Chapter 189
Chapter 189
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 189
Chapter Title: The Circulation Maintenance System
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[Part 2 Episode 52]
After a short rest, the two walked along the map marked by Seol Do-yoon, each holding a s'more in hand.
They walked diligently until the end of the map revealed a dead-end wall.
"There's a shovel in my inventory, but wanna dig together?"
"You do it."
Dun pulled a parchment necklace from his inventory that allowed him to summon creatures and hung it around his neck.
He had hurriedly stored it in his inventory last time, fearing he'd lose it in the chaos of the Arctic ice water.
'Summon Raikullin.'
All Lycus species had the Earth Digging skill. No need to bother with shoveling.
The summoned Raikullin spotted Dun and solemnly bowed its head in greeting before raising its front paw and hopping excitedly.
[Dun! You must come quickly! I covered your nest with crystals, and it's incredibly cool now! It's no longer just a dirt hut!]
"Got it, Burrung. I'll visit later."
Dun raised his front paw in response to the bouncing Raikullin and picked it up like a baby, patting its back.
Raikullin's flame fur flickered irregularly with a whoosh, warming the surroundings.
Seol Do-yoon, warmed by Raikullin, walked over to it.
[Grrrrowl!]
Raikullin spotted Seol Do-yoon, bristled its tail, and bared its teeth. Lava-like liquid dripped from its mouth.
"Raikullin, this is her. The one who killed Kim Woo-sung."
[Ah, the famous blockhead in charge.]
Raikullin often begged Dun to tell old stories whenever he visited with jewels.
Dun would take it to a sunny hill, stroke its fur, and share many tales.
Dun's stories featured key characters, and among them, the one who got the most flak was a guy named Seol Do-yoon.
But since Dun was the only one who kept him in check and acknowledged his abilities, Raikullin had been very curious.
Seeing him in person, the intimidation was even greater than imagined. There was a chilling detachment in his gaze, like he was appraising an object.
"Dun, by the way, why am I the blockhead in charge?"
"Wasn't that your nickname?"
"No."
"You're pretending it's not."
Dun snorted and patted Raikullin's back.
"Let's go, Raikullin. Dig through the wall here following this map."
[Understood.]
At Dun's command, Raikullin began digging a tunnel along the map.
After digging for a while...
Boom!
Raikullin's front paw hit a snag at one point. It was like an invisible wall; ripples formed in the air.
"What the hell, Raikullin. Didn't you bulk up your front paws lately?"
[...This is odd.]
Raikullin, unable to show weakness before the leader of his world, gritted its teeth and raised its paw again.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
The sudden transparent wall wouldn't break easily.
Raikullin tried furiously with its front paws, then its hind paws, and finally rammed its head against it.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Its pride hurt, Raikullin smashed its head against the wall with all its might.
"Hey, hey. Stop it. Your brain's gonna crack."
<...>
Raikullin tucked its tail and avoided Dun's gaze, so Dun stroked the bump swelling on its forehead with his thumb.
"What kind of wall is this?"
Dun placed his hand on the transparent wall that Raikullin couldn't break. A humming sound accompanied a semi-transparent blue wave spreading from his fingertips.
'Info Window'
[T-System Window usage has been detected.]
[Retrieving identity verification terminal.]
Rumble rumble rumble.
A faint earthquake shook the ground, and a cylindrical stone statue appeared in front of the wall.
The palm-shaped indentation from Tronlop had moved to the statue's surface.
He recalled placing his hand on that pattern, only for a gas colder than ice to envelop him.
"Put your hand there. The wall should disappear."
"What's that?"
"While you were getting beat up, I went to Tronlop. There was this verification terminal in front of an area only you could enter. I placed my hand on it, and suddenly it started some removal process and tried to freeze me to death."
Slightly suspicious, Seol Do-yoon first pressed the marshmallow skewer against it, then pulled out a ChunhaX sausage from his inventory that resembled a human finger and tried that.
"What are you doing?"
"Your long explanation made me suspicious."
"I explain nicely, and you make a fuss."
Dun grabbed Seol Do-yoon's hand with a scowl and placed it on the palm groove.
[746th version vaccine null detected.]
[Null confirmed at entry point.]
As soon as the alert appeared before Seol Do-yoon's eyes, the blocking transparent wall vanished. Dun snapped his fingers and poked the wall in front of him.
Crash.
The wall crumbled, revealing a completely new space.
[You have entered Tronlop's Circulation Maintenance System.]
As soon as they entered the new area, an alert popped up for Dun too.
There was no sun here, yet everywhere was bright.
Yellow and white glowing moss clung to the high ceiling, illuminating the surroundings.
Whoosh!
The area echoed with the sound of fire roaring everywhere. Looking around, gray flames flickered like dying embers.
Everything was gray.
[Kreeeeng...]
A monster with a dog's face and snake tail bared its teeth and charged, but upon seeing Seol Do-yoon, it tucked its tail and fled.
"Why is a place called the Circulation Maintenance System all gray like this?"
Dun, riding on Raikullin's back, muttered while looking around, and Seol Do-yoon tilted his head.
"Circulation Maintenance System?"
"Yeah. That's what the system window said."
Seol Do-yoon mumbled the words "Circulation Maintenance System" a few times before speaking.
"Did another alert related to this place pop up for you?"
"T-System Window usage detected or something. Seven hundred forty-sixth vaccine null or whatever."
