Chapter 172
Translator: crow
Chapter Title: The Ceremony
"The universe sure is beautiful."
"I heard there are agents dispatched to space, but I never thought I'd get to experience it myself."
Shin Young-moon and Kim Go-deok gazed out the window, lost in quiet contemplation.
Kim Mi-ri, who had been rushing around with the other agents to resolve the situation, spotted them and flew into a rage.
"What the hell! Everyone else is working, and what are you two doing?"
"Disciple, you have to know the difference between what you can do and what you can't. I don't know much about science or technology, so isn't it best if I just stay out of the way?"
『Same here. My existence is a ghost. Science? That's straight-up comedy.』
"Even so, stop slacking and get to work!"
The two shuffled away from the window.
"God, what a temper on her."
『That old man's your master, right? Isn't this disciple-slaying-the-master stuff?』
"I'd love to, but she's gotten way stronger than me, so I can't."
『A clear-headed disciple striking their master from behind is the kind of thing only fiends do...』
"She's the Heavenly Demon. Forgot?"
『Oh, right. Demon cult, huh?』
Kim Mi-ri glared at them.
Catching the fury in her eyes, the two bolted in a panic.
"The Heavenly Demon, my ass."
Well, it wasn't wrong.
If she really channeled her power right now, her old Heavenly Demon personality would surface.
But that didn't make the teasing any less annoying.
"Sigh. How long until we escape this place?"
Kim Mi-ri peered out the window.
Stars twinkled faintly in the pitch-black cosmos, illuminating the spaceship.
"A flat Earth? What kind of nonsense world is this?"
Her gaze shifted slightly higher than the starlight, to the waterfall cascading fiercely downward.
From the left edge to the right.
Even from thousands of kilometers away, its end was nowhere in sight. The seawater plunging from the massive rock slab was caught in fierce winds and surged back toward the sky.
"Is all we can do right now just hold out?"
Riding the updrafts might let them climb back up there.
But their first attempt had failed spectacularly, gravity acting erratically and twisting the airship's path.
"We've anchored here with the coordinate fixation system, but how long do we have to keep this up?"
Kim Mi-ri sought out the researchers again.
The opponent in this all-hands operation wasn't an individual or lone entity, but a group.
Since multiple entities might be involved, some researchers had joined the effort.
"How's the investigation going?"
"Ah, you're here?"
Ella, one of them and the head of the Foundation's research lab, sat in a chair, tapping her foot.
Unlike the other researchers in neat white coats, she was dressed sloppily even on the front lines—like she was in her lab—pen dangling from her mouth.
"The theory we came up with before has been proven. This place is one of the parallel worlds."
"A parallel world? You can't cross those with science and technology, right?"
"Yeah, dimensions might be different, but methods to traverse parallel worlds—ones that branched from the same dimension based on possibilities—haven't been developed yet. Of course, there is one way that's possible."
Kim Mi-ri nodded at the obvious answer.
"The entity's uniqueness."
"Right. Our investigation shows this place is overflowing with the entity's wave properties. It's a parallel world created by the entity, not fully differentiated yet, so it's still attached to our world."
"And the disappearances are because of that?"
"You've experienced this world's absurd gravity field, right? That's the cause. The missing people are probably by now..."
She trailed off.
Instead, she gazed out the lab window.
An endless universe, starlight gleaming coldly.
"More importantly, this."
Ella handed over a chart.
It was covered in complex scientific terms and numbers.
Kim Mi-ri's eyes went to the one graph she could make out.
[Space Convergence Rate]
[Law Breakdown Rate]
[Multiple Wave Property]
All three graphs showed steep upward curves.
"The space convergence rate means this parallel world is merging with ours. Normal parallel worlds differentiate, but this one's the opposite. Not only is it trying to merge back, it's assimilating our world into its own."
Like cancer cells.
Kim Mi-ri shifted to the next graph.
"The law breakdown rate indicates the degree of physical law collapse. Like another dimension, the laws here are basically similar to ours but totally different. We tried finding patterns, but there aren't any."
Just like a world imagined by someone who knows nothing about science.
Thinking of the flat Earth, Kim Mi-ri nodded again.
"Finally, multiple wave property means this isn't just one parallel world."
"Not one, but several?"
"Yeah. Multiple parallel worlds overlap here like a crossroads, with the flat Earth as the base. That's why we can't pinpoint the original world's coordinates—no communication possible."
In the end, Ella wrote the conclusion on the whiteboard.
[World Destruction!]
"As it slowly assimilates, our world's physical laws will collapse. The weird gravity we've experienced will apply everywhere, flinging everything off the planet. And once fully merged, flat Earth becomes canon!"
"It's ridiculous. Destroying the original world just to prove the Earth is flat."
From the info so far, the culprits behind this incident were a group that believed the Earth was flat.
Destroying the real world for that? Utterly laughable.
"I don't think so? The scales said it, right? Their goal is world destruction. So they've been gunning for it from the start."
"Maybe a twisted faith to destroy a world that doesn't believe the Earth is flat. So, is there a way to solve this?"
"Even with the collapsed physics keeping the flat Earth stable, there must be laws here we haven't found. Once we input those into the airship, we're good."
Would the Foundation researchers find the laws first?
