the world¡ªtechnically. For example, if someone in the Uyuni Salt t wanted to open a post, they¡¯d probably be staring at the loading screen for over a year. Me, Doctor Jang¡ªI may have lost my memory, but I was born with the heart and soul of a Korean. When it came to inte speed, I took it more seriously than any other people. I continuously tried to upgrade Seo Gyu¡¯s abilities over countless turns, trying to establish a 5Gwork across the entire globe. The result? ¡°I¡¯m sorry, brother. The Saintess increases her range just by training her aura, but I¡¯m still stuck in the same ce...¡± Complete failure. Utter defeat. Seo Gyu¡¯s growth had been different from the Saintess from the very beginning. ¡°There¡¯s no need to apologize. Instead of expanding the inte speed range, you¡¯ve developed the ability to implement various systems in themunity.¡± ¡°Hmm. But it¡¯s still frustrating.¡± Right. To put it in perspective, Seo Gyu leveled up by unlocking features like [Community UI Design Enhancement], [Image Upload ess], [Video Upload ess], and [Chat Room Creation]. He improved in quality rather than quantity. I patted Seo Gyu¡¯s shoulder. ¡°Wisdom lies in finding a bnce between ambition and satisfaction. You and the Saintess are just headed in different directions, but both of you have great abilities. Don¡¯t beat yourself up.¡± ¡°Hmm. Yes, sir.¡± ¡°Instead of digging into that, how about we go hit the gym together?¡± ¡°Ah, sounds good! I¡¯ll drag Aryeon along too!¡± That day, Sim Aryeon lost 10 mL of tears but gained 1g of muscle. These days, awakened ones who relied solely on their aura without physical strength¡ªthis guild leader would not tolerate such a mindset. In conclusion, spreading the blessings of [Ubiquitous] to all of humanity was no easy task. That¡¯s why no foreign members had ever appeared on SG Net whenever it was mentioned. To make up for that, we had set up a page like this: ¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D [¡ùUrgent Rescue Request for All Humanity¡ù] [Notice: This page appears when essed outside the Korean Penins] 1. Report your situation. 2. Avoid attaching images or videos when writing a post. The smaller the file size, the better. 3. Do not turn off your smartphone until the loading screen disappears. If the power cuts off during loading, your post will not be uploaded. 4. If you want to request help, please specify the location and time as precisely as possible. 5. We may not be able to respond to rescue requests from Pacific ind nations, the Association of Small Ind States, Oceania, North America, South America, or the British Isles. We sincerely apologize. 6. Even if it seems toote, please describe the situation you experienced if possible. It may serve as valuable data for future generations. ¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D An urgent rescue request for all humanity. In short, it was a 119 center for Earth¡¯s people. It was tranted into everynguage I could understand¡ªEnglish, French, Spanish, Chinese, and so on. Awakened individuals in Korea who were casually enjoying themunity couldn¡¯t ess it. In fact, very few even knew that such an emergency page existed. Perhaps that was why. -Mongolia: If there are car wheels in the vige, everyone smaller than those wheels dies. (1 year ago) -Italy: The ck gue is rampant. (2 years ago) -France: Shadows swarm and kill people every time the church bells ring. Their clothes are strange. (4 years ago) -UK: Somewhere, the fumes don¡¯t stop, and the sky has been pitch ck for five years. Is it clear elsewhere? Antis has risen in the Antic. (4 years ago) -Nepal: Too much snow is falling. (5 years ago) -Pu: Kyaaahoooo! I survived! Only my house remains! (5 years ago) The emergency page only asionally saw posts. At its worst, it could go over a year inplete silence. It couldn¡¯t be helped. To ess SG Net, you first had to be an awakened one. On top of that, you had to have heard rumors about ¡°some site called SG Net.¡± You¡¯d need the patience to endure endless loading screens and, of course, a smartphone. The problem was that smartphones and other electronics were easily contaminated by anomalies, making them akin to time bombs. ¡®No wonder it¡¯s hard to ess.¡¯ In reality, most survivor groups around the world had developed a Luddite-like aversion to electronic devices. Even if someone knew about SG Net, they¡¯d probably just dismiss it as a ¡°cursed site.¡± It left a bitter taste in my mouth. ¡®How unfortunate. If only the prophets, who supposedly exploded right after I regressed, were still alive, we could¡¯ve cooperated on these finer details...¡¯ What could I do? Even if it was a doomed game where my teammates quit at the start, I had to carry it to the end. Then, one day. It happened during turn 669. -Russia: I know a way to establish long-distancemunication. (1 year ago) (new!) A post appeared on the emergency page that had never been seen before. 2 A regressor must have patience. Even if it feels like nothing changes and everything repeats endlessly, a small breeze of change will inevitablye¡ªif you don¡¯t give up. -Russia: I know a way to establish long-distancemunication. (1 year ago) (new!) For example, this post. The wind that blew from the frozen tundra of Russia arrived after I had perfectly sealed the "Ice Age" anomaly. Thus, the following inference could be made: ¡®In previous turns, they must¡¯ve died in the Ice Age. But in this turn, they survived and essed SG Net.¡¯ This was why a regressor needed to meddle everywhere like a professional busybody. Without the meddling instinct that saved the tutorial¡¯s noisy guy, there would be no SG Net. Without the desire to smack the face of a viin who constantly disrupted the forum, there would be no Saintess in the north. A regressor¡¯s life was like that. Even if 99% of the incidents they meddled in bore no fruit, the remaining 1% could bloom into an unimaginable bounty in the future. And the new posts on the emergency page were enough to trigger my busybody instincts. -Russia: I know a way to establish long-distancemunication. (1 year ago) -A Chinese friend told me about this site. However, since it might be run by a anomaly, I won¡¯t detail the "long-distancemunication method." -If true "emergency rescue" is possible,e to Naryan-Mar (§¯§Ñ§â§î§ñ§ß-§®§Ñ?§â). - When you see the city from afar, find the most noticeable pir ande to it. - If you can''t find your way, just remember that people once lived here. - From the frozen city. As soon as I read it, my instincts as a regressor whispered: "This has a high chance of being real." The message contained no long-winded exnations about the sender''s situation, no exaggerations¡ªjust the information necessary for the recipient. A tone that conveyed: if you understand the value of "long-distancemunication,"e; if not, don¡¯t bother. It was the typical speech style of a survivor, someone who had let go of expectations about the world but still cast their fishing line, not neglecting even the slightest chance. [Trantor - Night] [Proofreader - Gun] I immediately contacted the administrator. "Seo Gyu, can you trace where this post was uploaded from? Was it really written in Russia?" "Oh, yes. Hold on... Yep, it''s from the far north. Took 11 months to upload the post, brother." 11 months. A period of time in which survival on and swallowed by the void could never be guaranteed, but I quickly packed my gear. Even if the sender had died during those 11 months, I could move faster in the next turn. ¡°I''m heading to Russia for a bit.¡± ¡°¡You know, no one in these times says they¡¯ll just ¡®pop over¡¯ to a ce that far, except you, brother¡.¡± I set off north. The name ¡°Naryan-Mar¡± means ¡°Red City.¡± As you can probably guess, it was a nned city during the Soviet era, initially established as a settlement for coal workers. Later, the region saw a boom in oil production, making it a fairly prosperous area. By the way, Naryan-Mar was the 44th stop for the Olympic torch ry in the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics. From this point, it was already possible to specte that the curse of the number "4" had descended. "Oh." As I approached the north, crossing vast voids, the meaning behind the Russian survivor''s post became instantly clear. - When you see the city from afar, find the most noticeable pir ande to it. In the middle of a snow-covered wilderness. Amidst a sea of white, where the horizon and sky were indistinguishable, a dark "column" of smoke was rising. That was the pir the author of the message had mentioned. No signs of human presence were visible anywhere, but that smoke column unmistakably forced attention, a remnant of civilization. "Impressive visibility, even after 11 months. Is the sender still alive?" I hurried my steps. ...Surprisingly, I still had to travel 1,000 kilometers to reach the source of the smoke, the "Red City." To see the smoke from this far, it must be the work of the sender''s abilities, I thought. When I finally reached the area near the smoke, I saw a middle-aged man feeding reindeer. "Hmm?" Sensing my presence, the man turned around. His eyebrows, dusted white with snow, registered surprise. He immediately put down the feeding trough and pulled out a crossbow. However, he didn¡¯t point it at me¡ªhe just held it still. ¡°Who are you? Are you human?¡± ¡°I am.¡± I replied in Russian. The man didn¡¯t lower his guard. Nearby, the reindeer softly crunched through the snow. ¡°Only those who aren¡¯t human im to be. There¡¯s no one living in the direction you came from.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t jump to conclusions just because the Earth is a loop. That is, assuming t Earth theory hasn¡¯t made aeback.¡± ¡°t... what?¡± ¡°You posted something on SGNet, didn¡¯t you?¡± The man¡¯s hand, holding the crossbow, hesitated. ¡°SGNet? You mean the inte site?¡± ¡°Yes. It started uploading a year ago and finished four days ago. I received that report and came all the way from the Korean Penins.¡± ¡°My God. That site was real?¡± The man muttered, looking baffled. ¡°¡Wait a minute. You¡¯re telling me the post went up four days ago, and you made it here from Korea in just four days?¡± ¡°That¡¯s correct.¡± ¡°No, do you expect me to believe that? I¡¯d sooner believe the site is cursed by anomalies and you¡¯re their envoy.¡± ¡°Hm.¡± I turned my back to him. It was an instinctive way to show I meant no harm. Then, I drew my sword and swung it toward the vast, endless snowfield. Kwarrrrrrrrrr...! The whitend split in two. The ground beneath, long buried under ice and hidden from sunlight, was exposed. One clean cut. A 10-centimeter-wide canyon suddenly stretched all the way to the horizon. I sheathed my sword and turned back to face the man. The crossbow had slipped from his hands. The reindeer scattered in fright. ¡°As you can see, I am the strongest of the remaining humans.¡± ¡°¡¡¡± ¡°I¡¯m a bit tired after running non-stop for four days. May Ie in as a guest?¡± The man¡¯s lips quivered before he looked down at the crossbow, half-buried in snow. He picked it up and slung it over his shoulder. ¡°¡A rare guest indeed. Follow me.¡± It turned out that aura could solve any problem. And if it didn¡¯t? Well, then, perhaps you need to ask yourself if you have enough aura. [Trantor - Night] [Proofreader - Gun] Chapter 233 [Trantor - Night] [Proofreader - Gun] Chapter 233: Firestarter II 3 ¡°Call me Ns.¡± ¡°I am the Undertaker. Pleased to meet you.¡± ¡°Undertaker (§¤§â§à§Ò§à§Ó§ë§Ú§Ü)? That can''t be your real name unless you¡¯re a wrestler. Quite a grim nickname you¡¯ve got there.¡± The man who introduced himself as Ns lived in a shabby tent. The outer walls of the tent were coated with reindeer skins to improve instion. It was a rather flimsy structure to weather an apocalypse. It probably wasn¡¯t his base but rather a temporary hideout. ¡®It seems he¡¯s cautious enough not to reveal the location of his actual base to someone he doesn¡¯t fully trust yet.¡¯ The man was indeed prudent. I had sensed that subtly from reading his posts on the forum. ¡°Your nickname is just as peculiar as mine. Ns¡ªdoesn¡¯t that mean ¡®person¡¯ in the Nsnguage?¡± ¡°¡A man from the Far East knows about the Ns?¡± The man looked surprised. He seemed as astonished as when I had cast the spell Icebreaker. Although the name ¡°Ns¡± might sound unfamiliar to Koreans, mentioning their traditional attire could evoke an instant sense of recognition. Parka (§±§Ñ§â§Ü§Ñ). The winter coat we often wear derives its name from the Nsnguage. The man before me was also wearing a parka made from reindeer fur. ¡°Of course. They¡¯re an indigenous people who have lived in this region for ages. I heard they used to be nomads.¡± ¡°That¡¯s right. I¡¯m a Ns.¡± From that moment, the man¡¯s demeanor softened. He brought firewood from outside the tent, lit a stove, and personally brewed tea for me. He even offered biscuits to go with the tea, along with pieces of Hershey¡¯s chocte. In an apocalyptic setting, this was the finest hospitality a stranger could offer¡ªa premium omakase. I couldn¡¯t be outdone. I took out four bottles of distilled liquor from my backpack as a gift, and the man instantly treated me as if I were a long-lost rtive. ¡°My real name is different,¡± the man, his face flushed from the alcohol, confessed. ¡°But ever since everyone in the city died and I was the only one left, I changed my name to Ns. I didn¡¯t think anyone would ever call me that again... until I saw that site was real.¡± ¡°Was there a particr reason you chose the name Ns?¡± ¡°As I said, I was the only one left alive.¡± His beard quivered as he sighed. ¡°I used to think I was just an ordinary person. Even though my parents were Ns, I never really thought about my heritage.¡± But after the void descended and wiped out the people in the city, one of his surviving rtives had said this: - Hey, we might be thest Ns left on Earth. - If we all die, who will know that we even existed? The man took another swig of liquor. ¡°It was my uncle who said that. He was always an odd one. He worked at a bank but also ran a small reindeer farm and wore traditional Ns clothes. Oh, did you see the reindeer outside? They were originally his.¡± ¡°I see.¡± ¡°Anyway, even before the world went crazy, he was obsessed with native culture. Ha! The man could barely even speak Ns.¡± Oddly enough, both the man in front of me and his uncle had been ordinary city workers. Trying to recreate the nomadic traditions now felt awkward and out of ce. ¡°And your uncle...?¡± ¡°He died two years ago. One of the reindeer he raised turned into a monster. It grew to nearly 10 meters tall, with horns that were... magnificent!¡± The man looked into the distance, his breath tinged with drunkenness. ¡°Truly, truly, the most cursedly beautiful horns I¡¯ve ever seen. My uncle was gored to death by those horns.¡± ¡°What happened to the reindeer?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know. There¡¯s no way someone like me could take down such a monster. I hid behind cover until it disappeared beyond the snowfields. Then, I rushed to my uncle. He was already dead.¡± ¡°My condolences.¡± ¡°No need. He died at the hands of the reindeer he cherished. That¡¯s a noble death, isn¡¯t it? He was a troublesome man.¡± Ns put the bottle down. ¡°So now, I¡¯m doing my best to uphold Ns traditions, however clumsily. I raise reindeer, set up tents...¡± ¡°I think that¡¯s admirable.¡± ¡°Well, I don¡¯t really take pride in my heritage. But like my uncle said, if I die, this tribe ends. There won¡¯t be anyone left who speaks the Nsnguage.¡± ¡°¡¡± ¡°It¡¯s just something to do.¡± We spent the night near the stove, warming the air with our breath as we drank liquor, ate biscuits, and cheap chocte. The next morning. Barely rested, the man woke me up and guided me somewhere. ¡°Sorry for keeping you in such a cold ce all night. Follow me this way.¡± Instinctively, I realized that Ns was now leading me to his real home, not just a temporary base. What was once known as the Red City had turnedpletely white. Even the four- and five-story concrete buildings were almost entirely buried under snow, with only the very tops peeking out. ¡°It seems that the White Army emerged victorious in the second Russian Civil War.¡± ¡°Hm? Ha! Undertaker, you¡¯re fluent in Russian and know our history well.¡± Ns seemed pleased with my dark humor. He had made his home in a regional hospital. It used to be a five-story building, but now it had been reduced to just a single floor, buried in the snow. Ns climbed adder to the hospital¡¯s roof. Several frozen corpsesy nearby, their foreheads pierced by crossbow bolts, but we didn¡¯t bother paying attention to them. ¡°Look at this.¡± Ns pointed to a structure he had set up in a rooftop corner. It resembled both a chimney and a small lighthouse, constantly emitting smoke. It was the source of the smoke column I had observed from over 1,000 kilometers away. ¡°That¡¯s the ¡®long-distancemunication method¡¯ I discovered.¡± ¡°This is... a beacon?¡± ¡°Exactly.¡± A beacon. A primitive means of long-distancemunication used since ancient times. It had proven its usefulness, even though it faced ridicule during the Imjin War. Most modern people probably associate beacons with the epic scene from The Lord of the Rings. In literature, beacons date back as early as 458 BC, appearing in the prologue of Agamemnon by the Greek tragedian Aeschylus. In that scene, the guards panic after seeing the beacon, which is quite fun to read¡ªespecially if you¡¯re familiar with The Lord of the Rings. ¡°Can such a primitive method really work for long-distancemunication? The void distorts perception all around us.¡± ¡°The void? You mean that hell full of monsters?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t worry. The beacon I¡¯ve lit crosses through that hell just fine. You saw the smoke column yourself, didn¡¯t you? Long before you arrived here.¡± That was true. ¡°This may look like fire, but it¡¯s something different.¡± Ns casually tossed some firewood into the furnace built into the beacon. ¡°Look here. Do you see the firewood sitting untouched inside the furnace?¡± ¡°Oh.¡± ¡°You need to add wood to make the mes rise, but it doesn¡¯t actually burn the wood. It¡¯s just the act of putting it in that counts.¡± ¡°And if it rains or snows...?¡± ¡°It still burns perfectly.¡± My eyes shot open. ¡°Wait a minute. I observed the pir of smoke from roughly 1,000 kilometers away. So, no matter the weather, does this beacon you lit always reach beyond 1,000 kilometers?¡± ¡°Hm. You deduced that well without me exining. I don''t know if it''s exactly 1,000 kilometers, but it certainly reaches very far.¡± ¡°...!¡± No way, isn''t this amazing! I excitedly paced around near the beacon. No matter where I looked, it was just an ordinary structure made of bricks. ¡°This is extremely, incredibly fascinating, Mr. Ns. What exactly are the conditions for activating this ability?¡± [Trantor - Night] [Proofreader - Gun] ¡°First, you have to build a beacon. I experimented with using a torch, but the fire wouldn''t work while moving. You have to build it so that it clearly looks like a beacon to anyone who sees it. Even if you just pile up some logs, smoke will rise, but the effect is weaker.¡± ¡°Is that all?¡± ¡°No, nowes the crucial part.¡± Ns shook his head. ¡°If you just light an ordinary fire, it¡¯s useless. The strange, magical me only forms from the fire I light.¡± I gathered my thoughts. ¡°I see. So, if I were to take the fire from the me burning here in this beacon and transfer it somewhere else¡?¡± ¡°Then a me just asrge, reaching the sky, would burn. That is, if the beacon is properly built.¡± ¡°Ah.¡± I immediately conducted an experiment. I left the outskirts of Naryan-Mar and built another beacon somewhere suitable. Then, I took a me from Ns'' beacon and transferred it using a torch. Whooosh... After cing firewood in the furnace and lighting it, it wasn¡¯t long before the me bloomed like a flower. Soon, smoke started rising through the chimney¨D ¡°Ooh!¡± The smoke rose straight up. As if there were no wind blowing in the sky, the smoke shot up vertically, continuously. It was like a pir of smoke reaching the sky, resembling a space elevator. ¡®¡This might just be a small breakthrough for my regression project.¡¯ A very simple ability. ¡®If you light a fire on a beacon, it can be seen from far away.¡¯ It didn¡¯t particrly aid personal survival, nor did it contribute tobat strength. But from this simple ability, I sensed some potential, just as I had when I first discovered Seo Gyu¡¯s Ubiquitous. ¡®If I could establish these beacons every 1,000 kilometers across the world¡?¡¯ We wouldn¡¯t be able to exchange sophisticated information like on amunity forum. ¡®But at least we¡¯d be able to tell which areas were in danger immediately.¡¯ I stayed in the area for a few more days, experimenting with Ns¡¯ beacon. Just as he imed, the beacon didn¡¯t go out even in a snowstorm. It was an incredible discovery. ¡°Mr. Ns, I think the name Sacred me would be fitting for this ability.¡± ¡°Sacred me? You mean like the Olympic torch?¡± ¡°That¡¯s right.¡± ording to some ounts, in ancient Greece, the me from the Temple of Delphi was transported to the temples of other cities. For the Greeks, Delphi was the center of the world. The me from the core of heaven and earth was transferred to various cities, and from there to the hearths of ordinary citizens. Thus, the me burning in my hearth was connected to those in other homes, and when the core of the world exhaled, the mes exhaled in unison. The world was made of fire. The Sacred me, therefore, was the embodiment of the idea of ¡°existing everywhere at all times¡±¡ªthe true form of ubiquitous. ¡°That seems a bit grand, don¡¯t you think...?