Chapter 72 |
The Designer II
‘So the headquarters is in Hawaii? Maybe I should casually visit Hawaii.’
I wasn't capable of such a thought back in my 46th run.
In an ordinary web novel, if a regressor has gone through 46 runs, people might react with, "Wow, they must be an expert by now! But if they haven't saved the world by then, they must be pretty incompetent, right?" But in my story, the 46th run was still fresh, like a newbie fully charged with vitamins.
Anyway, in my 46th run, I was like most South Koreans who say they've traveled abroad, having only been to Japan or China at best.
India? The United States? Europe? I only gathered information from rumors; I had never experienced the soil of those places on my shoes.
Ah, Old Man Scho once said he would show me his hometown, but the promise between men seemed unlikely to last over a thousand years. That old geezer.
-This is Zone 7, chhh҉҉zz҉,.. I am Martin Russell, the head of the bunker. Chi҉zz҉, the food stored in the bunker is slowly running out.
-Did the series of projects the Foundation prepared for the world's end not get activated? Or have they been activated, and this place is just the remnants of the world left behind?
The broadcast continued.
I named this phenomenon the "Foundation Broadcast," or simply the "Broadcast" anomaly.
And I spent a long time figuring out the characteristics of the "Foundation Broadcast" in detail.
1. If there was another listener besides me near the radio, the broadcast would never proceed.
I found this quite interesting, so I had Sim Ah-ryeon and Seo Gyu sit and listen, but the radio remained silent.
In the end, both of them shook their heads, saying, "Sigh, the guild leader/hyung is playing tricks with anomalies again…."
Did I really have so little trust? Why? How come?
I even suggested to the Saintess to use Clairvoyance and listen with me, but even that was calculated as a "listener," and the radio remained dead.
"Um… Mr. Undertaker, as much as you're bored, using an anomaly as a prank is a bit troubling. I'd appreciate it if you could refrain."
"……"
I felt wronged.
2. Even if the run changed, the "Foundation Broadcast" continued, and the "Old Man" always broadcasted from Zone 7 bunker on Molokai Island, Hawaii.
However, this anomaly only appeared on the Zenith K731 radio, an antique I personally collected. Other radios could never catch the "Foundation Broadcast."
Why? I have no clue.
The ecology of anomalies was full of mysteries.
-This is Martin Russell. Uh, hmm. The escaped entities are still predominantly concentrated in North America… Damn it. It's been 1203 days. Did humanity survive? Am I really the last survivor?
The broadcast times were all over the place, but generally from 1 AM to 7 PM. If the broadcaster's claim that he was in Hawaii was true, it would be from 6 AM to midnight Hawaii time.
A reasonable time for someone to be awake.
And this is the most important…
3. The content of the broadcast changed subtly with each run.
In the 46th run, he said an entity called "The Great Dragon" appeared in Zone 7 and destroyed the Foundation, but in the 49th run…
-Oh, God! The moonlight! Ah, the Goddess of Parmenides has finally gone mad! Urgent broadcast. Never, under any circumstances, come into contact with the moonlight! Unless you want to melt like wax!
-Annihilation? Did the entire Foundation really get annihilated? Backup? Oh, my God. My God, why. Why the worst-case scenario…
He wailed, saying that the "moonlight" had exterminated humanity.
With each run, the method of the world's destruction changed slightly.
I sipped my Café au Lait with a bitter smile.
"If this is true, North America must be a hellscape equivalent to the Indian subcontinent."
At the time, I guessed it was probably a lie.
I didn't particularly intend to eliminate the Foundation Broadcast. It wasn't causing harm to humanity other than whispering to my radio.
On the contrary, the Foundation Broadcast became excellent background music for me when I wanted to listen to the radio out of boredom.
As I said, there weren't many things to entertain oneself with in this era. But a radio channel that changes its content with every broadcast? That's golden.
Moreover, the settings the man subtly revealed about the "Foundation" in each run provided me with a lot of inspiration. I learned quite a bit from it.
What I learned was…
"Standardization of information."
Back to the 562nd cycle.
Oh Dok-seo tilted her head with a puzzled expression. The radio next to the table was leisurely playing Mozart's symphony.
"Information… standardization, what?"
"The so-called 'Foundation' set very detailed grades and rules for entities. Hmm. For example, let's say there's a gremlin."
A gremlin is an anomaly that clings to all electronic devices and causes them to malfunction bizarrely.
There was once a rumor in Gyeongsangnam-do that gremlins only infected televisions and radios, leaving cell phones untouched.
Meanwhile, in Gyeongsangbuk-do, there was a warning that cell phones were the most dangerous.
