Chapter 128
Chapter 128
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 128
Chapter Title: Victim II
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Shin Noah
5
“What the hell is that constellation anyway? It pisses me off!”
Dang Seo-rin slammed her fist down on the table.
This was a sundae gukbap restaurant in Busan. Unlike Dang Seo-rin, who usually focused solely on eating at restaurants, she spent the entire meal ranting about [Collector of All Anomalies].
That was proof enough that our [Zero Requiem] project had succeeded spectacularly.
“Hmm. Well, it seems that constellation thinks of itself as an online game operator of all things.”
“Ha. In this day and age, running a game with that kind of cringy loser speech would tank the game!”
“And it did tank. Reality.”
“Ah…… Seriously, everything about it pisses me off. Does it think the Korean Peninsula is its personal playground? One day, I’ll make it regret everything.”
Except for the occasional habit of forcing concrete shoes on people and making them walk runways over the ocean off Busan’s coast, Dang Seo-rin was a woman of character.
Even someone like her was this furious. One could only imagine how the other Awakeners felt.
I set aside my guilt toward Dang Seo-rin for the moment and threw myself into manipulating the media.
――――――――――
Author: ‘Collector of All Anomalies’
Greetings, fellow human Awakeners active on the Korean Peninsula.
I’m shocked! To think you’d dispatch the Apostles—my Ten Tribes—so easily. As expected of a region that prides itself on being a nation of gamers, eh? (wink)
For all of you, I plan to release anomalies with even more finely tuned difficulty from now on.
By any chance… do you like ‘hide and seek’?
I certainly do. (lol)
The next anomaly I’ll introduce you to is the World Tree Udumbara. If you fail to find it within the time limit, it’ll染 the entire Korean Peninsula—no, the whole world—with the zombie virus.
――――――――――
SG Net exploded the moment this new post went up right after the Ten Tribes were subjugated.
-Anonymous: Seriously, why does this asshole only show up and mess around on the Korean Peninsula?
-[Yuldo Nation] Sword Marquis: Oh ho! I cannot help but lament the shameless prattle of this demonic fiend defiling the righteous path of the martial world!
-[Baekhwa] High School Senior: Hooee >_[);; I wanna tie its limbs and shred its fingertips and toes with nail clippers]_<);;
-Anonymous: Am I the only one losing my mind over that ‘wink’ bullshit??
-Cooking Queen: How intriguing.
Me, the Saintess, No Do-ha, Yoo Ji-won, Sim A-ryeon.
Only five people in the world knew that [Collector of All Anomalies] was a fabricated entity.
No Do-ha pouted her lips.
“Do we really have to go this far? I sometimes feel a twinge of self-loathing…… But well, ‘Monster Wave’ started the deception first. Gotta fight fire with fire……”
In any case, our media manipulation—Operation [Zero Requiem]—was proceeding smoothly.
From the start, I, the Undertaker, had memorized every anomaly that would appear on the Korean Peninsula in the future.
Their identities. Their gimmicks. Even their appearance times.
With just a clever use of a Regressor’s knowledge like this, creating a new ‘black幕 constellation toying with the Korean Peninsula’ was child’s play.
If pre-apocalypse newspaper reporters saw this, they’d surely be moved to tears: ‘Truly, the essence of Korean journalism endures unbroken even after civilization’s fall, passed down to future generations!’
In the end, every ounce of malice and resentment converged on [Collector of All Anomalies]. In other words, on Sim A-ryeon.
――――――――――
Author: ‘Collector of All Anomalies’
Greetings, fellow human Awakeners active on the Korean Peninsula. (lol)
――――――――――
Now, Awakeners went into seizures at the mere sight of (lol).
-Anonymous: Again? It’s back?
-Literary Girl: What the hell are the other constellations doing instead of catching that black幕 bastard?
Absolute evil.
Treating this end-of-century struggle, where everyone fought desperately for survival, like a light pastime. A black幕 with not a shred of dignity or intellect in its tone.
…If [Collector of All Anomalies] had even a modicum of gravitas as a character, it might’ve spawned a new cult worshiping it.
Even if it brought humanity’s doom, the power to freely unleash terrifying anomalies would seem immense to mere mortals like us.
But [Collector of All Anomalies] was far too flippant to be revered as an evil god.
To put it simply, it had no style.
Whether you loved or hated humanity, it reeked too strongly of otaku vibes to inspire true devotion.