¡± ¡°Not at all. I¡¯ll take the me you¡¯ve nurtured and spread it across the world.¡± ¡°...¡± Ns scratched his cheek. He hadn¡¯t expected me to get this excited. ¡°Well, if you insist. Use it well.¡± 4 There¡¯s a brief epilogue. When the time came to part ways with Ns, I asked him subtly. ¡°Do you have any ns toe to Busan?¡± ¡°Busan?¡± ¡°Yes. It¡¯s not exactly the best ce to live, but it¡¯s functioning well enough as a city.¡± Ns fell into thought. ¡°...No, I don¡¯t feel like leaving my homnd at this point.¡± ¡°I see.¡± ¡°There¡¯s nothing tying me to life anymore. Even posting on that site was a kind of amusement. Meeting someone like you at the end was a blessing from the gods.¡± Ns stroked his reindeer¡¯s neck. ¡°I can¡¯t leave these creatures behind, either... If you¡¯re that grateful, how about teaching me the secret to your aura or whatever your ability is?¡± ¡°All right. I¡¯ll give you a crash course.¡± In the end, Ns stayed behind, living alone in the ¡°White City.¡± In my 669th turn, I was incredibly busy traveling around the world, proving the efficacy of the Sacred me. Perhaps one day I¡¯ll have the opportunity to talk in detail about the work of building beacons around the world. After several years ofpleting the project, I returned to Naryan-Mar with a bottle of the finest distilled liquor. ¡°Mr. Ns?¡± However, Ns was nowhere to be found. I couldn¡¯t find him in the tent where he had served me biscuits and chocte, nor at the hideout on the hospital rooftop. Only the ever-burning beacon remained, flickering in solitude. I found Ns¡¯ body in a snowy field far from Naryan-Mar. There, he had died, impaled by the antlers of a reindeer about 15 meters tall. It was mutual destruction. ¡°...¡± The reindeer was so huge that neither it nor Ns¡¯ body was fully buried in the snow. As I buried the man who stubbornly upheld the traditions of his lineage until his death, I thought to myself. They say that when a person¡¯s time to die approaches, they begin to organize their past. If so, might something simr happen when an entire race faces extinction? That he was thest survivor of a lineage passed down through generations. The mes and smoke that gently burned around the world were, in retrospect, likely Ns¡¯ legacy. -The Firestarter. END. [Trantor - Night] [Proofreader - Gun] Chapter 234 [Trantor - Night] [Proofreader - Gun] Chapter 234: The Performer I 1 While we were talking about the relics of past times, another figure suddenly came to mind. But before I delve into that, let me ask you something first: Have you ever heard of the concept of a "cover song"? A cover song is when someone sings an existing song with their own voice, effectively "oveying" their voice onto the original track. You don''t have to look far¡ªif you''ve ever gone to a karaoke room and sung songs, that''s essentially a cover song. A particrly famous cover singer is in the southern part of the Korean Penins. "Hey, where are you going, Aryeon?" "Oh, today there''s a concert. I worked hard to gather my rations to buy a ticket..." "A concert? You mean ''Tang Seorin''s''?" "Huh? N-no, that kind of obscure Latin choir performance isn''t really my thing... I''m going to see Cecilia''s concert!" The masked Queen of Songs. Her stage name is Cecilia (¥»¥·¥ê¥¢). As you might guess from the fact that her name is written in Japanese rather than English ("Cecelia"), she was Japanese. However, this fact wasn''t widely known. To be honest, probably fewer than 10 people across the whole Korean Penins knew. I only found outter from the Saintess. Thanks to this strict secrecy, rumors often circted on SG (a post-apocalypticwork). - Anonymous: Does anyone know Cecilia''s identity? ©¸[MeteorIsMagic]: I tried digging with some close friends, but there wasn''t much information. - Anonymous: I can''t understand why people are fans of such a nd singer. Apparently, she has encore performances exclusively for VIPs after the concerts. There''s definitely some secret show happening behind the scenes... ©¸KoreanVige: You idiot, I''ve bought VIP tickets dozens of times, and there''s no such thing. ©¸Anonymous: Without proof, it''s nothing. - YoriKing: I think she has a truly beautiful voice! It''s amazing how she can soothe the hearts of people in such a deste world with her songs. - Anonymous: So, is Lily part of the "Blue Pill" thing? Her appearance, origins, age, gender, hobbies¡ªnone of this information was revealed about "The Masked Singer." She simply performed at a specific time and ce, singing every time. How was such a thing possible? Was it because personal information had been wiped out in the apocalypse? That probably yed a role. But there was a more decisive reason. "These days, SG is buzzing about Cecilia every time it''s 7 o''clock. Is she really that special, with no distinctive traits?" "How can you say that she has no distinctive traits? Guild Leader! Cecilia doesn''tck traits¡ªshe has every trait! Every. Single. One!" Cecilia was the ultimate cover singer. She could perfectly imitate any song¡ªrecreating the original performance without fail. When she sang a Michael Jackson song, she became the "Heavenly Michael." When she belted out a Celine Dion hit, she transformed into the "Empress Celine." She was a master of transformation. That was Cecilia''s awakened ability. She could change her voice and vocal tone at will, delivering a 100% faithful reproduction of any original performance, making it impossible to pinpoint her identity based on her voice. Whenever the song changed, so did her voice. ¡°Guild Leader, would you like toe with me? You have tons of ration vouchers, so you could easily buy a ticket, even from scalpers." ¡°It wouldn''t be fun if I went with you.¡± ¡°Huh? Why? Oh, I always go to these concerts alone anyway.¡± ¡°...¡± I went with her. As expected of someone who was second only to "Tang Seorin" in fame across the Korean Penins, Cecilia''s concert tickets were expensive. Even the venue was special. While most businesses in Busan reused buildings from the previous era, Cecilia''s performance venue was custom-built by gathering architects. It was a beautiful wooden structure. In the middle was the stage, with about 50 tables set up in front of it. To watch the performance, you had to order food as well. ¡°If Tang Seorin is an idol for the masses, then this ce is all about luxury...¡± ¡°Wow, Guild Leader! I''ve never been up in the VIP section before!¡± Sim Aryeon jumped with excitement. The VIPs were seated on the second-floor terrace in private rooms, where they could enjoy an expensive meal while watching the performance from above. It was an opulent setup, hard to believe in a post-apocalyptic world. ¡°This is your first time? But you earn a lot of money, don''t you? Did you gamble it away again?¡± ¡°Hehe, well, when I win, I be the center of attention at the table, and I can''t resist how satisfying that feels...¡± ¡°Last time, you got stabbed in an alley because of that. Don''t you ever get tired of it?¡± ¡°The fact is, no matter how many times they stab me, I can just heal myself with my self-regeneration ability.¡± ¡°...¡± Just then, the lights dimmed. Staff carrying torches lit the surrounding area, instantly transforming the atmosphere. Aryeon, who had been cutting into her steak, eximed, ¡°Wow! This is amazing!¡± sttering some saliva in her excitement. She was a truly embarrassing kid, no matter where I took her. -Ah, ah, ah¡ In the center of the darkened stage stood Cecilia, holding a microphone. The microphone wasn''t actually working. In this world, electronic devices were always at risk of being contaminated by the strange entities. But for singers, microphones were like armor. Even if it wasn''t functioning, no singer would step onto the stage¡ªthe battlefield¡ªwithout their armor. -Ah, ah, ah ? With her facepletely hidden behind a mask, not a single inch of her skin exposed, Cecilia sang like someone dressed for the Venice Carnival. -Kyaaahhh! -Ceciliaaaa! The fans, who had paid a hefty price for tickets, screamed with joy. Tonight''s performance was dedicated entirely to a legendary British rock band. The entire concert consisted of their songs. With most electronic devices deemed too risky to use, Cecilia was almost the only way to experience the "original-level" version of the music they loved. For the fans, it was impossible not to go wild. -Ah, ah, ah ? On the other hand, this was the easiest way to make money for Cecilia. Think about it. Every day, she could pick a famous musician from around the world, and just by performing one of their songs, money would roll in. By announcing her six-month concert schedule in advance on SG, fans of those musicians would pay top dor and travel to see her perform. She didn''t have to worry about creating new songs or whether the repetition would bore her fans. Cecilia''s concerts were always sold out. The fans were happy, and so was the singer¡ªa win-win. ¡°Hm.¡± But as for me... I couldn''t bring myself to be enthusiastic about Cecilia''s performance. Maybe "I couldn''t be attached to it" would be a better way to put it. Even considering that I was a devoted follower of "Tang Seorin" and believed she was the greatest singer on the Korean Penins, it still felt that way. ¡°Isn''t she, in the end, just a highly advanced recording machine?¡± Granted, she was a "live" recording machine, which made her different, but... I just preferred performances where you could hear the singer''s own voice. Even when it came to cover singers, I liked those who sang with their own voice. That said, considering my unique circumstances, my harsh assessment of Cecilia had to be taken with a grain of salt. ¡°After all, I can just y any song in my head with my [Perfect Memory] ability whenever I want.¡± In other words, Cecilia''s live performances held almost no value for me. In fact, watching Sim Aryeon beside me, screaming, ¡°Kyaaah!¡± and, ¡°Cecilia, you''re the best!¡± while shedding tears of joy, was far more entertaining than the actual concert. After the main performance and the encore ended, there was a special fan-signing session for VIPs. Cecilia¡ªthe Queen of Busan- wearing her Vian mask¡ªgreeted us. ¡°Hello.¡± Her voice was still tuned to the British rock band''s lead singer. [Trantor - Night] [Proofreader - Gun] ¡°Thank you so much foring to the show. Would you like an autograph?¡± ¡°No, just give it to her.¡± ¡°Okay.¡± Scribble, scribble. Cecilia smoothly signed the autograph, toying with the fan. ¡°Here you go... ¡.¡± When she handed over the autograph and our eyes met, Cecilia hesitated for some reason. To be specific, she paused for about 0.5 seconds. It wasn''t long, and her face was hidden behind the mask, but I could sense a slight moment of surprise. It wasn''t strange. My face was well known in many ces. The hero of the Ten ns Annihtion Battle showing up as a VIP must have been a bit surprising. "...Do you really not want my autograph?" "Ah, no. The child I came with today is a fan of yours, so I just followed along. Your performance was really enjoyable." "...Thank you." A somewhat uncertain response. But honestly, I wasn''t too concerned with the mood of a singer I didn''t even know. Especially since next to me, Sim Aryeon was making a loudmotion after receiving the signed paper. Barely managing to calm Aryeon down, I left the autograph session. "Did you have fun?" "Yes! Thanks to you, Guild Leader, I even got a... personal autograph... Guild Leader, you''re the best! I''ll never forget today''s concert!" "Good. I''m d you enjoyed it." "Hehe... Oh! Right! Just a sec, let me run back to the VIP seats and take a picture!" "Hmm? Why a picture?" "I need to post it on SGNet!" "......." That day, a post appeared on SGNet with a flipping-off emoji and the title, ''That broke loser couldn''t even stay for Cecilia''s VIP performance, where did he go? lol''. Aryeon was truly someone to be embarrassed by, no matter where she went. I nced at the signed paper that Aryeon had hung in a frame like a treasure. "To Sim Aryeon, I hope it was a good night." Nowhere on the signed paper was there Cecilia''s signature. That odd fact stuck in my mind. 2 So, what''s the music taste of someone like me? Let''s leave out Busan¡¯s Best Idol, Tang Seorin as a unique exception. I prefer unknown singers who I can casually listen to while eating lunch or dinner at a restaurant. "Hello, I''m called Calypso. I''ll sing a song I wrote andposed myself... Ruins." For instance, take this musician named Calypso. She worked diligently every lunch hour, whether it''s a stew restaurant or a barbecue joint. Armed with just a guitar, she sang alone. "Is it the broken half-moon, or is it your eyes...?" To put it kindly, her skills were not impressive. In today''s world, musicians like her didn''t get paid by the restaurant owners. They were simply allowed to use the space and had to rely on tips from customers to get by. Comparing her to The Queen, Cecilia''s grand stages felt like an insult. Cecilia''s performances were held at some of the most luxurious ces in Busan, while Calypso sang at restaurants that were half-copsed with a sign reading ''We''re still open!''* Naturally, the spending habits of the customers differed. Weak performers often just filled the restaurant''s background noise and left empty-handed. "I enjoyed the performance today." "Oh...! Doctor Jang! Th-thank you!" And I liked such musicians. Calypso''s Korean was clumsy, probably because she''de over from Japan. It couldn''t have been easy to adapt to a foreignnd, yet I saw her in 9 out of the 10 restaurants I frequented. That meant she was humbly asking every restaurant owner for a gig wherever she could. In other words? ¡®A hardworking young person!¡¯ I didn''t have any creepy desire to keep some small-time musician all to myself. Unlike Noh Doha, who hated young people, I just wanted to help and support hardworking youth whenever I saw them. The amount I donated wasn''t excessive but not too little either. Enough so they wouldn''t starve. Just enough for them to hang on, improve their skills, and break through¡ªuntil they could endure the fight against themselves and their circumstances. I wanted to extend the little bit of time that this broken world denied them. "I enjoyed the performance today." "Oh, yes! Th-thank you!" Calypso gave a slight bow. But something felt off. Normally, we would have parted by now, but Calypso lifted her head with a determined expression. "Um, um, excuse me...!" "Hmm." I gave a kind smile. "There''s no need." "Actually...! Oh, uh, huh?" "You don''t need to thank me too much. You don''t even have to remember my name. I''m just a nameless fan supporting you, Calypso. That''s enough for me." "Oh..." "Keep it up." "......." I raised my thumb, then gracefully left the restaurant. I could sense Calypso''s confusion behind me, but I cut it off with determination. ¡®Perfect.¡¯ There was pride in my footsteps. This was the epitome of what a role-model fan should be! Feeling so pleased with myself, I immediately spoke to the ¡®Invisible Constetion¡¯ as soon as I entered a secluded alley. "Wasn''t that heartwarming, Saintess?" [Hmm...] "Whenever I see people working hard, regardless of their age or background, it fills my heart with joy." [Yes... It is, isn''t it?] "But then again, remember that fancy restaurant the other day? Tsk. They only let in 50 guests, iming it''s some high-end strategy to perform songs. Can you believe it? They''re still doing business like that in a world that might fall apart at any moment. What a shame." [......] "Sometime in the future, I''ll definitely create a system where everyone can enjoy entertainment, no matter who they are." But the Saintess''s reaction was lukewarm. Given her nature of staying cooped up in her aquarium all day, I was likely her only human conversation partner. Our exchanges should have been livelier, but something was off today. [Um... Doctor Jang?] "Yes?" [I''ve been debating whether to tell you this, but I can''t keep it a secret any longer¡ªit would be unfair to you. I need to say something.] "What do you mean?" The Saintess took a deep breath and spoke. [The musician you''ve been personally supporting, Calypso?] "Ah. Yes." [She''s actually Cecilia.] Blink. "What?" [In other words, the unknown musician you praised and the Queen of Busan you criticized¡ªthey are, in fact, the exact same person.] "......." [I''m sorry. I knew how much you were enjoying being her anonymous benefactor, so I thought it''d be better not to say anything. But looking back, I think I should have told you from the start.] Silence. "...So Calypso¡ªno, Cecilia..." [Of course, Cecilia recognized you. Just now, she probably wanted to reveal her true identity to you. She was likely gathering the courage to do so.] "......." [......] "......." [I''m sorry. Do you wish I hadn''t said anything?] This is all Sim Aryeon''s fault! [Trantor - Night] [Proofreader - Gun] Chapter 235 [Trantor - Night] [Proofreader - Gun] Chapter 235: The Performer II 3 Do you know the overwhelmingly good advantage of living as a regressor? It''s that you can "correct" your dark past in the next turn. History is the victor¡¯s record, and in the apocalypse, surviving itself is the victory. Do you get it? If you see a regressor in this era, think of them as "survivors." ¨D¨DDormammu. Now, the mistakes of the previous turn officially no longer exist. The past, where I made a fool of myself in front of my favorite street singer, has been erased. In this new turn, unlike before, I became a passionate fan of the singer Cecillia along with Aryeon. ¡°Guildmaster...! I can¡¯t believe I¡¯m fangirling with you! This feels like a dream!¡± Every time there was a concert, I would spare no expense and always bought VIP seats, regardless of the concert¡¯s content. I ordered the most expensive items from the menu during the performances and bought out all the merchandise. ¡°I¡¯m so happy! Meeting you at Busan Station was the luckiest moment of my life!¡± ¡°Because you can brag about it non-stop on S?¡± ¡°Yes!¡± Aryeon¡¯s affection for me hit an unprecedented high. In contrast, Tang Seorin, Korea''s number one idol, grew noticeably colder towards me. Tang Seorin''s nickname was "The Diva," while Cecillia''s stage name was "The Queen of Song." It was a situation where a fight was bound to happen. Though my true loyalty had always been with The Diva, in this turn, Tang Seorin stopped singing for me when we were alone. It pained me, but there was no other way. The sole purpose of all this effort was to correct my dark past rted to Cecillia=Calypso. "Ah, you¡¯vee again! Doctor Jang, and Miss Aryeon! Should I sign for both of you?" ¡°Yes, please.¡± ¡°I¡¯m the one who¡¯s always grateful!¡± In this turn, Cecillia now recognized me as her fan without a doubt. But that wasn¡¯t all. Just as in the previous turns, I continued attending every one of Calypso''s performances, no matter if she was wearing a mask, singing cover songs, or originals. Whether masked or not, I, the Doctor Jang, always existed as Cecillia=Calypso¡¯s fan. Naturally, this had to be on her mind. ¡°W-wait a minute! Mr. Doctor Jang!¡± That¡¯s why, when Calypso chased after me one day after I had generously donated to a live performance at a soup restaurant, I wasn¡¯t surprised at all. ¡°Yes? What is it?¡± ¡°Huff, it¡¯s just¡ Huff. Wait¡!¡± ¡°Please, take your time.¡± Calypso was panting heavily, having run after me with her guitar strapped to her back. When she finally raised her head, her expression was resolute, as if she had made a firm decision. ¡°I¡¯ve been wanting to tell you this for a while! But I never had the chance. The truth is, I¡¡± ¡°I already know.¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°You¡¯re Cecillia, aren¡¯t you?¡± ¡°...!¡± Calypso froze as if struck by lightning, her whole body trembling. Her blue eyes stared at me in disbelief. This was the moment of the first strike. I maintained a calm, rxed smile, yet imbued it with deep meaning. As a regressor who had honed his acting skills across countless turns, my facial expressions were already at a level where I could do method acting 24/7. I had mastered the art of influencing others¡¯ thoughts with just a look. I could not afford any mistakes now, havinge back countless times for this moment. ¡°H-how did you¡? Not even the manager knows, and I didn¡¯t tell anyone¡¡± ¡°A true fan can recognize the artist on any stage.¡± ¡°...!¡± The second strike. Artists are creatures who live with an ingrained romantic notion about their fans. They harbor the deep-rooted fantasy that somewhere, a fan on a white horse wille and fully understand their artistry. Why else would the old Chinese idiom "ÖªÒô" (zhiyin) exist? It reflects the deeply ingrained dream of every artist¡ªto find a soulmate who truly understands their art. To Cecillia=Calypso, who had spent her life proving herself only by covering other musicians'' songs, my words were like a drug. And to top it off, the one fan who truly recognized her was the hero of the Ten ns Extermination! The dopamine surged through Cecillia=Calypso¡¯s brain, already oxygen-deprived from running after me. ¡°B-but¡¡± She stammered in awkward Korean. ¡°I can¡¯t sing at all as Calypso. My voice, tone, everything¡¯s different... There¡¯s no way you could recognize me¡¡± ¡°Even if the voice heard on the surface is different, the soul inside the song doesn¡¯t change. I¡¯ve always found sce in the emotion Calypso puts into her songs.¡± ¡°Th-then why didn¡¯t you acknowledge it earlier?