Chapter 33
Chapter 33
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 33
Chapter Title: Producer III
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Shin Noah
3
“You really made a fool out of me......”
The event time wrapped up decently enough, transitioning into after-party time. Truth be told, this was today’s main event. Guild leaders from across the country didn’t gather in one spot all that often.
The moment the drinking kicked off, I used the bathroom excuse to slip out onto the cruise ship’s deck for a bit. No Do-ha tracked me down like a ghost and followed along.
I feigned ignorance.
“A fool? Me?”
“You’ve blown the road-related business up this big......”
“Hey, that wasn’t me—it was the alliance leader. No clue why you’re blaming an innocent bystander.”
“Three Thousand Worlds Guild Leader Dang Seo-rin......”
No Do-ha murmured.
“She’s an outstanding person, sure, but her pride runs deep...... She knows how to separate personal feelings from official ones, but that’s exactly why she bottles up personal grudges even when things proceed officially...... You deliberately poked at the Three Thousand Worlds Guild Leader’s pride, even throwing in the word ‘moron,’ and yet she introduced me in front of guild leaders nationwide...... That’s only possible if she views me purely as an official figure worthy of such treatment......”
No Do-ha’s eyes narrowed.
“That means the Three Thousand Worlds Guild Leader asked around about me, and whoever she asked sang my praises to the heavens......”
“Indeed. Wonder who that could be?”
“The odds are high it was the person who happened to be in the guest reception room with me while I was talking to the Three Thousand Worlds Guild Leader......”
No Do-ha held out one of the two glass cups in her hands. Chilled lemonade. I gratefully accepted and took a sip.
Beyond the Busan Port where the cruise ship was docked stretched the nighttime cityscape. No more could you see that old sight of electric lights stealing the stars from the sky and spilling a galaxy across the ground. Just a bit of light. A bit of shadow. And plenty of moonlight.
The deck carried the sharp tang of the sea.
No Do-ha and I spent a while gazing at the cityscape buried in the sound of the waves.
“You really made a fool out of me......”
“You said that earlier. Yeah.”
“Trying to get free labor out of someone—has your conscience taken a vacation......?”
“Not free. Whatever resources, funds, manpower you need, Workshop Master No Do-ha, I’ll provide to the best of my ability.”
“Hmm.”
No Do-ha let out a sinister chuckle.
“What I demand? Fine. Then return the world to how it was......”
“......”
“When Undertaker Awakener hears the word ‘infinite,’ what comes to mind? Space? Time? For me, the infinite thing in this world is human misery......”
No Do-ha’s tone was a shade darker than the nightscape of this era.
“Saving one person’s life? Sure, I can do that. I have. But does erasing one person’s misery end it? Does happiness follow once misery’s gone? That’s entirely up to the individual. No one else can take responsibility for it. How do you know when it ends......?”
These were the words of someone who, even in this ruined world, tended to the disabled that no one else bothered with until the very end.
“So the very idea of helping others is flawed from the start. Help has to be limited. Not their entire life—just that one severed arm of theirs. That way, you can take responsibility. It’s something I can handle, something I’m damn good at...... But.”
No Do-ha craned her neck toward me.
Like a long-necked serpent.
The fresh scent of the just-sipped lemonade mingled and wavered with the sea’s fishy brine.
“Not just Busan—you want me handling the nation’s entire road network......?”
Her eyes, like halves of a full moon split and pasted onto her face, took in every inch of mine without gap.
“Sure, I can do it. Probably excel at it, even. But what then? Roads are infrastructure, Undertaker Awakener. Know what they call folks who handle infrastructure......?”
“Government.”
“Looks like you’re no fan of privatization. Correct......”
No Do-ha laughed long and hard.
A cloud shadowed the half-moon.
“I have no intention of taking responsibility for people’s everything......”
“......”
“Even handling the morons is tough enough—I’ve got zero interest in handling a moron of a nation. I get it. Right now, I’ve gotta introduce myself to the guild leaders and kiss ass, but as roads get laid one by one, they’ll be the ones kneeling to me. Ooh, the new power player in this broken world. Queen of the Korean Peninsula. Sounds sweet, right? But... nah. I hate it. Why? Think I’d love power handed to me? Go fuck yourself......”
“Workshop Master No Do-ha.”
“Oh, self-fellatio too uncouth for your style? Then beg the Three Thousand Worlds Guild Leader to suck it for you. Heh. If you wanna save the world, you nobles do it among yourselves—don’t drag some random schmuck into it......”
“I’m a regressor.”
The waves lightly slapped the cruise ship’s hull.
Perhaps from the vibration, No Do-ha’s head tilted.