In Gyeonggi-do, there was a public belief that all electronic devices except for CCTV were safe. Can you believe that?
This was the result of the breakdown of information transmission within human society.
"In this situation, sharing information within the Korean Peninsula itself is difficult. When civilization was intact, we could share visual materials and other forms of data through videos or whatever…."
But now, all mass media except for radio had perished. SG Net was the only place left for information sharing, but even it wasn't perfect.
"It's one thing for anomalies to have chaotic traits, but how would you describe how powerful an anomaly is?"
"Uh…"
"S-class? A-class? What's the difference between an S-class anomaly and an A-class anomaly, and how dangerous are they? Combat power 1000? 2000? Let's say it has a combat power of 1200. Does that number intuitively tell you anything?"
"…No."
Exactly.
So, inspired by the radio broadcast's "Foundation," I established a fictional organization called the "Library Society."
The setting was simple. A secret group that had been researching anomalies for a very long time, thus establishing a "standard" method of classification—a professional classification method.
But in reality, it was a database containing the experiences and knowledge of me, the regressor Undertaker.
Having gone through multiple cycles and fought countless anomalies, it was an Akashic Record created from my blood and sweat.
The "standard" defined by the Library Society, that is, the danger threat levels of anomalies, were as follows:
Lv.1: Village-class.
Anomalies that could wipe out a village were given this threat level.
"To be considered a 'dangerous anomaly,' it had to be at least this level. It's a minimum threshold that filters out minor anomalies."
I wrote examples in my notebook and showed them.
As expected of LiteraryGirl, Oh Dok-seo followed my notes with her still-shocked eyes.
"A single goblin isn't worth assigning a danger level to. But 30 goblins? 40 goblins? That's enough to classify them as village-class."
"Aha…?"
"In other words, even if it's the lowest level, once it's classified as village-class, it means it's already judged as 'very dangerous.' Ordinary people should run away, and even awakeners should avoid it unless they're combat specialists. Yes. I'm talking about you, Oh Dok-seo."
"……"
In reality, most awakeners lost their heads fighting village-class anomalies one-on-one.
Even Lee Ha-yul, the Puppeteer, lost an arm fighting a village-class anomaly out of overconfidence in one of the runs.
In my view, the danger level names used by the "Foundation" sounded cool but were likely to make ordinary people think, "So how dangerous is that exactly?"
I prioritized intuitiveness in selecting terms. "It's dangerous enough to wipe out a village = village-class."
"How is it? Simple, right?"
"…Indeed. It's simple."
"From the next danger level onwards, it's not just about individual life-threatening situations."
Lv.2: Polis-class.
Anomalies that, once they appear, would typically devastate an entire city. These are extremely monstrous beings.
"The Ten Legs is a representative example."
The anomalies "Chaos" and "Tami" mentioned during my trip to Mount Hua in China were also polis-class.
Those two alone caused nearly ten million casualties. This is just an estimate, though.
The Ten Legs may seem trivial now, but in the early stages of regression, it wiped out the Korean Peninsula alone. Even at the city level, it was like a wall of lamentation for awakeners.
The primary culprits that regressed the modern nations' progress back to the Iron Age were mostly polis-class anomalies.
"Ordinary people and even awakeners should run away unless they are prepared for battle. Of course, the odds of escaping are quite low."
"Wow… It doesn't feel real since I saw you end it with a one-turn kill…."
"Exactly."
That's why I tried to refrain from soloing the Ten Legs in the extermination battle, leaving it to other awakeners.
"Anyway, next."
Lv.3: Continent-class.
If polis-class anomalies represent despair for individuals, continent-class anomalies signify despair for humanity.
"At this point, the very preservation of the Homo sapiens species is seriously threatened."
"...…"
The world tree Udumbara, which spread a zombie virus across East Asia, lured people with the promise of immortality.
Meteor Shower, which turned the entire world into a gray territory over seven years.
These beings naturally make modern humans exclaim, "This is just bullshit!"
"Hey, wait."
"Hmm?"
"If Meteor Shower is only level 3, is there another level after that?"
I wondered what she was talking about, but then realized that with Oh Dok-seo's [Prophecy], she had only seen about 40 chapters of the serialized work... which, in my terms, contained content up to around the 20th run.
No wonder she didn't know.
I casually moved my pen.
"Yes. Of course, there is."
Lv.4: Ocean-class.
"Oh…."
Oh Dok-seo murmured as she looked at my notebook.
"In the novel I read, you were an intense hot-blooded character fighting Ten Legs in a fierce battle…"
"Ah, I miss those days. I thought I'd save the world within 30 runs back then."