¡± ¡°I¡¯m just a fan. Just as Calypso continued to sing in that restaurant even when no one recognized her, I was content just listening, whether you knew it or not.¡± ¡°¡!¡± Third strike. Out. On this day, both the unknown singer Calypso and the masked Queen of Song, Cecillia, were saved. After we exchanged promises to meet again, we parted ways. On the way back, the Saintess called me through the celestial voice chat. [I''m impressed, Mr. Doctor Jang.] [No one would¡¯ve recognized Cecillia¡¯s true identity since all anyone ever heard were the voices of the original artists she mimicked.] [You truly have the insight of a regressor who¡¯s lived for hundreds of years. I admire you.] ¡°You tter me.¡± [As someone who uses irvoyance to observe people constantly, I¡¯ve bezy when ites to reading minds.] [Seeing you, I think I need to take time to reflect and reconsider my habits.] ¡°I¡¯m sure you¡¯ll do excellently, Saintess. I¡¯ll be rooting for you.¡± Throughout this whole process, I felt no guilt. Am I despicable? People would say, "That¡¯s typical of Aryeon¡¯s guild master." Like guild master, like guild members, right? What nonsense. Just as beauty only exists when recognized by someone, ugliness doesn¡¯t exist if no one observes it. Such was my "ugliness." How could I be condemned for something no one knew about? ¡®Mission aplished: Historical revisionism sessful!¡¯ However... At that moment, I didn¡¯t know yet. That one day, in the distant future, a child named Oh Dokseo would appear, observe my entire life, and write a book to expose it to the world¨D¨D. 4 Back to the story. ¡°I originally lived in Fukuoka, but everyone around me died... It was too painful. I didn¡¯t have the courage to live there anymore, so I moved to Busan.¡± ¡°I see.¡± ¡°Yes. I already knew a bit of Korean, and I had heard rumors that Busan was still rtively intact...¡± The story Cecillia=Calypso shared wasn¡¯t all that unusual for the times. People who had lost their families were everywhere. That¡¯s why people stuck together so closely. To rece the blood ties they had lost. In fiction, there¡¯s often a clich¨¦ that the apocalypse breaks old bonds and leads to every person for themselves. While that did happen asionally, reality was quite the opposite. Survivors desperately united. If there was no reason to unite, they even invented new terms like ¡°Empty Bond¡± to justify sticking together. ¡°But it¡¯s been a bit tough adjusting as an outsider... Haha.¡± What made Cecillia=Calypso different was that she embraced her role as an outsider. In short, her identity was unclear. Did she have any connections in Korea? No. All her connections in Japan were dead. She had acquaintances in her hometown, but she left them behind. Her awakening ability sealed her fate. The "Masked Queen of Song." A skill that only allowed her to mimic the voices of other singers perfectly. It was the perfect ability for a drifter with no roots anywhere. ¡°I see. So, you passionately sang as ¡®Calypso,¡¯ hoping that someone would recognize your voice and form a true connection with you.¡± ¡°Ah... It¡¯s embarrassing, but yes. That¡¯s right.¡± ¡°Hmm.¡± ¡°One day, I hope to build enough skill and gather enough fans so that I can hold a concert as Calypso in the same venue where Cecillia performs! That would prove my true abilities!¡± I rested my chin on my hand. How should I advise her? It would have been easy to say, "You¡¯re making plenty of money anyway, so why not just be satisfied with that?" But the singer before me wasn¡¯t content with that, and thereiny the problem. ¡®A ce where someone recognizes you,¡¯ ¡®A ce where you can truly be yourself.¡¯ In pursuit of such an ideal, hadn''t she worked as Cecilia by night, while performing live shows in various restaurants by day? She was more dedicated to her dream than anyone else. In a world where morals had copsed, the fact that she threw herself into the pursuit of a ''genuine connection,'' a fantasy, wasn''t something I disliked. So, as a fan, what could I do for her? "Do you really need to sing only at live performances?" "Huh?" [Trantor - Night] [Proofreader - Gun] "Right now, Calypso, you''re neglecting Cecilia too much. You think of it like, ''I''m just a recording machine singing other singers'' songs, that''s not the real me,'' right?" "..." "I don''t mind, but fans who love the singer Cecilia would be disappointed." "...They¡¯re probably all fans of the original singers whose songs I perform, aren¡¯t they?" "No. There are definitely fans of Cecilia, the great singer." Like Sim Aryeon or KoreanVige. Though they were embarrassingly odd individuals to have as fans, a fan was still a fan. "As I see it... You''re worried that Cecilia''s fame as the ''great singer'' is far greater than your actual singing ability, right?" "..." "You want to reveal your true self. You want to prove yourself with original songs. But you''re scared that when your true identity is revealed, your current fans might be disappointed." Calypso pressed her lips together tightly. It wasn¡¯t a rejection, but an agreement in her silence. "This worry fundamentally stems from the fact that you don¡¯t have a ce of your own, Calypso. It might be easier to solve than you think." "Are you saying I should buy a building and make it my own performance venue? I''ve thought about that, but still..." "No, that¡¯s not it." I brewed and ced a cup of coffee in front of her. "Your talent has immense value. If you shift your perspective just a little, you could easily feel that singing other artists¡¯ songs is also part of your identity." "What? How...?" Calypso looked up at me. A smile spread across my face. "Have you ever considered being a radio DJ?" 5 A music radio program. If I had to pick the most famous program in the Korean Penins, it would definitely be Bae Chul-soo''s Music Camp. In such broadcasts, the songs a DJ chooses to y are part of the DJ''s ''taste'' and ''skill as a host.'' For example, with ssical music broadcasts, even the same symphony can vary greatly depending on where, when, and which orchestra recorded it, as well as how the DJ providesmentary. The DJ¡¯s standing could be defined by these factors. With the rise of inte streaming, the golden age of radio had long passed into twilight. But now, in this post-apocalyptic world, radiobined with the inte¡ªwas seeing a strange revival. "These days, it''s hard to get functional broadcasting equipment. Even when we manage to get it running, it''s often corrupted by strange phenomena at any moment." Whether it was albums or records, they were often tainted by bizarre anomalies¡ªso-called ''Satanic songs'' or ''music that drills holes in your brain.'' "But you''re different, Calypso. You can y countless ''records'' using only your voice." "Ah..." "Though you won¡¯t be able to block out the strange phenomenapletely, the music show you host will probably be the safest channel in the world." Calypso murmured, "Me, hosting a music show..." "Yes. If you only define yourself as a live singer, you¡¯ll continue to be gued by the fear that you¡¯re merely a copy. But as a DJ who can always deliver ''the same voice as the original artist''¡ª" "..." "That would be an immense strength and a blessing as a DJ. Listeners will tune in and find happiness in your show." "A DJ¡¯s talent..." "Exactly. And asionally, you could sprinkle in your own original songs. People would love it. After all, no other show could ever rece yours." Calypso stared nkly at the air for a while. When the coffee had cooled, her lips finally opened. "...I want to try it. Radio." "You''ve made a good decision." "Yes. I won¡¯t have to reveal my face... And reading listener stories sounds like it could be fun." She really did have a knack for it. I had already assisted in setting up a radio channel called "Ravenw Busan Branch." It was easy enough to provide the necessary broadcasting equipment. After several tests, when Calypso had reached a level of hosting that satisfied her, this conversation happened: "Savior." Yes, by this point, Calypso had started calling me ''Savior.'' I had asked her to use a cryptic nickname instead of calling me ''Doctor Jang'' during broadcasts. Using such a title might make me too famous. Even so, ''Savior'' was a bit awkward, but I figured it was due to her not being a native Korean speaker. "It''s time to decide on the show¡¯s name. What do you think it should be?" "Ah, you still haven¡¯t decided?" "Haha, no. I kept putting it off, thinking I¡¯d decide tomorrow..." This was surprising, considering how diligent she was. "Hmm." I tapped my notepad with a pencil. And then a show name suddenly popped into my mind, and I wrote it down. "What about this?" "Oh! You''ve already thought of one? Let me see." On the notepad, I had written: [Nymphcalypse]. [PR/N: In Greek mythos, Calypso was a nymph who lived on the ind of Ogygia, where, ording to Homer''s Odyssey, she detained Odysseus for romantic purposes for seven years against his will.] Calypso tilted her head. "Nymphcalypse? What does that mean?" "It¡¯s a hidden reference to both Cecilia and Calypso." As you know, Cecilia used to perform in high-ss restaurants. In Korean, such a ce is called a ''yojeong,'' which can also mean ''nymph'' (a y on words here). Yojeong = Nymph. Calypso = Calypse. Ibined them with slight twists to form the name. It subtly hints at the post-apocalyptic setting but avoids being too dark by adding the cute prefix, ''nymph.'' With her love for hiding her identity, Calypso jumped up the moment I exined. "Oh my gosh! I like it! No, I love it! Daisuki!" And so, a new music show, Nymphcalypse, was born in the age of the apocalypse. 6 There¡¯s an epilogue to this. To attract listeners to Nymphcalypse, we didn¡¯t need any grand marketing. All it took was posting a message on the SG-Net forum saying, ''We¡¯ve started a new music show; tune in if you¡¯re bored,'' and that was enough. -Anonymous: I tuned to the frequency as the post said, but what is this?? -Anonymous: The sound quality is insane;; ©¸[Three Thousand]MeteorisIceMagic: What¡¯s up? ©¸Anonymous: I tuned into that radio channel that was promoted earlier, and the sound quality is no joke. The DJ¡¯s voice is really nice too. ©¸[Three Thousand]MeteorisIceMagic: Isn¡¯t it some kind of anomaly? ©¸Anonymous: Maybe, but for now it seems safe. You should give it a listen. Just having the 12 anonymous ounts controlled by Sim Aryeon was enough to create buzz artificially. If the DJ hadcked talent, the buzz would have died quickly, but like most passionate young people, Calypso had the grit to seize opportunities. -[Three Thousand]MeteorisIceMagic: ? This is actually good? About a yearter, Nymphcalypse, which aired every evening at 7 PM, had be a must-listen channel not only for awakened beings but also for regr people. -Hello, and wee to another wonderful evening with Nymphcalypse. The first song I¡¯ll y today is... -If you''d like to send in a story, please ask your patron Constetion. They¡¯ll forward it to me... -Hello, and wee to Nymphcalypse. The weather has gotten much coldertely, hasn¡¯t it? Even as the world continued to fall apart, Nymphcalypse never missed a 7 PM broadcast. Awakened beings drafted to the frontlines to fight sea-monster-sized anomalies, as well as regr people quietly supporting them from behind, tuned into the radio, listening to others'' songs and stories. "Hmm." Of course, I, Doctor Jang, did the same. There was this one time. Without telling Calypso, I rented the entire venue where the ''great singer Cecilia'' had once performed. It cost a fortune, but it didn¡¯t matter. I set up a single wooden chair in the center of the stage where Cecilia once held the mic. And on that chair, I ced a lone radio. A Zenith K731, a vintage radio with a wooden finish. -Hello, and wee to another wonderful evening with Nymphcalypse. An empty audience. The radio standing alone on stage. I sat at a table, two rows from the stage, and waited in silence. A quiet'' live performance'' began in the ce that was once packed with fans. -The requested song today is... A brief pause. -...It¡¯s from a singer named Calypso. Apparently, she was once a wandering, nameless singer who traveled from restaurant to restaurant in Busan, singing... -Haha. -...Some of you might know her. -Since it¡¯s a request, I¡¯ll sing it. The sound of someone rustling around. Then, the soft strumming of a ssical guitar. -Calypso. "Ruins." Soon, a song began to y. I took a sip of the coffee I had prepared in advance. And now, while listening to the song of someone who is often praised as a renowned DJ both in S and reality, I nodded along. As expected, this singer''s voice is the best. - Performer. End. [Trantor - Night] [Proofreader - Gun] Chapter 236 [Trantor - Night] [Proofreader - Gun] Chapter 236: The Organ Recipient I 1 I¡¯ve had a lot of different jobs. In thest episode, I got a job as a "DJ Producer." In other episodes, I¡¯ve been a convenience store owner, a proofreader for misread books, a personal secretary to Tang Seorin, an academy teacher, a caf¨¦ barista, and more. I¡¯ve held many different upations. Living off just one job has always been tough, so people took on two, three, or even more. This trend has always been the same, and I couldn''t escape it even as someone who has returned from the future. However, despite all this, my primary profession has always been just one thing: an undertaker. The one who buries the dead. Today, let''s talk about my main job for the first time in a while. 2 [Undertaker, an abnormality has been detected.] One day, the Saintess spoke to me. Being someone who could detect odd urrences faster than any ¡°eternal elementary school bespectacled detective¡± or ¡°young man whose grandfather''s honor is infinite,¡± the Saintess had sensed something strange. ¡°What¡¯s going on?¡± [Please go to the National Road Management Headquarters. Someone there will exin it to you.] So I did. In front of the headquarters was arge open space, which was called the Tower of Babel za. The headquarters had earned the nickname ¡°Tower of Babel.¡± As soon as I arrived at the za, I understood what the "abnormality" the Saintess had mentioned was. ¡°A green vige bus?¡± A green vige bus, which wasn¡¯t there before, was now parked in the za. Although the side of the vehicle was slightly dented, other than that, it looked like a perfectly normal vige bus. ¡°Ah, Your Excellency, the Undertaker, you¡¯ve arrived.¡± Murmurs spread among the crowd gathered around the green vige bus. Yoo Jiwon was the first to recognize me and saluted. ¡°What¡¯s going on?¡± ¡°We¡¯re still trying to figure it out. One of our staff found it on their way to work early this morning.¡± ¡°And it wasn¡¯t herest night?¡± ¡°No, sir. Thest person to leave was around 4 AM, and they said the za was empty at that time. This vige bus appeared between 4 and 6 in the morning.¡± I looked up diagonally at the sky. [What Yoo Jiwon says is correct.] ¡ So that meant the bus had suddenly appeared out of thin air. To move a vehicle of this size, you¡¯d either need fuel to drive it, or a person with supernatural strength would have to carry it. If fuel had been used, someone would have seen or heard it. The engine noise and the bus¡¯s movement would have been noticeable. If an awakened had stealthily moved it, the Saintess¡¯s [irvoyance] would have detected it. She was always monitoring the movements of the awakened 24/7. The conclusion was simple. ¡°It¡¯s definitely a strange anomaly.¡± ¡°Yes, and we confirmed that external damage does affect it.¡± So you were the one who dented the side, huh. ¡°What about the interior? Have you checked inside?¡± ¡°No, no one has gone inside yet. I only just arrived after being called.¡± ¡°That¡¯s probably a good thing. It might look harmless, but it could be a trap.¡± ¡°Ah, your wisdom and cautiousness are unparalleled, Your Excellency. If you give the order, we will destroy it immediately.¡± I rubbed my chin, thinking for a moment. ¡°No, I feel uneasy about destroying it outright. Bring me a death row inmate.¡± ¡°Are you sure? I¡¯ll bring one right away.¡± Soon, a death row inmate, who had been sound asleep, was dragged out. The prisoner, who had been making a face that said, "Just 10 more minutes, mom¡," woke uppletely upon seeing Yoo Jiwon and me. ¡°Ahhh! Please, have mercy! Spare me!¡± ¡°Throw him inside the bus.¡± ¡°Yes, Your Excellency.¡± ¡°Please, I¡¯m begging you! I¡¯ve done wrong! I truly regret it! Please, just spare my life!¡± Yoo Jiwon skillfully lobbed him inside. The convict, who had murdered seven elderly patients by targeting their prosthetics and mobility aids, was tossed into the bus. Pshhhh¡ª. As soon as the convict entered, the bus''s automatic doors closed by themselves. The convict frantically banged on the door, pounding the ss. ¡°Please, help me! Ple¡ª.¡± His screams didn''tst long. Thud! The ss turned red. The convict¡¯s body had burst, sttering red paint all over the bus¡¯s automatic doors. It took less than a second for his body to swell and explode, so most people probably didn¡¯t evenprehend what had happened. ¡°Whoa, what was that? Did you see it?¡± ¡°No, not at all.¡± Even the gathered staff were shocked. I shrugged. ¡°It¡¯s a trap, as expected.¡± ¡°Indeed, Your Excellency. Thanks to your wise and precisemand, we were able to use our resources efficiently.¡± ¡°Make sure no one enters anything that looks like a vige bus. Issue a warning in the name of the Road Management Division, and post it on SG Net.¡± ¡°Your Excellency, always thinking of the people and handling post-incident management so thoroughly¡ªyour virtue will be praised for generations toe.¡± ¡°If you don¡¯t want me to hit you in front of everyone, cut it out.¡± ¡°Was that too much?¡± ¡°Yeah.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll be more concise next time.¡± I left the so-called ¡°Vige Bus 44¡± and went on my way. The next day. I was rxing at my caf¨¦ hideout, browsing SG Net. A heartwarming post had caught my attention. - NewMemberToday: My father has regained his health, haha - He¡¯s always had heart problems, but today he seems to be in great shape. Thest time I saw him like this was after he was treated by the Saintess of the North ^^ - He says the support and encouragement from SG Net members helped him a lot. I joined today to thank you all. - It¡¯s tough these days, but let¡¯s all push through. Thank you, everyone. Fighting! I nodded. ¡°Mm.¡± Good story. By the way, "NewMemberToday" was the nickname of Lee Jooho. He¡¯s the young man who apanied me the first time I went to deal with the viin exploiting elderly people. It was nice to see he was taking good care of his father. As I was feeling content, a voice echoed in my head. [Undertaker, sorry to disturb your break.] ¡°No worries at all. What¡¯s going on?¡± [The Vige Bus 44 has disappeared.] ¡°What?¡± I tilted my head. "Disappeared? I told them to park it near the National Road Management Headquarters. Unless they didn''t do their job properly..." [No, Undertaker, the bus was parked just as you instructed. We even had guards taking turns watching over it.] [But it still disappeared.] I furrowed my brows. "That''s strange. Are you saying the bus vanished in the short moment when the guard was being changed?" [No, it was even shorter than that.] [While standing watch, the guard nced away for a brief moment¡ªjust enough to look elsewhere¡ªand the bus vanished.] "..." [Trantor - Night] [Proofreader - Gun] It was said to have literally ''disappeared.'' The guard on duty was known for being meticulous, the type who followed protocol to the letter. Even though the threat had been neutralized, he never let his guard down. He set up a stic chair right in front of Bus 44 and didn¡¯t leave it, not even for a second. But when he briefly turned his head at the sound of childrenughing in the za, his face softened with a smile. And then¡ªwhen he looked back¡ªthe bus was gone. [And just to be clear, no one witnessed the bus disappear. Neither the awakened ones nor the ordinary people.] ¡°¡That¡¯s bizarre.¡± I stroked my chin. "Aside from the disappearance, was there anything else unusual? Any damage reported in the area?" [No, no damage has been reported so far.] "Then... hmm. It seems unsettling, but I think we can leave it be for now." [Really?] "Yes. The fact that it looks like a vige bus is peculiar, but essentially, it''s a trap type. Traps are most dangerous when they haven''t been triggered, but once people are aware of the trap, it''s not much of a threat. If it appears somewhere else, though, take caution." [Understood.] And with that, the case seemed toe to an end. But after that, Bus 44 would continue to reappear across the country. It would appear in smallmunities like Yeongwol, show up at a bus stop in Incheon, and reappear in Busan. Each time, we couldn¡¯t fully prevent the damage. While awakened ones could issue warnings in the name of the constetions, ordinary people often encountered the bus first, and there was little that could be done. Those who approached the bus hoping to salvage some scrap or junk would open the doors, only to be instantly crushed into pulp. In such cases, the bus would disappear again within a day, making it hard to even know that a victim had been taken. ''Why has this bus-rted anomaly appeared in the first ce?'' I pondered. The first thing that came to mind when thinking of buses was the Knight Bus from Harry Potter. But there didn¡¯t seem to be any connection to Bus 44. Dismissed. In Korean, "bus" and "verse" sound the same, which could lead to associations with words like universe, multiverse, or metaverse. But none of those seemed to have anything to do with Bus 44. Could it be that the passengers on the bus were actually being transported to another world? I wasn¡¯t sure. Set that aside for now. There was also the tragic incident when a bus fell during the copse of the Seongsu Bridge, killing many passengers, including the driver. But if this anomaly were rted to that tragedy, it would manifest near bridges or overpasses, not randomly like this. No clear connection to Bus 44 either. Dismissed. ''This is tough. I really don¡¯t know.'' I continued thinking about it for a long time, but I couldn¡¯te up with any anomaly rted to a bus. I could sacrifice myself by boarding Bus 44 to uncover the truth... but honestly, the risk didn¡¯t seem that high. At worst, one or two people would die each time the bus appeared. I felt sorry for the victims, but there were plenty of anomalies out there that caused far more damage. I couldn¡¯t throw away my life on a low-level anomaly like this when there were still high-risk ones whose methods I hadn¡¯t yet figured out. It just left a lingering difort in the back of my mind. ¡®Should I just leave it alone?