Chapter 112
Chapter 112
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Translator: crow
Chapter Title: The Center of the World
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Beyond the passageway lay a lavish banquet hall.
Countless people there were exchanging glances, dancing, and chatting away.
"That's him..."
"Isn't that the fixer Lee Seung-hoon?"
Voices speaking in various languages reached my ears.
Just like the Foundation's unique environment, this place seemed to have some entity that automatically translated everything. It sounded like the original language to my ears, but my mind interpreted it all in Korean.
'More people than I expected.'
There were roughly a hundred in total.
A small number compared to the world's population, but these were the true VIPs who had somehow crossed paths with a shady dealer and climbed to the same level as me. In reality, there were probably far more humans connected to entities.
'People like the Chief Justice or the Antichrist have built their own factions, or there are those who personally research and use entities.'
In any case, people showed interest in me but didn't approach easily.
The enhanced hearing from the "Dried Friendship" I'd taken before arriving picked up their whispers.
"I heard he became a cult leader recently?"
"They say he keeps a young girl locked up inside his company."
"I heard he used some weird perception-altering thing in Australia, calling himself the world's top troublemaker."
"Giga-Christ? And Buddhist hells? Looks like his mind got contaminated."
They were hesitant to approach because of my recent activities.
"Didn't you say there were a lot of people waiting for me?"
"...There were. At this point, you'll have no choice but to demonstrate your abilities and regain their trust, Mr. Lee Seung-hoon."
"A sound opinion. The question is whether anyone will actually entrust me with a commission."
I strolled through the banquet hall alongside the shady dealer.
"I'm hoping to do some business with the artists this time, but I'm worried."
"They're the types who'll do anything for their art, so be careful."
"Have you heard of a place called Golden Almighty Stock Company?"
"Heh heh, so you want info on them. I heard their president has some weakened elixir..."
"Let's make a deal."
People were engaged in their own transactions.
Some dealt in entities.
Some traded information.
Some bartered in trust.
"You're Lee Seung-hoon, right?"
Amid all this, as I wandered the hall where so many were enjoying the party and making deals, an elderly gentleman approached me.
"Yes, that's me."
"It's an honor to meet the world's greatest fixer."
The gray-haired man in a suit greeted me.
"I'm Louis Roland, a professor of archaeology at Cambridge University."
"Pleased to meet you, Professor Roland. I'm Lee Seung-hoon, the world's greatest fixer."
"I've heard of your reputation. I've been too busy to seek you out until now, but I never imagined we'd meet here. Then again, it's only natural that the world's greatest fixer would be doing business with her."
The shady dealer vanished somewhere the moment the old professor and I started talking.
"Actually, I've wanted to commission you for some time now."
"What kind of commission?"
"It'll be simple for someone like you. I just need you to act as my bodyguard."
"The environment matters. Where exactly do you need protection? Göbekli Tepe hasn't been taken over by an entity, has it?"
Beyond his monocle,
the professor's eyes sparkled.
"Have you ever heard of the center of the world?"
＊＊＊
The world has no center.
Or philosophically speaking, I myself could be the center of the world, or nothing at all could be, or everything could be.
"As expected of the world's greatest fixer. You know your Darjeeling."
"The aroma and flavor are exquisite."
"But no milk?"
"I add it at home when I'm relaxing, but not when I'm out."
"I suppose. Milk does have that effect of lightening the mind."
In a private room in the corner of the banquet hall, I shared tea time with Professor Roland.
Whether hired by the shady dealer or by the venue's guests, waitstaff brought out an afternoon tea set, and we delved into the main discussion.
"The center of the world I'm referring to isn't philosophical, geopolitical, or geometric."
"You mean the actual center of the world?"
"It all started with an ancient Egyptian stone tablet I discovered when I was young."
Back then, Professor Roland had specialized in Egyptology.
While investigating Egypt's pyramids—ancient even by ancient standards—he encountered entity information for the first time.
"The entity I learned about was called the 'Eye of Ra.' The tablet bore the phrase about the rising sun breathing life into the land, along with its location."
The Eye of Ra he later found truly had the power to turn deserts into grasslands, just as described.
"Couldn't you have turned Egypt into grasslands?"
"I tried. But Egypt was already tangled in vested interests. Those who amassed wealth by exploiting the desert, and those who manipulated the climate with entities—both had their stakes."
They were powerful, vast, and greedy.
Professor Roland had nearly given up on the Eye of Ra when he happened to meet the shady dealer.
"Through my deal with her, I gained means to protect myself. Afterward, I explored many of the world's secrets."
The secrets of Stonehenge.
The secrets of Göbekli Tepe's builders.
The secrets hidden by the Sphinx, and more.
"To those unaware of entities, these were unbelievable tales unfit for academic papers, but they satisfied my thirst for knowledge immensely."
"And that's when you found the center of the world."
"Yes. Precisely at Göbekli Tepe."
Göbekli Tepe.
A ruins site in Turkey, presumed to be from a super-ancient civilization.
Older than the pyramids, the first civilized city built 11,700 years ago.
"But for some reason, they vanished, and the cause remains unknown."