Or would the world flatten first? Just as the race against time was about to begin...
『To the first ten Foundation agents who've spent the most time with me.』
"!?"
"Eh!? Telepathy!?"
A voice in their heads, along with transmitted memories and situational awareness.
『Hello?』
The voice's owner greeted them.
『This is Lee Seung-hoon.』
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
'Good. I've briefed the Foundation agents on the situation.'
He took off the paper boat and stored it back in the Void Pocket.
He'd taught them how to move freely here, and their reactions were amusing.
[What? You want us to sincerely believe the Earth is flat?]
[Or, if not, sincerely accept that this world has its own laws and even I am bound by them?]
[Flat Earth? As a scientist, I absolutely cannot accept that!?]
In short, belief was key.
Only fanatical belief granted freedom of movement here.
『Lee Seung-hoon, something's off about this place.』
"Why? Bugging devices?"
『No. I investigated the AI and facilities in more detail, as they seem like derivatives of something. But they're not machines, and they're inoperable.』
He grasped the facility's state through Sarang-i's scouting.
『The AI code looks plausible but is structured to produce bugs. The devices mimic logic circuits but collide and fail to power on if activated.』
"And yet they work normally?"
He carefully pried open the remote nearby.
The circuit board inside had diagrams scribbled haphazardly.
『This remote's circuitry doesn't match the buttons.』
"Looks that way."
He activated the remote.
The TV turned on perfectly.
"An entity that creates the impossible?"
『Lee Seung-hoon, I recommend declining tomorrow's membership ceremony. We lack sufficient info to gauge them.』
"You're right. But life isn't lived by axioms alone. Sometimes you have to take risks to break through."
『Is that really the only reason?』
"If it's not a trap, we can recover the missing people and solve the Earth's issue using the chairman's method."
『And if it is a trap?』
"Then I get to experience whatever trap they've set—satisfying my intellectual curiosity."
『Good lord.』
Come to think of it, what did the TVs here broadcast?
Flipping channels showed old recorded programs.
Seemed like they just replayed past recordings.
『Oho! The hero has arrived! But it's too late!』
Among them, a hero movie catching villains.
『My plan is already in motion! Press this button, and the personnel I bribed around the nuclear reactor will kill the researchers and trigger a meltdown! The city will be obliterated! You, hero, will save no one!』
『Damn it! Why are you doing this?!』
『Why? You don't know my humiliation! It was 20 years ago, when I was 28. I was a good young man, diligently working at a factory right after starting my job! Living a daily grind like a hamster wheel, until one day thugs beat me senseless. My brain got damaged, and I couldn't control my violent urges anymore!』
『Then get treatment!』
『That damn U.S. healthcare wouldn't allow it. I had work insurance, but guess what the company said? That I was careless approaching thugs, so no payout. I barely proved they attacked, and then they claimed it was my fault for not running away aggressively enough.』
The movie was already at its climax when he tuned in.
"Talkative villain."
『Villains directly confessing backstory quickly and without boredom is a common trope.』
Separately, even just the end was entertaining.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
"Then we'll begin the ceremony."
The gathered members all turned to him.
The chairman and Ulysses beckoned with kindly smiles.
"New member who has opened your eyes to the true world, come forth on the path of truth."
He walked forward along the red carpet.
Members on both sides clapped nonstop, and as he advanced in the same robe, the chairman commanded.
"Kneel before the truth."
He knelt.
No pain on the red carpet.
"One who seeks to become a new member, close your eyes and clasp your hands in prayer."
He closed his eyes and clasped his hands.
In the darkness, the chairman's voice rang out.
"We gather here with the great tower from when humanity was one as our foundation. We unite and act to reclaim the world hiding all secrets in light."
The great tower from when humanity was one? Tower of Babel.
When all spoke one language, and it collapsed, splintering tongues.
The Foundation had a related entity, so on their dimension, no foreign languages needed—everything communicated.
'...Come to think of it, everyone here speaks perfectly too.'
Felt just like conversing in Korean.
No sense of incongruity at all.
'Not just me—Sarang-i didn't notice either.'
Reality manipulation? Perception alteration?
Or maybe the flat Earth's physics were set that way?
"New member, open your eyes."
Still kneeling, he opened his eyes and looked up at the chairman.
"Do you swear to devote yourself fully as a member of the FES?"
"Yes."
With every word, his neat white teeth revealed a red tongue.
"Then close your eyes again."
Just before closing, he spotted the tattoo on the man's red tongue.
A black snake wrapping an apple, flicking its tongue.
"To welcome the new brother, everyone raise your glasses."
"Cheers."
Silence fell.
"......"
Not even breathing sounds.
He cautiously opened his eyes to darkness.
"Damn."
A late thought after arriving here.
'Those guys' goal was world destruction, right?'
It wasn't that flattening the Earth destroyed the world.
The scales clearly said their purpose was world destruction.
So the missing people rescue was all lies too.
『Lee Seung-hoon! Their goal is world destruction, so everything they said before was a l......』
"I just realized too."
『To fool even you, Lee Seung-hoon. Impressive.』
"I had one suspicion. Too late to spot it, though."
More importantly.
"Where is this?"
A world of pure darkness.
"Time to scout."