Chapter 114
Chapter 114
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Translator: crow
Chapter Title: Duelist
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Night had fallen late by the time I returned to the dorm with Dr. Roland.
Lying on the bed in my private room, I stared up at the ceiling and recalled the scenes I'd witnessed during the day.
"Wow! Grandpa! You're so cool!"
"Ho ho, if you work hard too, little miss, you can grow up to be an amazing duelist."
Local kids gazing at Professor Roland with eyes full of wonder.
"Ugh, I lost... Old man—no, sir, I apologize."
"Hm, I got too heated for my age as well."
Gang members accepting defeat and bowing their heads humbly.
"Draw! Draw! Draw!"
"Draw stronger! Read the card's heart! Telepathy! You are the card, and the card is you!"
Students diligently drawing cards on the playground, guided by their teacher.
"The whole world is cards."
It wasn't anything special.
The "Center of the World" had made card games the center of everything, so this was only natural.
"But I didn't realize it would be this extreme."
Childhood anime came to mind.
An anime that poured astronomical sums and cutting-edge science into crafting a single toy car.
An anime where divine beasts sealed in spinning tops obeyed commands, spoke, and left arenas in ruins from battle shockwaves.
An anime starring a super chef battling dark culinary overlords bent on world domination through food.
An anime where dodgeballs killed, typhoons raged, and bloody melee erupted.
"And an anime where card games decided everything."
That one was probably Yu-Gi-Oh!.
It began serialization in 1996 as an occult series where the protagonist tackled mysteries through various games, but the in-story card game exploded in popularity, prompting a shift to full card battle focus.
"It blew up so huge that 'duelist'—a term coined in that manga—now means any player of TCG card battles?"
Still, this world wasn't Yu-Gi-Oh!.
The stone slab bore no specific work, but a broad concept, I suspected.
'Yu-Gi-Oh! took card battles from a niche American fad to a global phenomenon, embedding the "Card Battle" concept here.'
Thus, this was a world of card battles.
To dig deeper, I had Sarang-i pull up global news and internet articles.
[Kim Jong-un threatens South Korea with "People's Nuclear Strike" card.]
[President Trump challenges Canadian PM to a duel—winner annexes loser's nation.]
[Europe reels from refugees' rampant duel challenges.]
International politics ran on card battles.
[Duel MDs: One light card battle daily essential for health.]
[SNU ups card battle exam ante—now duels vs. full professors, not assistants.]
[Elite duel nurseries demand decks from age 4—is this ethical?]
Daily life revolved around card battles.
[African warlord notches 1,756 straight card battle wins—gov't troops falter.]
[New drones rule battlefields: Remote duels deploy elite warriors anywhere.]
[US carrier power: Transports thousands of duelists, jets them to frontlines fast.]
Wars were waged via card battles.
"Ugh, my loss."
"Muahaha! Who's next?!"
"That punk's on 27 wins! Insane!"
"DEVGRU lives up to 'top of US spec ops.'"
"Aaaah! Stop! Don't V-split my card!"
"That jerk's canoeing the opponent's card!"
Even fights boiled down to card battles. Everything was card battles.
"You just accept defeat when you lose?"
『Mr. Lee Seung-hoon, what are you talking about? Per the sacred laws of card battles, losers surrender sincerely—that's the rule.』
"...Sarang-i, if you got into a fight, you'd settle it with a duel?"
『Yes, I would.』
Even entities couldn't escape the rule.
"Hmm."
『What's up?』
"What's the existence of guns, missiles, tanks?"
『Replicas modeled after weapons wielded by card spirits. No one's dumb enough to use them for real fighting... yet.』
I'd half-expected it, but history itself had warped.
"What if someone did use them?"
『Can't even imagine it, so no data.』
Card battles were card battles, through and through.
What if you skipped the game and used raw violence to crush your foe?
The thought sent chills racing across my skin.
An overwhelming dissonance stabbed at me—like the entire world turning hostile—accompanied by faint, pricking pain.
'Acts defying the rules aren't permitted.'
Breaking them? The consequences were obvious.
I observed the world closer.
