Chapter 177
Translator: crow
Chapter Title: Path of Light
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“Phew, it’s hot.”
Paleontologist Shim Kwon-woo, age 47, wiped sweat from his brow with a handkerchief.
It was the peak of summer, and the sweltering heat was rampant—the moment he stepped outside, this was the result.
‘Why did the Solver suddenly want to meet me?’
Sipping an ion drink, he recalled the email he’d received last week.
[From: Lee Seung-hoon]
[Subject: Dinosaur Museum Establishment and Special Dinosaur Information]
Hello? This is Lee Seung-hoon.
The scorching summer heat is upon us. On days like these, many people rely on air conditioning to beat the heat, but overuse can lead to air-conditioning sickness...
(Excerpted)
I’ve heard Professor Shim Kwon-woo is Korea’s foremost authority on paleontology.
I’m planning to establish a dinosaur museum and would like to discuss it with you.
I also want to share some secrets about dinosaurs that I’ve stumbled upon by chance.
(Approximately)
If you’re interested in the dinosaur museum, please reply.
Have a great day.
====
Who was Lee Seung-hoon?
He was the chairman of Korea’s largest conglomerate and the world’s top Solver.
Korea chronically suffered from budget shortages because, aside from footprint fossils, no decent fossils ever turned up on the peninsula. He couldn’t pass up this golden opportunity.
‘This must be it.’
Arriving at Lee Seung-hoon’s office, he knocked and entered.
“Excuse me.”
“Ah, you’re here!”
Lee Seung-hoon greeted him warmly.
“Nice to meet you. I’m Lee Seung-hoon.”
“Haha, paleontology PhD, Shim Kwon-woo.”
“What would you like to drink, Professor Shim?
Something cool sounds good.”
As Lee Seung-hoon went to fetch drinks at his request, Shim scanned the office.
‘Stuffed animals? Our chairman has a cute hobby.’
Three animal dolls sat on the desk.
Next to them were various photos of unknown origin, all in a creepy horror concept.
‘Photos of beating ghosts and monster pics too? He’s into the occult, surprisingly?’
Bzzz-!
Just then, he heard a fly buzzing.
Spotting the source in the pristine office—something that didn’t belong—Shim nearly had a heart attack.
‘A dead cat?’
No illusion.
It wasn’t asleep; its pupils were dilated.
The cloudy pupils indicated it had been dead for quite some time, and the flies buzzing around confirmed it again.
“I brought zero cola with ice.”
“Mr. Solver Lee Seung-hoon? Why is there a dead cat corpse here?”
“You mean Meow-meow? It might look a bit odd, but...”
Lee Seung-hoon replied nonchalantly.
“It’s my pet.”
Shim Kwon-woo sized up Lee Seung-hoon.
‘He’s insane.’
＊＊＊
Contrary to public rumors, Solver Lee Seung-hoon was a lunatic who kept a dead cat corpse as a pet.
Shim desperately wanted to leave, but he couldn’t.
“I want to build the world’s largest dinosaur museum in Korea.”
“You made the right call summoning me.”
The future of Korean paleontology rested in his hands!
‘The jobs for our grad students, the career paths for undergrads—they all depend on me!’
So what if he was a little crazy?
If it was a crazy guy with money, he’d stick around for days!
“Hoho, for the world’s largest museum, we’ll need massive dinosaur skeletons, of course.”
Dinosaur fossils were expensive.
A 22m Apatosaurus fetched 8.9 billion won.
A 12m Tyrannosaurus sold for 45.7 billion, and a 6m Stegosaurus went for 61.8 billion.
Even with conglomerate backing, it was touch-and-go, but Lee Seung-hoon spoke calmly, as if money were no object.
“Don’t worry about the price. I’ll buy them all.”
Shim cheered inwardly.
“But a few fossils will go in a separate annex.”
“Which dinosaurs are you setting aside?”
“Tyrannosaurus, Velociraptor, Iguanodon, Ankylosaurus, Spinosaurus.”
They were popular even among those who didn’t know much about dinosaurs.
“You’re separating the popular ones, eh? Then Triceratops and Brachiosaurus too...”
“No, I want these separate from the other dinosaurs.”
“Pardon?”
“I can’t put the heroes who saved the world in the same space as those who betrayed everyone for their own greed, can I?”
