Chapter 226
Chapter 226
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 226
Chapter Title: The Hollow Earth
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Hollow Earth Theory.
It posits, quite literally, that the inside of the Earth is hollow, containing an enormous cavern.
Similar theories include "Nazis who migrated to the Moon" or "the underwater city of Atlantis."
In short, it's a conspiracy theory with zero academic value—mere gossip fodder.
Unfortunately, after the arrival of the Void, Earth itself had switched careers from physicist to conspiracy theorist. There really was a secret Nazi German base on the far side of the Moon, and Atlantis existed intact in the Atlantic Ocean.
By the same logic, the Earth's interior was naturally hollow as well. It was downright embarrassing for an intellectual like me not to know this simple geological truth.
"Your Excellency."
"Mm."
"There's a village. Underground."
"...Mm."
"People are living there. Should we call them subterraneans? They look like Homo sapiens on the surface."
However, the Homo sapiens Yoo Ji-won mentioned had an appearance that differed markedly from modern humans.
-Oo? Aa, oo!
-Uoooh! Ooo-ho!
Spotting the two of us peeking out from the hole in the ground, the subterraneans rushed over with wooden spears raised.
The subterraneans stomped the ground with their feet while craning their necks toward each other, exchanging savage choruses of "Oo-hooo—!"
Let's not mince words.
The subterraneans' civilization was stuck at the typical primitive tribal stage. They weren't even covering their lower halves properly.
-Eee-hooo! Hoo-hoo-hoo!
What appeared to be their leader pointed his spear tip at us threateningly. Then he spat out some unintelligible language.
Even for me, with my multilingual abilities, it was hard to translate, but the nuance seemed roughly "Come out from there, you monsters!"
But unfortunately, he'd picked the wrong target to threaten.
"Pardon the interruption, Your Excellency."
Thwack!
Before anyone could stop her, Yoo Ji-won shot out. She drew her dagger and plunged it into the leader's throat.
-Oo-hooo-oo-ho?
-Ooo-ooo! Oo-hok! Uh-hok!
A few brave subterraneans tried to counterattack, but it was futile. Yoo Ji-won pulled out a new dagger and hurled it. The blade embedded precisely in the centers of their foreheads.
With four killed in an instant, the subterraneans had no choice. They fled in panic from the psychopath who had invaded from the New World.
The entire incident wrapped up in a mere 30 seconds.
It was clean work worthy of the National Highway Management Corps' operations team leader.
"Hmm."
Yoo Ji-won brushed off her uniform.
"A ragtag bunch. Not worth Your Excellency lifting a finger."
"...Ji-won. Like I keep telling you, tone down the psychopath vibes. You're way too casual about it."
"They threatened us first. Now, let's check the body's interior."
Thwack!
Again, no time to stop her—Yoo Ji-won cleaved open the subterraean's skull.
It was a gruesome sight that would earn a 19+ rating on any platform, but fortunately, it seemed safe from censorship strikes.
Because no red blood or entrails spilled from the body where Yoo Ji-won's dagger had sliced.
"It's empty."
"A monster, then."
"Yes, definitely. It resembles this place's terrain perfectly."
Not just the head—the torso was hollow too. Claiming it wasn't a monster would be the odd thing.
"But Your Excellency. Doesn't this primitive look a bit like you upon closer inspection?"
"What?"
"No joke. Please take a careful look, Your Excellency."
"......"
It was true.
The first subterraean Yoo Ji-won had killed—their leader—bore an uncanny resemblance to me. The fashion level gap had just made it hard to spot.
"...Hold on. The one collapsed here looks just like you, Ji-won."
"Oh."
Yoo Ji-won blinked and peered at the corpse on the ground.
"You're right. I've always wondered what it'd feel like to kill myself someday, but I never imagined satisfying that curiosity like this."
"That's bragging, you little shit."
"Thank you for the praise."
The other subterraneans who'd died by Yoo Ji-won's hand also looked vaguely familiar.
I realized something.
"Pull out the map here."
"Yes, Your Excellency."
I had Yoo Ji-won place the chess piece labeled "Undertaker" on the map.
The result.
It stood upright.
Unlike before, the chess piece now stood normally on the map by itself.
No more phenomenon of another piece being dragged to the opposite side.
"...As expected."
"What happened, Your Excellency?"
"These collapsed subterraneans were copies of us, apparently. Your [Minimap] ability treated me and the subterraean as the same person."
"Ah, I see. That's why the 'surface person' and 'underground person' were displayed side by side. Hmm......"
Swish—Yoo Ji-won's pale blue eyes scanned the corpses.
That gaze felt ominous.
To others, it might look like her usual expressionless face, but I could tell. When Yoo Ji-won was plotting something bad, her left eyebrow twitched like dogweed grass.
"Hey. What are you thinking right now?"
"Nothing at all. Just....... If your reasoning is correct, Your Excellency, doesn't that mean this underworld has a one-to-one corresponding monster for every person on the surface?"
"Probably."
"Among them would be primitives—no, subterraneans—corresponding to the Three Thousand Worlds' grand witch or Baekhwa Girls' High School's student council president."
"...And?"
"The audacity of impersonating Your Excellency's precious comrades is unbearable as a loyal retainer. Your Excellency, please entrust the extermination of these monsters to me."
This girl.
No way?
"Hey. You're not thrilled at the chance to kill perfect lookalikes of Dang Seo-rin or Cheon Yo-hwa without any risk, are you?"