¡¯ I sighed. To clear my head, I logged onto SGNet. Before writing my post about the Three Kingdoms, I quickly skimmed through the day¡¯s rmended posts. - Anonymous: A miracle happened for my family! My younger brother had an incurable disease and we thought there was no hope, but yesterday morning he said his lungs don¡¯t hurt at all... - Anonymous: Holy crap, my mom says she can see again, lol. She lost her sight five years ago because of that freak, but now she says she can see my face! Lol, the first thing she says is why I look so skinny, haha. But guys, I secretly reced our dog with a simr one when it died¡ªif she finds out, am I screwed? - TodayJoined: An update on my father¡¯s condition! We went for a walk and jogged together today! He¡¯s totally healthy now, haha. "Hmm." Looking through these posts put me at ease. Lately, SGNet had been filled with warm and uplifting stories. ¡®That didn¡¯t used to happen in the previous turns. Maybe some new anomaly is influencing people...¡¯ It was then that something absurd urred to me. I urgently grabbed a red shirt and waved it in the air¡ªa signal to get in touch with the Saintess. [What¡¯s the matter?] ¡°Saintess, do we know how many people have fallen victim to Bus 44 so far?¡± [It¡¯s not exact, but so far, five confirmed deaths. If we assume the bus appears every three days, it would be reasonable to add another two to four potential victims.] ¡°Thank you.¡± So, around 7 to 11 people in total. I searched through SGNet. After looking through posts I had previously missed, I found four that mentioned a sudden miraculous recovery of family members from various ailments. The conditions involved the heart, lungs, corneas, and pancreas. And of course, every post had been made by an awakened individual. Which meant, if we included ordinary people who hadn¡¯t posted, there might be even more cases. [But why do you ask all of a sudden?] ¡°Saintess, I think I may have figured out the true nature of Bus 44.¡± A cure for incurable diseases. No, more precisely. ¡°Organ extraction. And an anomaly that performs organ transnts and cures by itself.¡± [Trantor - Night] [Proofreader - Gun] Chapter 237 [Trantor - Night] [Proofreader - Gun] Chapter 237: The Organ Recipient II 2 "Hmm. So, you''re saying that long-term treatment happens automatically? If used properly, it seems quite useful¡" That was the first reaction from Chief Noh Doha after being briefed on the existence of Vige Bus 44. Indeed, it was fitting for someone who had a top-tier psychopath directly under hismand. Even after hearing the news that healthy human organs were being effortlessly harvested, he remained this calm. Truly, the end times were upon us. "Aren''t you the one who first threw a death row inmate onto that bus, you madman¡" Beaten with facts, how cowardly. In another instance, I secretly tested Noh Doha''s MBTI, and it turned out to be ISTJ. No wonder dealing with Ts is difficult. For the record, not that anyone cares, but Yoo Jiwon is an ESTJ. If you''re noticing simrities between the National Road Management duo, it¡¯s not a coincidence. "But still, I don¡¯t quite understand. What on earth does a bus have to do with organ extraction to create such a bizarre phenomenon¡?" Ah. On that note, as a schr of the bizarre, I, Doctor Jang, had some theories. "First of all, during World War II, there was a vehicle called the Gaswagen operated by the Nazis. It was essentially a mobile gas execution chamber, killing Jews with carbon monoxide from the engine. After the bus reached its destination, all passengers were dead." "Holy crap. That actually existed¡?" It did. As expected from the maliciousness of Old Scho''s homnd. (For the record, Old Scho''s family had been devout supporters of the Social Democrats for generations, a pure 100% leftist family.) "It was eventually discontinued because too manyint letters about the difficulties of cleaning the vehicles were received, but yes, it existed." "Sigh¡ But that still doesn¡¯t exin organ extraction, does it? It¡¯s not like they were selling organs from gas-poisoned corpses, right¡?" "As for that, there was an execution bus right next door." The execution bus. It was a vehicle actually used in China. Instead of building a fixed execution chamber, they simply modified a bus. A step forward from the gas chambers of WWII, executions on this bus were carried out with drugs instead of harmful gases. Since the bodies preserved most of their organs in A+ condition, they were ideal for trafficking. "Holy crap. That actually existed¡?" It did. Noh Doha''s expression was starting to shift into ¡°Maybe it really is justice if humanity disappears from the Earth," so I hurriedly added more. "Even without the Gaswagen or the execution bus, buses often appear in urban legends. You know those films where you wake up in the middle of a Battle Royale with a bomb cor around your neck? Seen something like that?" "I think I''ve heard of it¡" "All of those imagesbined probably gave birth to the anomaly known as ¡®Vige Bus No. 44.¡¯" So we ran a test. "Alright. Prisoner No. 37, all you have to do is walk in front of that bus holding this book." "What kind of book is this¡?" "Just a regr ssic novel. Don''t worry about it." It was a small booklet of the Communist Manifesto by a German author, specially imported in its originalnguage for this death row inmate. "Take this book, walk in front of the bus, and shout like this. Got it?" "Uh, yeah. So, you¡¯ll reallymute my sentence to life if I do this, right?" "Of course! I¡¯m Doctor Jang, best friend of the National Road Chief and mentor to the operations team leader. My word isw. Why? Do you want to go back and have your throat slit instead?" "No, no. I¡¯ll do it." The inmate approached Vige Bus 44 and shouted. "Wo, workers of the world, unite¨D¨D." However, he never got to finish the sentence. The bus, which had been calmly parked until then, suddenly shot forward. At about 300 km/h. Screech¡ªBoom! The inmate, unable to react, became an ex-inmate. St. His remains sttered everywhere. Among the mess, the arm holding The Communist Manifesto flew towards us andnded perfectly between Noh Doha and me. Test sessful. "Looks like the Nazi Gaswagen influence is indeed present. After all, Nazis hatedmunists as much as they did Jews." "Didn''t you say the Chinese execution bus was part of the mix? Why would it hatemunists then¡?" "Who knows? Don¡¯t expect anomalies to have consistent logic. Or maybe it¡¯s sophisticated enough to distinguish between the Soviets and the Chinese." "That''s some real bullshit¡" We moved on to the next test. ¡°Guildmaster, if we get caught, we¡¯re in serious trouble¡¡± Sim Aryeon darted her eyes around nervously, clearly anxious. We were currently at the Christ the Redeemer Cathedral of Mo Gwangseo, the heart of Pyongyang. Much like the Golden Throne of the Warhammer universe, the Eastern Holy Kingdom had its own sacred seat. Next to us, seated on the throne, was the living god, the reincarnation of Jesus¡ªMo Gwangseo the Christ. ¡°If anyone finds out we¡¯re messing with Mo Gwangseo, no matter how much power I have as the Saint of the North, I could end up executed.¡± ¡°Aryeon, don¡¯t you trust your guildmaster?¡± ¡°W-what? I don¡¯t trust you at all, though?¡± ¡°¡¡¡± ¡°¡¡¡± ¡°I¡¯ll set up a 1-on-1 fan meeting with the DJ of Nymphcalypse for you.¡± ¡°I¡¯ve trusted you for over a hundred million years, through all my past lives! L-let¡¯s go, quickly!¡± We quickly kidnapped Mo Gwangseo. We had already prepared Bus No. 44 in a secret underground parking lot in Pyongyang, making sure no sound would escape by blocking the walls thoroughly. "Wow, Guildmaster! When did you set up a hideout like this?" - Scribe¡ ¡°Before the founding of the Eastern Holy Kingdom. There are lots of underground bases scattered around Pyongyang.¡± - Scribe¡ ¡°Wow! Please teach me! Lately, it¡¯s been annoying to deal with all these faithless heretics. It¡¯d be so convenient to bury them in a ce like this. Anyway, Guildmaster.¡± ¡°What?¡± - Scribe¡ "Hasn¡¯t Mo Gwangseo been mumbling something toward you for a while now¡?" "You¡¯re imagining things. It''s just an anomaly, stuck in a fixed posture. It¡¯s not like it can speak humannguage without Hayul around." ¡°Oh, I must be mistaken. Hehe, I thought¡ª" - Scribe¡ "Now, on three, let¡¯s open the bus door. One, two, three. Here we go." We threw Mo Gwangseo into Bus 44. Then. sh! There was light. Mo Gwangseo''s body exploded, painting the bus windows red. But even this sphemous red was bathed in his holy radiance, so it was bound to be divine. "Oh." "Aaah! M-my eyes! The light!" Aryeon fumbled around, performing a scene straight out of an old anime, yelling, "My sses! My sses!" in a panic. However, the sanctity of Mo Gwangseo did not end there. sh! sh! sh! sh! St! St! St! St! Every three seconds, blinding light erupted endlessly from within the bus, and each burst was followed by blood sttering, painting the windows red as if with dye. Bus number 44 had killed Mo Gwangseo, but Mo Gwangseo was resurrected once again, as always. It was an intense battle of pride between two anomalies. Watching their duel could have been a form of entertainment, but I had a more pressing task at hand. "Saintess, how is it?" [¡ It seems the healing is taking ce.] My priority was determining whether the incurable patients were being cured. [Trantor - Night] [Proofreader - Gun] The saintess had dispatched several Awakened individuals to observe the patients'' conditions. [The patients who were blind are recovering the fastest. One, two, three¡ it¡¯s happening quickly.] Though the Korean Penins¡¯s healthcare system was generally poor, it had its exceptional points. This was thanks to the existence of ¡®Prosthetics Maker¡¯ Noh Doha and ¡®Crow Who Drinks Poison Sim Aryeon. However, Noh Doha took an incredibly long time to craft each prosthetic. Considering his duties as the National Road Maintenance Director, even 72 hours in a day would not be enough. Noh Doha himself always wished to take on more patients, but I firmly limited the number. From experience, I knew he''d copse if he overworked himself. Sim Aryeon, too, was not omnipotent. In fact, it would be a problem if she were. Absorbing too much aggro from the world would inevitably turn her into a corrupted being. I deliberately skipped over the episode where Sim Aryeon bes corrupted. But who knows, I might have to address itter, whether I want to or not. ¡®If it turns out that thebination of bus number 44 and Mo Gwangseo has no adverse effects on incurable patients¡¡¯ If that were the case, the medical system of the Korean Penins would enter a new era. I would even consider abandoning the fictional state of the Eastern Holy Nation if necessary. Putting Mo Gwangseo on a bus would be more efficient than on a golden throne. [The patients are continuing to heal. Ah.] [Wait, Doctor Jang. ¡There¡¯s something strange.] Of course, that convenient future did note to pass. ¡°What is it?¡± [Some patients¡ Specifically, six of them are showing strange symptoms.] [A halo has appeared above their heads.] A halo. The ring of an angel. [Wait, it¡¯s not just the halo. The six patients are growing wings.] [¡¡!] [The six patients have started to move. Doctor Jang, stop bus 44!] I unsheathed Doha. As my aura swept over, the bus turned into a pile of scrap metal. The anomaly was immediately destroyed. From the crater left behind, where it looked as though a bunker-busting missile had exploded, light flickered¡ªMo Gwangseo had resurrected onest time. [The patients¡ The winged creatures are flying at an incredible speed.] [Their direction is toward Pyongyang, or so it seems.] [They¡¯re really fast. 300 km/h, no, they¡¯re elerating. 500 km/h, 600 km/h, and they¡¯re still speeding up, heading toward Pyongyang. The closest one has already entered Pyongyang airspace.] [Doctor Jang, their destination is likely¡] That ce. ¡°Aryeon.¡± ¡°Yes, yes?¡± ¡°Come to the Guildmaster.¡± ¡°Yes.¡± Sim Aryeon approached me without any hesitation and leaned into me. I raised my aura and enveloped both her and our surroundings with a barrier. BOOM! Almost simultaneously, the ceiling was torn apart. Debris and dust rained down relentlessly, bouncing off the aura shield. I swung Doha to disperse the dust cloud. Revealed through the hole in the sky was the form of an anomaly. Aaaah. An angel. The saintess had said earlier that the patients were growing wings, and that description was both fitting and inurate. The creature floating in the sky was entirely made of wings. At the center was a gigantic, writhing eye. Around this one enormous eye, smaller eyeballs stretched out in every direction, each covered by a wing-like eyelid. It resembled the biblical description of an angel. Aaaah, Aaaah. The voice echoed from the ce where the wings fluttered and the eyes rolled. Then, thousands of beams of light surged toward me from the gaps between the wings. ¡°Hmm.¡± A thunderous roar filled the air. The underground bunker was dug even deeper. If there had been a mountain peak above us, it would have been obliterated by thatser strike. ¡®If six of those creatures gather, each attack will be on par with Meteor Shower.¡¯ Seeing that I was unharmed even after its attack, the ¡®angel¡¯ pped its wings again. Without any cooldown, another barrage ofsers formed. I swung Doha lightly. A dark wave cut through thesers at an angle, racing toward the angel. sh! A diagonal line sliced through the dozens of wings. Unlike the angel¡¯s thunderous attack, my strike was utterly silent. With a faint sound, the angel was severed. Aaaah. Aaaah. Aaaah. p, p. The wings fell, one by one, like leaves drifting down. Like a white magnolia bowing its head. Once thete spring¡¯s rain of petals had fallen, the angel vanished without leaving any remains. In the ruins of the bunker, only the enormous wings fluttered about. "¡¡." In silence. Sim Aryeon looked up at me, saying nothing, just staring. I smiled and patted her head. Only then did her nk expression rx, and she grinned widely. ¡°Sorry, things got a bit out of hand.¡± ¡°No, it¡¯s fine. We can just clean it all up!¡± ¡°Is thend of Pyongyang cursed¡?¡± ¡°Aren¡¯t you going to use the bus? The vige bus?¡± ¡°No, I will never use it.¡± ¡°Hehehe¡¡± Even after that, five more of those ¡®angel¡¯ anomalies attacked. While dispatching them was easy, the aftermath was troublesome. Every citizen of Pyongyang had witnessed the bizarre winged creatures flying from the sky. Still, the situation was somehow resolved with Sim Aryeon calming the citizens. Given the extreme environment of the Eastern Holy Kingdom, the people treated Sim Aryeon like a saviour. After finally returning Mo Gwangseo to the golden throne, I contacted the observation tower in Yongsan. ¡°Saintess, do those six patients who turned into angels have anything inmon?¡± [Yes. As you might have expected, Doctor Jang, all of them had suffered fatal wounds in the Void and were on the verge of death.] ¡°I see.¡± I sighed. ¡°It seems that when too many of one¡¯s internal organs are reced with Mo Gwangseo¡¯s, they turn into anomalies.¡± [I think so too. If only one or two organs are reced, it''s harmless, but their identity changes once it exceeds a certain threshold.] ¡°The people whose organs were reced by Mo Gwangseo¡¯s parts became copies of Mo Gwangseo¡ Hence, they turned into angels.¡± A bus is a mode of transport. In the end, it was responsible for transferring something somewhere. The passengers the vige bus number 44 was transporting were none other than internal organs. All kinds of organs. In other words, this anomaly¡¯s true name was the "Organ Transfer Bus." [Trantor - Night] [Proofreader - Gun] Chapter 238 [Trantor - Night] [Proofreader - Gun] Chapter 238: The Organ Recipient III 3 As I mentioned before, I, Doctor Jang, didn¡¯t dream in the ordinary sense. In other words, if I did dream, it meant that at least one anomaly had interfered. The dream I had the day after barely preventing the ¡°Angel¡¯s Descent¡± incident in Pyongyang was the same. "Hello, Guild Master." "¡¡." "Oh dear. If you look at me with that expression, it really hurts my feelings, you know?" The pink-haired Voldemort, who should normally be residing deep in my subconscious, was smiling brightly. Right in front of me. I barely suppressed a scream. ¡°¡Koyori, please, I beg you, can you at least change your appearance next time? I''m going to end up with a pink-hair trauma." "Haha. I''m sorry. That''s beyond my control¡ After all, this is the appearance you hold the most affection for, Guild Master. You¡¯ll have to change yourself first." "Don''t lie. I''ve never seen anyone with a face like yours, and I¡¯ve never had a particr fetish for pink hair." "Yes. It''s really quite a mystery. Maybe we were connected in a past life?" ¡°Lovely. If this is how we are in this life, then my past life must have been ruined too.¡± I looked around. The space within the dream didn¡¯t usually hold much meaning, but right now, it seemed rather significant. I was sitting on an old vige bus, of all ces. The faint smell of rubber. Koyori sat neatly across from me on the opposite seat. We were facing each other, only about a meter apart. ¡°What¡¯s the matter? It¡¯s rare for you to show up in my dreams without warning.¡± ¡°Really? ''Show up''? That choice of words really wounds me¡¡± Koyori sighed softly, pressing a hand to her cheek. ¡°When Aryeon calls you ''Guild Master'' so sweetly, you''re always so kind. By the way, I was actually the first guild member to call you that, you know?¡± ¡°You¡¯ve been expelled for a long time. Stick to the point.¡± ¡°I didn¡¯t just ¡®show up,¡¯ Guild Master. You called me here.¡± I swallowed hard. ¡°¡Bus 44. Was it an anomaly tied to you?¡± ¡°That¡¯s an amusing nickname. You always give the anomalies names, don¡¯t you, Guild Master?¡± Koyori covered her mouth,ughing. The sound, which could be described as a soft ¡°chuckle,¡± didn¡¯te from her direction. Theughter was faintlying from the bus''s speakers, mixed with static. A crackling noise, followed by a chuckle. Ahahaha¡ªcrackling, crackling¡ªchuckle. ¡°You know, I actually think I deserve apliment. If I hadn¡¯t shown up in your dream tonight, you would have encountered it in reality instead. Oh, would you have preferred that?¡± ¡°¡No, thanks. I appreciate it.¡± ¡°You¡¯re very wee!¡± Ssssssh. Red paint was smeared across the window behind Koyori. The crescent-shaped crimson mark dripped like blood down the ss. ¡°Did you know? Giving something a name¡ While it can mean ¡®trapping an entity within letters,¡¯ as you intend, it can also mean ¡®naming a child.¡¯¡± ¡°¡¡.¡± ¡°There are now very few words in this world that haven¡¯t passed over your tongue, Guild Master. Father of all things. Mother of all anomalies. Do you realize you¡¯re getting closer to such a position?¡± ¡°¡Not at all.¡± To be honest, I hadn¡¯t predicted it. But after hearing Koyori¡ªor more precisely, the reflection of Koyori from my subconscious¡ªwhisper those words, I realized. Indeed. It was a valid point. When I gazed into the void, the void also gazed back at me. An unchanging truth. ¡°Not all anomalies appear at the point of your regression. In fact, the vast majority go unnoticed. But by then, in your mind, ¡®countless anomalies have already been named.¡¯¡± ¡°¡It¡¯s like their moment of birth, then.¡± ¡°Yes. You recognize, think about, and name anomalies earlier than anyone else in the world.¡± Shhh, Koyori ced a finger over her lips. ¡°Calling something by its name¡ªthat alone is enough to initiate one form of magic. Each time you regress, you¡¯re naming every anomaly in the entire universe.¡± Crackle! The speaker sparked with noise. -Come forth, Ten-ns, Yuseong, star of nothingness, the puppeteer of The Admin of All-y, Bus 44. Come forth. ¡°¡¡.¡± ¡°So you see, anomalies are unconsciously drawn to you. It¡¯s like, well¡ as cute as it sounds, it¡¯s like a child searching for their parents. Of course, whether they like their parents or not depends on the anomaly.¡± ¡°Thanks for the advice. I¡¯ll be careful from now on.¡± -Ahahahahahahahahaha. ¡°¡¡.¡± I closed my mouth. Instinctively, I understood the meaning behind the mockingughter from the speaker. With [Perfect Memory], I couldn¡¯t forget an anomaly once I recognized it. All the naming was already done. So how exactly could I ¡®be careful¡¯ from now on? ¡°Have you ever felt this way?