Chapter 162
Chapter 162
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Translator: crow
Chapter Title: Side Story - The Path Not Taken
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In the capital of a unified Korea, Kaesong.
Lee Yeon-woo (age 6) caught sight of his reflection in the mirror and became aware of his past life.
"It's really happened. Fixers are something else."
In his previous life, Lee Yeon-woo had been an elderly history professor at a university in Seoul.
After losing his wife not long ago, he'd been living an empty existence when he happened to visit a fixer's office. There, he heard they could send him to live in a world with a different history, so he applied—and it had actually come true.
"Same name as my past life self? Must be a coincidence. More importantly, alternate history..."
As a historian, he knew exactly what alternate history meant.
"Novels born from curiosity about how things might have unfolded if humanity's past had diverged from the established facts."
The boy toddled with small steps toward his father's study, where he spotted a framed newspaper clipping on the wall.
[October 27, 2170]
[Mecha Hitler conquers lunar base, declares war on the world]
[American Communist Party Secretary Stalin imposes tariffs on the entire globe]
[Japanese Archipelago Federation Prime Minister Oda Nobunaga threatens retaliatory tariffs on the US]
Articles from just before the Fifth World War broke out, a century ago.
[January 3, 2220]
[Central Corp completes quantum brain development, commercialization in 3 months]
[Nanomachinery commercialization complete: cures for all diseases and genetic disorders now possible]
[AI with human-like cognition achieved]
Articles from right before the Virtual Human Uprising, fifty years ago.
[June 26, 2250]
[Dimensional gate experiment fails? What is the tower that suddenly appeared?]
[Youkai are real? Massive monster emerges from the mist]
[Superpowers, not science? Pure human without implants manifests telekinesis]
Articles from thirty years ago, just before the emergence of the Transcendence Tower, dimensional gates, monsters, and hunters.
"Factions? Fusion historical drama from a future perspective? Virtual history? Metafiction? Parallel worlds?"
It couldn't be neatly defined, but one thing was clear.
"This isn't alternate history."
At age 15, Lee Yeon-woo enrolled in school.
Up until 14, education was handled at home via domestic AI robots and learning devices, so this was his first time in school.
"What ability got you in?"
"Memory."
"You'll be stuck in desk work, not field ops."
"That's fine by me. No dying on the job."
Shortly after becoming aware of his past life, he'd undergone awakening—a 1% chance event—and acquired instantaneous memory recall.
Thanks to that, he'd gotten into hunter school, but he started hanging with delinquents and causing trouble.
"How many times is this? You're students—smoking cigarettes!?"
"No, teacher! We can just fix our bodies with nanomachines these days!"
"It's about manners and morals! And why do you keep skipping class!"
Not serious issues, just typical teenage rebellion.
His grades were always top-tier thanks to his ability, so the teachers scolded him extra.
"Yeon-woo, you're a top student—why do this!?"
"Haha, sorry."
"Oh? Laughing? You think this is funny!?"
Today, too, he skipped class and headed to the VR room when one of the delinquents asked,
"You could study if you wanted—why hang with us?"
Lee Yeon-woo answered.
"Because it's a path not taken."
None of the delinquents understood.
At 20, Lee Yeon-woo got a job at a mid-tier hunter guild.
He started in admin, but learned porters could sign up part-time anytime, so he began entering gates as a porter every weekend.
"Hey, Yeon-woo, why do porter work? I hear your peer reviews are great, and the bosses like you."
The leader of the party that had hired him as a porter by chance—and stuck with him since—asked.
"It's fun."
"Huh? Portering's fun? Most people hate it—say it's grueling."
"Doing something you've never done before is fun in itself."
"You're one of a kind."
Porter duty was every Saturday.
Sundays, he met a woman.
"Hey! Why're you so late!"
"Been a while."
The pink-haired girl grumbled at him.
They'd been childhood friends next door; lately, they'd become lovers.
"How's college life, Hyun-deok?"
"Hey! I told you not to call me that! It's so tacky! I changed it to Hyun-joo! Yoo Hyun-joo!"
It had been a shock at first.
Not one or two, but all historical figures as women?
But he'd gotten used to it now and decided to chalk them up to people with the same names.
"What're you staring at?"
