Chapter 119
Chapter 119
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Translator: crow
Chapter Title: Protagonist (1)
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24 hours.
That was the time that had passed on her smartphone.
After waiting for so long with no progress, Lee So-young, the new hire at Sarang Trading, calmly repeated to herself inwardly.
*Is this a dream? Or have I lost my mind?*
Pure white walls covered everything around her.
The massive studio apartment, about 10 meters wide, long, and high, had no entrance, exit, or windows.
[Welcome to Dr. Janus's Surrealist Shelter!]
[This is the interior of the Surrealist Shelter, an invention created by Dr. Janus.]
[If reality manipulation is detected, it activates automatically, analyzes the pattern of the reality manipulation wave, and produces the necessary nanomachines to grant immunity.]
[Nanomachine production takes up to 24 hours.]
[Once the nanomachines are produced, they are automatically injected into the shelter visitor. You can return to your original location once immunity is generated.]
[Caution: This is not a "room where you have to have sex to leave." This is a public space. Please refrain from excessive displays of affection.]
The only thing there was this bizarre notice.
It was written in a language she'd never seen before, but the fact that she could read and understand it made her think it had to be a dream.
*But I can feel pain. That means it's not a dream.*
What the hell had happened?
She recalled the last ordinary—no, relatively ordinary—day she remembered.
*[There's an opening in the special division this time, and So-young, you've been assigned there.]*
A few days after the speech by Sarang Trading's chairman, Lee Seung-hoon.
Her boss had come to her while she was preparing to quit.
*[Huh? Suddenly?]*
*[The pay is five times what you're making now.]*
*[I'll do it!]*
The job in the special division she'd taken on was feeding a girl called Frankenstein Corps.
More precisely, it was feeding her, bathing her, and serving as her handmaiden, which was utterly bizarre.
*[Does all that really fit?]*
*[Yeah! Pudding's delicious! The best!]*
The amount a girl who looked no more than seven or eight years old ate surpassed an adult's by far—it was inexplicable.
But then something even more incomprehensible happened out of nowhere.
*[Reality manipulation detected. Reality manipulation detected.]*
*[Huh?]*
As the girl was eating her pudding like usual, an adult woman's voice suddenly came from her mouth.
*[Emergency situation. Permission granted to open multidimensional camouflage. Searching for the most suitable tool in the current situation: "Dr. Janus's Surrealist Shelter." Activating the tool.]*
And when she came to, she was here.
*Franken still hasn't woken up either.*
The Frankenstein Corps girl who had come in here with her had fallen asleep.
As she stroked the sleeping girl's head, a sudden noise rang in her ear.
『Immunity granting complete. Return to original location commencing. Discrepancy in time with reality detected. Normalizing time.』
When she came to, she was already outside.
Lee So-young, dumped alone in some nameless vacant lot—not the large office remodeled like a kid's room that she'd last seen—looked around.
*Where am I?*
The lot was full of people who looked like homeless folks.
Pulling herself together, she recalled the last message.
*Discrepancy in time with reality? Normalizing time? Does that mean the white room wasn't reality, and the flow of time there was different from the real world? The white room fixed the time gap before sending me out?*
She had zero occult knowledge.
*That means... my watch!*
But she was quick on the uptake, grasping the point immediately. She hurriedly turned on her smartphone to check the time and date.
*Holy shit, six months have passed!?*
She was probably fired from the company by now.
The fact that was her first thought in this situation proved she was just a working stiff at heart.
As a storm of thoughts raged through her mind, someone spoke up.
"Hey, miss, you here job hunting too?"
"Huh?"
"You didn't come here to pick up day labor?"
The homeless people in the lot gathered around.
Looking closer, they weren't homeless—they were ordinary office workers in suits.
"Job hunting?"
"Yeah, job hunting. Guys like us have to do day labor..."
That's when the siren blared.
The startled Lee So-young scooped up the still-sleeping Frankenstein Corps nearby.
"Work! Slaves! We need two who know Python! Two who know Java! Two who know C++!"
"Me! Me!"
"I know C++!"
"I know all three!"
"What about HTML?"
People swarmed like bees.
Then more people arrived.
"Any math professors here?"
"Y-Yes, right here!"
"Get in the trunk."
"Yes, sir!"
An elderly man crammed himself into the trunk.
"Any PhDs in medicine? We're developing a new drug and need some doctor types. Taking three."
"Me! I was a professor of life sciences at Seoul National University!"
"I'm a chemical engineering PhD!"
"I have a pharmacology PhD from Johns Hopkins!"
"Alright, all three of you in the trunk."
What the actual fuck was going on?
Why were people with PhDs begging for jobs in a place like this, looking like bums?
"Miss, you were a government worker, right? Looks like you just graduated, but the job market's always been like this."
"Even with PhDs?"
"Heh heh, 'STEM grads get jobs easy, engineering means no worries about eating, sciences make bank'—that's all ancient history now."
A young homeless guy pulled something out.
It was his diploma—he was a mechanical engineering PhD from MIT.
"Not anymore."
"One day, Chairman Lee Seung-hoon said..."
The guy who'd shown his diploma started his story while making her a mixed coffee.
"Philosophy is the food for the soul. Study philosophy. And he made us read a ton of philosophy books."
That part was fine.
But the higher-ups interpreted it differently.
"National leaders and execs started putting humanities grads in key positions to show loyalty to Chairman Lee."
"Why?"
"Because he'd like it."
What did they think they could get by sucking up to that cult leader?