"...What kind of anomalies are at the ocean-class?"
"I can describe them, but you probably won't get a clear picture. Sim Ah-ryeon hasn't drawn any illustrations yet."
Ya-o-yorozu no kami descending upon the Japanese archipelago. "Asura," "Astra," and "Sand of the Ganges" turning the Indian subcontinent into the most dangerous void on Earth.
I often joked about the Korean Peninsula's precarious position, calling it Hell Peninsula, but compared to those places, it was heaven.
Again, I must warn you, never travel abroad in this era.
After listening to my explanation, Oh Dok-seo's face turned pale.
"Do I have to fight those kinds of anomalies too? Me?"
"Don't be too scared. The you of the 561st run, the you of the 560th run, the you of the 559th run, the you of the 557th run all endured well."
"……"
"You'll do well in this run too."
"...Wait a minute. Why did you skip the 558th run? What happened to me then?"
"……"
"Why did you skip it!"
I averted my gaze.
"Well…"
"Hey! I'm not even a combatant; I only have the [Prophecy] ability! Why are you dragging a non-combatant into the battlefield!"
"Whoa, calm down. Calm down. Do you think I'd drag you around without any plan? Oh Dok-seo, you're actually a multi-ability awakener. Once you awaken your second ability, you'll be fine on any battlefield."
"...Really?"
"Absolutely. You'll 100% survive on the battlefield. You just need to complete the training curriculum tailored for Oh Dok-seo, tested and proven over several runs. Trust me."
"...Should I really trust you?"
"Of course."
The training curriculum was grueling enough to make one wish for death, and in the 558th run, Oh Dok-seo did cross the Jordan River during training, but that was a mishap of bad luck and misfortune and won't happen again. Definitely.
"Ugh. How did I end up involved with such a crazy guy... I shouldn't have read that web novel in the first place…."
"Not all anomalies are about overwhelming physical power. We'll start with simple and fun anomalies like the 'Trolley Dilemma' or 'Hero Syndrome,' so don't worry."
"How can an anomaly be simple and fun? You really have a weird sense of humor... So, who was the most unusual anomaly you've ever faced?"
"I'll tell you about that later."
Leaving the despairing Oh Dok-seo aside, I sipped my café au lait. Although the coffee had gone cold while I was talking, the lingering taste on my tongue was still delightful.
―Judging by her expression, it seems I never mentioned that the danger levels of anomalies didn't end at level 4.
Lv.5: Outer God-class.
The final level. These were my true enemies as a regressor. They were the ones who forced me into near-eternal repetitions of runs.
Well, there's no need to explain everything to Oh Dok-seo all at once.
We had plenty of time left.
"Ah."
Oh Dok-seo stood up from her chair.
"Sorry, I need to go to the bathroom for a moment."
"You don't need to announce that."
"Ugh. I drink too much coffee when I'm with you…"
As Oh Dok-seo grumbled and left the room.
The vintage radio made of maple wood, the Zenith K731, which had been quietly playing Mozart's symphony until then, suddenly emitted static.
"This is Zone 7 head, Martin Russell. Damn it. The zombie virus has been confirmed to have landed in California. The nuclear warheads are… What? What the hell is the Foundation doing? Why is the missile direction… Oh, God! No! Stop! Oh, Lord, have mercy on humanity…"
"…..."
In this run, too, I silently prayed for the people of North America who were facing a new apocalypse.
There is an epilogue.
It might seem like the episode ended there in the 562nd run with the conversation between Oh Dok-seo and me.
But there was still a mystery left regarding the "Library Society."
Since I always aimed to be as honest as possible with you all, I must confess about this mystery here.
It was in the 924th cycle. A long, really long time later.
"Hey, hyung."
"Yeah?"
"You might want to come over here and check this out."
Called by our SG Man, Seo Gyu, I approached the computer. He was managing the community.
"What's going on?"
"You know, recently you told us to create a library board, right?"
"Yeah, I did."
"The traffic there has increased drastically… like, really drastically. I thought I should check if you were working on something."
"Um. That was probably Ah-ryeon."
"Sim Ah-ryeon? She did?"
"Yeah. I entrusted her with managing the Library Society board."
Even after hearing my answer, Seo Gyu made a puzzled expression.
"No matter how much of a shut-in spirit Sim Ah-ryeon is, this…?"
"She's not an ordinary spirit."
"Of course. But still, this doesn't make sense? Look at this, hyung."
Seo Gyu showed me the computer screen in detail. As he scrolled up, posts poured out like a torrent.
Like a downpour.
