Life Difficulty: HARD
pI slammed the broken phone onto the desk with a thud. "How long do I have to keep handing over this data?"
p"Before you clock in tomorrow morning."
p"It's eleven at night right now."
p"What am I supposed to do? If the boss wants it, I gotta deliver."
pNo overtime pay on this company. You know the drill—stay late, get screwed. It happens more often than you’d think. Life’s like that.
pA text from the landlord lit up my old smartphone: “Your rent is increasing.”
p“Damn it.”
pI muttered the curse before I could stop myself.
p'These people live such a painfully hard life. Me too.'
pI reached for the cold instant coffee, then froze.
pThe liquid inside the cup was twisting into weird geometric shapes. My ears felt stuffed up, and a mechanical hum buzzed in my skull like a hallucination.
pChik… jiji-jik.
pSomething was happening. I didn’t know what, but a dizzy feeling crept in.
pI figured overwork had finally hit the limit. I squeezed my eyes shut tight, then forced them open again.
pWhen I blinked, the musty office vanished along with the now-cold coffee.
p“What… is this?”
pI stood in an endless void ringed by towering bookshelves that stretched into infinity.
pNo floor, no ceiling—just an infinite library in the middle of which transparent letters hovered in mid-air.
p[You damn humans, my creations. If I give you salvation, you’ll just end up a bunch of crazy bastards dreaming of mass suicide. Do whatever the hell you want. I’m out of here. I’m shaking off this curse and this cage and going to chase real happiness. I can’t take it anymore.]
pEven without knowing who wrote it, the resignation notice was dripping with raw fury. It was exactly like my boss trying to run without handing over the baton.
pWhile I was still processing what the hell was going on, the infinite books that had been filling the entire library started raining down toward my soul like bombs.
pThe cruel megalopolis born from human selfishness. The decaying class system of a dying empire. The alien invasion sweeping in from beyond the stars. The certain future of humanity’s self-destruction flooded my brain in a tidal wave.
pI understood why the one who left that message had done it. He was a god. The god of this world. But he’d finally given up on humanity and decided to abandon the whole thing.
pStill, this space was the last mercy left—and the last hope of the universe.
pOnce I understood that, my consciousness plummeted back into the endless dark.
p“Is this waste?”
pA dry mechanical voice sliced through my ears. My vision was pitch black, and my throat felt like it was closing. My body was suspended in empty space, held by rough gloved hands.
p“No. He’s a collateral royal prince. Name’s Theodore.”
p“Biomass enhancement tank is on standby. We don’t have the energy to bring in the entire collateral line.”
pThe conversation above me was cold and emotionless. Frustrated, I tried to speak, but only a newborn baby’s wail came out.
pI still understood the situation perfectly, though.
pA broken collateral bloodline shoved aside in the empire’s power struggle. A nobody with nothing but survival to worry about.
pThat was exactly where I was now.
p“There’s an empty zero-number tank.”
p“That one’s still occupied by a royal from fifty years ago…”
p“So what? One more worthless bloodline gone, and who’s gonna care? Anyway, this kid can’t last five minutes. Might as well use the nutrients on it.”
pWhat kind of crap was this?
pI didn’t get a chance to protest. The heavy hatch opened with a grinding screech that felt like it was tearing my eardrums.
pAnd my body was thrown in like garbage.
pSplash.
pThick green nutrient solution flooded my lungs. The burning pain of flesh melting alive spread through my entire body.
pAt the same time, the knowledge that had been forcibly injected from the library warned me.
pThis brand-new baby had no talent and weak genes. He couldn’t survive this horror.
pHe’d just melt into nutrients and disappear if he stayed.
p'I just got reborn, and I’m already being treated like recycling trash. What kind of life is this?'
pBut the knowledge also told me one important fact: the end of the universe wasn’t coming because of me.
pWhile sinking, I looked around. I wasn’t alone in the green nutrient bath.
pThere was another baby locked here for fifty years due to a system error, his mind slowly breaking.
pThat baby would later survive, escape this tank, and become the blood-soaked tyrant who drenched the empire in crimson.
pAnd the knowledge told me the only way for me to survive was to dump every bit of cosmic truth I had into that kid’s head. He couldn’t handle the knowledge or the reprogramming. All that was left was a strong warning: hurry up and throw it.
pI swam desperately through the sticky solution, enduring the agony of my skin melting, and stretched out my thin arms.
pFinally, my fingertips brushed the cheek of the baby curled inside his shell.
pThat was the moment.
pThe vast knowledge flooding my brain began to rush toward the other baby like a tidal wave. The crushing headache that had been strangling me vanished like a lie.
pAt the same time, my body felt like it was melting and mixing, but a deep relief filled the empty space inside my head.
pI let the incoming numbness pull me under and lost consciousness peacefully.