What nonsense was this?
He couldn’t make sense of it no matter how hard he tried.
“Those five you mentioned—they betrayed the other dinosaurs?”
“More precisely, they betrayed Earth.”
“Uh, um, you mean the dinosaurs?”
“Yes. To satisfy their personal greed, achieve their desires, stand with the victors—they tried to sell out the world.”
“...How exactly?”
“I can’t tell you.”
Hold it in, he had to hold it in.
The guy was the benefactor! Don’t confront the lunatic!
Grinding his teeth, Shim composed himself.
“Why can’t you tell me?”
“Professor, how much do you know about taboos and prohibitions?”
“Mental traumas shared within a culture, or acts forbidden by religion or culture?”
“Yes, but taboos and prohibitions can be real. For example, hwa-byung is a culture-bound syndrome known in Korea, Indonesia, and Malaysia. Shamanic possession is registered in international forensic medicine as shin-byeong or symptomless illness.”
Language and culture held immense power.
Powerful enough to manifest nonexistent diseases or phenomena.
“What happened back then was similar. The difference is they became real and spread so fast they engulfed the Earth.”
“...So you’re saying there’s something from the dinosaur era we mustn’t know? Something that could destroy Earth if learned?”
“Yes. Those in the know call them memetic contamination entities.”
“How do you know this, Mr. Lee? If you know, doesn’t it spread anyway?”
Lee Seung-hoon sipped his black tea leisurely.
“It activates when ten or more people grasp 80% or more of its info. That’s why I can’t go into details.”
“Sounds like a virus from what you’ve said. But that doesn’t match your talk of betraying Earth? That’s something to say to aliens, not pathogens.”
“They’re contagious diseases and intelligent beings with ego. They came from space on a meteor, so aliens fits.”
The psychosis was severe.
Shim speculated on the source of Lee’s delusions.
‘Laypeople vaguely think dinosaurs went extinct from a meteor impact. This is an extension of that.’
A meteor hit, but dinos didn’t die right away—they were wiped out by viruses-cum-intelligent life clinging to it.
Delusional ramblings from that process.
“Fascinating story. But how could dinosaurs fight viruses? They had no science or advanced medicine.”
“They did. They formed advanced societies and cultures. Medicine advanced, and they had tech to venture into space.”
How far should he indulge this nonsense?
Shim pondered seriously.
“It’s different from human tech, though. Take Triceratops. They used genetic engineering to equip themselves with three massive horns. The horns formed perfect angles and a mental fluid body, creating a pyramid effect...”
“Wait, wait—why pyramids?”
“Because dinosaurs built the first pyramids.”
I want to kill him.
For a moment, murderous intent boiled up genuinely.
“The pyramid effect is superstition.”
“It’s superstition for most, but not for dinosaurs. Even now, not entirely.”
Now he got it.
Solver Lee Seung-hoon was ignorant of science and believed in the occult.
“So?”
“They used superpowers from the mental fluid body to annihilate alien lifeforms. But in the final battle...”
Lee Seung-hoon paused, then swallowed his words.
“I’ll keep this part secret. Too much info might leak.”
“Yes, understood. How come no traces of such an advanced civilization in their fossils?”
“They weren’t fools like humans. Everything was eco-friendly. They built homes and tools from materials that decomposed quickly before fossilizing.”
“What about their size? How could those massive bodies do delicate work?”
This ought to stump him.
Shim smirked triumphantly.
“The mental fluid body can be formed in various ways. Three horns, back plates, head reflectors. Even multiple claws or back crests. The resulting mental fluid body inherently includes anthropomorphization into human form.”
“Fuck!”
“Why the sudden curse?”
“I just remembered I left the AC on.”
“I see. Best to make a habit of turning off electronics when heading out.”
Ah, I should’ve suspected from the dead cat pet.
“Anyway, all dinosaurs are heroes—except those five. They betrayed everyone out of greed. Without their betrayal, dinosaurs wouldn’t have gone extinct.”
“Phew, got it.”
He’d picked the wrong guy.
Maybe the world’s largest dino museum was bullshit too.
“Ah, shall we go see the site? I already bought the land.”
“Really?”
“Budget’s one trillion won, enough for every dinosaur. So I secured the biggest plot possible.”
So what if it was nonsense from a lunatic?