¡± Koyori covered her mouth as she spoke. Though she was clearly sitting a meter away, her voice somehow echoed right in my ear. ¡°You feel like you''re barely moving forward, but the ground beneath you is entirely a swamp, and instead of progressing, you¡¯re sinking deeper with each step¡¡± Her hand covered her mouth so I couldn¡¯t even be sure if she was moving her lips. The sticky, molten voice lingered in my ear like melted candy in the summer heat. ¡°Maybe the regression isn¡¯t a reset button after all. What if instead of saving the world, you¡¯re scraping away at the edges with your fingernails, dragging it down?¡± ¡°¡¡.¡± ¡°There¡¯s one solution. One strategy to reach the ending, Guild Master.¡± I blinked my eyes slowly. In the next moment, the bus, once upied by only Koyori and me, was now full. All the passengers had my face¡ªthe face of Doctor Jang. With utterly expressionless faces, the ¡°Doctor Jangs¡± sat in various poses, each in their own seat. None of them seemed to care about Koyori or me. ¡°When you wake up from this dream¡ª¡± Whisper. ¡°Take Bus 44, Guild Master.¡± ¡°¡¡.¡± ¡°Of course, I¡¯m not telling you to board it right away. After you¡¯ve sufficiently trained the Saintess, ask her a favor. Stop time [Time Freeze], then kindly ask if she can give the entire world a little cut in their guts.¡± Whisper. Whisper. ¡°Then, when time resumes, you board the bus without dy. From the outside, Saint Aryeon will keep healing you continuously.¡± Tada¡ Koyori whispered softly in my ear. ¡°Wow. Then everyone in the world will be the Guild Master! A heaven for regressors! Following ¡®The Wise and Ingenious,¡¯ we¡¯ll have a new species: the Regressionist!¡± ¡°¡¡¡± ¡°Hahaha. If the scale of the world is too overwhelming, even one or two people would be fine. Guild Master, you often miss Schopenhauer, but perhaps makingpanions is easier than you think.¡± It¡¯s about bing one. Koyori said that. ¡°What do you think, Guild Master?¡± ¡°Indeed. It¡¯s a strategy I never considered. I¡¯ll think about it.¡± ¡°You¡¯re lying.¡± ¡°¡¡¡± Thud¡ª The vige bus moved. The engine rumbled as it started heading somewhere. Through the window, the scenery shed by too quickly. Day and night kept changing without pause, casting constant shadows over Koyori. [Trantor - Night] [Proofreader - Gun] ¡°No matter where you go or what your destination is, Guild Master, I will support you. I will be with you always. But you''ve already passed quite a few stops.¡± ¡°¡¡¡± ¡°Please, just don¡¯t forget that.¡± Thud, thud, thud, thud. The vibration of the vige bus transformed into the rumbling of a subway train, and the interior of the bus stretched out to the sides. The lights flickered. The ¡°Doctor Jangs¡± sitting in the seats were torn apart, their bodies splitting and bursting. Then I woke up. ¡°¡¡¡± ¡°Huh.¡± In front of me was Sim Aryeon. She was peeking at me, startled when I opened my eyes. ¡°You, you¡¯re awake...¡± ¡°How about your Saint duties?¡± ¡°I just finished! As you instructed, I covered it up as traces of angels descending with the blessing of Christ in Mo Gwangseo, and we turned it into a holy site.¡± ¡°Good. My dear Aryeon, you¡¯ve worked hard.¡± ¡°Hehe. P-praise me more.¡± Sim Aryeon beamed brightly. For some reason, Koyori ovepped with that smile. I wasn¡¯t confusing the two people. It was just that Koyori¡¯s advice from the dream came back to me without thinking. ¡ªGuild Master, you recognize the anomalies earlier and more profoundly than anyone else, name them, and give them meaning. Because of that, Koyori warned that I might be the ¡°parent¡± of the anomalies. But will I really? What I thought of immediately after my regression wasn¡¯t just the anomalies. I thought about the people I couldn¡¯t save in previous turns, I saw Seo Gyu, whose head was about to be chopped off as soon as I opened my eyes, and I noticed Sim Aryeon trembling in the corner. ¡®Do I value human smiles over the annihtion of anomalies?¡¯ The answer was YES. It might have been different in the early stages of regression, but now the answer was always a resounding ¡°Yes.¡± As long as this answer encircles my heart like a sail filled by the wind, I will never lose my way, no matter which sea I cross. ¡°My dear Aryeon is the best.¡± ¡°Hehe¡¡± In the vast sea, I stroked the head of the one who became the wind to guide me. In my hand, the wind smiled brightly. 4 There is an epilogue. ¡°Let¡¯s draw a bus route map.¡± When I returned to Busan, I presented this idea in a meeting. Noh Doha tilted his head. ¡°A bus route map...?¡± ¡°Yes. The organs of passengers on Vige Bus No. 44 are randomly transferred with no order. This likely happens because there¡¯s no set route for the bus.¡± I sketched a route map on the ckboard. ?Hwang Seoyoung¡¯s Pancreas (54, Busan) ¨C ?Kim Jincheol¡¯s Cornea (11, Sejong) ¨C ?Namgung Hiyoung¡¯s Lung (37, Pohang) ¨C ?Park Daram¡¯s Kidney (21, Busan)¡ It looked like a typical bus route map, except for the peculiar names of the stops. ¡°We prepare a list of patients who will receive organs in this order. Volunteers can choose their ¡®stops,¡¯ deciding who will receive their organs after they die.¡± ¡°Oh¡¡± ¡°Family, friends, acquaintances, or even someone they¡¯ve met by chance. Either way, they¡¯re choosing who will receive their organs after death.¡± In the apocalypse, the number of suicides was very high. The reasons to leave often outweighed the reasons to stay. Even those people were willing to donate their organs if it meant benefiting the ones left behind. When you board the bus, most ordinary people die instantly, feeling no pain. This allows for quick, easy, and precise organ donation withoutplex procedures. ¡°Not only suicide victims, but also elderly people might want to donate their organs. The vige bus appears everywhere, so anyone can ess it.¡± ¡°Hmm¡¡± The term ¡°donation¡± might make it seem like an act born purely from kindness, but I saw it as an efficient distribution of resources. The apocalypse was harsh. Even the bodies of the dead had value, and we had to make use of everything. Although Vige Bus No. 44 had fatal ws, it was still worth using if we could avoid anomalies like Mo Gwangseo Christ. After listening to my presentation, Noh Doha twisted his lips. ¡°Well, wouldn¡¯t that be good...?¡± The ¡°Bus Route Map¡± and ¡°Stop List¡± were distributed nationwide. If changes needed to be made to the route map, updates were uploaded to SGNet first. Then, guilds across the country altered the names of the stops for the general public to see. asionally, incidents urred where innocent people were forcibly pushed onto the bus, but such mishaps were usually detected in advance by the Saintess. After that day, I asionally saw elderly people sitting under bus stop signs while walking around. These elderly people always held crumpled pieces of paper in their hands, with the names of the stops where they would leave their traces written on them. They would sit, ncing around, waiting for the bus to arrive¡ªreading their memos every now and then. Before long, the Vige Bus No. 44 would appear like a mirage in front of the sign. The elderly would grasp their notes in one hand, using the other to prop themselves up with a cane as they boarded the bus. The green vige bus would disappear somewhere, leaving behind the smell of exhaust. ¡°¡¡¡± Leaving behind something for someone else, even as they abandon life. Perhaps the lightness of the cane that the elderly used to board the bus carried within it the reason I always chose humans over anomalies. Isn¡¯t humanity encapsted at the tip of that cane? ¡®Koyori, the day I ept your proposal will nevere.¡¯ After all, the endpoint of any individual might simply be a stop where someone takes a brief rest. That¡¯s why I hoped. That, like the elderly, I could live not as the final destination for many, but simply as a stopover in the lives of others. ¡ªOrgan Recipient. End. [Trantor - Night] [Proofreader - Gun] Chapter 239 [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] w Chapter 239: Monad I 1 Today''s episode will unusually be presented as a series of mysteries. Actually, when viewed from afar, my stories always resembled that kind of arrangement. Although it can''t be called a perfect omnibus, it''s something akin to a half-omnibus format. In this sense, today''s episode is an ''omnibus within an omnibus,'' a story within a story, an epilogue within an epilogue ¡ª like a monad reflecting another monad. So, I hope you enjoy the mysteries. 2 The first monad. Let me first tell you about a strange story rted to the "Ice Age." As you may know, the Ice Age anomaly was isted on the inte. The footage of the Ice Age was recorded and sealed off as a secret post on SGNet. However, when ites to anomalies, you must never let your guard down just because you''ve sealed it away and think, "It''s over, we did it!" The ssic animation Ghost Stories failed to understand this, which is why the exorcist mother and daughter had to continue their efforts across generations. On the other hand, I, Doctor Jang and self-proimed world''s greatest anomaly expert, always understood the importance of maintaining sustainable istion after sealing something. "Hey, boss." Therefore, I had already ordered Seo Gyu to keep an eye on the secret post of the Ice Age. One day, Seo Gyu, who was assigned that task, came to me with a slightly troubled expression. "What''s up?" "It''s about the Ice Age anomaly you sealed away on SGNet with the Chief...¡± "First of all, the Chief and I didn¡¯t shoot any romance scenes. Everything was just the anomaly distorting and editing the footage. But yes, we sealed it away. Why?" "Uh, you might want toe see this, boss." I went to check. I haven''t really mentioned Seo Gyu''s work environment before, so I''ll exin it now. Seo Gyu''s workspace resembled something like a "Chinese reroll factory." Hundreds of smartphones were spread out on the table, all connected to SGNet. Each screen showed different anomalies that had been isted as secret posts. The anomalies screamed their dying breaths through the phones at volumes so low that most people wouldn¡¯t even notice the sound. ¨CAah aah aah aah. ¨CHero, if you are reading this now, it means you¡¯ve returned home safely. We admire your noble will, asking to be returned to your original world, even at the cost of losing all your memories¡ ¨CThis is a photo of a cat lying on a white bed. ¨CAnyone want to talk about the Three Kingdoms with me? There''s no use hiding it. This small workspace was a cyber anomaly prison. Anomalies that needed to be physically sealed away were sent to the prison in the basement of the National Road Management Headquarters. But anomalies that couldn¡¯t distinguish between reality and the virtual world were all confined to SGNet. In a way, Seo Gyu might deserve the nickname "Special Warden" more than "Swearing Man." As the owner of SGNet, Seo Gyu was the warden overseeing thergest number of anomalies in the world. (There¡¯s a reason why he never goes outside and stays holed up here ying the role of a totem.) "Hmm." I nced around the cyber prison. Each smartphone was like a solitary cell for the anomalies. "Is this how a scientist feels looking at brains in jars?" "Sorry?" "Just talking to myself. So, did the Ice Age cause any problems?" "Ah, here, take a look at this¡" Seo Gyu picked up one of the phones and showed it to me. The phone, tagged with 668-711, was ying the [Surviving the Ice Age] documentary. It just so happened to be the scene where Chief Noh Doha and I were kissing. It was an embarrassing scene, but I ignored it without much thought since it was all maliciously edited footage, and the characters weren¡¯t real people but part of the anomaly¡¯s y. "Why?" "Uh, boss, don¡¯t just nce at it. Look more closely." "...?" I was a little taken aback. Was he crazy? Was he telling me to focus on the kiss scene between Chief Noh Doha and me? "Not the content, boss. The length of the video. Doesn¡¯t it seem strange?" Luckily, Seo Gyu wasn¡¯t crazy. In fact, he made a good point. The length of the video being yed on the SGNet secret post was indeed a bit strange. "Hmm?" I frowned. "Was the kiss scene¡ this long originally?" The flow of time seemed off. Originally, [Surviving the Ice Age] was a three-part series consisting of Day 1, Day 2, and Day 3, with each part being about 20 minutes long. In total, it was a one-hour video. The kiss scene between Chief Noh Doha and me was only the finale,sting no more than 30 seconds. But now, no matter how long we waited, the kiss scene didn¡¯t end in the [Surviving the Ice Age: Anomaly Edition]. "¡Did the video get longer?" "Yes. I checked several times. The video says it''s 20 minutes long, right?" Seo Gyu pointed at the screen. "But when I yed it, it ran for 24 hours. I¡¯ve double-checked it, so I¡¯m sure." "¡" I rubbed my chin. ¡°24 hours means 1,440 minutes. The video, which was originally 20 minutes, has been extended to 1,440 minutes, 72 times longer?" It didn¡¯t make sense. ¡°¡You said you double-checked it. Is there anything else different?" "Well, since the video got longer, the content has changed in parts too. Hold on. Let me increase the sound. Ah, here it is, boss. Look at this part¡" Seo Gyu rewound the video. In this part, Yoo Jiwon was cornering Noh Doha. It was the ssic ¡®wall m¡¯ pose. [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] w It might be surprising, but Yoo Jiwon was much taller than Noh Doha. So, it created quite an intimidating scene from the outside. "Chief, although I acted independently in this operation, it was a necessary sacrifice." An edited version of Yoo Jiwon ¡ª directed, acted, and produced by the Ice Age anomaly ¡ª was speaking. "If you had issued the order, the governing authority of the survivor group would have weakened. That¡¯s why I took on the role of the bad cop myself. There¡¯s no personal motive." "Hmph. A person driven entirely by emotions sure talks well. If you say so, why don''t you lead the next operation yourself?" "I am irreceable." "I don''t think so¡" "¡¡" There was a tense atmosphere between the two characters. I blinked. ¡°¡This scene wasn¡¯t here before, was it?¡± ¡°No, it wasn¡¯t.¡± Seo Gyu nodded with a tired expression. ¡°By the way, there¡¯s also a fight scene between the Saintess and the Head of Management. Brother, I didn¡¯t show it to you because it was so intense that it gave me a stomachache for the past two days.¡± ¡°What the hell¡? This isn¡¯t just a case of editing the footage¡ªit¡¯s like they¡¯vepletely recreated it from scratch with CGI.¡± ¡°The video now feels like the characters were trapped in the Ice Age not for three days but for tens of days.¡± I rubbed my forehead. ¡®The video¡¯s length has been arbitrarily extended. And to match the length, the content has been edited to feel [natural] on its own.¡¯ Why? I couldn¡¯t figure out the cause. Was it because the video had been confined to SG-Net, this ''virtual reality''? That alone couldn¡¯t exin such strange urrences. ¡°¡Aside from the extended runtime and content, there¡¯s no negative effect on reality, right?¡± ¡°Yes, I can confirm that.¡± ¡°Then let¡¯s put it on hold for now.¡± Although it felt a bit unsettling, emotions didn¡¯t matter. What was important was the real world for me and us¡ªnot some video confined within SG-Net. ¨D¨DBut the bizarre urrences rted to the documentary didn¡¯t stop. ¡°Brother.¡± ¡°What is it?¡± ¡°That video¡ It¡¯s acting strange again.¡± Some timeter. The video [Surviving the Ice Age. Weird Edition] had evolved into [Surviving the Ice Age. Weird Director''s Cut]. ¡°This time¡ the video¡¯s runtime is a whopping 72 days. Each one. When you add up all three parts, it¡¯s over 200 days.¡± ¡°¡.¡± ¡°The video quality¡¯s also a bit hazier. Look at the borders of the video, Brother. It¡¯s like the smartphone screen has doubled inyers.¡± With each increase in the video¡¯syers, the total runtime seemed to multiply by 72 times. ¡°¡Like I said before, as long as it doesn¡¯t affect reality, we don¡¯t need to bother checking the content anymore, Seo Gyu.¡± ¡°Got it¡¡± Seo Gyu seemed uneasy. ¡°But now, even Dokseo and Sim Aryeon appear in the video. The exnation is that external support hase after the istion on Liberty Ind dragged on for so long.¡± ¡°Hmm.¡± ¡°I didn¡¯t watch it all¡ªjust bits and pieces. Apparently, the Ice Age has spread beyond Sinuiju, and the entire Korean Penins has been wiped out. Other ces are freezing over too.¡± ¡°¡¡± ¡°It feels strange, like it¡¯s something that actually happened in reality. Well, like you said, I¡¯ll stop watching it.¡± Although I didn¡¯t understand the mechanism, the bizarre Ice Age trapped in SG-Net was indeed conquering the world within the video. The time of the world being overtaken by the Ice Age rapidly expanded¡ª60 minutes became 3 days, 3 days became 216 days. So, if we were to shoot just one more [Extended Edition]? ¡®¡Over 15,000 days.¡¯ Approximately 42 years. In a world covered in ice, mypanions, including Noh Doha and myself, would have to survive for over 40 years. Even if we did survive, what then? Only a future with 3,000 years of bloated time awaited. It was nothing short of despair. ¡®Though I don¡¯t know the cause.¡¯ I could predict the oue. ¡®That Ice Age anomaly¡ªit¡¯s not satisfied with merely the [60-minute world] it originally had.¡¯ The virtual reality was drawing ever closer to the real world. At an rming speed. ¡®¡From 3,000 years, multiply by 72 again. And then another 72 times. If it keeps growing by 72 times, eventually it will span a time worthy of being called a world.¡¯ As expected. When I secretly revisited the anomaly prison to check on the smartphone where the Ice Age was confined¡ª ¡ªWhoooosh. No human voices yed on the smartphone screen anymore. The Statue of Liberty, buried in snow and decaying. And my corpse, staring wide-eyed in death. The body of Noh Doha, whose hand was sped with mine, silently reflected in the camera lens. ¡ªWhoooosh. The camera no longer moved. It simply recorded the two long-dead bodies. Only the white noise of the howling blizzard streamed from the speakers. This was the scenery of destruction. ¡°¡So, we isted the virtual world because it was being mistaken for reality, but now it seems it has conquered the virtual world.¡± ¡ªWhoooosh. My mutterings were quickly swallowed by the sound of the wind. The white noise faintly sounded like the anomaly wasughing maniacally. ¡ªHumans, I am satisfied with this. This was the first piece of the puzzle. [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] w Chapter 240 [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] w Chapter 240: Monad II 3 Fragment of the Second Monad. "Brother." "Oh, Seo Gyu." "I... this Seo Gyu is the mastermind behind everything. Hehe." "......" This time, it¡¯s a short piece rted to ''Mastermind Syndrome.'' ''Not this pattern again.'' I sighed. In case anyone forgot, Mastermind Syndrome refers to a bizarre phenomenon where: ''One firmly believes that they manipted all the tragedies from behind the scenes, ensuring the world''s destruction.'' So, when and how does one get infected with Mastermind Syndrome? The conditions are quite simple. You just have to survive until the end with me, the Doctor Jang, and then cheerfully dere, "Tonight''s dinner is chicken!" Naturally, the more outgoing you were, the less likely you were to survive. Awakened individuals who always fought outside against anomalies, like Tang Seorin or Cheon Yohwa, had an extremely low chance of contracting Mastermind Syndrome. After all, you had to survive first before worrying about getting infected. On the other hand, our guild¡¯s proud introvert alliance got selected as masterminds so often it was almost routine. People like Sim Aryeon, who didn¡¯t take the ''Northern Saintess Route,'' or Lee Hayul, who wasn¡¯t dragged away by her restless fate, or Oh Dokseo, who spent decades in seclusion after her series got discontinued... Seo Gyu was also a strong candidate, even though he wasn¡¯t exactly an introvert. The guy was holed up in the hideout all year turn, and his daily routine consisted of [Sleep] [Eat] [Weightlifting] [Eat] [Managing the Cyber-Anomaly Prison] [Eat], and that was it. "Right, Seo Gyu. Though you would¡¯ve been decapitated by a fairy at Busan Station if I hadn¡¯t saved you, somehow, you¡¯re now the mastermind behind all the tragedies on Earth, orchestrating mass murders." "Hehe, you know me well, brother." Normally, I would¡¯ve smashed Seo Gyu¡¯s head in and moved on to the next turn. But that day, precisely at the end of the 682nd turn, I felt a strange curiosity. The turn was already a failure anyway. I figured I might as well hang out with Seo Gyu, who was always full of nonsense, for a bit longer. Without much thought, without any serious intent or purpose, I asked: "Just one question. You would''ve been eliminated in the early stages without me, so how do you im to have orchestrated and controlled everything? If you die, it¡¯s over, right?" "That¡¯s a foolish question, brother." To my surprise, Seo Gyu answered confidently. "Of course, my death was part of my n." "What?" "Think about it. Hehe. If I died, it would mean that you, brother, didn¡¯t have the strength to defeat the Tutorial Fairy in an instant. Or it would mean that you had the kind of personality that would passively watch civilians get ughtered." "......" "In such a world, there¡¯s no way I could seed as a mastermind. I can only thrive as a mastermind in a world where there exists someone strong enough to defeat the anomalies and yet kind enough to care about those around them. In other words, I could only survive by leeching off the stage you created, brother." Seo Gyu clicked his tongue. "Why would I bother