"There were 400 posts today alone. Oh, just now. Did you see that?"
"……"
"They aren't just random posts. Most of them are secret posts, but look, when you use admin privileges to view them… Look!"
I saw it.
――――――――――
[Library Society's Encyclopedia of Anomalies]
"Illustrator"
Alias: Illustrator, Fan Art
Threat Level: None
Contamination Level: Unknown
Habitat: SG Net (Internet Community)
Decryption: All information from the Library Society, except for inevitably lost documents, has been safely transferred to the Library Society's Encyclopedia of Anomalies board on SG Net.
However, at some point, "attached files" started appearing on the documents. These attached files are all "illustrations," that is, image files.
The illustrations depict the forms of anomalies, and through cross-verification by various Librarians, it has been confirmed that the representations are "extremely accurate."
Anomalies not only spread void poison in their physical forms but also through copies, such as photos or videos. These illustrations are extremely dangerous.
Attempts to incinerate the illustrations a total of 501 times by the Burning Department have ultimately failed to delete them. It has been officially recognized that all documents in the Library Society have been contaminated by the "Illustrator."
Below are the recommendations from the Burning Department's Librarian and the orders from the Forbidden Books Department's Librarian.
[Burning Artist V]
Adding a [Show/Hide] feature to all documents' illustrations was the best we could do.
It has been confirmed that documents with illustrations are also unlocked and made available to the public.
Librarians should not open or view the illustrations recklessly. If verification is necessary, formally request approval from the Burning Department.
[Cheon Hae-gak M]
From the Forbidden Books Department: All Librarians' activity logs are recorded, and whether the illustrations are viewed is also stored.
Disclosing the personal information and community activity history of "Viscount Seo Hwa-ga," a member of the Prophecy Department, who illegally viewed the illustrations 41 times.
The disclosed history includes all activities under the Librarian's alias and anonymous activities. The disclosure scope includes login times, post contents, and comments.
Additionally, Viscount Seo Hwa-ga is ordered to live jointly with a Librarian from the Burning Department. Viscount Seo Hwa-ga's LSO procedure is suspended.
――――――――――
Posts with content I had never seen before were clearly visible.
"Burning Artist? V? What's this now?"
The Library Society was undoubtedly just a setting I created hundreds of runs ago for fun.
Terms like Cheon Hae-gak and Black Library were all just my masks, and I certainly hadn't written such posts.
Most importantly.
There was no character named "Burning Artist" in my setting book. V… perhaps Viscount
?
"Is my setting book… self-propagating without me knowing?"
Beside me, Seo Gyu was spitting while he spoke.
"Right? All these posts are properly written. Hyung, no matter how crazy Sim Ah-ryeon is, how could she write posts at this speed?"
I stayed silent. Not because I didn't have anything to say, but because I was too shocked.
"…This is the first time I've seen something like this."
To reiterate, this was the 924th cycle.
Really, truly, new events in my life had become as rare as finding a diamond shard on the banks of the Ganges River.
"Plus, there's a language translation function. See this [Language Selection] button? It looks like it's translated into every language in the world?"
"…Could it be AI or something, constantly generating posts?"
"That's possible, but how? Unless it's an awakener with the [AI Utilization] or [Auto Post Generation] skills, this isn't possible."
"…You're right."
"Moreover, I checked the IPs with admin privileges, and all these IPs are properly registered on SG Net. So if an awakener did this, they'd need the [SG Net ID Generation] ability. Is that even possible?"
"…If there's a skill like [Internet Community Sabotage] that integrates all those abilities, maybe."
"Oh."
"But it's definitely an unusual phenomenon. I'll report this to the Saintess and see if tracking the location is possible. Seo Gyu, keep monitoring. You did well to tell me."
"Yes, hyung."
Before long, the Saintess responded.
[Tracking the location is impossible.]
"What?"
[My Clairvoyance can't identify the awakener of that IP. Mr. Undertaker, do these people even exist?]
"……"
A chill ran down my spine.
Numerous hypotheses crossed my mind. The possibility of a skill that nullifies the Saintess's Clairvoyance, the possibility of an anomaly causing different worldlines to intersect on SG Net, or even the possibility that anomalies themselves could access SG Net…
I looked at the computer monitor. Every time I refreshed the page, new documents were being posted in real-time.
"If so… If these are not real humans, then where are the authors posting hundreds, thousands, or tens of thousands of posts on that internet site… where do they exist?"
[……]
The Saintess was silent.
…To reiterate.
There were still many unknown mysteries in this world that even I did not know.
Footnotes:
Join our discord at https://dsc.gg/wetried
Comments 7