Chapter 232
Chapter 232
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 232
Chapter Title: A Signal from Russia
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1
As I mentioned briefly last time, let me bring it up again: SG Net was the only internet community in the country.
It wasn't the 'world's only'.
Was it because there were ubiquitous powerhouses like Seo-gyu on other continents? No, not at all.
It was simply that the network world Seo-gyu had created was still far from vast enough.
"Ugh. No matter how much I try, the internet speed won't pick up in the boonies, bro..."
"Yeah, tell me about it."
Ubiquitous originally meant 'existing everywhere at the same time,' but in truth, Seo-gyu wasn't quite that omnipotent.
The entire Korean Peninsula.
Wi-Fi worked flawlessly only up to here.
It performed decently in China's Shandong Peninsula and Japan's Kyushu, but beyond that, the speed dropped off sharply.
Of course, you could connect from the opposite side of the Earth too. In principle, at least. For example, trying to load a single post in the Uyuni Salt Flats would mean staring down a loading screen for over a year.
I, the Undertaker, may have lost my memories, but I was born with a Korean's heart and soul.
When it came to internet speed, I was more serious than any other nation. Across countless regressions, I relentlessly tinkered with Seo-gyu's abilities, trying to lay down a 5G network across the entire planet.
The result?
"I'm sorry, bro. The Saintess's aura range kept expanding just from training it, but mine's stuck in place..."
Total failure. A complete rout.
From the start, Seo-gyu's growth trajectory differed from the Saintess's.
"No need to apologize. Yours doesn't expand the internet speed's range widely, but it evolves the variety of systems you can implement in the community, right?"
"Umm. Yeah, but it still feels lacking."
Exactly.
To use an analogy, as Seo-gyu's level rose, features like [Community UI Improvements], [Image Upload Unlocked], [Video Upload Unlocked], [Chat Rooms Enabled] and so on became available.
It was the type that prioritized quality over quantity.
I patted Seo-gyu's shoulder.
"Finding balance between ambition and contentment is true wisdom. You and the Saintess just grow in different directions—both are incredible powers. Don't blame yourself."
"Mm. Got it."
"Instead of digging holes in the ground, let's go smash some lower body workouts together."
"Oh. Sounds good! I'll drag A-ryeon along too!"
That day, Sim A-ryeon shed 10mL of tears in exchange for 1g of muscle.
I, your guild master, do not tolerate the recent crop of Awakeners who try to show off on aura alone without physical training.
To sum up, spreading the blessings of [Ubiquitous] to all humanity proved difficult.
That was why no foreign members ever appeared whenever SG Net was shown.
As the saying goes, if you can't get pheasant, settle for chicken. For better or worse, we'd set up a page like this.
――――――――――
[※Emergency Rescue Request for All Humanity※]
[Notice: This page appears when accessing from outside the Korean Peninsula]
1. Report your current situation.
2. When posting, avoid attaching images or videos if possible. Smaller file sizes are better.
3. Do not turn off your smartphone until the loading screen finishes. If power cuts out mid-load, the post won't go up.
4. If requesting help, provide as many specific details about location and time as possible.
5. Rescue requests from the Pacific Island Nations, Small Island Nations Alliance, Oceania, North America, South America, or the British Isles have a high chance of no response. We deeply apologize.
6. Even if you think it's too late, describe your situation if possible. It could serve as data for future generations.
――――――――――
Emergency Rescue Request for All Humanity.
In short, it was a 119 center for Earthlings.
It was fully translated into every language I could recognize: English, French, Spanish, Chinese, and so on.
Awakeners casually browsing the community from the Korean Peninsula couldn't access it. In the first place, only a tiny fraction even knew this emergency page existed.
Perhaps because of that.
-Mongolia: If a village has car tires, everyone smaller than them dies (1 year ago)
-Italy: The Black Death is rampant (2 years ago)
-France: Whenever church bells ring, shadows gather and kill people. Their clothes are weird (4 years ago)
-UK: Smog from somewhere won't stop—it's been 5 years since the whole sky turned pitch black. Is it clear elsewhere? Atlantis rose in the Atlantic (4 years ago)
-Nepal: Too much snow (5 years ago)
-Palau: Kiyahuuu! I survived! My house is the only one left! (5 years ago)
Posts on the emergency page truly trickled in, few and far between. Sometimes it stayed silent for over a year.
It couldn't be helped.
To access SG Net in the first place, you had to be an Awakener. On top of that, you needed to have heard the rumor 'there's this site called SG Net,' endure the endless loading screen, and possess a smartphone—
The problem was that smartphones and other electronics were all easily corrupted by anomalies, treated as ticking time bombs.
'No wonder connecting is damn near impossible.'
In fact, survivor groups anywhere on Earth overwhelmingly consisted of Luddites who freaked out at the sight of electronics.
Even if they learned of SG Net's existence, the odds were high they'd dismiss it as 'Huh? Isn't that a cursed monster site anyway?'
It left a bitter taste.
'What a shame. If those prophets who exploded right after I regressed had lived, they could've naturally cooperated on details like this...'
What could I do? Even in a trash game where teammates bail from the start, you've got to try carrying.
Then one day. It was in the 669th cycle.
-Russia: I know a method for long-distance communication (1 year ago) (new!)
A post appeared on the emergency page that had never been there before.