striving for glory in a world that didn¡¯t meet these conditions?" "What." "Brother, right after the anomalies arrived and we were dropped into the Tutorial Dungeon, I quickly made a decision. Either I would be the mastermind controlling all the world¡¯s evils¡ªor I¡¯d die here and escape all the suffering early." "......" I was dumbfounded. Why did this sound oddly convincing? "No, but... you didn¡¯t even know your ability was ubiquitous. You couldn¡¯t even awaken without my help. Even if you survived and joined my guild, what guarantee is there that you¡¯d seed as a mastermind?" "Hehe." Seo Gyu smiled mysteriously¡ªa sound that had never once been permitted to a muscr man in human history. My desire to beat him up shed with my curiosity about how far he could twist his nonsense. Since I could beat him up anytime, curiosity won out. "Did I really not know?" "What?" "I awakened my ability in the very early stages. But you, brother, had no way of knowing whether I awakened or not... The longer I dyed revealing my awakening, the more you¡¯d let your guard down around me." "Gasp." "I could manipte the timing of my awakening at will. You were bound to trust me and give me an important position. It¡¯s like the art of survival, like Jia Xu from the Romance of the Three Kingdoms." "...?" It¡¯s... convincing! He even referenced Romance of the Three Kingdoms, the greatest ssic ever, making him seem suddenly more credible. It was like I was under a spell, listening to his masterful lecture. "I subtly incited the anomalies without you or the saintess noticing. For instance, you ordered me to keep Romance of the Three Kingdoms ying on the smartphone 24/7, right?" "Don¡¯t tell me¡ª" "That¡¯s right. I intentionally turned off the smartphone for a bit or slightly altered the recorded content, subtly guiding you towards summoning the ''Savior Narrative Anomaly.'' Hehe. Maybe it wasn¡¯t perfect, but I would¡¯ve influenced you and those around you in small ways..." "...!" "I made many strategic moves behind the scenes. Brother, I orchestrated the world''s end." For about three hours, I listened to Seo Gyu''s long speech about how awesome his mastermind act had been. "That¡¯s interesting, Seo Gyu. It was really fun." "Hehe. Finally, you''re acknowledging how amazing I¡ª" "See you next time." Slice! Seo Gyu was cut in half. It was almost disappointing that no one was left to criticize me for killing him, as the world was on the verge of ending. ''Could it really be true?'' I paused and dyed my death. While dodging the endless monster waves, I searched for the evidence Seo Gyu (Mastermind Version) had imed to leave behind. And to my amazement, I discovered something surprising. ''...There¡¯s a chance he¡¯s telling the truth.'' For instance, the possibility that Seo Gyu had lied about his awakening timing. I had no way to prove whether it was true or false. It was like not being able to observe the crown prince''s life without opening the rice chest. His im that he intentionally triggered the Savior Narrative Syndrome was also the same. In the 682nd turn, mypanions did seem a little more attached to me, a little more obsessed with and reverent towards me than usual. It wasn¡¯t enough to definitively say, "This is all because of Savior Narrative Syndrome." But on the other hand, I couldn¡¯t definitively say, "Savior Narrative Syndrome had no effect this turn," either. I muttered to myself. "It¡¯s like the proof of the devil." Whether Seo Gyu had truly acted as a mastermind, whether he had malice or not, was now impossible to prove. No one, except Seo Gyu himself, could have known his actions or intentions. A crime no one could prove. That void of knowledge is what we called emptiness. Mastermind Syndrome turned out to be a surprisingly fitting anomaly of the void. It was no longer just meaningless nonsense. "......" It was now worth testing. Thus, in the next turn. This time, I made a special request to the Saintess. [So, what you''re asking is... for me to observe a person named Seo Gyu more closely?] "Yes, that''s right. There''s something I need to confirm at the end of this turn. Even the slightest suspicion will do, so please let me know if you notice anything unusual." [Got it. I''ll raise Seo Gyu''s observation level to 10 seconds.] The Saintess had her own system of categorizing the observation levels of Awakened individuals, from "24 hours" to "10 seconds." [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] w At the 24-hour observation level, she would observe them once a day with her irvoyant eyes. On the other hand, the 10-second observation level meant she observed them every 10 seconds or even more frequently. Of course, the number of Awakened individuals assigned to the 10-second observation level was extremely small. Seo Gyu, who was originally at the 10-minute observation level, was temporarily elevated to the highest risk level for this turn. "Is everything still quiet?" [Yes, nothing out of the ordinary. I haven''t detected any signs of him deliberately releasing monsters from the cyber prison. From what I can tell, Seo Gyu is a loyalpanion to you, Doctor Jang.] "......" [I''m not sure why you''re suddenly suspecting Seo Gyu of being the mastermind, but for now, that''s all I can report. I''ll keep watching.] The observation level continued until the end of the 683rd turn. In the end, the only survivors were me, the Saintess, and Seo Gyu. Seo Gyu clicked his tongue as we looked down at a world being consumed by the monster wave. "Wow. Once that starts spreading, there really is no stopping it. How did that woman Aryeon manage to hold them off alone for years...?" "Seo Gyu. Don¡¯t you feel likeughing all of a sudden? Like, ¡®heh heh,¡¯ or something?" "Pardon?" "Have you, at any point, felt the sudden thought that you were behind everything that happened?" "...I don¡¯t know what you¡¯re talking about, boss." "Hmm." Failure. Perhaps this whole "Mastermind Syndrome" wasn¡¯t something worth worrying about after all. But then, a thin line appeared across Seo Gyu¡¯s neck. ¡°Huh?¡± Seo Gyu reached for his neck with his thick hands. Blink. His gaze turned to me. "Boss¨D¨D." Thud. His head rolled to the floor. "......" "Oops. Sorry about that, Doctor Jang." The Saintess, now holding an axe, wiped the blood off and smiled brightly. It was an utterly foreign expression on her usually stoic face. "Surprised?" "...In a way." "It must have been, what, 20 years ago in your time, right? When you told me to watch Seo Gyu, iming he was the mastermind? I was a bit surprised at the time. You were suspicious of those closest to you." I rubbed my forehead. "So this time, it¡¯s the Saintess who¡¯s been revealed as the mastermind, huh." "''Revealed''? That''s a bit hurtful, Doctor Jang. I orchestrated all the destruction. From the very beginning, I was watching you, ying the role of the mastermind all along¡" Before she could finish her sentence, the Saintess¡¯s body erupted into mes, evaporating in an instant due to my aura. I didn¡¯t want to watch this "Mastermind Syndrome" mock her any longer. ¡®If she set her mind to it, of course the Saintess could easily y the role of the mastermind.¡¯ Manipting Awakened through the constetions, subtly distorting reports to me,mitting perfect crimes by stopping time, and so on. Only now did I realize the insidious nature of Mastermind Syndrome. ''...Isn¡¯t this unsolvable?'' ¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D [Choice 1] No matter if it¡¯s Seo Gyu or Sim Aryeon, whoever is thest survivor will be designated as the "mastermind." This mastermind will im they plotted everything during the moments I failed to observe. I couldn¡¯t observe those moments. Therefore, I can¡¯t determine whether their im is true or false. [Choice 2] If I rely on the Saintess¡¯s [irvoyance] to observe all events, the mastermind title will eventually be assigned to the Saintess herself. The Saintess may havemitted crimes while stopping time, moments that I couldn¡¯t observe. Therefore, I can¡¯t deny the theory that she is the mastermind. [Choice 3] To prevent any of mypanions from being designated as the mastermind, I suppress their growth. I prohibit them from taking active roles. I prevent them from making their own decisions. I abandon mypanions before any of them can be the mastermind. I allow their deaths to happen. I prioritize control over efficiency. In this case, the cause of the world¡¯s downfall will be my tyranny, my distrust, my stubbornness. In the end, I, Doctor Jang, will be designated as the mastermind. This fact alone can be proven. ¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D ¡®¡No matter which option I choose, Mastermind Syndrome remains in effect.¡¯ Take this turn, for example. The monster wave that Sim Aryeon, as the Saintess of the North, had been holding off suddenly intensified at a certain point. New Sinuiju was breached, and the Eastern Divine Nation was destroyed. The armies of annihtion didn¡¯t take long to reach Busan. ¡®What if the Saintess stopped time and moved around, wiping out cities across the world, causing the monster wave to grow stronger suddenly?¡¯ Can I prove whether this hypothesis is true or false? I cannot. Even as a regressor, it¡¯s impossible for me to observe every event. Could it be true, as the so-called mastermind ims, that Seo Gyu, or the Saintess, or at times Lee Hayul, Sim Aryeon, or Oh Dokseo were elerating the world¡¯s destruction in certain turns¨D¨D? I can never deny it. Not ever. "......" I looked down at the armies of the monster wave, nowpletely ckened and covering the earth, leaving no space for life to stand. At that moment, the creatures, thest beings on Earth, turned their gazes toward me. The twisted limbs of the grotesque creatures seemed to beughing. -Boss, I destroyed the world. -Doctor Jang, I orchestrated all the destruction. This was the second piece of the puzzle. [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] w Chapter 241 [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] w Chapter 241: Monad III 4 The final, third fragment of the Monad. [Doctor Jang, I''m sorry to disturb you at thiste hour. Yoo Jiwon has just passed away.] Thud. I stopped walking on the night street. It was a day when the full moon, tainted by emptiness, sprayed bloody vapor into the sky. Now, even my breath was oveid with the mist. "What was the cause of death?" [It''s hard to determine exactly. Yoo Jiwon was resting in her private quarters when there was the sound of a mirror breaking.] [It was the full-length mirror that you had referred to as the ''magic mirror.''] [It shattered on its own for no apparent reason, and Yoo Jiwon tilted her head in confusion. Then, someone knocked on Yoo Jiwon''s door.] [Yoo Jiwon asked for a password. The person outside answered. But the moment Yoo Jiwon opened the door, her vision went dark.] [I immediately sent a celestial message to the nearby awakened to check on Yoo Jiwon.] [And they found Yoo Jiwon dead, with the door wide open.] "¡¡." A brief silence. [Do you have any idea what kind of anomaly might have caused this?] I did not. This sort of thing had been happening more frequently these days. "I can''t specte at this time. Did this happen in the headquarters'' quarters?" [Yes.] "Please inform Chief Noh Doha as well. I wille to embalm Yoo Jiwon''s body." [Understood.] "¡¡." Yoo Jiwon¡¯s sudden death. This wasn''t an isted incident. The person who had just informed me was unaware, but cases of the sudden death of Saintess had also surged recently. ''Again. Yoo Jiwon has died absurdly again.'' The turning point was the 669th turn. That was when I met Nsu in Nariyanmar, received the Sacred Fire, and established beacons across the world. Since then, incidents of Yoo Jiwon and Saintess dying had oddly increased. 670th turn. While taking a walk across the Seongsu Bridge, the Saintess missed her step and fell into the Han River, dying from the fall. Given the Saintess¡¯s awakened abilities, her death was absurd. Moreover, she normally walked across the Jamsu Bridge, never the Seongsu Bridge. Yet, at the time, I considered it an unfortunate coincidence. ''The Saintess interacts with anomalies more frequently than others due to her shared vision with the awakened. This increases the likelihood of mental strain. She must have been possessed by some anomaly rted to the bridge.'' However, my judgment was mocked by the frequent absurd idents that happened around Yoo Jiwon and the Saintess. idental deaths. Dying of cold in the middle of summer. Heatstroke in winter. Friendly fire. Being struck by a stray arrow on the battlefield¨D¨D. After the 683rd turn, when I began to investigate the ''Conspiracy Syndrome seriously,'' these absurd deaths peaked. It was as if¡ ''As if the world itself held malice toward Yoo Jiwon and the Saintess.'' Why? Why the two of them? ¡Even during Yoo Jiwon''s funeral, I remained lost in thought. Instead of a photograph, a portrait hung on the altar. It was a painting personally drawn by Sim Aryeon. In the portrait, Yoo Jiwon stared expressionlessly ahead, as if wanting to say, ''Boss, we both know there will be another turn.'' ''The beacons I built across the world. And the Conspiracy Syndrome. These phenomena started when I interfered, as if something dormant had been awakened.'' What exactly? Why? I still didn¡¯t know. ''So, on the contrary¡ If I don¡¯t build the beacons, will this phenomenon disappear?'' A reasonable hypothesis. I tested it in the next turn. I didn¡¯t approach Nsu in Nariyanmar. I didn¡¯t receive the Sacred Fire from him. Naturally, I didn¡¯t build the beacons around the world. "Saintess." [Yes.] "Is there anything unusual near Yoo Jiwon?" [No, everything seems normal.] The sudden deaths of Yoo Jiwon and the Saintess vanished as if they had been a lie. Until the end of this turn, both of them faced ''understandable deaths,'' rather than ''absurd, sudden deaths.'' I wiped my face with my hands. ''¡Alright. The trigger has been confirmed.'' The anomaly''s identity remained unclear. It could have been a low-tier anomaly under specific conditions, or a higher-tier anomaly. For reasons unknown, as long as I didn¡¯t build the beacons across the world, the ''mysterious anomaly'' seemed to have no intent to wipe out Yoo Jiwon and the Saintess. It felt like I had caught a clue. I decided to challenge this mystery. ''Fine. If the world is off-limits, how about the Korean Penins? Would that be eptable?'' In the next turn, I received the Sacred Fire from Nsu and built beacons across the Korean Penins. I even referenced the locations of beacons from the Joseon era to be as careful as possible. It was a subtle way to show the anomaly, ''We¡¯re just restoring history.'' Surprisingly, Yoo Jiwon and the Saintess met reasonable deaths again in this turn. The absurd deaths didn¡¯t touch them. ''The Korean Penins is allowed. Good. Then, how about East Asia? Japan, Taiwan, the Chinese maind, and the Mongolian ins? Would that be fine?'' It was. Beacons were built in key locations across East Asia. When there was a need for reinforcements, the beacons were quickly lit. A column of smoke rose into the sky from a distance, and I rushed to rescue survivors. ''East Asia is permitted, too. Thank you for your leniency. Then, just onest test: the Indian subcontinent and Eastern Europe¨D¨D.'' The Saintess died. A magnitude 9 earthquake struck Seoul overnight. A giant chasm, as if the jaws of hell had opened, appeared and swallowed everything. [I¡¯m sorry. Doctor Jang.] [I tried using Time Stop, but it¡¯s impossible to escape from the earthquake¡¯s range.] [Until next time.] That was the message the Saintess sent, written within a fleeting second. After this final message, the Saintess¡¯smunication ceased. With the destruction of her abilities [irvoyance] and [Telepathy], the Constetions under her care also perished. By the time this unprecedented disaster, the Seoul Earthquake, was over, the unconditional trust in Constetions had already begun to crack among the awakened. The meticulously built social security system that I had constructed on the Korean Penins would copse within days. ¡°¡¡.¡± After epting the Saintess¡¯s death, I immediately went to find Yoo Jiwon. Busan was still intact. But Yoo Jiwon was not. That day, Yoo Jiwon was on her way to the safe house caf¨¦ but got confused about the safe passage through the Inunaki Tunnel. Her body was torn apart and sent to various parts of the Japanese archipgo. [Yoo Jiwon, who possessed the [Minimap] ability, who knew maps better than anyone else, died because she got lost.] Yoo Jiwon¡¯s head was lying near the entrance of the safe house caf¨¦. Despite her death, her face was as peaceful as ever. I gritted my teeth. "¡The beacons must only extend to East Asia. Beyond the Indian subcontinent is forbidden." Both the Saintess and Yoo Jiwon had died. The National Guard struggled to monitor the area around Busan. This turn was fast approaching its end. But I still had unfinished business. There was still one ''counselor'' in this world with whom I could discuss such matters. 5 "Why don''t you just give up, Senior?" A girl with an orange ponytail giggled. Endless Hell. She had been sealed in Cheon Yowha''s soul, maintaining her existence as a ''second personality'' and a ''former ally turned enemy.'' Though most of her former power was lost, as an ex-deity, her wisdom was still considerable. I had asked Cheon Yowha to summon Endless Hell. And the moment Endless Hell heard my story, she burst outughing. "It''s obviously a deity-level anomaly." "¡As I thought." "Yup. In your terms, Senior, it means that the Korean Penins and East Asia have been recognized as part of your ''domain.''" "......" "So, that alien god doesn¡¯t really have the intention to ruthlessly invade your territory, senior. More like, it can''t. Youid such solid groundwork that it''s impossible for it to do so." But¡ª Endless smirked. "If you n on saving the whole world, beyond just the people around you, then the other side might get desperate. So, there''s no need to worry too much, senior. ¡®They¡¯ are simply offering a mild deal." ¡°A deal?¡± ¡°Yeah, a deal. Something like, ''Let''s stop this, Doctor Jang. We¡¯ll give you East Asia and a few other ces, so be satisfied with that. But as for everything south of the Himyas and west of the Ural Mountains¡ªthat¡¯s mine. I''ve already imed it. Deal?¡¯¡± "......" ¡°Ahahaha.¡± Endless burst outughing. [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] w ¡°Honestly, I think you should take pride in this. I mean, seriously. After rolling back through time hundreds of times, you finally did it! Wow¡ªimagine, to have one of those alien gods acknowledge the Ural Mountains and the Himyas as borders. Isn¡¯t that a feat on the level of Genghis Khan?¡± ¡°Do you have any idea why it¡¯s targeting Yoo Jiwon and the Saintess?¡± Endless shrugged and pouted. ¡°Hmm, who knows?¡± "......" "Yeah, there was a time when I controlled all the nightmares, opened up tutorial dungeons worldwide, and started the Void invasion earlier and faster than anyone else, in a totally different way. Ah! The good ol'' days! The nights of the One Thousand and One Nights! Back then, I shone like a star, a young me dering myself to be the Akashic Records of all creation... But s. What can you do when someone with a time-loop cheates gunning for me? Sob sob sob. And now I''m stuck in this measly monkey body, just a pathetic anomaly. Well then, farewell for now¡¡± I pressed my lips together. There was no need to respond to every petty taunt aimed at provoking me. Perhaps sensing that, Endless let out a snort. Her bright red eyes narrowed into slits. ¡°In this fallen state, I can''t give you any grand intel. But if you¡¯re willing to pay the right ''consultation fee,'' I might be able to help you defeat the alien god.¡± ¡°Name your terms.¡± ¡°Call me ¡®Cheon Yohwa.¡¯¡± "......" The atmosphere around us stilled. The sunset reflected in the window turned into night in the blink of an eye, like a candle being snuffed out. ¡°Hmm? Senior, just once¡ªplease? Just one time will be enough¡ Cheon Yohwa. Cheon, Yo, Hwa. With your voice, please call me Yohwa just once.¡± Endless tilted her head like a snake, leaning closer to me, gazing up slyly. ¡°If you do, I¡¯ll cooperate. Happily. Senior, use me as you please.¡± ¡°You are already Cheon Liaohwa, aren¡¯t you?¡± ¡°Not that cursed name.¡± A mechanical sound leaked from Endless''s lips. ¡°Why are you pretending not to understand me? Senior. Cheon Yohwa. Cheon Yohwa. The curse of the human who dered they''d seal a hundred stories like me by singing a thousand songs. This body was formed as a vessel for that long ago. It¡¯s mine, my possession. Give it back, give it back, give it back, give it back.¡± It seemed like Endless wasn¡¯t even aware her voice was warping. As if nothing had happened, she continued speaking in the next moment. ¡°Just once. You¡¯ll time-loop endlessly anyway, right? So calling me that once in this turn won¡¯t have any effect on the next turn¡¯s me. Think of it as one step back to take two steps forward¡ªit fits your grand strategy, doesn¡¯t it?¡± ¡°Yeah. That would make sense.¡± I pushed Endless away. ¡°If I weren¡¯t a perfect memory-holder.¡± ¡°......¡± ¡°The moment I acknowledge you as ¡®Cheon Yohwa,¡¯ even just once, that memory will stick with me forever like a nail, no matter how many turns pass. As a result, the seal on you would weaken even further. I refuse.¡± ¡°Huh? Then what?¡± Endless sneered. ¡°You¡¯re nning to fight that alien god across the twin mountain ranges, without any advice from me? All by yourself? In the wilderness? Maybe if you die and restart 2,000 more times¡ but can your mental fortitudest until then?