Chapter 127
Chapter 127
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 127
Chapter Title: Victim I
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Shin Noah
1
Let’s talk about the end of our world again today.
Once regression begins, exactly around 15 years pass before peace and stability gradually settle over the Korean Peninsula.
Of course, the word “peace on the Korean Peninsula” has long been famous for eliciting different reactions from foreigners and locals.
“Sirens? What’s that? An air raid? Has the Korean War broken out?”
“No. It’s just daily life.”
“What?”
While other countries peacefully harvested mackerel or herring from the sea, the East Sea’s specialty was missile parts.
The end of the century, when the world was dyed in void, wasn’t much different. Even in Busan, the de facto largest city on the peninsula, power outages happened every other day whenever they felt like it, and anomalies held tea parties inside and outside the city.
Seasoned locals on the peninsula were prepared to humbly accept reality with a “Tch, well, this feels pretty peaceful by comparison.”
Foreigners were different.
The “15th year” marked the point where most regions began facing the end of civilization with no hope of resistance.
[Undertaker.]
“Yes?”
[A monster wave has been detected in the North Korean region. It’s estimated to be advancing southward from the Jiandao area toward the Korean Peninsula interior.]
Monster wave.
The phenomenon where all anomalies banded together and surged like a tsunami.
Countless nations and societies had fallen to this anomaly. Russia, Turkey, Iran, Pakistan, India, Mongolia, China...
The Korean Peninsula was no exception.
[16 hours since monster wave detection. The Eastern Holy Kingdom continues to resist in the North Korean region, but the final defensive line is in danger.]
[Final defensive line breached. Battle for Pyongyang City begins.]
[Mogwangseo Christ Cathedral has collapsed. It’s been swallowed by the monster wave. Number of Awakeners in central Pyongyang plummeting.]
[Ah. Light from the cathedral. The light... keeps flashing. Estimated that Mogwangseo is repeatedly dying.]
[Resurrection Church followers in Pyongyang are launching a final charge. Soon, all observable Awakeners via ‘Clairvoyance’ will be wiped out. Six, five, four, three, two... one.]
[Pyongyang, total annihilation.]
[Monster wave continues southward.]
Even skipping cycles ravaged by the Ten Tribes or swept clean by Meteor Shower, or overcoming them, humanity couldn’t escape extinction.
Threat level 4. Ocean-class.
Unlike anomalies with unique gimmicks like Meteor Shower or the endless abyss, Monster Wave didn’t possess any such traits.
True to its name, Monster Wave suited “monsters” more than bizarre “anomalies.”
The reason these bastards—these things—were so powerful was simple. Just one thing.
[Monster Wave entering Seoul shortly. Number of anomalies engulfed in the wave: approximately 500,000. Estimated at about 500,000.]
[Jamsu Bridge. Detonating.]
Overwhelming “numbers.”
2
“100,000. 200,000. 500,000. In severe cases, it’s like a million-strong army. No real countermeasure. It’s just that kind of anomaly.”
“Hmm...”
Naturally, I shared this intel with my blood allies at every secret meeting.
No Do-ha, who joined my “Regression Alliance” in every cycle, let out a groan like it was a pain.
“No separate攻略 method...?”
“There is one. Based on everything I’ve gathered so far, the first Monster Wave occurs here, in Istanbul, Turkey. Right after I regress, exactly one day in.”
“Oh...?”
“The Monster Wave right when it starts emerging in Istanbul isn’t that tough. Only about 1,000 anomalies band together.”
“1,000. Hmm, isn’t that within the range where Awakener Undertaker could barely handle it alone...?”
“Exactly. So next cycle, soon as I drop into Busan Station waiting room, I plan to grab just the Saintess and head straight to Istanbul.”
The Saintess, who’d been quietly sipping bundle coffee nearby, startled and looked up.
“Huh?”
No Do-ha and I stared at the Saintess. Then at each other.
“Is there really a need to bring Saintess? The longer the constellations stay silent, the more Awakeners will rampage...?”
“I need to keep the map active too for battle. Could go with Support, that’d be fine, but traveling across Eurasia with a high-IQ psychopath? Even for me, a bit much. I’ll handle it as fast as possible and come back.”
“Hmm. Alright. Then I’ll draft a ‘protocol to survive at least the first month of the early game without Awakener Undertaker and Saintess’ for the next cycle...”
The Saintess cautiously raised her hand.