No one acknowledged it had the dignity befitting a constellation. Only hatred, resentment, and contempt poured forth.
-Anonymous: Crazy, saw the Meteor Shower dropping star corpses as it died?
└Anonymous: Yyyep. Total asshole move.
└[National Highway] Historian: Three Thousand Guild Leader stopped it, but if we hadn’t known, it would’ve turned southern Gyeongsang Province to ash.
└Anonymous: This is all the anomalies we get? lol I wanna beat that collector fucker senseless lololol
And so.
15 years passed.
[Undertaker.]
[A Monster Wave has been sighted in the North Korean region. It’s estimated to be advancing south from the Jiandao area toward the Korean Peninsula interior.]
I nodded.
It had been a long, arduous time.
Who owned SG Net, the sole information-sharing platform in this apocalypse? Me.
Who alone had blood alliances with the constellations people trusted most for intel? Me, the Undertaker.
At this moment, all information power on the Korean Peninsula was in my grasp. Pre-apocalypse media outlets had used such power merely to prop up opposition or ruling party presidents—but my creation danced in far higher realms than petty political reality.
“A-ryeon.”
“Yesss.”
“Have you been practicing your song?”
“Y-Yes……! Even the Three Thousand Worlds Archwitch certified that I’m ready to graduate……!”
“Excellent. Now, go. Show them.”
“……”
“That healing is a noble’s calling.”
“……! Y-Yes, Guild Leader……!”
There had been foreshadowing. Hints. Setup.
I hadn’t focused on her during the ‘log-out game’ talk for nothing.
Everything was for this moment.
Sim A-ryeon.
The savior of the Korean Peninsula from now on.
Former class: Goryeo Spear villain. Internet troll.
Alias: Poison-drinking bird.
Launch.
6
In this world, there’s hardly a problem that can’t be solved by overwhelming DPS.
Just as I, with no martial arts prowess, sliced the Ten Tribes with aura, or how the simplistic ‘Monster Wave’ toppled countless nations through sheer numbers.
But I, the Undertaker, entering my 217th round, shall deliver a cool-headed, satisfying critique to this DPS-stomping meta.
Overwhelming DPS? It’s nothing before ‘overwhelming healing.’
“Block them! Don’t let those bastards cross the Yalu River!”
“B-But, Your Excellency! There’s no end to their numbers! Tens of thousands visible alone—how can we……”
“Don’t utter such weak nonsense! The Second Coming Christ watches over us! Even in death, that’s our path to ascension! It is God’s will! Amen!”
Yalu River defensive line.
Until recently, the Eastern Divine Holy Nation had been obsessed with northern expeditions. Plundering the Manchuria region the Ten Tribes had ravaged was like raiding an empty house—how fun it must’ve been.
But as Proverbs 13:11 says, ill-gotten gains dwindle.
The faithful of the Eastern Divine Holy Nation trembled in terror at the endless black tidal wave of anomalies.
Koreans’ DNA was imprinted with primal fear of ‘hordes from the north.’ Even brainwashed cultists couldn’t easily overcome it with faith alone.
“Y-Your Eminence! The anomalies are using corpses to ford the river!”
“No! Block them! Bloooock! If this breaks, only the Cheongcheon and Daedong Rivers remain!”
Right then.
[‘Dawn Star of the Second Coming’ takes pity on humanity and sends down your Saintess to the earth.]
Resurrection Church followers battling desperately on the front lines looked up, eyes wide. Combatants too busy to look had their heads severed by anomalies, letting them witness the sky up close.
Dawn Star of the Second Coming? Isn’t that our Lord Jesus? He sent a Saintess?
“Ah―――.”
A single song pierced the battlefield stained with black muck and red blood.
Tap. Tap.
Sim A-ryeon—our guild’s former otaku kid—walked across the warzone, hands neatly clasped.
It wasn’t a voice that stunned Chinese, shocked Japanese, and brought Koreans to their knees like Dang Seo-rin’s. Reaching peninsula-top idol status was still a distant dream.
But Sim A-ryeon was Dang Seo-rin’s disciple.
More precisely, I’d made her one. Dang Seo-rin squeezed time from her busy schedule for one-on-one lessons.
For a full 10 years!
So while not peninsula’s top idol, she could claim Pyongyang’s. Our healer advanced, singing a beautiful Latin requiem (though Sim A-ryeon barely knew the lyrics).
I secretly amplified her voice with aura waves from nearby, spreading it far and wide, beyond the horizon.