2
A regressor must have strong patience.
Even if the world feels like it's stuck repeating without change, eventually, a breeze of subtle difference will arrive—as long as you don't give up.
-Russia: I know a method for long-distance communication (1 year ago) (new!)
Take this post, for example.
This new wind from Russia's permafrost arrived right after I perfectly sealed the 'Ice Age' anomaly.
In other words, the following inference held true.
'In previous cycles, they got caught in the Ice Age and died. This cycle, they survived and accessed SG Net.'
That was why regressors had to be professional busybodies, meddling everywhere diligently.
Without the 'busybodiness' of trying to save the tutorial's bullshit guy, there'd be no SG Net. Without the 'busybodiness' of wanting to see the face of the villain who stirred shit up on the boards every day, there'd be no Northern Saintess.
That was the life of a regressor. Even if 99% of the events you meddle in yield nothing, that remaining 1% sows seeds for unimaginable bountiful harvests later.
And the new reports on the emergency page were more than enough to ignite my professional busybody challenge spirit.
-Russia: I know a method for long-distance communication (1 year ago)
-I heard rumors of this site from a Chinese friend. But since monsters might be running it, I won't detail the 'long-distance communication method.'
-If true 'emergency rescue' is possible, come to Naryan-Mar.
-Find the most eye-catching pillar when viewing this city from afar.
-If you can't make it, at least remember that people once lived here.
-From the frozen city.
The moment I read it, my regressor's instinct whispered.
'This one's legit.'
No lengthy personal sob stories or exaggerations—just the message to deliver to the other side.
The tone of 'come if you know the value of the "long-distance communication method," don't if you don't.'
A typical survivor archetype: expectations of the world dashed, yet not too lazy to cast a line.
I immediately queried the administrator.
"Seo-gyu. Trace where this post was accessed from. Was it really Russia?"
"Ah, yep. One sec... Huh. Yeah, it is. Total north side. Took 11 months to upload a single post, bro."
11 months.
An interval where survival on the anomaly-devoured surface was never guaranteed, but I packed my bags on the spot.
Even if the poster had died in those 11 months, I could just move earlier next cycle.
"Gonna pop over to Russia real quick."
"...Dude. In this day and age, you're the only one who'd say 'pop over' to a place that far..."
I headed north.
The place name 'Naryan-Mar' means 'red city.' As the name suggests, it was a planned Soviet-era settlement, starting as a worker camp for coal mining.
Later, when oil gushed out in the area, it became quite prosperous.
For reference, Naryan-Mar was the 44th stop on the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics torch relay. Already at this point, you could guess the curse of '4' had descended.
"Oh."
After traversing all sorts of voids and nearing the north, the meaning of the Russian survivor's post clicked instantly.
-Find the most eye-catching pillar when viewing this city from afar.
In the middle of a snow-white wasteland.
In the midst of indistinguishable horizon and horizon of white, a dark 'smoke' plume rose.
That was the 'most eye-catching pillar' the poster mentioned.
No human traces anywhere around, yet that smoke pillar demanded attention as a remnant of civilization.
'Visible from crazy far. Are they still alive after 11 months?'
I hurried my steps.
...Unexpectedly, the source of the smoke, the 'red city,' was a full 1,000km further.
To think the smoke was visible from this distance. Probably the smoke pillar itself was the poster's ability.
Just then, near the beacon where smoke billowed, a middle-aged man was feeding reindeer.
"Hm?"
The man noticed the presence and turned this way. Surprise dusted his snow-flecked eyebrows.
He immediately set down the feed bucket and drew a crossbow. But he didn't aim it—just held it ready.
"Who are you? Human?"
"Human."
I replied in Russian.
The man didn't lower his guard. Nearby, reindeer crunched through the snow.
"Only non-humans claim to be human. No one lives in the direction you came from."
"The Earth's round, so don't jump to conclusions. Ah, assuming flat Earth theory hasn't hit yet."
"Flat... What?"
"Didn't you post on SG Net?"
The man's crossbow hand froze.
"SG Net? That internet site?"
"Yes. Upload started a year ago, completed four days ago. I came straight from the Korean Peninsula after receiving that report."
"My god. That site was real?"
The man muttered dazedly.
"...Hold on. If what you say is true, that post went up four days ago. And you came from the Korean Peninsula in four days?"
"Correct."
"You're asking me to believe that? I'd rather believe the site's cursed by monsters and you're their herald."
"Hm."
I turned my back. A way to intuitively show no hostility.
Then I drew Do-ha and swung it toward the vast expanse of snowfield.
Kwarrrrrr...!
The pristine white earth split in two. The subsurface, long buried in ice without seeing sunlight, cracked open—.
One stroke, two halves. Suddenly, a 10cm-wide high-speed highway canyon stretched to the horizon.
I sheathed Do-ha like a cane and turned back.
The man had dropped his crossbow by now. The surrounding reindeer were fleeing in panic.
"As you see, I'm currently the strongest of surviving humanity."
"......"
"I ran here without sleep for four days, so I'm a bit tired. Mind if I accept your invitation?"
The man's lips twitched as he glanced down. He picked up the half-buried crossbow and slung it on his back.
"...A贵 guest has arrived. Follow me."
Aura solves every problem, as expected.
If it didn't, ask yourself if you had enough aura.