Chapter 4

After staring at the world map for quite a while, Hyuncheol eventually began flipping through the later pages. His foundational knowledge was too lacking, so merely looking at country names didn’t really mean much to him.

The very first landmass introduced was a continent called Kanig, located at the center of the map. It was the very place where Hyuncheol currently was. The introduction described it as “the land where we live,” and since it was written in the script he had gradually become accustomed to, it was probably correct.

Kanig was an enormous landmass that slightly crossed the equator and stretched into the Southern Hemisphere. If one used the chain of islands extending from the southern edge of the continent as stepping stones, it almost seemed connected to a small Antarctic continent.

Hyuncheol continued reading the book with great interest for quite some time afterward. It felt similar to the enjoyment he had experienced back in elementary school while reading social studies atlases.

Well, in the sense that he was learning the shape of an unknown world and filling in its image inside his mind, it really wasn’t all that different.

However, once he grasped the rough outline and started getting into the finer details, his excitement faded somewhat. Even though the continents and oceans differed from Earth, mountain ranges, lakes, terrain formed through geological activity, glaciers, and similar features were not especially different.

Perhaps this world had unique characteristics somewhere, but right now he wanted other kinds of information more than that.

Instead, his attention shifted toward the information he had indirectly gained from this book. Judging by the fairly clear aerial photographs, aviation and photography technology seemed highly advanced. There were also the appearances of various fantasy races shown in photographs of local people.

Closing The Geography of the World, Hyuncheol began searching for another book.

Next should probably be history.

It wasn’t an answer that came from deep thought. He simply remembered that both in school and in web novels, protagonists usually turned to history in order to understand the world they were in.

This world didn’t seem to neglect history either, because he quickly found the relevant section, and it contained a considerable number of books.

Thinking he ought to begin from the start, Hyuncheol searched for ancient history texts first.

Civilization here seemed to define its beginning similarly to Earth, around the transition from the Neolithic Age into the Bronze Age. However, the time periods differed. Civilization in this world appeared to have begun earlier, since they considered the Bronze Age to have started ten thousand years ago.

Started earlier than Earth, yet their civilization level fell behind.

He wasn’t trying to feel superior, but the thought came reflexively.

One interesting point was that no single race had become overwhelmingly dominant in this world. Instead, each race had occupied its ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠own region and flourished there.

The races that formed especially powerful cultural spheres were humans, orcs, lizardmen, dwarves, and elves. Slightly beneath them were gnomes and beastmen.

There were many other races as well, but their territories and influence were weak, so they did not seem to greatly affect the flow of world history.

Still, aside from the existence of multiple races, it wasn’t that different from Earth. It felt like the histories he had learned on Earth with only the races swapped out.

Occasionally there were interesting stories, such as wars between races, but since they were from the distant past, they didn’t seem particularly useful for understanding the current era.

So instead of reading carefully, he quickly flipped through the pages.

And in the process, he learned another fact.

Magic existed in this world.

Seeing fantasy races straight out of novels had made him half expect it already, but the existence of a force like magic in the actual reality where he now stood was still shocking.

The descriptions from early civilization could perhaps be dismissed as legends or myths like those on Earth. But once he passed beyond ancient history into the medieval era, the Renaissance, and even the modern age, magic continued to be mentioned, with its effects recorded in dry, factual writing.

At that point, he could no longer deny it.

From the modern era onward, Hyuncheol began reading in detail again.

So this world had an Industrial Revolution too...

The book stated that around four hundred years ago, a gnome scientist named Wanmeon invented the steam engine, and the dwarves later improved it and made extensive use of it.

Afterward, the dwarves rose to great prominence by establishing colonies among weaker races and nations. Feeling threatened, the human nations joined hands with the elves to keep the dwarves in check.

Meanwhile, the orcs, who had been caught between them, rose dramatically through grand unification and innovation, becoming a third major axis of power. There was a period when these four races fiercely battled over control of the world.

Sounds like a world war.

Perhaps because they had become aware of one another’s civilizations earlier than Earth had, no side possessed an overwhelming advantage in either technology or national power. Wars broke out frequently, and conflicts on the scale of world wars occurred four separate times.

And the end result resembled Earth’s history as well.

A nation called Rande, one of the elven countries, dropped a weapon of mass destruction created through science and magic onto the Orc Empire. Shocked by its overwhelming destructive power, the orcs surrendered, ending the conflict between the two nations.

Naturally, the other countries hurried to develop the same kind of weapon, and fearing mutual assured destruction, nations across the world began avoiding war.

Nuclear weapons?

Judging by descriptions of massive clouds of dust and everything being vaporized in an instant, it certainly sounded like it.

But even if it wasn’t literally nuclear weaponry, it undoubtedly possessed similar destructive power.

Having learned this much, Hyuncheol let out a sigh of relief.

Being dragged into another world without explanation was bad enough, but if something like a world war broke out and he got drafted into it, he truly wouldn’t be able to endure it.

Come to think of it, after becoming younger, he was now at exactly the age for ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠conscription. The thought sent chills down his spine.

But there was no communist revolution?

While comparing this world’s history to Earth’s, Hyuncheol realized one of the defining events of modern history was missing.

There had been citizen revolutions, leading to the birth of republics, and ideologies somewhat similar to communism did exist.

After digging a bit deeper, he came to think that perhaps the reason no revolution occurred was because forty years earlier, a dwarf named Abdena had implemented reforms that eased the pressure created by revolutionaries. From that point onward, a trend of revising capitalism had emerged, preventing society from crossing the threshold into outright revolution.