p
pThe monster inside the tank was thinking only one thing.
pIn a world filled with nothing but pain, he hadn’t even formed a proper self yet. Yet somehow, even in that hell, he had learned one truth.
pThis world needed to be destroyed.
pEndless malice toward the end of the world had filled his tiny heart.
pDuring the horrific body-reinforcement procedures that went beyond human limits, agony followed.
pThe baby had been scheduled for one year, but some error had kept him alive in the tank for fifty years. He’d endured infinite cycles of flesh being torn and bones crushed. A normal baby would have died and melted into nutrients long ago.
pBut he possessed a sharp mind and survived. His body and mind had surpassed human limits.
pStill, the soul itself had been worn away, leaving only hatred and killing intent toward the world.
pThen something had entered the tank.
p'What is it?'
pCuriosity rose about the other being he had met in this world of only pain. Then something even more shocking happened.
pHe saw another baby approaching desperately, swimming toward him.
pIn the moment he lost focus on saving himself, the small life that had swum over reached out a hand.
pHe felt the first warm touch of a small, soft body.
pAnd he realized he was no longer alone in the world for the first time.
pWith that realization, the vast knowledge flooded in like a flood. The will of the universe and countless technological truths accumulated by humanity began to fill his brain.
p'Aah…'
pIn an instant, the knowledge carved itself into the self that had grown from baby to girl. A great wave surged inside her empty chest.
pShe was supposed to leave the tank soon, but she didn’t know that. She only realized that a miracle had been performed on her.
pThanks to the knowledge engraved in her mind, the girl instantly awakened the psychic power that transcended human limits—Psychic.
pAt last, if she just willed it, she could shatter this damn tank and escape.
pBut the girl didn’t move. She didn’t care about herself, but the poor baby who had lost his consciousness after being given all the knowledge had to survive at least one more year inside the tank to live.
pBesides, his body was already undergoing nutrient conversion and wouldn’t last. If she left right now, this miraculous child would disappear along with her.
pThat couldn’t happen. So the girl made up her mind: she would endure for another year.
p'Hang in there.'
pShe mixed a little of her own genetic material into the broken body and reshaped the baby bit by bit. She couldn’t expect to reach the sharp mind level. The body was already half-converted into nutrients, so she couldn’t perform that miracle either.
pBut she could bring him back to life as a human being.
pOne year passed like that.
p
pOne year later.
pShiiiiik-!
pWith a heavy mechanical sound, the hatch that was supposed to never open—the zero-number tank—slid open.
p“Huh? How did this tank…”
pThe chief researcher stared at the overflowing nutrient solution in shock.
pAnd the moment he saw the results emerging from the tank, he fell into panic beyond surprise.
p“W-what is this?! There are two babies!”
pIt was structurally impossible for two to come out. Yet two babies were pouring out.
pThey didn’t know it, but one was the forgotten royal from fifty years ago, and the other was the collateral bloodline dumped in like a pig just a year earlier.
p“Don’t just stand there! Check their biological signals right now! Figure out what the hell happened!”
pAlong with the chief researcher’s urgent shout, the underground laboratory plunged into chaos.
p'Ah… it’s finally over.'
pI barely opened my eyes. A faint sense that I had survived inside the tank came over me.
pThe god-like knowledge that had been forcibly jammed into my head to cause headaches was gone.
pWas everything gone?
pIt wasn’t. I could understand the surrounding people speaking in a language that wasn’t Korean and wasn’t English.
pIt would have been impossible without the knowledge.
pSo I slowly recalled. I remembered the rough outline of the future of this universe, who I was, and a few scraps of that enormous knowledge.
pWith those fragments of knowledge, I could understand the language.
pI thought about it for a moment, but I decided this was good enough. I hadn’t melted and died in blood, and I roughly knew how the world would turn out. Asking for more would be greedy.
pAmid the confusion, I slowly turned my gaze sideways.
pI saw another baby.
pBut the way that baby looked at me was strange. The deep, cold eyes weren’t those of a baby at all. It was oddly awkward and creepy, but I also felt something soft in them.
pThe future knowledge spoke to me.
pThat child would one day become the blood-soaked tyrant who dyed the universe red.
pThere was one odd thing about it.
pThe future empress was supposed to be trapped in the tank for another ten years and go mad. But she was already awake and had come out with me.
pDoubts rose, but it wasn’t a situation worth worrying about. Either way, I hadn’t melted and died in blood, and my bloodline was pure imperial.
pWhether the world ended in ruin or the tyrant stirred up a bloodbath, it didn’t matter to me. I had survived with an incredible status, so I planned to happily enjoy this twisted power and privilege without a trace of regret.
pIt was the only and only just reward for my previous life that had suffered through hellish overtime and died bitterly.
pI willingly surrendered to the oncoming darkness and closed my eyes peacefully.