Stars of the Cosmos
I received my employee ID card.
Absolute Proxy: Jeon Sihyun
Absolute Proxy. The word "Proxy" was incredibly annoying, but the title of "Absolute" seemed pretty damn good no matter how I looked at it. Seeing the employee in front of me trembling in fear only confirmed my suspicion.
Just then, an employee wearing sunglasses walked past, spotted Jeon Sihyun, and called out. "Oh. You must be the successor to the Absolute, Lord Han Hyuk?"
"And what if I am?"
"Ahaha! In that case, please take that elevator over there."
Following the sunglass-wearing employee's pointing finger, Sihyun saw an elevator indeed. It stretched incredibly high into the sky, so far up that its destination was impossible to discern. If he rode that, he would likely reach where he needed to go.
"Please, try not to die this time."
"?"
The employee in sunglasses walked away after leaving those parting words.
What a prick... Grumbling to himself, Jeon Sihyun approached the elevator and pressed the button.
*Ding!* After a brief wait, the doors slid open. He stepped inside, and the doors immediately shut behind him. *Whirrr— Clank!* The elevator began to ascend at a breakneck speed.
"Oh."
Through the transparent walls of the elevator, the vast expanse of outer space unfolded. It was filled with countless stars. Looking at those stars, he instinctively understood what they truly were. They were "worlds." Every single world in existence, managed by the Dimension Bureau. Peering closely at each individual star, he could see cross-sections of different realities. A world where heroes existed, a world of hunters, a world plagued by supernatural monsters, and so on. Countless worlds drifted past the elevator like cosmic stars. Some were on the brink of destruction, some struggled to maintain their existence, and others were being harvested as energy for the Dimension Bureau. Watching this spectacle unfold...
"Pfft, hahaha..." Jeon Sihyun couldn't help but chuckle. "So all of those... are mine now..."
The stars—the worlds—drifted on and on, entirely ignorant of their impending fates.
*Thud— Hiss—*
[You have arrived at your destination.]
[The doors are opening.]
Stepping out, he found himself in a long corridor. It looked like a skybridge connecting two massive buildings. The view outside was completely unobstructed, as if he were standing on an overpass. Stars brushed past. For a fleeting moment, he could feel the flow of the worlds.
Just then, Han Hyuk, clad in his blood-stained red dobok, greeted him from ahead. "How does it feel to become an Absolute?"
"I don't really know."
"Dull-witted and foolish, as expected. Can you not feel the flow of the worlds?"
"...Well, I feel something like that."
When he looked at the stars, he could faintly sense their past, present, and future. But it wasn't a clear sensation—just a vague, fleeting impression. Han Hyuk clicked his tongue.
"Still so weak. And to think I went out of my way to create the position of 'Absolute Proxy' for you."
"...So what? I just need to get stronger, don't I?"
Han Hyuk whipped his head around to glare at Jeon Sihyun. The deep scar on his cheek stood out prominently. He spoke in his usual slightly irritated tone.
"From now on, you will enter worlds on the brink of destruction and bring their stories to a close in your own way."
"For example?"
"Let's take a world with a detective, their arch-nemesis, and a culprit as an example. If the condition to conclude that story is 'the death of the culprit,' it doesn't matter if you kill both the detective and the culprit, or rape and murder them both. As long as the story ends, the condition is met, and the Dimension Bureau can extract its energy."
"Oh."
In other words, as long as the "condition" to conclude the story was met, it didn't matter what kind of batshit crazy things Jeon Sihyun did. It would all be permitted, and the Dimension Bureau would reap the benefits.
"That's fucking awesome! I'd love to visit a world with some erotic stories."
"However," Han Hyuk said, his expression turning cold. "There are three things you must know first."
"What is it, you prick?"
Han Hyuk held up one finger. "First. You are too weak."
"Ugh." Annoyance flared within him. But it was also undeniably true. Jeon Sihyun didn't possess any superpowers or hunter abilities yet. Having just scanned various worlds after becoming the Absolute Proxy, he knew things like mana existed, but he had none of it. So, he had to concede the point.
"Second. The means to strengthen you exist right here in the S.Y.S. Dimension Bureau."
"Oh." With the power of the Dimension Bureau, they could strengthen him. That meant he would gain the power to fulfill the story conditions when entering other worlds. It would make it much easier to kill and torment people to his heart's content.
"Third, there are three trials you must undergo to achieve this strength."
"Hmm..." Three trials. They might be dangerous. Just a moment ago, that annoying employee in sunglasses had told him not to die. To survive. That meant the previous two successors were already dead. Did they fail to overcome these trials and perish?
"What if I fail the trials?"
"You die. No, it is a pain worse than death."
"What kind of pain?"
"Your very existence will be erased."
"..." That was incredibly unsettling. Erasure of existence. It meant he would become something that had never existed in this world to begin with. The series of crimes he had committed would be undone, and he would never even get to hold the title of the greatest criminal. Wait, now that he thought about it, what happened to his original world? The police definitely turned into pigeons... Is it doing okay? Shaking off the thought, he returned to the present.
Han Hyuk reached his hand out toward him. "Now, Jeon Sihyun." "..." "I am offering you a choice."
Han Hyuk spoke slowly. "The trials you are about to face could kill you. They could erase your existence. It will undoubtedly be agonizing."
"How terrifying."
"Are you willing to accept the trials?"
"And if I refuse?"
Han Hyuk's lips curled into a twisted smirk. "You die."
"Then my answer is simple." Jeon Sihyun grinned. "I accept."