¡± ¡°......¡± ¡°Oh, right! Isn¡¯t that Saintess the reason you¡¯ve held it together this far? She lives for a long time too, just like you. But if you take on this alien god, won¡¯t she keep dying over and over again? What will happen to her if your mental strength breaks down?¡± ¡°You don¡¯t need to worry about that.¡± ¡°Why? I¡¯m always thinking about you.¡± I smiled faintly. ¡°But out of all the nonsense you¡¯ve spouted, there¡¯s one thing worth considering.¡± ¡°Oh, really? What¡¯s that?¡± ¡°That I should use you conveniently.¡± I grabbed Endless¡¯s hand. ¡°...!¡± Endless''s face brightened up instantly, mistaking my action for surrender to temptation. It was such an obvious misconception. No time-looper would ever fall for the twisted tongue of an alien god. Looking into the eyes of the true owner of the hand I held, I spoke gently. ¡°Yohwa.¡± ¡°¨D¨D.¡± Blink. The red eyes fluttered shut and reopened, revealing the same trustworthy gaze as always. ¡°Yes, Teacher?¡± The one whom I had given a name. My disciple. ¡°I need to ask a favor of you. I¡¯m sorry, but would you leave this life to me?¡± ¡°......¡± ¡°Seoul will fall, the Constetion System will copse, and soon the North will be swallowed by waves of anomalies. Even so, there¡¯s something I need to confirm here.¡± ¡°You need me, don¡¯t you?¡± ¡°No one else but you.¡± ¡°Understood.¡± Cheon Yohwa beamed. ¡°Of course I¡¯ll help! Ah, but I am a little worried about my kids. If possible, could you make sure they don¡¯t suffer too much when they die?¡± ¡°Of course. Thank you, truly.¡± ¡°And I thank you, too.¡± Cheon Yohwa covered my left hand with both of hers, squeezing gently, warmth radiating from them. ¡°Thank you, always, Teacher.¡± A moment of silence passed. When the red eyes blinked open again, her hands hastily pulled away from mine. ¡°¨D¨DWhat are you nning this time?¡± The gaze reflected doubt and wariness. Endless. It was back, summoned from Cheon Yohwa¡¯s consciousness. ¡°You don¡¯t even call me ''senior'' anymore?¡± ¡°Answer me. What kind of dirty trick are you scheming now?¡± ¡°Like I said, I n to use you.¡± I rose from my seat. ¡°In a short while, the world will meet its end. Until that moment, I will survive, and so will you.¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°We will be thest two survivors.¡± Endless looked confused. But the next thing I said made his face twist in shock. ¡°Thest one standing beside me will inevitably contract ¡®Viin Syndrome.¡¯¡± ¡°......!¡± ¡°If my guess is correct, and this alien god is behind the Viin Syndrome, Endless, this time it¡¯lle for you.¡± ¡°You, you¡ª! What¡?¡± I smiled. ¡°The mind of a human may be easily bewitched by an alien god, but can the mind of a anomaly who was once an alien god itself be so easily tainted by the Viin Syndrome?¡± No. There will definitely be a sh. Of course, the unknown enemy was far stronger than Endless. But even the asteroid that wiped out the dinosaurs was much smaller than Earth. The sh itself is what¡¯s important. Even though Endless has weakened, he won¡¯t be easily overpowered by another alien god. There will be a brief ''gap,'' however slight. And that gap is all I need. ¡°Endless, while you resist the alien god with all your might, I¡¯ll seize its tail.¡± Using one enemy to defeat another. Both Endless and the mysterious alien god were nothing more than nuisances, barbarians, from humanity¡¯s perspective. ¡°The west of the Ural Mountains? South of the Himyas? You want that acknowledged?¡± "......" ¡°Ridiculous. I won''t give up a single de of grass, a speck of dust, or a breath of air from thisnd to the likes of you.¡± Now then. As I mentioned earlier, this episode is merely an epilogue¡¯s epilogue, so there¡¯s no need to add more. The pieces are set. Now it''s time to hunt humanity''s enemies. ¡ªEnd. [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] w Chapter 242 [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] w Chapter 242: The Experimenter I 1 ¡°I don¡¯t want to! I don¡¯t want to fight a alien god in this weak body! At least let me take control of the dream demons and fight them! Otherwise, I won¡¯t cooperate¡ªno way!¡± ¡°To calmly inform you of the facts, no matter how much you throw a tantrum, nothing will change.¡± ¡°You bastard! Regressor! Devil!¡± ¡°My ears aren¡¯t even itchy.¡± 687th regression. The world had already begun to copse at full speed. In this chaos, instead of opting for an early exit, I chose to team up with Endless Hell and take him along. This seems like a good time to introduce the strategy I, Doctor Jang, employ when the world is on the brink of destruction. ¡°Aryeon, stop the saintess business and retreat.¡± ¡°W-what? Um, if that¡¯s what the Guild Leader thinks, I don¡¯t mind, but the Manchurian defense line is copsing, New New York has fallen, and the Eastern Holy Kingdom is on the verge of destruction...?¡± ¡°Right. That¡¯s precisely why I¡¯m telling you to do it. Soon, the ¡®Monster Wave¡¯ will explode uncontrobly. Even if it costs you your life, just lead your fanatics and retreat to Busan.¡± ¡°Aha! Got it!¡± The Eastern Holy Kingdom was done for. With the true saintess of Seoul already dead, not the fake saintess like Sim Aryeon, it was no longer possible to brainwash fanatics by sending them messages under the nickname [Morning Star of the Resurrection]. - Oh, oh, oh! Our Lord, Mo Gwangseo Christ! - Are you truly abandoning us? - The end is near! Mo Gwangseo was still alive. But even with the messages from the Constetion being cut off, countless fanatics believed their connection with ¡®God¡¯ had been severed, leading them to hysteria. I couldn¡¯t me them. For those who had lost their families, hometowns, friends, countries, and entire nations, the ¡®heavenly voice that always answered their prayers¡¯ was their only support. Copse was inevitable. Until just a short while ago, the Crusaders of the Eastern Holy Kingdom had been operating in perfect unison, driving back the monsters, but they fell apart in an instant. ¡°How many are following you?¡± ¡°Eh, heh. I gathered as many highbat awakened individuals as I could. Bringing too many would make it hard for Grandpa the Sword Maiden to feed them... about 600 people...!¡± But not all the fanatics worshipped Mo Gwangseo. Aryeon, the saintess of the North. The living embodiment of healing. On the battlefield, as long as Sim Aryeon wasn¡¯t fatally wounded, she managed to save most of the injured. Naturally, the more a unit fought monsters, the stronger their faith in the Northern Saintess. They owed their lives to her many times over. They called themselves the ¡®Saintess¡¯s Guard.¡¯ The name might sound ridiculous, but they were the top elite force in northern Korea. If their master ordered them to die, they would die, and if she asked them to survive, they would crawl back from hell. Northern front retreat. Next up. ¡°Yohwa, Baekhwa Girls¡¯ High School is now a branch in Sejong. The main campus is in Busan.¡± ¡°Oh, well. It¡¯s kind of sad since we buried a lot of students here in the schoolyard, but it can¡¯t be helped!¡± I gave instructions not just to Endless Hell, but also to Cheon Yohwa. With New New York and Pyongyang on the verge of copse, there was no reason to hold onto Sejong any longer. Northern Seoul? As I mentioned in a previous episode, it was destroyed by a massive earthquake. Incheon also suffered devastating damage. Central front retreat. Retreat, retreat. Endless retreat. Until the final defense line at the Nakdong River was established. - Librarian of the Grand Library: This is an announcement from SGNet. - Due to the appearance of a alien god-ss anomaly, the voices of the Constetions have been entirely cut off. Until this anomaly is eliminated, the Constetions will not be able to assist you. - Awakened beings residing on the Korean Penins, please retreat south to form the final defense line. - The current status of the refugee camps around Busan is as follows... Even retreating was no easy task. As you already know, no matter how often the National Highway Administration sent caravans to clear the roads, the world had fundamentally been contaminated by the void. In broad daylight, even a slight misstep while walking could get you trapped in a ¡®strange ce.¡¯ Answering a voice you shouldn¡¯t, or seeing something you weren¡¯t supposed to, led to the same result. - Lee Hyunsoo: I¡¯m stuck between Iksan and Jeonju. 16 of us are stranded. If you save us, we¡¯ll give you 50% of the supplies we¡¯ve gathered. Please, save us. - Park Habyul: We were moving along the coastline from Gangneung, but now we¡¯re stranded on top of a snow-covered mountain. Location unknown. I¡¯m periodically firing off aura signals. If you help us, we will repay you. Here¡¯s our list of supplies... - Anonymous: I think everyone but me is dead. Casualties were piling up everywhere. The National Highway Administration deployed all avable resources to send out rescue teams in every direction. The Three Thousand Worlds and Baekhwa Girls¡¯ High School also cooperated, and I did my best, but there were still countless stragglers. It was inevitable. ¡°The saintess¡¯s death was too great a loss.¡± If Yoo Jiwon were still here, she could have used her [Mini-map] to pinpoint the locations of the lost. But in this turn, Yoo Jiwon had also died in the Inunaki Tunnel. It was as if my right and left eyes, which had been observing the Korean Penins in my stead, were now blind. But would I give up? ¡°Chief Noh Doha of the Highway Patrol. How¡¯s the refugee intake going?¡± ¡°It¡¯sing along. Well, if they made it here without dying, they¡¯re already in the top 1% of humanity...¡± Busan had always been prepared for this kind of ¡®final situation.¡¯ Shantytowns rapidly expanded, but each vige was divided by strict nning and zoning. The witches of the Three Thousand Worlds, who could fly, patrolled the skies and maintained order. The authority to judge and enforce thew was monopolized by the Three Thousand Worlds. Naturally, conflicts arose between the existing residents and the refugees in such a situation¨D¨D. ¡°Yohwa, please handle it.¡± ¡°Yes.¡± I may not mention it often, so you might have forgotten, but Cheon Yohwa¡¯s original profession was a necromancer. She possessed the brainwashing technique called [NPC Creation]. A forbidden art that forced a person to think and act in a predetermined way, like a zombie, turning them into an ¡®NPC.¡¯ ¡°W-what? What are you doing to me¨D¨D?¡± ¡°Ei.¡± ¡°We must unite for the survival of humanity! Of course! That¡¯s only natural!¡± The small troublemakers were all ¡®purified¡¯ by Cheon Yohwa, bing obedient. If you didn¡¯t want to be rebuilt as an NPC, you had to learn to cause trouble discreetly. Fortunately, most of the survivors in this apocalypse had already acquired that trait. Enforcement through blood and iron. Around Busan, fortifications were swiftly built up. ¡°Refugees from Pyongyang have all been taken in.¡± ¡°Those from Nampo, Sariwon, Kaesong, and Wonsan have also arrived.¡± ¡°No more areing from Sejong.¡± ¡°From Iksan, Jeonju, Gwangju, Mokpo, Haenam, and Suncheon, everyone who was supposed to cross over has made it.¡± ¡°Two guilds from Gangneung still haven¡¯t sent word.¡± ¡°The first phase of the Nakdong River defense line is expected to bepleted within a week!¡± The National Highway Administration worked tirelessly, leading all operations from the front. ¡°Hmmm...¡± At headquarters, Noh Doha was always in position, to the point where it was doubtful whether he ever slept. Same expression as usual, same tired look in his eyes and voice, as he sipped his coffee. [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] w ¡°At this point, I think it¡¯s safe to say we¡¯ve saved everyone we could. It¡¯s fortunate that the Sword Maiden rejuvenated himself. Otherwise, he would¡¯ve dropped dead while walking through the fields¡¡± ¡°The magical girls have also agreed to send reinforcements if needed.¡± ¡°Hmph. I always wondered why you kept getting so cozy with them, but it turns out they¡¯re useful in their own way after all¡¡± I nodded. Then, I looked at one of the National Road Management Corps members and asked, ¡°Still no word from Daejeon?¡± ¡°Ah, no, sir. The only reply we¡¯ve gotten is that they¡¯ll handle the refugee situation on their own and that we shouldn¡¯t worry about it.¡± Koyori. Once again, this turn, Daejeon was spared from the wave of refugees. The monsters probably wouldn¡¯t touch Daejeon either. I slowly nodded again. ¡°Good. Let¡¯s move on to the next phase of the operation.¡± That day, SGNet was hacked. ¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D Author: ¡®The Collector of All Anomalies¡¯ Greetings, awakened humans operating in the Korean Penins. ughs) ¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D The website turned crimson, cracks spreading across it like broken ss. A phenomenon that had never happened before. The awakened were taken aback. ¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D Author: ¡®The Collector of All Anomalies¡¯ Watching you all struggle to survive warms a part of my deste heart. How does it feel to be suddenly cut off from the benevolence and goodwill of the Constetions, which you¡¯ve parasitically relied on like worms? All the Constetions you¡¯ve revered are now under my control. There are still a few left that I haven¡¯t captured, but either way, they can no longer interfere with you. Now, will you be able to survive through this hardship? ¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D¨D Posts like this flooded everywhere. Regr awakened users couldn¡¯t write posts or leavements. Of course, it was all our own doing. The person who wrote the announcement under the alias ¡®The Collector of All Anomalies¡¯ was Sim Aryeon. Naturally, tons of attention got drawn to her. ¡°¡I¡¯m sorry, Aryeon. I¡¯m always forcing you to y the viin.¡± ¡°Huh? Hehe. No, it¡¯s okay! I-I¡¯m totally fine. Honestly, all this attention is making me feel great!¡± The problem was it was too much attention. If left like this for too long, Sim Aryeon would inevitably be a fallen one. That¡¯s why the strategy of ming ¡®all the evils of the world¡¯ on her was reserved for when humanity was truly on the brink of destruction. Like now. ¡°Ah, mister!¡± Bang. Oh Dokseo burst through my door. She was the youngest member of our guild, along with Lee Hayul, and clearly had forgotten any manners like knocking. Since I had juste out of the shower, Oh Dokseo got a full view of my bare upper body. She froze for a second. ¡°Oh. Wow. Those abs are sick¡¡± ¡°Is this harassment?¡± ¡°Mister, you should walk around shirtless more often. I normally hate musclehead characters, but for you, I¡¯ll make an exception and allow tank tops. But only asionally, since it doesn¡¯t fit your image to wear them too often.¡± ¡°This is harassment.¡± ¡°Who cares about that in a world this messed up¡ Oh, right! Mister! Come out to the terrace!¡± I sighed. ¡®Normally, the Saintess would send a telepathic message like [Oh Dokseo, Doctor Jang just finished showering, so wait a bit before barging in], but now...¡¯ Even in such small moments, her absence was keenly felt. I threw on my barista outfit and stepped outside. It wasn¡¯t like I had juste out of the Inunaki Tunnel or anything. My current lodging was inside the National Road Management Corps headquarters. When I stepped out onto themunal terrace, the view beyond Busan spread out before me. Oh Dokseo, Lee Hayul, Cheon Yohwa, Sim Aryeon, Dang Seorin, and Noh Doha were already waiting. ¡°You¡¯ve arrived¡¡± Noh Doha sipped his coffee, barely ncing at me. Following his gaze, I looked up at the sky. ¡°¡¡¡± A signal fire. A dark plume of smoke was rising in the distance. That vertical column of smoke was what triggered the ¡®Unknown Alien God¡¯ into a frenzy. The smoke stretched endlessly upward, reaching for the sky. It wasn¡¯t ordinary smoke. It was a signal fire, designed to be visible to the naked eye from up to 1,000 kilometers away. That fire was rising. From the horizon¨D¨D. One, two, three, four. Five, six, seven, eight. Nine, ten, eleven, twelve, thirteen. Fourteen, fifteen, sixteen, seventeen, eighteen. From the horizon¨D¨D. Neen, twenty, twenty-one, twenty-two, twenty-three, twenty-four, twenty-five, twenty-six, twenty-seven, twenty-eight, twenty-nine, thirty, thirty-one, thirty-two, thirty-three, thirty-four, thirty-five, thirty-six, thirty-seven, thirty-eight, thirty-nine, forty, forty-one, forty-two, forty-three, forty-four. Even the witches keeping watch from the skies, the refugees busy building viges on the ground, and the citizens dutifully carrying out their tasks. Everyone stopped what they were doing and gazed nkly at the sky. Soundlessly. Continuously. Pirs of smoke kept rising one after another, from every direction. ¡°¡¡¡± ¡°¡¡¡± Everyone gathered on the terrace fell silent. The only sounds were Noh Doha sipping his coffee and Lee Hayul clutching at my sleeve. This was the scene that heralded the end of our era. [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] w Chapter 243 [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] w Chapter 243: The Experimenter II 2 The pirs of smoke that filled the sky continued for half a day before gradually dissipating, one by one. The farthest smoke column was the first to fade, signaling theplete destruction of a human city or base where the signal fires had been set. One, two, three... As quietly as a candle being snuffed out. Eventually, when only five pirs of smoke remained in the sky¡ª ¡°Grand Witch!¡± A member of the Thousand Worlds Guild, who had been scouting from above on a broom, approached us. Our leadership was gathered on the terrace of the National Road Management Headquarters, receiving the scout¡¯s report. ¡°Yes. What is it?¡± ¡°A monster wave has been observed! It appears that Sejong City and Daejeon have already fallen!¡± ¡°I see. Good work. The scout teams from divisions one to five should return.¡± ¡°Yes!¡± The guild member flew off again, disappearing beyond Busan. With the disappearance of the Saintess'' [Telepathy], such reports had to be delivered manually. There were also radios, but most of them could only be used once before bing infected by the anomaly, so they were reserved for critical battles. Soon, only four columns of smoke remained. It seemed that Jeonju had fallen as well. ¡°Everyone, take your final rest. Once the battle starts, you won¡¯t have time to close your eyes.¡± ¡°...¡± There wasn¡¯t much response. Most of them were extremely tense. It was only natural. To me, this was merely the 687th time facing the end of the world. But to the others, this was their first¡ªandst¡ªapocalypse. Seoul had been reduced to ashes in mere seconds. Families and friends were dead. Human lives were treated like ythings. And yet, somehow, out of a desperate will to survive, we rebuilt the cities. But even then, everyone had the same thought in the back of their minds: ¡°How much longer can we survive?¡± ¡°Is all of this just a futile struggle?¡± The answer to those questions was now approaching from the sky. The smoke pirs marking humanity¡¯s survival¡ªthose hands of the clock counting down from four to three, three to two, two to one. And when it finally reached zero¡ª Doooong¡ª A bell rang out from the sky. Dooooong¡ª Doooong¡ª It wasn¡¯t music created by a mage or some sound produced by a superhuman ability. The bell itself was an anomaly. When all human strongholds had fallen, and only one remained to face the final struggle, when the monster wave had reached the front lines, the ¡°Bell¡± would appear without fail, ringing loudly across the sky. Dooooong¡ª Doooong¡ª Each time the invisible bell rang, the sky was stained with bright red paint. As if a bucket of paint had been spilled. The sky, no longer an empty void, had be a canvas. Before the bell tolled twelve times, the heavens werepletely dyed red. Dooooooong¡ª The bell tolled exactly thirteen times and then fell silent. But the ringing had not merely painted the sky red. Another witch who had been scouting high above rapidly descended. ¡°Grand Witch! Th-the Earth has ttened!¡± In just the thirteen tolls of the bell, the very terrain of Earth¡ªno, thews of the sr system itself¡ªhad been distorted. It was proof that humanity no longer had any power to assert logic or reason over the world. I took a deep breath and shouted with all my might. ¡°Do not look up at the sky!¡± CLANG! ¡°Do not let the sun, the moon, or the stars enter your sight! They are no longer celestial bodies! They are now part of the anomaly, mere void! Do not look at them!¡± Though all survivors were already well aware of this, I reiterated it. Humans had trained relentlessly up to this point. In the virtual world created through the coboration of the Tutorial Fairies and the authors, [The Kingdom Project], a dreamlike simtion. Even though the Saintess had perished, humanity still had a final ace up its sleeve. No one was fumbling around in confusion, as they had during the early Ten ns Hunt or the Meteor Shower Hunt. All of them were pseudo-regressors who had experienced death several times in the simted world of dreams. My army. The product of all my regressions. ¡°They¡¯reing!¡± The witches of the Thousand Worlds Guild, who were in charge of the army¡¯s sensory organs and bloodstream, fired res into the sky with a loud bang. ¡°The monster wave is here!¡± The army of anomalies had swallowed the horizon. 