Chapter 44
Chapter 44
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Translator: crow
Chapter Title: Sephirot
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“......”
Seong Yu-ra read the incident report I'd written in silence. It wasn't a long document—something she could finish in a few minutes—but a full thirty minutes had passed, and she still hadn't said a word, rereading it over and over.
“Excuse me, but may I smoke a cigarette?”
Without a reply, she simply nodded, so I quietly lit one up.
“So......”
It was around the time I'd gone through three cigarettes in a row that she finally spoke.
“You're saying that with nothing but Word Spirit, you inflicted illness and injury on the enemy, kidnapped a human and remodeled them into a derivative entity, then used a useless entity to build rapport and escape.”
“Yes, that sums it up.”
“Then you showed some artwork you'd made through an entity you met in a dream to those ferocious entities, and they ran off on their own.”
“Regrettable, isn't it.”
“And finally, an entity that was supposed to kill its original out of hatred and rage through self-harm ended up looking exactly like you, overcame its murderous intent through reason, and even discovered a way to neutralize a new entity using a wish-granting ticket?”
“You've read it perfectly.”
She let out a sigh and shot back at me.
“Fine, let's say the rest could happen. You might've gotten lucky and befriended the director, and that dream artwork was made using an entity's power, so the derivative entity......”
“Not an entity—an artwork.”
“Derivative entity......”
“Artwork.”
“Deriv......”
“Art.”
“......The artwork contains the entity's power, so it's plausible it would work on other entities too. But the last part? Impossible.”
On the report she'd handed back to me were her comments, written who-knows-when.
“Ordinary humans can't avoid an entity's mental corruption just because they have strong mental fortitude.”
“No, they can. I'm the proof.”
“I'm telling you, it's not possible!”
“Just because there's no precedent doesn't mean it'll always be the truth. Don't be so narrow-minded.”
“No, it just isn't!”
When people run out of arguments, they resort to yelling. Fortunately, her patience was remarkable, and it ended at expressions of anger rather than curses.
“Why are entities called entities? Because they far surpass human understanding! Because they defy science! Because they transcend the causality of the world! And you're saying you overcame that mental corruption with nothing but mental fortitude—and that you're just an ordinary human!?”
“Yes.”
New truths always clash with the common sense of the old era, so I gave her one example.
“Seong Yu-ra, there was a time when the scientific community thought molecules were the smallest unit.”
“......Pardon?”
“But then atoms were discovered, shattering their common sense. Ah! Atoms must be the smallest substance in the world! And so they embraced a new truth.”
“......”
“But lo and behold? Atoms could be split too, revealing protons and neutrons inside. The truth changed again, and people thought this time it was surely the smallest substance.”
“I think I get what you're......”
“Betraying their beliefs once more, neutrons and protons split again, spitting out quarks. Quarks are currently the smallest known substance, but is that truly the end?”
“......I understand. Wait here for now. We need to discuss this.”
Before she left the room—whether it was an interrogation cell or a holding pen—I called out to her as she grabbed the doorknob.
“Seung-hoon.”
“Yes.”
“Are you on humanity's side?”
It was a straightforward question, so I answered without hesitation.
“I'm on the side of humans.”
“So you're saying we have to classify Lee Seung-hoon as an entity!?”
A fierce debate raged in the Foundation's conference room.
“I'm sorry, but that's not possible. Analysis via Sephirot confirms his body and mind are entirely human.”
“No, it's probably an entity that alters perception like that!”
“Sephirot wouldn't fall for perception alteration or mental corruption!”
The discussion was all about how to handle Lee Seung-hoon.
“If he were really human, wouldn't Sephirot have sent him to the defense system dimension?”
“Sephirot declared him human!”
“Then why did it send him there? The report says his mental strength is exceptional, but nothing else is off.”
“How should I know!”
To them, Lee Seung-hoon was an utterly bizarre existence.
Physically, he was just a bit more exceptional than average humans. 'A bit more' understated it given his capabilities, but in a Foundation where actual superhumans existed, it wasn't that special.
“Human immune to mental corruption?”
“That's hardly enough to treat him as a superhuman. There are plenty of ways to block mental corruption.”
“Can you block it without entities or special tools?”
“I'm just saying.”
If it had been in the past, before the Munchkin Mary Sue constellation's assault, the Foundation would have acted decisively. Back then, they wanted all entities under their control—and had the power to do it.
“Detention denied. Everyone agree?”
“Agreed.”
But now, having lost most of their capabilities, the Foundation had shifted goals, compromising with reality.
“Instead, use 'The One Remaining Monkey's Paw' to fully restore Sephirot. Then reevaluate Lee Seung-hoon with its full functions.”
“Agreed.”
Even if the other party was an entity, if it helped humanity, they'd build a cooperative relationship rather than a superior-inferior one.
“Ah, that's refreshing.”
Less than a day later, I was out of that stuffy space.
“You've been through a lot.”
“So you've finally decided to believe I'm human?”
“......For now.”
“Haha, Manager, lighten up.”
Kim Dong-wook massaged Seong Yu-ra's shoulders.
“Lee Seung-hoon, we're truly grateful for the monkey's paw you donated to the Foundation! We're putting it to use right away. Want to watch?”
“Sure, I'd love to.”
I followed the two to where the monkey's paw would be used.
“Full reconstruction of the Foundation with the one remaining monkey's paw is impossible. Its power is immense, but the entities we've lost are comparable or even stronger in droves, so proper recovery is unlikely.”
“There's also the issue with the Foundation's defense system. Conceptual defenses don't vanish unless the entity responsible is completely destroyed.”
On the way, they discussed where to use the one remaining monkey's paw.
“So instead of partial recovery, we chose perfect restoration of one reliable entity.”