*Snap!* Han Hyuk snapped his fingers. Instantly, a dizzying sensation washed over him. The feeling of the world warping. At the same time, Jeon Sihyun found himself standing in a completely different place. Where is this?
Jeon Sihyun stood in a place entirely different from before. It wasn't the corridor overlooking the cosmos. He was alone in a pitch-black space. Where on earth was he...? In the center, a crystal ball caught his eye. He approached it. Just then, a voice echoed from somewhere high above—Han Hyuk's annoying voice.
"What begins now is your first trial. Peering into 'Memory.'"
"Memory?"
"The memory you wish most to forget. The memory you never wanted to recall. By forcing you to remember it, you will awaken one 'Authority of the Absolute.'"
"...Oh." He stared at the crystal ball and slowly reached out his hand. A sudden wave of dizziness hit him. An instinct warned him that he shouldn't touch it—that something bizarre and twisted would torment him. His intuition told him that it would undoubtedly resurrect a deeply unpleasant memory. Han Hyuk's voice echoed again.
"Now, reach out and peer into your memory. It doesn't have to be the whole thing. Even a mere glimpse of a single facet will surely make you stronger."
His hand trembled as if jolted by electricity. His heart hammered in his chest. Cold sweat beaded on his forehead. Finally, his palm made contact with the crystal ball— *Boom!* Instantly, his mind warped.
"Gah!" An excruciating pain flared. The surrounding scenery blurred like a heat haze, transforming into the interior of a room. It was a dilapidated house straight out of the 90s. Frayed linoleum flooring, walls covered in scribbles, and... a blood-splattered mirror. He approached the mirror. A young boy stood reflected in it. Who... was this? One thing was certain: it didn't look like Jeon Sihyun.
"Who... are you?" He looked down at his hands. He was holding a kitchen knife. His palms were covered in thick calluses—tough, sturdy hands that had clearly held a knife more than just once or twice. They were far too rough to belong to a normal child.
*Crash!* Just then, a tall, bearded man stormed in.
"You...! You...! What the hell did you just do?!"
The bearded man was heavily drunk. He grabbed Jeon Sihyun by the collar and hoisted him up. Sihyun, in the body of a young boy, was lifted effortlessly. As he flailed, the bearded man roared:
"I asked what you did! Why is my wife... why is your mother... dead?!"
He didn't know the exact context, but it was clearly a dangerous situation. Sihyun, in the boy's body, slowly adjusted his grip on the kitchen knife, holding it in a reverse grip. The bearded man, still clutching his collar, screamed:
"I asked you what the fuck just happened!"
"What happened?" Jeon Sihyun smirked. Hearing such a chilling tone come from a young boy, the bearded man flinched, his grip on Sihyun's collar loosening slightly.
"Well, I'm not entirely sure either." Jeon Sihyun slashed the kitchen knife in a flash. *Slash!* The blade sliced clean across both of the bearded man's eyes in an instant.
"Aaargh!" The man clutched his eyes with both hands. Blood gushed from his face. Completely incapacitated, he collapsed and writhed on the floor. Jeon Sihyun, still in the boy's body, grinned and muttered to himself.
"I get it now. This 'memory' is... a memory from another random world." Jeon Sihyun had absolutely no recollection of ever experiencing anything like this in his past. Moreover, the boy in the mirror was a completely different person. This meant it was a story from another world. And the condition to conclude this story was...
"I have to kill this bearded guy." He slowly approached the man. Perhaps his vision was blurred by the blood, but the man began to crawl backward in terror as he sensed Sihyun's approach. Sihyun smirked and took another slow step toward him.
"G-get away! Stay back!"
"This is fun. Experiencing a story like this."
"Spare me! Please... please spare me..."
"I'd love to experience other worlds too." *Step... step... step.* Finally, the man was cornered against the wall, with nowhere left to run. Jeon Sihyun raised the knife high. The man squeezed his eyes shut. And then— *Squelch!* He drove the knife straight down into the crown of the man's head.
"Gah... ugh..." The man let out a wet, wheezing gasp as the air escaped his lungs, dying instantly. Feeling a refreshing rush of satisfaction, Jeon Sihyun grinned. He turned his head, looking up at the ceiling. "Well, I assume this meets the condition to end the story?"
The story conclusion condition for the world 'A Family Tragedy' has been met.
Concluding the 'Memory' experience of the world through the crystal ball.
Awakening one Authority of the Absolute Proxy.
"Oh." In an instant, his consciousness snapped back. Looking around, he was back in the pitch-black space with the crystal ball. And at the far end, a passage leading outward had appeared. Jeon Sihyun stared at it and muttered, "The next trial, then." It had been quite enjoyable.
Han Hyuk stood with his arms crossed, his gaze fixed on a monitor. On the screen, Jeon Sihyun was shown walking toward a white space. Beside the monitor, graphs and AI data tracking Sihyun's current status fluctuated in real-time. A secretary was typing away, apparently monitoring Sihyun's condition. Han Hyuk spoke.
"How is Jeon Sihyun's status?"
"He's doing quite well. However... his adaptability to other worlds is alarmingly high."
"Isn't that a good thing?"
"But this is... a bit dangerous."
"Why?"
"Adapting too well to a world means he is highly susceptible to its influence. For an Absolute who must always maintain neutrality, that is a highly undesirable trait."
"And?"
"He seems to derive immense pleasure from killing others. For an Absolute tasked with maintaining worlds, his personality is extremely problematic."
"So what?" Han Hyuk smirked and nodded. "Anyone who rules over others has to be a crazy bastard anyway."