“Ah―― Ah――.”
Then, the miracle happened.
The upper body of a fighter who’d just been bisected by an anomaly and was flying toward heaven’s gates sprouted legs.
“Huh?”
Severed arms regrew.
Crushed feet reformed.
Half-corpses scattered across the battlefield regained arms, legs, fingers, toes, eye sockets, mouths—and rose again.
Blood soaking the ground red returned to its owners, reforming flesh and bone.
Centered on Sim A-ryeon, the song’s waves spread outward, healing every injured soldier and half-corpse in range, one by one.
Resurrection.
And that was just the start.
From her footsteps, not just human lives but green grasses—swallowed by black filth—and colorful flowers bloomed vanishla-la.
“Aah……. Ah……”
Green rebirth.
Believers stared at their palms. Hands that, seconds ago, exposed bone cross-sections.
Someone murmured unconsciously.
“A miracle……”
Yes.
It was a miracle.
Even in this apocalyptic world of anomalies and Awakeners, the sight of ‘life’ regenerating with every step Sim A-ryeon took was profoundly moving, stirring the heart.
‘Monster Wave’ tried charging, but I quietly handled those nasty ones.
I, the Undertaker, valued etiquette highly. In magical girl transformations, villains stay quiet—that’s manners.
“The Saintess, it’s the Saintess……”
“Jesus has called Santa Maria!”
“Hallelujah! It is God’s will!”
The tide turned instantly.
Monster Wave panicked. It learned role reversal the hard way. No matter how many it killed or sliced, human heads kept coming endlessly.
Humans are a warrior race at heart. Under the game rule that ‘as long as the head’s intact, strong new game+ is possible,’ Koreans awakened their ancestral ferocity.
Four full days and nights passed.
The Battle of the Yalu River Defensive Line. Here, 2,000 elite Eastern Divine Holy Nation troops crushed 200,000 of Monster Wave. A historic victory.
“Woooooo!”
“W-We won! We won!”
“Christ of the Final Light hasn’t abandoned us humans! Long live Jesus! Long live the Saintess!”
“……”
Sim A-ryeon smiled faintly.
She hadn’t learned it from Go Yo-ri. I’d drilled it into her: ‘You look fine if you just keep your mouth shut, so please never ever open it.’
As long as she avoided internet communities or log-out games, A-ryeon was a good, obedient kid.
The Resurrection Church followers showered her enigmatic smile with fervent cheers.
To reiterate, this world’s genre was fantasy.
And by fantasy genre rules, a divine empire must have a Saintess.
Especially with a Saintess already in southern Seoul, the north’s Pyongyang needed one too. That’s the Korean Peninsula’s physics.
Who could’ve foreseen it?
Eastern Divine Holy Nation Saintess.
Her name: Sim A-ryeon.
7
Epilogue.
Thanks to [Zero Requiem]’s success, another aircraft carrier-class anomaly, Monster Wave, was safely resolved.
But it wasn’t ‘subjugation.’ Waves kept coming periodically from beyond the Yalu.
Each time, Sim A-ryeon rode my back to the front, exuding Saintess dignity.
“G-Guild Leader. Did I do well? Really well? Super well? P-Praise me quick……”
“Yes. Perfect. You worked hard. As expected of the world’s strongest healer. You’re a total lucky charm, A-ryeon.”
“Ehehehe……”
Even as a stopgap, Sim A-ryeon steadfastly guarded the peninsula as the north’s ‘unbreakable wall of life.’
In year 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22.
Though by year 22, her powers grew too vast, causing ‘corruption’…… Essentially, she held the line alone until then.
For 8 whole years.
――Truth be told, tackling ‘Monster Wave’ gave me much to ponder.
It’s a mid-boss anomaly that’s destroyed our world countless times, spawning endless tragedies.
At first, I planned somber descriptions of those deaths, like with ‘Ten Tribes’ or ‘Meteor Shower.’
But thinking of Sim A-ryeon changed my mind.
Facing hatred and contempt from Awakeners, play-acting an unwanted Saintess, dragged to war monthly—she never showed strain.
As her Guild Leader, shouldn’t I sing smiles over tragedies?
No solemnity or sorrow. At least while she smiles, no such landscapes.
Because.
“Ehehehe……. Wh-When we get back to base, make me a café mocha……! With l-lots of chocolate syrup……!”
Just as she loves my coffee, I’ve come to love her smile dearly.
-Victim. End.