The lemon slice in her glass, split like a half-moon, slipped slightly.
“Huh......?”
“You secretly built a winery in your workshop basement, right? Stocked it with twenty bottles of Château Ducamp 1990. I know.”
“Uh......”
“One of those, you cracked open in secret on the day you resolved to lay roads for the elders in Bansong. Why Bansong? Because they’re in the worst shape there. Plus, getting chummy with the guild holding that turf means you can intervene if needed.”
“Huh......?”
“Back when you were a civil servant, you actually won the lottery jackpot but never told a soul, right? Used that cash to collect wines and privately gather equipment for making prosthetics.”
“......”
No Do-ha touched her lips with index and middle finger.
“Hmm. Aha? Uh-huh. Hm...... Very intriguing claim. If it’s true......”
No Do-ha stared at me intently. Her gaze scanned my legs, hands, chest, body in sequence.
“So that’s why you always looked like that. Aha, definitely. Makes sense. Your actions as Undertaker Awakener start clicking into place......”
Silence.
“But even if it’s true, it means nothing if you’re incompetent. Oh, not saying you actually are. What I mean is, you need to be competent enough to reset the world...... I know you took down a Ten Tribes head, but that alone’s not enough. Get what I’m saying......?”
“I do.”
“Prove it.”
I looked up at the night sky.
“Saintess. You watching?”
[Yes.]
“Send No Do-ha a message, please.”
The Saintess didn’t question my judgment. She knew what I was.
“......!”
No Do-ha flinched beside me. Shock, wonder, and a flicker of hope crossed her face.
“The constellation was fake......?”
“Yes. SG Net’s mine too.”
“Huh? Oh, a site made by the constellation? Aha. Indeed......”
Silence.
“Not bad......”
No Do-ha’s pupils calmed.
“Monopolizing information isn’t about owning the content—it’s securing the gateway where it flows. Only then does it matter. Hmm. Could be some mind-reading scam or manipulation, but conversely, pulling that off means you’re as capable as a regressor......”
No Do-ha whipped her gaze back to me.
“Regressor, huh? How many loops? This your second......?”
“54th run. First met you in the 11th.”
“Damn, you’ve rolled through a ton......?”
No Do-ha looked mildly horrified.
“Well, yeah...... World’s gotta be pretty fucked for that. But surely there were better fits than me? Power on offer, and you’ve got perverts drooling and lining up top to bottom......?”
“Tried them all, roughly.”
Second Provisional Government, military coup faction. Even the viable politicians I hadn’t mentioned.
No Do-ha furrowed her brows.
“And I’m the best among them? No way. Wouldn’t entrusting it to a constellation impersonator be ideal......?”
“Oh. She’s a true hikikomori, so no.”
[.......]
Felt the Saintess’s silent pressure, but I shrugged.
“One thing I learned spinning my wheels through 54 loops: trying to do everything myself never ends. Similar to your infinite misery theory, Workshop Master. Leave what you can alone. People will self-organize and climb up on their own.”
“That me......?”
“Even without my meddling, you had a high shot at rebuilding Busan’s roads. Last loop, you went to see the alliance leader too. I wasn’t there then.”
“......”
Truth was, that wasn’t all.
It pertained to a future not yet arrived at this point: the 90th loop, where I coaxed the Tutorial Fairy into running a convenience store.
At the final supper in the store’s front yard, No Do-ha had joined. She was the one plying Awakeners with her prized wines, basking in their praise.
And before forming the last raid party with other Awakeners to charge the Meteor Shower, No Do-ha left a note at my store.
[Road here’s too damn inconvenient. Thought I’d die lugging the wine bottles. - NDH]
I don’t see that will as a complaint left for me.
Regret toward herself.
If she’d pushed harder before the world fully crumbled, linking city to city by road—maybe she could’ve delayed the end just a bit—.
That’s the kind of remorse I figure it held.
Past or future, she was someone who always carried such feelings in a corner of her heart. No Do-ha.
So, weren’t her words and demeanor a form of camouflage?
Everyone knew No Do-ha was key talent. Power players schemed how to exploit her best. But hearing her ditzy rants made you backpedal: ‘This one’s got a screw loose as a Homo sapiens.’
Yet here I was in this world.
Even I first pegged No Do-ha as unusable upon meeting her.
What set me apart? Endless chances to correct my biases.
Last loop, I infiltrated her workshop, observing her from start to finish. How she treated patients, negotiated with guild leaders, checked on her patients even as doom loomed......
For over nine years, no less.
Result: pass.
As I told Dang Seo-rin, No Do-ha was indeed a good person.
