Chapter 2
Chapter 2
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 2
Chapter Title: Constellation Gallery EP.1
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July 31, 1999.
The streets were in ruins.
Charred signs lay scattered on the road, and shards of broken glass glittered on the asphalt.
People fleeing, screams of despair, explosions going off somewhere in the distance.
"It's finally here! The end of the world!"
A man shouted right in the middle of the street.
As if his words were a signal, people started leaping from the rooftops of buildings.
"Argh, fuck! What the hell are these crazy bastards doing?!"
I whipped my head around.
In that instant, a crunching sound from behind my head made every hair on my body stand on end.
In the direction I looked, people knelt praying on the road, parents clutching their children and sobbing.
A massive wave of apocalyptic madness was sweeping through the city.
And I stood right in the middle of it.
"Fuck... There's no end of the world, you idiots..."
The last thing I remembered was 2030.
I'd just been one day away from enlisting.
But when I opened my eyes, here I was.
Awake in the body of some nameless guy.
It had been three months since I'd grit my teeth and adapted to this shitty past, and now the world was supposedly ending.
At first, I just ignored it. Let them talk.
But starting a month ago, society began to change.
Stores locked tight, abandoned cars, doomsday prophecy posters fluttering everywhere.
People started praying on rooftops, in the streets, at temples, churches—everywhere.
And today, the day they claimed the end would come, it was beyond excessive.
'Even if I'm the only one who knows the future, am I really the only one who doesn't believe this crap?'
Did Korea really go through a 1999 like this?
That was when it happened.
The murmuring crowd suddenly looked up all at once. Something massive was plummeting from the sky.
"It's here! God's judgment!"
People reached out as if begging for salvation.
But it was just a crashing passenger plane.
'Crazy bastards.'
Did humans in 1999 really think like this?
Not a sane person in sight.
I could already picture their faces tomorrow, hit hard by reality.
After witnessing horrors beyond imagination, all I could think was to head home.
Sticking around longer was pointless, and I didn't want to get swept up in this madness myself.
As I let out an exasperated sigh and turned to leave...
Ding!
"...What the hell?"
I flinched for a second.
Rubbed my eyes and looked again.
A translucent window hovered in front of me.
'...Ah, right, right. No big surprise there.'
Not content with sending me back to a 1999 that never should have happened for me, I'd even taken over some stranger's body.
So a random system window popping up now? Not exactly earth-shattering.
'Guess I'm finally losing it.'
Yeah, figures.
I'd begged and prayed not to go to the army, and boom—god, that bastard, actually gave me schizophrenia or something.
I muttered self-deprecatingly and hurried on my way.
Whatever.
If this crazy world is full of crazy people, might as well go nuts myself. Better for my sanity.
The way home was quieter than expected.
Unlike the main roads, the alleys muffled the doomsday cultists' voices to a faint hum.
This was the rundown apartment I'd found using the resident ID I discovered when I first woke up here.
Luckily, it was a solo place, and judging by the mess everywhere, the original owner had been pretty irresponsible.
'Still, lucky break. Without this crash pad, I'd be out on the streets.'
I flopped onto the bed.
...No, wait.
I recalled that hologram window from earlier.
'What the hell was that thing?'
Why had something like that appeared in my vision?
Now I was seeing hallucinations on top of everything.
"It's got real end-of-the-world vibes."
I was chuckling to myself when...
Ding!
As if it recognized I was calling it—or maybe my brain really had gone haywire—the translucent window popped up again.
"...What the fuck is this now?"
I doubted my eyes for a moment.
Constellation Gallery? That gallery I know?
No, more importantly, why the hell is this showing up?
Maybe my bored brain in this other world cooked up a hallucination from nothing to do.
'...Well, if I'm gonna go crazy, this ain't bad.'
I tapped the hologram window, curiosity piqued.
Might as well browse.
Oh, works without touching. Finally feels like 2030.
What unfolded was a UI all too familiar.
Eerily similar to that site from my past life.
'My imagination's pretty damn limited.'
Showing up exactly like I'd picture it—definitely a hallucination from my head.
Still, this familiar vibe was more fun to mess with.
I scrolled through in bewildered amusement.
What kind of bullshit was this?
Game community terms popped up, but the context was totally off.
And it got weirder.
I hurriedly checked the time.
What was this 30 minutes countdown about?
Contracts? Starting zones? And... Incheon Songdo as a starting zone?
"...This is here?"
...
Ah, fuck. Hold up.
Isn't this the vibe here?
I'm fucked.