After a long-overdue date, late at night in bed.
Fresh from the shower, Hyun-joo lay beside him and peeked at his digital window.
"Overseas trip!?"
"Yeah, saved up a bunch—thought we could go sometime."
"You never mentioned you were into travel! Where to? Hokkaido Republic? Stallia? Antarctic Empire!?"
"..."
"Huh? What? Why no answer!?"
"Just... you coming in so sudden made my head spin."
"You do that sometimes. You okay?"
"It's mental, not physical. We'll pick together."
"Okay!"
As they browsed destinations, she asked,
"But why overseas all of a sudden?"
Lee Yeon-woo answered.
"Because it's a path not taken."
At 35, Lee Yeon-woo was devoted to work and family.
"Team leader, report's filed."
"Good, go home if you're done."
Professionally, he'd risen to head the support team.
"Dad's home."
"Welcome back!"
"Appa!"
At home, he was father to a son and daughter.
"You're back? Hold on, stew's almost done. Water's ready—bath first."
"Appa! Me too! Bath! Bath!"
"I wanna bath too!"
"Alright, everyone in together."
After bathing with the kids and eating his wife's meal, he booted up an online game in his room.
"Still can't believe it. People gaming on a desktop PC?"
"Plenty do."
"Fun on that antique?"
"Not really. VR games blow it away."
"Old-fashioned types are beyond me."
Chuckling lightly at his wife's jab, he felt his daughter tug at him.
"Appa! This fun?"
"Nope."
"Then why?"
With his daughter on his lap, Lee Yeon-woo answered.
"Because it's a path not taken."
At 55, middle-aged Lee Yeon-woo still worked at the guild.
"Director, here's the report."
"Thanks. Leave it and head out."
Now an executive, at home he had grown son and daughter.
"We have to be happy."
"Dad..."
"Oh, don't be sappy! They'll live happily, sure!"
He watched his daughter's wedding with a pleased smile.
His son's was the same; he and his wife lived out their days quietly.
"You old fool! What's that!?"
"Hoverboard."
"Why that!?"
"The p—"
"'Path not taken,' and you're dead!"
His wife stole his line.
At eighty, Lee Yeon-woo faced death.
In a world of implants and superpowers replacing the body, eighty was still middle age, but he flatly refused implants or life support.
"Sigh, you stubborn geezer—dying pureblood that appealing?"
His red-eyed wife asked.
Mustering his last strength, Lee Yeon-woo smiled.
"It's not that."
"Then what?"
"No matter how I tried, that was one step too far."
"Knew it since your old-fashioned days!"
Days later, he closed his eyes.
A peaceful death, family and grandkids at his side.
"The afterlife exists."
Dead Lee Yeon-woo walked through darkness.
Spotting light far off, he fluttered toward it like a moth.
'What's the afterlife like?'
Curious.
The light drew near, right before him.
As he moved to enter, his eyes caught a woman sitting beside it.
"..."
Dressed in Greek style, she stared blankly into space.
As if asleep with eyes open.
"Hello. Do you know what this place is?"
The scholar in him stirred.
Overcoming the pull of the light, he approached and spoke; she reacted slowly.
"...Me?"
"Yes. Are you a goddess?"
Shock was brief.
"...Sorry. Really sorry."
"Sorry for what?"
Soon, she burst into sobs.
"For not making it alternate history!"
"I'm not a god."
After crying herself out, she calmed and told her story.
"We just send people who want to go to other worlds to the ones we manage. Sure, minor tweaks to fit the worldbuilding, but that's it."
"Why do that?"
"Just born that way. Like humans breathe without learning—we send people to other worlds on instinct."
"So there are others."
"Seven total, including me. One through Four vanished, but new ones were born recently."
Beings who sent humans to other worlds.
No purpose.
"But sending humans there feels good. Specifically, when they think it's the world they wanted... it makes me so happy. Like your happiness."
"I see."
"Yeah. No matter the ending after transfer, if they see it as their desired world..."
Lee Yeon-woo dredged up an old memory.
He suspected the book from his past life—promising an alternate history world—was this goddess.
"So if they see it as their desired world, no matter the end, they're happy."
"Yeah... but no one thinks of my worlds as alternate history anymore."