“Hoho, Mr. Lee, have I told you I love you?”
“No.”
“Then I will now.”
A savior for paleontology had arrived.
“I love you!”
Dino super-ancient civilization, superpowers, meteor alien civ—whatever, he’d play along.
＊＊＊
Ulysses walked through the darkness.
As he trudged through the void, voices echoed around him.
“Save me!”
“Aaah!”
“It hurts so much!”
Familiar voices.
Probably his followers.
“These souls are low quality. Total crap.”
“The Chairman said lately there’s too many inflows—don’t turn everyone into demons.”
“So we just torment them like this?”
“Put ‘em to work or vent stress—plenty of uses.”
Unfamiliar voices joined in.
At the end of the dark path, a faint light flickered.
A large LCD monitor. Someone was gaming.
[ADCtimothebest(ADC): Support wtf are you doing stealing my CS?!]
[ADCfuckingnoobthrowthegame(Supp): ID]
[Holdtillyoudie(Mid): Bot duo pls stop fighting I’m farming fine rn -_-]
[Ifnogank3minidivedie(Top): JG where tf? Why no gank? Don’t you know I’m getting countered? Ugh, no game sense? Just let me die then? Lane’s been pushed since forever, no CS, and you don’t come? Don’t wanna play???]
[67yoGodJungleMainLifeFinalSmiteAlt(JG): Everyone... teamwork... games... need... synergy... to... really... have... fun... how about... we stop fighting... and play hard... pat pat;;]
[Ifnogank3minidivedie(Top): Smite?]
Ulysses, unfamiliar with games, couldn’t grasp the situation.
“Evil disguises itself as ordinary. Avoiding media’s dumb clichés is a good start.”
At the monitor, someone busily worked keyboard and mouse.
His face on screen was ordinary.
An everyday old man.
Kind-looking, innocuous, round-faced.
“Angels are beautiful. Demons ugly and horrific. Isn’t it ridiculous? If demons tempt and corrupt humans, they should be the most beautiful and cool. If angels judge by inner soul, not looks, they should test humans in hideous, evil forms.”
He was winning the game.
The old man solo-carried, directing everyone.
“In reality, too. Humans still paint angels pretty and demons grotesque. Thanks to that folly, we returnees operate easier than before, no?”
The game neared its end.
“Deeper still: demons needn’t always do evil. Hide true nature with good deeds, then strike at the crucial moment...”
At the game-deciding moment, the old man smiled and pressed a button.
[67yoGodJungleMainLifeFinalSmiteAlt(JG): Oh... oops... sorry... misclicked... smite... (sweat)... my bad... (awkward)]
[Holdtillyoudie(Mid): FFS you miss THAT?!]
The game lost because of the old man.
“In that vein, I like phonies like you. Arming yourself with ‘good’ to fleece people was my first evil deed—and one I still enjoy. I’d love to keep you under me directly, but...”
In the monitor’s backlight, a human shape emerged from the old man’s head.
Snake eyes gleamed yellow; a snake tongue danced in the air.
“Imitating me is intolerable. Where’d you get my blood? Can’t even see it.”
He wanted to answer, but suddenly couldn’t remember.
He definitely knew, yet it was erased clean like with an eraser.
“You don’t know either? Then I’ve only one thing to do.”
＊＊＊
“Gasp!”
Ulysses awoke.
‘All a dream?’
He changed clothes and headed to the terrace.
Gazing at his legions below with orange juice from the maid.
“Our savior!”
“Our hope!”
“Our leader!”
Countless followers worshipped him.
‘Final battle’s near.’
Win this, and he could wipe out humanity, claiming the world.
“I’ll destroy the world. And rule the ruined world.”
Gulping juice, Ulysses hurled the glass skyward.
“I’ll become the god of the new world!”
＊＊＊
“I’ll... become the god... of the new world...”
“Bro, this guy’s grinning.”
“Let him. Probably a good dream.”
A small, black-furred demon poked Ulysses with a spear.
Ulysses dangled head-down like fruit from a tree, giggling nonstop.
“But is this torture? He pissed off No. 1 Chairman, right?”
“It’s his custom torture. Victim dreams of achieving their desperate wish right up to success—then fails, loses everything, dies miserably.”
“Wow, how long?”
The senior demon eyed the still-laughing Ulysses pityingly.
“Forever.”