"You know your stuff. There are theories, but the prevailing one is that they abandoned the city due to depletion of ecological resources and migrated elsewhere."
"Is that true?"
"It's just a patchwork explanation for those who don't know the truth."
Professor Roland showed me a photo.
"It's an inscription in a secret chamber beneath the Göbekli Tepe temple."
"What does it say? The translation function here doesn't seem to work on it."
"I've only partially deciphered it, but the translated parts read: the center of the world, the beginning of all things, change and upheaval, the head of all things."
"Nice collection of grand phrases."
"And the secret of Göbekli Tepe's builders I mentioned earlier? They're believed to be the first tribe to use entities, and this inscription points to that very entity."
"They built the first city and civilization using an entity?"
This is...
quite an intriguing and entertaining story.
"Wouldn't the first civilization be Adam? You know, Adam and Eve's children."
"...So the rumor about you becoming a cult leader recently is true?"
"Just kidding."
Interesting.
Adam's existence is fact, his family is fact, and him being the first human is fact.
Yet even an archaeology professor who wields and knows of entity power dismisses it as mere myth.
'Entities are what easily alter and conceal history, so even a professor can't know everything.'
In any case, what Professor Roland wanted was my escort to the center of the world, deep within the Göbekli Tepe ruins, and protection while investigating it.
"A mere bodyguard would just become an entity victim. I have my own entities for self-defense, but blocking ones powerful enough to reshape the world is beyond me."
"So that's why you came to me."
"Yes. As the world's greatest fixer, you can surely protect me."
"And if the center of the world really is an entity that can reshape the world at will, what then? Will you use it?"
Professor Roland shook his head.
"No. The stronger an entity's power, the more it destroys its user. Like a monkey's paw. What I want is to uncover how that entity created the Göbekli Tepe civilization and how it led to its downfall. If a civilization rose with an entity but vanished, the likely cause is the entity's rampage or mishandling."
"Fascinating."
I offered Professor Roland a handshake.
"I'll help you."
＊＊＊
A few days later, in the lobby of a Turkish airport.
After waiting a few hours, a plane arrived from the UK.
"Whew, the delay was long. Sorry I'm late."
"Flights are always like that. Shall we go?"
Things progressed quickly.
Professor Roland had explored Göbekli Tepe before and was currently re-excavating it for the entity "Center of the World," so with his help, I entered the site without issue.
'So this is Göbekli Tepe.'
The super-ancient civilization and the first where a civilization arose through entity use, per records.
And perhaps the first where a civilization fell to an entity.
"Here it is. An underground entrance not open to the public. No light gets in, so be careful."
"No problem. My eyes are sharp. You can chalk it up to entity help."
"I'll just worry about myself, then."
I took the lead down the stairs ahead of Professor Roland.
He guided from behind on the path forward.
"Right from here."
"According to the wall inscriptions, left, then up the ascending stairs, then down again."
"This part needs interpretation. Give me a moment."
The interior was incredibly complex.
Publicizing this place would instantly make conspiracy theories like "Göbekli Tepe was built by aliens!" mainstream.
"We're here."
Even that was mere child's play compared to the final chamber.
"It's hard to believe they built a dark room like this in ancient times."
"I agree. Creating a space this size deep underground would require thousands of workers laboring for decades—equivalent to building a pyramid underground."
Modern lanterns brought light to a space unseen for thousands of years.
"Mr. Fixer, the digital camera and entity ratio meter."
"Got it."
I'd explained the Void Pocket beforehand and stored all necessary items there.
I handed over what Professor Roland requested and surveyed the interior.
'Big.'
A massive cavern.
Two peculiarities stood out.
'The walls are entirely lined with stone tablets.'
On closer look, it wasn't that the walls were made of slabs.
The walls had countless grooves, each fitted with one-meter-by-one-meter stone tablets.
'And the carvings on the slabs are all different.'
Some slabs depicted pigs.
Some showed wheat.
Some monsters, and others...
"A car?"
"Pardon? What do you mean?"
"Look, a car carved on this slab."
Professor Roland, who had been checking the equipment, hurried over belatedly.
"Ancient drawings sometimes resemble modern objects. This is probably one of those cases."
"Is it?"
"There are many in Egyptian hieroglyphs. Drawings resembling aliens, spaceships, or airplanes are classic examples."
I scanned the surroundings.
I spotted a few more special slabs.
"That one looks like ramen. Japanese-style ramen."
"Surely a coincidence..."
"And that one's a game. Definitely a computer game. Mouse, monitor, keyboard, even the PC tower."
"...Coincidence, I'm sure."
"And..."
I climbed the wall.
I pulled out a slab embedded high up.
'Amazing. It comes out this easily, so how did it stay put all this time?'
As if it wouldn't come loose unless a human pulled it.
I showed the extracted slab to Professor Roland.
"What do you make of this?"
"......"
The slab showed two people playing soccer.
The "Soccer" spelling on their uniforms forbade denying it depicted soccer.
"What in the world..."
Leaving the engrossed professor, I examined the second peculiarity.
'That altar.'
An altar in the room's center.
Sized for one person to lie on, it had a groove.
"Hmm."
A groove perfect for inserting a slab.
'What happens if I slot one in?'