“No need to worry about failing. Hell, fail as diversely as possible. Your failures this time become data handed straight to next loop’s Workshop Master No Do-ha.”
“Ha......”
“Build roads however you want. Chase whatever whim, whatever your gut screams. The optimal path will emerge eventually. When building your org, try everyone. Who fits your group shakes out in the end.”
“Regression’s a cheat, alright. Even lets you sweet-talk like this......”
No Do-ha scratched her temple.
“Uh...... Sorry for the self-fellatio jab. Made the Three Thousand Worlds Guild Leader look bad too......”
“Don’t sweat it.”
“Can you really set this world right......?”
She’d said that earlier too.
I looked No Do-ha straight in the eye.
“Not alone.”
“......”
“Help me.”
No Do-ha sighed long.
The night sea’s waves echoed it, coldly drumming the hull of the now-permanently docked cruise ship, forever ceasing to sail.
“It’s a disease.”
Waves untouched by light murmured, the motionless cruise ship mumbled.
“A vicious plague, too. Fucking carriers preaching greater good and goodwill...... I’ve cured countless morons, but the biggest moron was me. No prescription exists to cure yourself, not wherever you look, not till you drop dead......”
I didn’t bother replying.
Just her boozed-up self-reflection, probably.
No Do-ha extended her slumped-shoulder cup.
“Eh, fuck it. Let’s do public works......”
Clink.
Our two glasses toasted lightly.
Lemon scent wafted under my nose.
“Please take care of me.”
“This repeats forever from now on......?”
“If Workshop Master No Do-ha’s as capable as I think, yeah.”
“I’m fucked......”
4
Epilogue.
Next day, a formal organization launched.
National Highway Management Corps.
True to its simple name, the group had one sole purpose: restore and maintain the rapidly crumbling road network. Link cities surviving separately by region with lines.
“No need for a central government these days. Can’t be sustained anyway......”
A week later, No Do-ha briefed us. Here, ‘us’ didn’t mean the nation’s guild leaders.
Me. The Saintess.
A closed-door meeting among the trio who almost always shared my regressor status. A few like O Dok-seo would join later, but for now, just a three-person blood pact.
“Cities keep getting run by local powerhouse guild leaders like always. They’re like feudal lords. So the National Highway Management Corps positions itself as the royal court—or rather, bureaucratic arm under it—contracting with those lords......”
The Saintess raised her hand. Personality showing.
“Yes, what is it......?”
“Won’t we have too little power?”
“Exactly. Less posturing, the better. Power grows by dominating many fields, but strengthens by owning irreplaceable ones. And broad power? We don’t need it. Just drags efficiency, breeds corruption...... Self-sufficient era, can’t meddle in other cities—that’s when our National Highway Management Corps monopolizes road links and maintenance......”
No Do-ha spoke with conviction.
The National Highway Management Corps consisted of laborers, construction workers, and combat squads. After securing a single lane, combat squads dispersed for regular monthly ‘patrols’ along the roads.
“These regular patrols are crucial......”
People or merchants heading to other cities naturally tagged along on Management Corps ‘patrol’ days. No Do-ha charged them set usage fees.
“Usage fees, aka taxes, really...... But call it tax and backlash hits instant, so stick to usage fees forever......”
Connected cities paid road usage fees too. Sure, you could use unauthorized, but then you guarded your own life from raiding monsters.
“Advertise it like plenty of choices exist—and make sure they do. That belief it’s their choice, not coercion, is vital. That’s when the Management Corps’ value etches into heads repeatedly......”
Guilds could band together for roads if needed. But long hauls meant hitting waypoints, paying taxes to each city’s guild per pass.
“Pain in the ass, right......?”
Far cheaper to pay the Management Corps a bit and hitch a ride.
Once civilians and Awakeners entrusted travel to the Corps, No Do-ha’s voice naturally rose.
Corps members she handpicked doubled as ‘diplomats.’ Hostile guilds that’d only fight if jammed together could actually talk with the Corps as buffer.
No Do-ha milked guild leaders’ relations, prides, rivalries for max efficiency per city.
Trial and error? Plenty. Hell yeah.
“These fucking assholes......”
Diplomats she sent embezzled left and right. Some trusted ones turned out guild spies. Fastest route picked? Monster dens galore.
Still, the Corps gradually took root.
Told you my eye for people’s spot-on?
No clue why No Do-ha glared at me like I was scum, though.
“Next loop, pass on my failure data—and tell me personally.”
“What to tell you?”
“‘Enjoying that sweet regressor dick, you fuck?’......”
Told her.
55th loop No Do-ha’s reaction? Cool as ice.
“Bullshit.”
- Producer. End.