3 ¡ªUooooooooooooh! Up until now, I hadn¡¯t described the ¡°monster wave¡± in much detail. Because it was literally a horde of every kind of anomaly imaginable, all mixed together, surging forward. But even within that massive, pitch-ck swarm, one type of anomaly stood out. ¡ªWiiiiiiiiiooooooohooooooo! The ¡°Wraiths.¡± In this world, corpses that had not received proper funerals were transformed into anomalies. The body of a child abandoned in haste during evacuation, the corpse of an elderly person killed to lessen the mouths to feed. Regardless of the reason, bodies that had not beenid to rest properly always ¡°returned.¡± And they wielded their ws of vengeance against the world that had forsaken them. The first anomaly to reach Busan¡¯s final defensive line was one of those wraiths. A towering, mountain-like creature. This massive wraith, as tall as a 70-story building, was covered from head to toe with arms, legs, and lips, like fur. The lips and teeth were constantly mumbling. It was an incoherent jumble of noise, far too chaotic for the human ear to understand. But if you were to break it down, it would go something like this: ¡ª¡°Oh my, Sangkyu! Look at the baby!¡± ¡ª¡°Mommy, Daddy, Mommy, Daddy, Mommy, Daddy.¡± ¡ª¡°The baby has grown so beautifully.¡± ¡ª¡°Aaaah, aaaaah, aaaaah.¡± ¡ª¡°Don¡¯t even mention it. Lately, they¡¯ve been so disobedient. I thought they¡¯d calm down once they turned four, but...¡± Dragging along the head of a newborn baby, the fingers of a mother, the calf muscles of a father, and the hair of rtives, this massive lump of flesh, the size of a 70-story building, advanced. The wraiths weren¡¯t even spewing curses at us humans. They weren¡¯t expressing any overt intent to kill. If anything, it was as if they were greeting us. ¡°Look at this¡ªwasn¡¯t this what humanity was?¡± As if saying, ¡°This is your world,¡± the wraith, innocent as a child, was mimicking human society. And it wasn¡¯t alone. Countless wraiths were approaching from beyond the horizon. At least thousands of them. Taking into ount the shadows still approaching from that vast distance, there were tens of billions of corpses that had been transformed into wraiths. There was no need to hide it anymore. In the early stages of my regression, I had mistaken one of the Ten ns as the final boss. In other words, there were anomalies of that caliber, tens of thousands of them within the monster wave. And even they were only a fraction of the whole. ¡°Ugh...¡± ¡°...¡± [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] w No matter how much training they had gone through, the awakened fighters froze in the face of this overwhelming apocalypse, now fully realized. And as always, in such moments¡ª ¡°Aaaah¡ª¡± A witch¡¯s song rang out. Tang Seorin, standing on the terrace where everyone could see her, began to sing the main chant. The incoherent noises from the anomalies were drowned out by the witch¡¯s song, reduced to nothing more than background noise. But that wasn¡¯t all. ¡°G-Guildmaster.¡± ¡°...¡± ¡°I will offer my prayers as well.¡± Sim Aryeon. This child was wearing clothes she didn¡¯t usually wear. Or rather, to be more urate, clothes she rarely wore in front of me. The attire of a saintess. A ck-and-white dress. It was the outfit Sim Aryeon wore when acting in her capacity as the Saintess of the Eastern Holy Kingdom. While it didn¡¯t carry much religious significance, just seeing it made you feel, ¡°Ah, this is truly sacred.¡± Sim Aryeon¡¯s dress was wrapped around her body, covering her entirely without revealing a single bit of skin, embracing her in a wide, solemn silhouette. They say fashion defines a person¡¯s aura. Wearing the Saintess''s robes, Sim Aryeon, who usually had a clumsy demeanor, now smiled brightly and said, "Guild Leader, f-fighting!" Sim Aryeon assumed a prayer stance. From the cracks in the concrete terrace floor, green flowers and grass began to bloom. A vibrant, dazzling sea of flowers. In an instant, vines wrapped around the Babel Tower, the headquarters of the National Road Management Agency, spreading across the alleys of Busan like a pulsating bloodstream. A wave of flowers and grass covered the final defense line. "This is¡." "I-I can move my legs!" The wounds of patients lying sick in the slums suddenly bloomed with flowers. Thin des of grass sewed up their wounds like fine threads, and the petals erased even the scars before quietly falling away. It was as if spring had arrived, and petals scattered across the entire city of Busan. The petals of those who had lost limbs were red, the petals of those with damaged internal organs were yellow, the petals of those with brain damage were blue, and the petals of those grieving for lost loved ones were pure white. An explosion of a hundred flowers in full bloom. This was the power of Sim Aryeon, the Saintess of the Eastern Holy Kingdom. Arge-area ability that endlessly healed any wounds of allies within her range of influence. A garden that bloomed by feeding off malice. In any battlefield where Sim Aryeon revealed her true power, flowers always bloomed, covering the sky in petals. "Oooooh!" "The Saintess is protecting us!" "The Saintess has pierced the path of the wind, lighting the way forward for us! With the radiant glory of her mercy and the blessing of love, the whole world shall be saved!" It was only natural that people would be intoxicated by the excessively enchanting sight, too beautiful for any mere human to have created. "In the name of Christ the Savior!" The 600 members of the Saintess''s Guard let out a furious roar as they charged toward the undead. The sight of pdins charging at a monstrosity at least 70 stories tall was so absurd that even Don Quixote charging at windmills would seem more rational. But these pdins were far morepetent than the knight of La Mancha. Boom...! The orderly charge of the Saintess''s Guard literally crushed the nearest undead. They hacked away at its flesh from both sides, and the gargantuan creature lost its bnce and toppled over, causing the entire city of Busan to tremble. "Exterminate them!" "We too, let¡¯s join in!" "Uoooooh!" Guild members who had evacuated from various parts of the Korean Penins joined the fray. Blood spattered endlessly. The massive monstrosity, which was enormous in size but little else, was quickly carved up by the des of the seasoned Awakened warriors. -Aaaaaaah. -Please stop hurting our child! -Mom! Dad! Mom! Dad! Mom! Dad! -It hurts! It hurts! Please save me! -Why are you doing this to us? Why are you trying to kill us? And you still call yourselves human? The undead imitated human eyes, voices, and hands as they clung to the Awakened, their cries little more than curses. Even the most battle-hardened warriors flinched at the sight. "A¨D¨Dah¨D¨Dah¨D¨D." But by then, Tang Seorin''s voice, now in her third melody, was already scattering ¡®mental fortification¡¯ across the battlefield. It was the result of one of our coborations: a spell created through the fusion of Tang Seorin''s magic and my magic, designed to fight against Goryo-ri. The effect was simple. It constantly fed back specific memories and emotions. The emotions that surged within the warriors were, "I will defeat the anomalies" and "I will show humanity''sst stand." "These damn monsters...!" "Don''t you dare imitate humans!" The hesitation disappeared from the warriors'' strikes. They ughtered the anomalies as they had been trained. But the anomalies did not go down without a fight. The undead,posed of tens of thousands of corpses, wed with their nails, bit with their teeth, and exploded their intestines like bombs. Casualties were inevitable. The blood of both the undead and the living soaked the earth red. "......" But Sim Aryeon was there. Silently, she prayed. Repenting for the people she had hurt, reflecting on all her wrongdoings, and offeringfort to others in proportion to the wounds she had inflicted. Even when the anomalies gouged out human flesh, flowers soon entwined the wounded arms, their petals blooming within seconds before wilting again. And so, when the giant undead was finally ughtered¨D Under the crimson sky, in the area where the battle had taken ce, a million flower petals flowed brightly. Injuries: 0. Deaths: 0. The skirmish was an overwhelming victory for humanity. "Uoooooh!" "Screw the anomalies! Bring them all on!" "Long live the Three Thousand Worlds! Long live the Great Witch!" Cheers erupted from all directions. However, with my vision enhanced by aura, I could see the wave of monsters endlessly approaching from the horizon. In terms of the overall force of the monster wave, the undead the Awakened had just defeated ounted for roughly... 1/10,000,000,000. One ten-billionth. "......" Looking at Tang Seorin, who was still burning her life force as she sang, and Sim Aryeon, who was slowly nearing the state of a fallen one, I tightly gripped the hilt of Doha. This was just the beginning. [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] w Chapter 244 [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] w Chapter 244: The Experimenter III 4 My role in the final defense war was always that of the ¡°firefighter on the front line.¡± Let me show you what that entails. U?h?e?a?o?o?o?h?h?h?hh?o?hh?hh?a?aa?h?hh?aaahh! The joy of a decisive victory in the preliminary battle was short-lived. Soon, waves of monsters came crashing in from all directions, like a relentless tsunami. Corpses towering at various heights¡ª60 floors, 80 floors, 30 floors¡ªmarched forward, each step shaking the horizon with a booming sound. They crashed into each other, fell apart, mixed, and reformed in a ceaseless frenzy. The battlefield shifted in real time, with rock strata undting like slick oil. Without any semnce of order or formation, the monsters were advancing toward the final defense line with overwhelming mass and numbers. "Hold them off! Don¡¯t fall back!" "I told you during training, don''t look up at the sky! Are you even listening¡ª?" "Shoot!" At the moment of collision, a red wave surged. It was the blood of the awakened ones holding the defense line. Then, the petals from Sim Aryeon¡¯s prayer scattered like confetti, enveloping the awakened ones. One of the awakened, whose body had been half-crushed by a 40-floor-high corpse, was instantly wrapped in the petal breeze and fully healed. Even with pierced abdomens, severed limbs, and flesh torn away, Sim Aryeon''s petals gently enveloped and healed their wounds. ¡°We can win! We¡¯re going to win!¡± "Uwooooh!" ¡°It doesn¡¯t hurt... Hahaha! I¡¯m not dying! This is easier than a simtion!¡± And so, though it seemed the line might break¡ªit didn¡¯t. The awakened ones held their ground to the very end. In fact, on some fronts, they even pushed back. The corpses of monsters toppled, one after another, with resounding thuds. This was a deadlock. It was as if, on their side, they had infinite mass, while on our side, we had infinite HP. ¡°Hyaaaaah! Charge! Charge!¡± ¡°Long live the Saintess! Long live the Saintess!¡± ¡°Damn, the Eastern Holy Kingdom was hoarding this incredible power for themselves?¡± An army that was virtually immortal. A ck wave made up of hundreds of millions of monsters was being driven back by a wave of humans. On the terrace, Oh Dokseo murmured in awe as she watched the scene. "...Amazing. This is Aryeon unnie¡¯s true awakening ability..." Though simr scenes happened daily in the Eastern Holy Kingdom, even there, the scale wasn¡¯t this grand. Sim Aryeon was now tapping into her innate life force¡ªthe equivalent of wielding the innate energy of a martial artist. Watching Sim Aryeon, who knelt on the terrace floor with her eyes closed, praying quietly, I thought, ¡®Once she¡¯s entered that mode, there¡¯s no turning back.¡¯ The countdown had begun. Sim Aryeon had already crossed the threshold of what it meant to be human. The remarkable performance humanity was disying at the final defense line was only possible through Sim Aryeon¡¯s sacrifice. ¡®I¡¯m sorry, Aryeon. I¡¯ll clean up the front lines as best I can while you hold on.¡¯ Bzzzzt. The radio at my waist crackled with noise. We had refrained from using it to prevent contamination by the monsters, but once the battlemenced in earnest, it was unlocked. -This is Point C3! Bzzzt, this is Point C3! The corpses are enormous! We can¡¯t hold out much longer! It was an area I had already been monitoring closely. I nced at Noh Doha. ¡°Then I¡¯ll leave themand to you while I¡¯m gone. Chief, make sure to keep at least one trump card ready in case the monsters rise from the coast.¡± ¡°I¡¯ve heard that a hundred times already. Just go¡.¡± ¡°Yes. In the worst case, rely on the Sword Maiden. I¡¯m off.¡± After exchanging brief nces with Tang Seorin, Cheon Yohwa, Lee Hayul, and Oh Dokseo, I pushed off the terrace and leapt into the air. Whooosh¡ª The unpleasantly lukewarm air clung to my cheeks, even though it was just before winter. The air smelled strangely sickly-sweet, and the sky, stained red, even altered its texture. Taptaptap. Leaping from the tops of streetmps positioned along the city roads, I moved swiftly toward the front line. There was no need to waste energy with unnecessary midair maneuvers. In an instant, I arrived at the point where our allies had requested reinforcements over the radio. "That¡ that monster¡¯s too tough!" "Don¡¯t rush in! Keep your distance! It¡¯s slow, so just focus on the smaller ones and keep retreating!" U?ghrr?ugh?ha?g?h?uhrrg?hrroor?ugh! The monster tearing through the front line here was, simply put, a ¡°medieval knight.¡± It was massive, reaching 100 meters in height and spanning nearly 300 meters across. It was like a moving fortress. Grrro?g?kk?roo?ho?o?o?oorrr! The ¡°medieval knight¡± was stered all over with metal tes. Drip-drip-drip! Red blood spurted continuously from the gaps in its ted armor. Its veins and muscles were chaotically tangled together. The monster¡¯s waist was densely pierced with countless gs, like needles. Each g bore unknown emblems. But upon closer inspection, the gs were actually tongues. They were alive and writhing. These tongues pped violently in the wind, producing a strange wailing sound. Piiiiooooooouuuu! The eerie ¡°chorus of gs¡± shook the front line, like a train horn¡ªor perhaps mockingughter. The awakened exposed to that sound directly had blood spurting from their eardrums all at once. ¡°Aaaaargh!¡± ¡°Uh, ugh? Ugh. Hrk, argh...?¡± Not just their ears¡ªeyeballs popped from their sockets, teeth crumbled, and blood poured from the holes in their faces. Screams were swallowed up everywhere. If the Northern Saintess hadn¡¯t activated her mass healing, this one noise attack from the ¡°medieval knight¡± would have wiped out an entire section of the front. But humanity still had Sim Aryeon. And there was also me, Doctor Jang. ¡°There! That¡¯s the one, Your Excellency Doctor Jang!¡± The guild leader responsible for this section of the front looked at me with his mouth agape. His left eye had just been healed, thanks to Sim Aryeon¡¯s power. ¡°Stand back.¡± I brushed past the guild leader and ran forward. ¡°Oh. Oh, please be careful¡ª!¡± One step, two steps, three steps. The guild leader¡¯s voice faded quickly into the distance. Tap! My final step pushed off the ground. A brief sensation of floating. The massive, fortress-like front of the ¡°medieval knight¡± filled my view. U?rgh?ko?go?h?ko?ro?rrroor! It noticed me too. Suddenly, sharp spikes sprouted from the gaps in its ted armor. They resembled thences that knights would carry into battle, only there were thousands of them. Oddly, they had horse legs attached to them, making clopping sounds. The spikes even emitted horse whinnies. Neigh-iihiii! The number of these nce spikes¡± was around three thousand. With a single casual thrust, it was as if a three-thousand-strong cavalry charge wasing straight at me. [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] w ¡°¨D¨D¨D.¡± Drawing my de, I unsheathed Doha. I channeled all the aura in my body into the de. Threads of dark aura flowed from my body, absorbed by the de, forming a wave. I let the wave loose. The dark wave surged forward. Kaa-boom! Thence spikes charging at me shattered like toothpicks in the wave. Even after that, my sword wave continued its course. Wind roared. In one sweeping motion, my attack severed even the gs, those tongue-like protrusions bristling along the ¡°medieval knight¡¯s¡± back. Urrrgghhhooorrr! A monstrous scream. Thousands of writhing tongues emitted their dying cries, thrashing in agony. But with their bases severed, they couldn¡¯t reattach. With force in my heel, I delivered a powerful kick to the massive creature¡¯s body. Boom! A shockwave sted outward. The banners were key to this "medieval knight." As long as those gs remained standing, this hunk of iron couldn''t be harmed. ¡®Even if I take down one g, another will grow in its ce. The brutal condition is that they all have to be destroyed in one strike.¡¯ It was a challenging condition to fulfill, but once I cleared it, I could break through the te armor with a single kick. Crack! Smash! Shatter! The "medieval knight''s" armor shattered like an eggshell. Soon, severed tongues, shrieking their final cries, burst apart. The monster, dying, gushed out a torrent of blood, which drenched me. The sharp, eggy stench hit my lips. I turned around. "Everyone, reassemble the formation!" By now, the other Awakened ones had regained their sight and hearing. They stared up at me, dazed. I could see a multitude of emotions in their eyes. Fear, astonishment, joy, admiration, excitement, and fervor. It made sense. I''d never revealed my full power in all the countless hunts until now, in this final battle of the current turn. "Do not lose hope!" Ah¨D¨D¨D. As I rallied the warriors, a melody filled the air from the distant Tower of Babel¡ªthe Song of Tang Seorin. Divine Song, Fourth Melody: "Broadcast." The effect was simple. Tang Seorin would select a specific person, broadcasting their image in real-time holograms across the entire battlefield. "The Great Witch of the Three Thousand Realms sings for us! The Saintess of the Eastern Holy Kingdom prays for you all!" - The Great Witch of the Three Thousand Realms sings for us! The Saintess of the Eastern Holy Kingdom prays for you all! My voice echoed across the defensive front. Doctor Jang, projected in the hologram across the battlefield, mirrored my stance, my words, and my voice exactly. One''s field of vision naturally narrows drastically in the heat of battle. Facing the relentless onught of the monster horde, every sense¡ªtime itself¡ªwas skewed and broken. What did the warriors need in moments like this? [I''m not fighting alone.] [On other fronts, our allies are prevailing.] [In battlefields as brutal as this one, ourrades fight and resist, sacrificing themselves.] Belief in one''srades. Certainty that humanity stands together. As long as they felt that faith vividly, the warriors would never loosen their grip on their weapons. That was why Tang Seorin had used a precious melody from her Divine Song to project this "Broadcast." Even if focus wavered slightly, it waspensated for by Sim Aryeon''s wide-range healing. They minimized the downside of a momentarypse in concentration, and in return, they maximized morale across the entire front. I roared. "We are humanity!" - As long as you stand strong, humanity will not perish! "So, let us rise together and fight to thest breath! Comrades! Countrymen! Brothers-in-arms!" - So, let us rise together and fight to thest breath! Comrades! Countrymen! Brothers-in-arms... Tang Seorin''s acape voice resonated gloriously. Flower petals danced in the sky above the battlefield. The Great Witch, the Saintess, and Doctor Jang stood united with everyone, a palpable, undeniable reality. "We are humanity!" And so, one by one, the Awakened ones shouted without prompting. - We are humanity! I raced swiftly toward the next front line. Outnumbered. Every front was barely holding back the monstrous flood. No one had died or been seriously wounded yet, but there were simply too many enemies. Countless and relentless. "We are humanity!" Yet, each time I arrived at a section of the front, the United Human Defense Line pushed back the monsters, even if just a little. This front. Then the next. Then the one on the other side. And then back again. Before I knew it, a day had passed. Then two. Thanks to Sim Aryeon, the Awakened ones forgot their fatigue, pouring themselves into the battle. But the mental toll couldn''t be ignored, so the final defense line continuously rotated the vanguard and rearguard. Even so, I never stopped. I would rush to the most dire front and take down the fiercest monster leader. The remaining minions would fall to the Awakened ones. Overall, it was a stalemate. We couldn''tpletely drive back the monsters, but the "Monster Wave" couldn''t break our final defense line either. A perpetual series of draws. The dance of ughter seemed as if it would go on forever. -Uncle! Of course. No dance could trulyst forever. -From the sea! Battleships! From mymunicator, Oh Dokseo shouted urgently. Hearing her, I climbed to the top of a half-copsed building and looked toward the coastline. Indeed, just as Oh Dokseo had said, battleships were approaching. Except, not from the sea. They wereing from the sky. Parting the white clouds like waves, hundreds of thousands of colossal "aerial battleships" bore down upon the city. Their silhouettes resembled sky whales. They were angels of death descending to destroy humanity''sst bastion. [Trantor - Jjescus] [Proofreader - Gun] w The Novel will be updated first on this website. Come back and continue reading tomorrow, everyone!