“Um. Sorry. I’m not great with such distant overseas trips. Undertaker? No Do-ha Corps Leader. My opinion is――.”
The apocalypse was too harsh an era for a hikikomori homebody’s opinion to be respected.
Next cycle. I carried the Saintess on my back and crossed the Eurasian continent.
My endless aura training had been for this exact moment. My footwork was literally a movement technique.
“If you’re tired, say so anytime.”
“...! Sle, eep, a bit- Un-der-tak-er, a bit slow-er, eek-”
“Good to know you’re fine.”
113 hours flat.
Skipping over voids teeming with terrifying anomalies and showered with tactical nukes whenever, that’s how long it took to reach Istanbul, Turkey.
Thank goodness the Saintess had mastered [Time Stop]. Even essential human sleep could be ‘clicked’ away in an instant.
Me? I was fine without sleep for 6 days.
“Saintess. Sorry to ask right on arrival, but use the Awakeners’ fields of vision. If any Monster Wave remnants show up, let me know immediately.”
“...I, I just vowed never to travel with you again.”
“No worries. I’ll fly you back to the peninsula even faster!”
“...”
Istanbul, one of the world’s most chaotic cities, was experiencing full-blown overtourism from the ‘Monster Wave.’
Anomalies of all types and temperaments mixed like filthy sludge into a tsunami. Not just a metaphor— from afar, it really looked like a ‘black tidal wave.’
But worth rushing the travel ticket. The black wave was still rippling only on Istanbul’s west side.
Easily doable solo.
The man himself descends.
“No! This can’t be. Who the hell are you...?”
“Thank you! Friend who came from afar! We’ll never, ever forget your help this time!”
Locals planning a recapture across the Bosphorus Strait couldn’t stop thanking me.
The Monster Wave was smoothly subjugated. Though their governments had collapsed, it was the moment Turkish-Korean ‘brotherly bonds’ reformed.
I lightly filmed some national pride drama, then returned to my companion.
“Good work, Saintess. Isn’t it deeply meaningful to have vanquished an anomaly that would grow into ocean-class? Let’s hurry home and share the good news.”
“Ah... Ah...”
“Seeing you so happy fills my heart with satisfaction.”
“Ah... Ahh... Ah...”
We returned home safely.
Everyone was happy.
Then exactly 17 years later, Busan and the entire peninsula were swallowed by the Monster Wave’s pitch-black tsunami and annihilated.
“Hey. Damn, you crazy regressor bastard. You said you subjugated it...?”
“Ah, sorry.”
That was No Do-ha’s and my final words.
3
What was the problem?
To cut to the chase, ‘Monster Wave’ didn’t originate only in Istanbul.
It just happened to emerge there first. If certain conditions aligned, ‘Monster Wave’ could appear anywhere, anytime.
“Conditions? What conditions...?”
“Turns out, once the void grows beyond a certain size, it inevitably triggers.”
Istanbul had a void spawn right in the city center. Similar to Seoul.
But unlike Seoul, which just swept the surface, Istanbul’s void interior was abnormally vast.
Roughly Mediterranean Sea-sized expanse inside the void. Dubbed the ‘Constantinople’ great void, it crawled with virtual crusader anomalies.
“Even if you somehow block Turkey, it’s useless. Once civilization starts crumbling in earnest, voids multiply like crazy. Germany, India, Russia, Mongolia—Monster Waves can spawn anywhere.”
“Hah...? Then how do you subjugate it...?”
“Practically impossible.”
Yeah.
Even as a regressor, I couldn’t do anything about it. The power of ‘pure numbers’ was that immense.
“Defending the peninsula is burden enough; can’t worry about the whole Eurasian continent.”
“Yeah, true...”
“Yes. Of course, somehow defending the horde from Manchuria onward allows survival itself.”
The problem was.
“But Monster Wave doesn’t happen once and end. It keeps recurring periodically. Sometimes monthly, sometimes weekly. Defending waves of hundreds of thousands... Even with me leading, damage accumulates inevitably.”
“...”
“Awakeners aren’t invincible.”
Gradually whittled down, eventually the point arrives where blocking the southward advance becomes impossible.
You can delay. Postpone.
But inevitably, you reach the ‘endpoint.’ Whether you want to or not.
The National Highway Management Corps meeting room fell silent.
No Do-ha let out a hollow laugh.
“Isn’t this kinda cheating...?”
At least she laughed it off.
We kept this intel secret. If word spread of such a ‘guaranteed bad end’ awaiting humanity, countless people would despair.