Violence existed, but mostly freak accidents—and even those were vanishingly rare.
Deaths? Accidents, across the board. Murders? Nonexistent.
'Time to organize this.'
From my Void Pocket, I pulled the "Notebook in My Head" and jotted a summary.
[1. Göbekli Tepe is the entity dubbed "Center of the World."]
[2. Its effect: Stores concepts born into the world on stone slabs. Install one on the altar, and all systems revolve around that concept—even defying physics.]
[3. Currently: "Card Battle" drives the world.]
[4. Duel outcomes absolute; losers submit wholeheartedly.]
[5. Wars via card battles. Soldiers fell foes via duels; defeated become POWs.]
[6. Guns, tanks, missiles, nukes? Debuted via cards first. Real-world versions are mere copies.]
[7. Said weapons? Never actually used. Common sense.]
[8. Mergers, admissions? All duels. Regular dueling builds "Duel Energy," boosting body and mind. Papers confirm it works.]
[9. Entities bound by the rules too.]
Summary done, I listed my questions.
[1. Who makes the cards? If everything's duels, don't manufacturers rule the world?]
[2. Revert the world? Remove the slab. But I couldn't—not by force. Time limit? Special conditions?]
[3. Card battles thrive on meta, broken cards. Real world balanced via bans/new releases. How here?]
The first cleared up next morning at breakfast.
"What? You mean making cards? Via factories? Most absurd thing I've heard."
『Mr. Lee Seung-hoon, recommend mental contamination scan.』
"No card-manufacturing companies?"
"Ho ho, cards aren't made for you."
Dr. Roland placed a hand on his chest.
A faint glow, and a deck materialized.
"You make them yourself."
"In the beginning, there was light... and cards. From that moment, all things held cards within."
Simple enough.
"Through one's life, cards ripen and form. Ultimately manifested via willpower."
No one makes your cards.
You do. "So no two identical decks, then." "No—overlaps in culture, gender, values, personality, hobbies, interests yield shared cards from a human perspective."
『Research labels Dr. Roland's type 'commons'; unique ones 'specials.'』
No corporations dominated via card production.
"Decks typically 50% commons, 50% specials."
『Specials include ultra-powerful, broken ones—but born from life, talent, effort, will. Rare.』
"My 'Old Man's Mettle' is one such special."
Deck strength equaled personal strength.
Broken cards? Not balance-breakers—just proof of the duelist's might.
'Third question solved. No meta, no balance issues. Card power is duelist power—your power.'
What about me?
Hand to chest, I focused my mind.
'Something's there.'
The trajectory of my life.
The tenets of my mind.
Values I'd built.
Experiences amassed into a deck.
"That's your fixer deck."
I examined the cards.
"Hmm."
"What's wrong?"
"Nothing, just..."
I'd reviewed all 30. Absorbed them back.
"All specials."
Deck formed, but no duels.
Instead, I finished yesterday's unfinished business with Dr. Roland—heading to Göbekli Tepe's site.
"You suspect this place?"
"I did. Not anymore."
But nothing remained.
A barren wasteland, as if no ruins had ever stood.
'Time to revise theories.'
Not ancients unearthing and activating the Center underground to spark the first civilization.
The Center already existed in some form; ancients activated it, birthing civilization—and reshaping the Center to fit.
'So hunt what's new to this world.'
Plenty qualified.
Card academies beyond college exams.
Duel health gyms.
Deck-crafting schools for richer, unique builds.
"Doctor, what's the most famous card-related site?"
Like Göbekli Tepe—a mismatched cradle of massive civilization.
This Center would stand out boldly, impossibly.
"Somewhere no one could dispute. One-of-a-kind."
"Only one springs to mind."
Dr. Roland spoke.
"A tower chronicling card history, packed with records. Legends say reach the top, claim a wish-granting card."
Sarang-i obligingly displayed a screen.
A titanic spire piercing the heavens.
"Countless duelists chased the legend, scaling it. None reached the summit."
It loomed, gazing nobly down on the world.
"The Tower of Babel. Undeniable by all."
Here.
"Let's go. To the Tower of Babel."