"As if. It was purely a loyal suggestion out of devotion to Your Excellency."
"You crazy bitch!"
But Yoo Ji-won didn't miss the opportunity.
A dance of blades erupted in the underworld.
-Oo-hoo-eok! Oo-hoo-ok?
-Ooo-ooo! Oo-ho! Oo-hoo!
As if unleashing all the murderous intent she'd bottled up because of me, she scoured the underworld, capturing "Subterraean Dang Seo-rin," "Subterraean Cheon Yo-hwa," and so on.
The underworld, which had barely reached the dawn of civilization, was mostly annihilated that day.
And when Yoo Ji-won skinned "Subterraean Dang Seo-rin," a surprise item popped out.
"...Isn't that a witch's hat?"
"A conical hat. Deeper inside, there's a model train engine too."
"No, why is this stuff inside the body?"
Indeed.
Inside the body mimicking Dang Seo-rin's appearance, instead of organs, were hidden a witch's hat and a train.
No ordinary human would have such things burst from their body. Nor would they wear them.
"Oh. A school uniform came out of Subterraean Cheon Yo-hwa's body. Baekhwa Girls' High School uniform."
"...No clue what the principle is."
We had no idea how the subterraneans stole Earthlings' items, but everything hidden here related to people's lost personalities or hobbies.
"Mr. Seo-gyu's body spilled out hair."
"......"
"Inside Sim A-ryeon's....... Ugh. A sketchbook with drawings of short tongues. Burning or destroying it like this should restore the surface dwellers to normal, I predict."
There were many cases of simple sticky notes instead of symbolic items.
For instance, Subterraean No Do-ha's body contained a note reading [Human Hatred].
Even without the human hatred inside, No Do-ha had stared at me with such loathing. Her consistency was starting to scare me now.
After gutting people's bellies for a while, Yoo Ji-won finally seemed satisfied. She washed her dagger and returned.
"Your Excellency. I've been thinking. Couldn't we put this monster to good use?"
"Use it? How?"
"This is the opposite side of the Earth. Without your fearsome aura, Your Excellency, no Awakener could have found this remote place."
In other words, Yoo Ji-won said.
"No place suits a perfect crime better than here."
Only ill omens filled my ears.
"No need for that worried look. I'm merely suggesting that by exploiting this monster, we might correct the many personality flaws in certain humans."
"Personality flaws......"
"For example, suppose we write 'Narcissism' on a note and insert it into Sim A-ryeon's doppelganger. Wouldn't that simply resolve one symptom that's tormented her endlessly?"
"Hm."
Yoo Ji-won continued.
"Your Excellency could use this place like an editor. Easily correct and revise your comrades' personality flaws, transforming them into more perfectly functional personalities."
"...No, that's the expressway to becoming a monster yourself. Arbitrarily editing those around you? What, trying to turn me into a dictator?"
"I think it'd be extremely useful."
"No, no."
I waved her off.
"Dang Seo-rin tried something similar in a previous loop. The result? A Fallen One."
"Hmm. I see......"
Yoo Ji-won glanced around with a reluctant face (one only I could read).
The surroundings were just the massacre site she'd rampaged through moments ago.
"If that's Your Excellency's will, then exterminating the monsters will suffice."
"Yeah. Lucky we found them before they stole hearts or brains."
"Understood."
Yoo Ji-won neatly tidied up and headed back to the tunnel we'd dug.
She gave up her idea so refreshingly that I almost mindlessly followed her back to the surface.
But something felt off.
Trusting my instincts, I approached the corpse of "Subterraean Undertaker."
Prying open its mouth, what do you know? Inside was a note in Yoo Ji-won's handwriting.
[Suspicion Toward Yoo Ji-won]
[Doubts About Yoo Ji-won's Loyalty]
[Complete Distrust of Yoo Ji-won's Personality, Character, and Words]
"......"
"...Ah."
Our eyes met—hers as she was halfway into the hole, mine.
She burrowed in like a mole. Soon after, faint sounds of frantic fleeing echoed: patter-patter-patter.
If I had to describe the sequence in text, yeah. "Yoo Ji-won hides her conscience."
I couldn't help shouting.
"Yoo Ji-won, you bitch! Don't you dare stop there!"
Short epilogue.
"Broooother! Thank you so muuuch!"
"Y-Yeah."
Seo-gyu, his hair restored, clung to my waist sobbing.
Along with the regrown hair came his original identity—his memories of luscious locks.
Not just Seo-gyu—most others benefited from the "normalization." Dang Seo-rin, safely back to her train obsession, even gathered scrapped vehicles in Revolution Square for a bonfire ritual.
"I-I was fine...... just being left alone......"
Everyone except Sim A-ryeon, who had been reveling in her socialite life, dismissed the whole affair as a black history moment.
Just as we were wrapping up this bizarre tale of our doppelgangers living beneath the very ground we tread daily—
As I returned to the surface and basked in mundane routine, a sudden question struck me.
'Wait. If the underworld stole things from the surface one by one....... What was the sun down there?'
A sun had shone in the underworld, yet from the surface, the cosmic sun still gleamed strong.
In other words, Earth now had "two suns"—one inside and one out.
One was a sun something had been stolen from.
The other, a sun that had stolen something.
"......"
Sipping my café au lait, I gazed up at the clear sky—at the sun blazing down.
What, I wondered, had our galaxy's sun lost to the monster?
—Concealer. End.