Ten Tribes or Meteor Shower existed as individuals. Killable.
But anomalies existing as swarms—natural phenomena spawning anytime? How do you even handle that?
“Mogwangseo’s Resurrection Church. Can’t we use that somehow...?”
The proposal to puppet the Eastern Holy Kingdom stemmed from this context.
From No Do-ha’s view, she’d want a ‘human barricade’ in the north to delay the southward advance even slightly.
It was effective, but not a perfect solution.
I pondered too.
“Hmm.”
Surrounded on all sides.
Cycle after cycle, I stockpiled countermeasures for other anomalies, always mulling a final solution for Monster Wave. But no brilliant ideas came.
*Rustle*-
Mimicking Rodin’s ‘The Thinker’ on the Cafe Azit sofa, suddenly green-haired Sim A-ryeon approached.
“G-Guild Leader...”
“Yeah? What’s up?”
“Th-the Meteor Shower anomaly you mentioned last time. I finished the illustration today... Gonna post it on SG Net under [Librarian of the Great Library]. Is, is that okay...?”
Our A-ryeon wanted to play constellation again.
I nodded readily. After seeing her reduced to 16-bit dots in the ‘log out game,’ I’d gone a bit soft on her.
“Go ahead.”
“Waaah- G-Guild Leader best! Ehehe. Predicting and posting unseen anomalies to act like a constellation is so fun...!”
As Sim A-ryeon scampered back to her homeland (the net world).
――Some inspiration struck my mind.
“...!”
It was an enormously profound realization.
If I’d majored in art, I’d have slapped Picasso’s face right there. If Buddhist, laid a lotus cushion next to Shakyamuni on the spot.
“A-ryeon, wait!”
“Y-Yes?”
“Just a hypothetical. If every human on earth—or at least on the peninsula—hated you, how would that feel?”
“Huh...?”
“Not real hate for you, of course. Say, like. Goryeo Jang villain or [Librarian of the Great Library]. The entity you’re roleplaying gets the world’s most vicious hatred and contempt.”
“G-Guild Leader. Did you just think of my nickname as ‘Goryeo Jang Villain’?”
“Not important now. Just answer my question! Quick.”
“Hmm...”
Sim A-ryeon tapped her chin with her index finger.
“People hating me specifically? Humanly unpleasant, sure...”
“But?”
“If what I’m roleplaying monopolizes that massive hatred... I, I don’t think it’s bad. Why?”
“No, got it. Thanks for answering. Go indulge in your villainy.”
“N-Not a villain!”
Next cycle—217th—I implemented my unprecedented idea.
Recruiting Seo-gyu, Sim A-ryeon, Saintess, etc., right after regression was same as before.
But the moment the lonely gourmet Ten Tribes would rampage on the peninsula.
[‘Saintess of National Salvation’ mournfully announces to the humans of this land that darkness has arrived.]
Peninsula Awakeners received a never-before-seen message.
[‘Saintess of National Salvation’ urges all Awakeners to immediately check Constellation Net.]
Awakeners tilted their heads at the puzzling message but logged into SG Net.
And.
Upon login, a post popped up as a ‘popup window.’
――――――――――
Author: ‘Collector of All Anomalies’
Greetings, human Awakeners active on the Korean Peninsula.
This is a constellation who’s been watching your activities.
Judging that the peninsula, outperforming other regions, needs a bit more... ‘challenging choice.’ (Lol)
From today, my apostle called ‘Ten Tribes’ will appear in the peninsula region.
Ten Tribes possesses countless tentacles. Pierced by them, death is near inevitable.
Even severed in real-time, they continuously regenerate, so cutting one just spawns more.
Will you safely endure this trial too?
This experiment I came up with seems quite intriguing. (Lol)
Good luck.
――――――――――
Soon after, Ten Tribes truly appeared, causing massive casualties.
“Kyaaack!”
Sim A-ryeon, logged into SG Net as [Collector of All Anomalies], cheered. Yes, cheers—not screams.
“G-Guild Leader! Huge hit! Total huge! Power! Voices hating me, curses... flooding in so much, so full...!”
“Hm.”
“Right now, I feel like I could do anything! Wow! Guild Leader! I-I feel super strong...!”
Yes.
No need to hide it.
A project to make all major peninsula anomalies appear as if summoned by a specific constellation.
Funneling all resulting grudges and resentment naturally toward the ‘black curtain.’
Operation name: [Zero Requiem].
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