It started from pity for transferees.
"Sending alternate history fans was pure joy. But unlike me, they weren't happy. No matter their knowledge, they couldn't easily change the world; personal power has limits. Too broad a scope, too."
She could've ignored it.
But she didn't.
"They said our role is just sending to desired worlds with minor aid—no more interference. But I couldn't stand by. I wanted them happy like me."
"You did something."
"Researched what alternate history fans liked: gender-swapping greats."
Based on that, she'd meddled directly to make people happy.
"So I forced the greats in my world to become women. Tweaked some conveniences against historicity. Then they not only survived but lived happily."
Of course, straying far from alternate history meant transferees stopped seeing it that way.
"I thought it was fine—small numbers. Most still called it alternate history despite the women. But violating world rules caused errors."
Errors went unfixed.
Interfering to fix them only worsened it.
"Historicity mismatched. Greats and dates off. Weird phenomena appeared. Eventually, other worldviews crept in."
Towers.
Gates.
Hunters.
Cyberpunk too.
Fantasy elements unfit for modern times invaded, timelines fixed to present or future.
"Transferees still liked my world. But now more saw it as tower/gate/hunter stuff or cyberpunk, not alternate history."
"A problem?"
"Those were One through Four's themes. Too many thought my world fit theirs better—their identities faded, and they vanished."
"You felt responsible for kin's death."
"Huh? Nah. If they vanished over this, they mismanaged. We feel kinship but not blood ties. Morals differ from yours."
She grieved because she felt no more joy.
"One through Four gone, their worldviews absorbed into mine. Errors stopped, but it got complex and bizarre. No one calls it alternate history now, but the absorption kept me from vanishing."
She wouldn't vanish, but...
"Lost the joy of alternate history transfers forever."
Lost purpose.
"So I sealed myself. Some jerk broke it. Re-sealing needs tons of power—years, maybe."
"You never stopped transferring people."
"It's my job."
Hearing all, Lee Yeon-woo gazed at her.
She denied godhood, but managing worlds, tweaking them, reincarnating people—who else?
"Your world definitely wasn't alternate history. More fusion or fantasy."
"...I know."
She hung her head, crestfallen.
"But generally speaking, from another angle, it is alternate history."
She looked up.
"History usually means humanity's rise and fall, but records of past events are history too. All records of past-bearing beings are history."
Company history.
School history.
Struggle history.
Building history.
Group history.
Village history.
City history.
All have history.
"If all records are history, can't a human life's past be history too?"
"A human life as history...?"
"My past life was ordinary. No regrets, but life is once; time doesn't rewind. So many paths untaken."
Young Lee Yeon-woo smiled.
"Humans call life a series of forks. We wonder about untaken paths forever, never walking them again."
He compared past and present selves.
"Past Lee Yeon-woo never smoked. This one's a smoker."
"Past never gamed. This one plays old ones."
"Past was DINK—no kids. This has son, daughter, grandkids."
"Past never traveled abroad. This toured 20 countries, tons of sites."
Life once only.
Second life walked the untaken.
"Past forks, unwalkable again—thanks to you, I did. World wasn't alternate history, but this Lee Yeon-woo's life was."
Only then did she feel his sincerity.
The joy of otherworld transfers, absent since the changes.
"Your second life was alternate history for you."
"Bit of exaggeration, but not wrong."
His excuse worked; he smiled.
A mortal's desperate shot for the goddess who'd sacrificed her world for human happiness.
"But now I wanna see beyond. That light the afterlife?"
"Yeah, one of many humans get."
"You make them?"
"Co-generated with us. No idea what. Just feels okay."
"If you say so."
Heading to the light, he bowed to her.
"Thanks for the second chance."
She bowed back.
"You gave me realization. Thanks."
"?"
A strange feeling hit Lee Seung-hoon; he opened the alternate history otherworld transfer book.
[Life is but once.]
[But through this book, reincarnating to another world is like a second life.]
[The world may be a bit special, but walk the untaken path in your second life.]
[This too is alternate history! A chance to change your personal history!]
Isn't this just regression?
"Modern regression counts as alternate history?"
What a messy, identity-less book.
"But whatever. Users all got happy endings."
Genre might not matter anymore.