Lee So-young quickly sensed the atmosphere was off and shut her mouth.
"It started with one or two humanities types in top spots. But as it kept happening, they put more and more in those roles. When seats ran out, they started kicking out STEM folks. And then it happened."
"What happened?"
"It's what Chairman Lee said in his speech. 'My spiritual home is philosophy, the humanities. That's where I always return. Discriminating against the humanities is wrong. It may not bring material wealth, but it enriches the soul—the greatest discipline for spiritual abundance.'"
It wasn't that long ago.
Just a few months back.
"Countless STEM degree holders got booted from top jobs. 99% of key positions filled by humanities grads happened overnight."
"Doesn't that make things not work properly?"
"Ah, they said STEM folks could keep doing their jobs as contractors, so projects weren't really affected. This is where people who can't even snag contract gigs end up."
More people showed up.
"Our company wants to make something this time."
"Uh, what kind of thing?"
"A smartphone that auto-charges with body heat. Ideally, full charge in 10 minutes just holding it."
"Huh? How are we supposed to make that?"
"That's for you to figure out."
Lee So-young's head spun.
*Not some humanities takeover world—what the hell?*
And why did they keep praising Lee Seung-hoon, that cult chairman?
He wasn't satisfied with brainwashing his company and gave speeches to the whole world—and it actually worked?
Or did he brainwash everyone?
[Weeeeeng-!]
The sudden siren made all the job seekers freeze.
Not just them—the recruiters too—all pulled out their smartphones.
"It's Chairman Lee's philosophy time."
Lee So-young pulled out her phone too.
The screen turned on by itself, showing a familiar face.
『Hello, everyone. It's been a while. Daily life is the repetition of routines, but a small change can make us feel special. I want to share that realization with you all, so I'm starting this communication.』
The face was familiar, but a bit different.
『What small change in daily life did I discover this time? You've all noticed, right? Yes, it's the mustache. I wanted to try growing facial hair, so I grew a mustache. What do you think?』
He stroked the small rectangular mustache under his nose.
『Now, shall we talk about something else?』
*Everyone's insane!*
Lee So-young hoisted the sleeping Frankenstein Corps on her back and left the lot.
The mustache cult chairman's speech had started out of nowhere.
Same nonsense as before, so she turned off her phone, but everyone else listened intently.
*[Huh? What do you mean? Why listen seriously? Of course we have to. It's the world's greatest racer speaking—listening and following is instinct, right?]*
What did racing have to do with speeches?
Her head wasn't just spinning—she felt like puking. She ran aimlessly.
"Buy my artwork! I drew it myself."
"How much?"
"Ten million won."
"Wow! Street artist's piece for ten mil! What a steal!"
Artists overflowed the streets.
Not just street painters—performance artists doing weird shit everywhere. One was painting with his dick, another doing calligraphy with a brush in his ass, another puking paint-laced vomit to make pictures.
"This week's must-read is Finnegans Wake."
"Bababadalgharaghtakamminarronnkonnbronntonnerronntuonnthunntrovarrhounawnskawntoohoohoordenenthurnuk!"
"I haven't even finished Ulysses yet!"
Hundreds—maybe thousands—gathered in groups debating obscure books.
"Heard the big corps are doing a merger race."
"Hope it starts soon."
She heard bullshit like corps racing to merge, nations racing for island sovereignty. Some guys were even racing over a woman, loser leaves.
*What kind of retarded world is this!?*
She ran and ran.
Finally regaining her senses, she dashed into a shop bathroom, grabbed the toilet, and hurled.
"Urk!"
A world that settles everything with races?
Ruled by a cult chairman?
Lecherous artists running wild, mocking art in art's name?
A world where you read a tough book every week and write reports?
"Huff, huff... This has to be a dream. It just has to be..."
Then the siren blared again.
A broadcast echoed through the entire building.
『In a moment, it's self-criticism time. Have we lived the past week meaningfully? Have we done anything unbecoming of humans? In morality and conscience, true value...』
"...What a mad world."
She stroked Frankenstein Corps's sleeping head.
"Please wake up. Even that weird white room—do something, anything."
Beep-!
Her smartphone rang suddenly.
Another weird broadcast?
Trembling, she turned on the screen. What appeared was a grotesque creature with only a mouth and ears.
[Hello? This is Announcer, the announcer for your Wall-Mounted TV.]
[First news: The Wall-Mounted TV staff are disgusted with this world full of racing maniacs. Yes, as expected, but we've reconfirmed it's a madness beyond imagination.]
[Thanks to that, everyone's obsessed with races, and we can't cover other dimensions because we can't cross walls, so we're stuck watching the same old races. Our intern Intern pukes at the sound of exhaust now, and Reporter Reporter went to cover another dimension and hasn't come back. A world without diverse news is pure hell!]
[It's all because of that guy (26) in Bucheon, Gyeonggi Province. He's using power and money to spread his dogshit philosophy. Blind loyalty is wrecking the world, and he doesn't even know it! Plus, in half a year, this beggar race world gets permanently fixed as reality!]
[Next, second news: The Wall-Mounted TV staff has discovered Mr. Lee—no, Lee So-young (27), one of the few sane people in this mad world.]
Before she could even feel fear at the monster on screen saying her name, her eyes widened.
*[What do you think? Don't you want to fix this world? This insane, pathetic, childish world straight out of a kid's imagination?]*
The creature whispered.
*[We'll help you. Not just us—many others will too.]*
Lee So-young nodded without thinking.
*[We'll make you the protagonist.]*