"Seven hundred forty-sixth vaccine?"
The number 746 was one he often saw in his glitched system window.
He had suddenly uncovered a clue to the mysterious number that had puzzled him his whole life.
"Yeah. Seems like it's the equivalent of 'vaccine' in this world."
Seol Do-yoon's eyes widened at Dun's explanation, and he let out an exclamation.
Perhaps the hypothesis that the world accessed via Ninapinta was a real one, rather than a simulation, was less accurate than both worlds being intricate simulations.
In the face of such refinement, the definition of "real" became ambiguous anyway.
"One vaccine per world... one vaccine per computer..."
The hypothesis sparked an intriguing perspective on his own existence and Dun's.
"What's that?"
Dun showed interest upon overhearing the mutter, and Seol Do-yoon smiled as he replied.
"Normally, you install one vaccine per computer. If you install two, they see each other as viruses during scans and try to delete one another. Similar logic explains why you often feel like an X to me."
"Whoa, no way. That's why? Explains why I always wanna eradicate you."
The two chatted idly as they quickly traversed the continent called the Circulation Maintenance System, following the map.
Around here, the doppelganger impostor's real body should be, but no obvious presence showed up.
They camped here for days, searching for traces, but found nothing easily.
"Dun, doesn't it seem like it's already escaped?"
"A few days have passed, so yeah, it probably has."
Since the current area wasn't on the map, they could only scout by feel.
The Circulation Maintenance System was vaster than expected, making the search trickier.
After days of fruitless effort, the burning desire to catch and kill the thing had faded.
Seol Do-yoon carved an apple with a resigned smile and spoke.
"Since body transformations can't stray too far from the original, it's probably hiding here waiting, then slipped out via portal. Let's shift focus and track portal traces, changing direction a bit."
"I told you catching that thing is tough. It's not for nothing I've struggled my whole life."
"Still, 'whole life' is a bit..."
"Shut up. What do you know."
Crunch!
Dun narrowed his eyes and snapped back, only to suddenly bite into the apple shoved into his mouth.
As he glared at Seol Do-yoon, a strong gust of wind sounded from behind him.
[I've drawn the detailed map as requested, Boss.]
A dark elf appeared swiftly, knelt on one knee, and bowed its head.
Dun, who had previously summoned Da Bo-seok's creatures for map-making and basic scouting, gestured warmly for it to rise.
Lyle, the dark elf in charge of Da Bo-seok's geography, lifted his head and handed Dun a map.
"Enough with the boring bickering. Let's compare your map and mine to spot suspicious spots."
Seol Do-yoon nodded and pulled out the map he had sketched while wandering, holding it out to Dun.
From their explorations, the area called the Circulation Maintenance System divided into four parts.
A vast ocean region mostly water, a fire region with many burning objects, a windy region with the official entrance to the Circulation Maintenance System, and an earth region mostly dirt and stone.
"Its structure is similar to the Elemental Continent. Even the continent positions match. Except everything's gray."
"Error processing zone and Circulation Maintenance System..."
Seol Do-yoon crossed his arms and stared at the map.
"Isn't your world's error processing zone, Montjihel, attached to the Elemental Continent too?"
"Now that you mention it, yeah."
Dun marveled, recalling the Elemental Continent's layout.
First, the wind country Lowriarin with the Montjihel entrance.
Lowriarin had the Montjihel entrance nearby, where monsters varied wildly in level—high near the entrance, low near Souil, allowing diverse grades to coexist.
Adjacent was the earth country Souil.
It was full of easy, straightforward monsters.
Next, the water country Ulr, where monster levels gradually rose, and neighboring Yoharaum hosted the strongest ones. Yoharaum had the Montjihel exit.
"Enter Montjihel from Lowriarin, exit at Yoharaum, circle the continent, and monsters turn normal creature-like?"
As Dun muttered, Seol Do-yoon nodded.
"I think I read something about this in an Imperial Palace library book once."
"What?"
"It said fire handles expulsion, water collection, earth purification, and wind transportation on the Elemental Continent. Looks like this region's cycle purifies monsters and beasts passing through the error processing zone. Both seem broken now, though."
"..."
Dun frowned as he listened to Seol Do-yoon's explanation.
'The one who wrecked this structure and mass-produces monsters and beasts is probably that thing.'
The thought made him anxious. It felt within reach yet elusive.
While checking the map, Dun tilted his head at small footprint marks.
"More importantly, what's this marking?"
Lyle, head bowed waiting for the next order, peeked at the spot Dun indicated and bowed again.
[We found multiple presumed human footprints and belongings there.]
"Did you bring the belongings?"
[Yes!]
At Lyle's whistle, two dark elves appeared in a blink behind him, knelt, and bowed.
[Here are the belongings picked up from that area.]
"Hand them over."
The summoned dark elf offered a small shoe and cloth scraps to Dun with a reverent expression.
"..."
"..."
Seol Do-yoon and Dun stared piercingly at the debris for a moment. They were all too familiar shoes and clothes from his Abyss days.
The shoes and clothes were stained with long-dried, brownish blood.
They looked abandoned for a long time.
Definitely not the target's clothes, but highly concerning.
[Normal] Abyss Test Subject Clothes
Description: Clothes worn by a test subject of the Abyss Project.
After reading the info window, Dun checked the discovery location. It was near the water zone.
"Let's head there."
Dun hurriedly packed and stood up.