After spending a long while examining the broad flow of modern history, Hyuncheol finally looked into the country where he currently resided.

The nation he was in was called the Republic of Smite.

It occupied the southeastern portion of the Kanig continent and was a fairly powerful country. But contrary to what he had initially assumed, it was not a human nation.

Rather, it could be described as a neutral state that had stepped away from racial alignments. This was a common characteristic among the countries of the Kanig continent.

Part of the reason was that humans made up a little over sixty percent of the population, but not enough to completely dominate the others. More importantly, however, Kanig had relatively few entanglements with the other continents.

As recently as four hundred years ago, Kanig had been a land with almost no intelligent races.

A small number of orcs had formed villages along the coast, but most failed to survive, and their numbers were too small to matter.

That was because of the powerful monsters.

Aside from ordinary wild animals, this world also contained strange and monstrous creatures, and Kanig was known as a paradise for such beings.

However, four hundred years ago, a man named Sarkan gathered adventurers from the Old Continent and succeeded in pioneering the land.

Afterward, resistance against exploitation by the Old Continent, along with the weakening of its influence during the world wars, eventually led to independence and the birth of multiple nations.

Kind of like America?

Not exactly the same, but there were quite a few similarities.

Unlike the United States, however, Kanig had never become the sole superpower.

During its development, it had indeed grown wealthy by selling supplies during continental wars, but it had not been able to intervene militarily in a major way, nor had the powers of the Old Continent completely collapsed. As a result, it had merely become one major power among several within the new world order.

After learning this much, Hyuncheol quietly breathed a sigh of relief.

Seeing the fairly advanced level of science and technology, he had already suspected as much, but because this was a completely different world, he had feared the possibility of encountering unimaginable horrors.

Yet aside from the existence of magic, fantasy races, and monsters, this world did not seem all that alien.

Being suddenly thrown into this world was still utterly bullshit, but it felt like he might be able to adapt and survive here somehow.

Besides, he had thought about it before going to bed last night. His life on Earth had not been particularly satisfying, and now he had suddenly become fourteen years younger.

It wasn’t entirely a loss.

Of course, there was still much to learn about this current body and whatever circumstances were tangled around it, but at least for now, that was how he felt.

Hyuncheol then searched for books on politics, ideology, and law.

The history books had briefly mentioned the introduction of revised capitalism and welfare concepts, but the explanations were too concise. If he wanted to avoid making dangerous mistakes, he needed to understand them in detail.

This is... subtle.

After spending a long time reading through dense, heavy books, Hyuncheol scratched his forehead.

Broadly speaking, freedom and equality did exist here.

But perhaps because there had never been a communist revolution, or perhaps because society had not fully matured yet, the concept of labor rights seemed extremely weak.

The welfare system was similarly underdeveloped. Facilities like libraries, schools, and hospitals existed, but the institutions supporting them were inadequate.

Naturally, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠there was no such thing as national health insurance.

If he simply worked an ordinary labor job to survive, there was a high chance he would be exploited down to the bone.

It seemed he needed to learn some kind of specialized skill as quickly as possible.

If not, then he would need to choose jobs very carefully, or make use of the fact that he came from a more advanced world.

By the time he had learned all this, quite a bit of time had passed.

Perhaps because he had been so focused on the fact that he now had to live in this world, he hadn’t even noticed ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠his hunger. But when he glanced at the enormous clock hanging on the library wall, large enough to rival a door, he saw that it was already past four in the afternoon.

Only then did Hyuncheol feel both the delayed hunger and the growing urgency that he shouldn’t stay out too late in a place whose public safety he couldn’t yet trust.

Still, he had no desire to return to his room just to stare blankly at the TV, so he borrowed several books, including the ones he had been reading, and left the library.

The next day, Hyuncheol returned to the library and returned the books that had given him headaches, including the law books.

This time, he began looking into advanced technology instead.

Not scientific theory books, but material related to new products, popular goods, and weapons.

More developed than I expected.

He hadn’t really been able to tell just by walking around the neighborhood near the apartment, but after reading through the books, he finally gained a clearer picture.

At worst, he had expected technology comparable to the late nineteenth century. But surprisingly, many things had already been developed.

The first thing that caught his eye was the development of jet aircraft.

They did not seem to have reached commercial use yet, but a military magazine contained an article about fighter planes propelled not by propellers, but by the combustion and exhaust of fuel, capable of surpassing the speed of sound.

Primitive rockets had already been developed as well, and there were articles enthusiastically discussing the possibility of venturing into space.

It was difficult to directly compare this world’s history to Earth’s, but it seemed safe to say they had at least surpassed the mid-twentieth century.

More than anything, what truly drew Hyuncheol’s attention was the existence of computers.

He hadn’t even dared expect them to exist.

Large industrial and military-use computers had apparently already been developed long ago, and very recently, personal computers had even begun entering the market.

Wait, weren’t personal computers supposed to appear around the 1970s?

Hyuncheol frowned in confusion, recalling vague scraps of knowledge that he couldn’t remember whether he had learned from a university elective class or simply read somewhere online.

Of course, scientific development would not necessarily progress at the same speed as it had on Earth, but something still felt off.

Even with his limited understanding, Hyuncheol knew technological advancement did not occur independently. It was strange for only one field to advance excessively ahead of the others.

But after examining the related books more closely, he finally found an explanation that made sense.

Magic.