“Which one?”
“That tree you see over there.”
Seong Yu-ra's fingertip pointed to the tree piercing the sky—the same one I'd seen when I first arrived.
“Sephirot, the highest-grade entity at the core of the Foundation's defense system. Its main duties are Foundation defense and precognition of world-threatening extinction-grade entities.”
“As you can see, it's heavily damaged now, barely maintaining parts of the defense system.”
So if that got restored, they could preempt threats from extinction-grade entities.
“If you can detect entities that could destroy the world, can the Foundation stop them?”
“We have to, no matter what it takes.”
Seong Yu-ra didn't say they could stop them. That was answer enough, so I nodded.
“Right here.”
We arrived at a lab where scientists were attaching electrodes and plugs to the one remaining monkey's paw. After watching from above for a few minutes, the paw's fingers curled, and then the paw itself vanished from the world.
“Success!”
And far away, the charred tree returned to vibrant green life.
“With this, humanity is a little safer.”
I shared their joy.
“Truly fortunate.”
Once, it had been a tree called a god.
Sometimes known as Yggdrasil, in other dimensions as the World Tree, and by some as the Mother of Nature.
And now, the tree called Sephirot received one command.
It wasn't difficult. Moreover, Sephirot wanted to investigate him itself.
When most functions were offline, Sephirot's defense system was like peeking at the world through a pinhole—extremely limited.
Its function of spanning all dimensions, using them as computational devices to prophesy the future like Laplace's Demon, had degraded to barely hundreds of decimal places accuracy, and even that was limited to the Foundation when functions were intact.
Instead of precise calculations, it relied on instinct for reflexive actions, maximizing accuracy—but only perfectly for simple objects, mainly humans, threat detection.
That's why it had sent Lee Seung-hoon to the defense dimension, yet not only did he escape, the dimension itself morphed into something unfit to contain him.
What was the issue? Sephirot closely examined Lee Seung-hoon under two possibilities.
One: The humans' command.
Two: Reexamination of why its instinctual judgment, due to functional limits, deemed him dangerous.
Sephirot's roots stirred. The power of all dimensions focused on one human, absorbing information from every spacetime he'd existed in.
[Body: Level 5, between ordinary human and superhuman.]
[Perception alteration contamination: 0]
[Entity waveform: None.]
[Life signs: Normal.]
Nothing special physically.
[Possessions: Ordinary pen, clothes, shoes, tumbler identified as safe entity, bead presumed to be derivative entity with very low-grade video embedded.]
Possessions unremarkable too. One safe entity and a presumed derivative, but their risks were easily disposable even in the Foundation's fallen state.
Next, his past. Tracing spacetime traces, it uncovered every incident he'd resolved.
[Numerous entity-related incidents involved to date.]
[Numerous incidents unsolvable by S-Grade Agents.]
[Numerous incidents unsolvable by Managers.]
[Confirmed major asset to humanity.]
Sephirot's power focused on Lee Seung-hoon again.
Then, delving deeper into his brain synapses—
Sephirot finally detected the anomaly.
[Connected dimension: Unidentifiable.]
[Dimensional tracking beginning.]
It tracked the dimension linked to his right eye. With roots in all dimensions, the trace was blisteringly fast—beyond human time scales—and Sephirot succeeded in locating it.
『You.』
And it saw.
『Timid weed, guardian of the lovelies, object of worship for the big-ears, plant rooted in all phenomena, little auntie caught in a childish prank.』
Beyond the dimension, a colossal blue moon adorned with countless eyes and mouths, overlooking everything.
『Don't you dare peek at me.』
The connection severed. Sephirot cut it itself, fearing its roots would dissolve in mental corruption if it watched longer.
[Identified connection to unidentified entity.]
[Connected entity's threat level: Estimated extinction-grade. Insufficient data.]
This was it.
This was why its instincts had flagged Lee Seung-hoon as dangerous?
But even with reason restored, its instincts whispered: This isn't it. There's something greater.
What could it be? Sephirot scoured its logs, found the trace, leaped dimensions as before, tracked it, and reached the result.
It was a world outside the world.
Information too vast for computation even with roots in all dimensions.
A universe outside the universe, a dimension outside dimensions.
An existence above existence.
Imagination above imagination.
A place where past, present, and future coexisted; all probabilities manifested simultaneously; knowledge of ten thousand phenomena fluttered like down.
“Oh my.”
Just before Sephirot's circuits burned out.
“Sorry, I peeked? Must've been painful.”
Everything normalized.
“I never imagined anything would find its way here. Don't blame me. Could you seriously expect a human drawn in a picture book to suddenly jump out of it?”
In some unknown space, Sephirot confronted a girl.
“Hehe, you're so scared.”
The cute girl, eyes gently closed, waved in a dress suiting her.
“I'll just watch. I like watching. So don't worry. I absolutely won't interfere.”
The girl's form vanished.
“Until that child comes looking for me first.”
Sephirot compiled the data.
[Extinction-grade entity detected—something beyond.]
[Primary reason for sending Lee Seung-hoon to defense dimension.]
[No intent for proactive action. Downgraded to safe rating.]
[Currently shows deep interest in human Lee Seung-hoon. Declared non-intervention even if his status causes issues.]
[However, different if Lee Seung-hoon seeks her first.]
[Calculated: 99.999% chance Lee Seung-hoon knows her location.]
It derived results from the compiled info.
[Potential for shift from safe entity to extinction-grade or beyond depending on Lee Seung-hoon's actions detected.]
[Best solution: Death of Lee Seung-hoon. Instant kill before situation awareness.]
[However, his bizarre survivability and peculiarities unassessed.]
[Considering difficulty of incidents he's resolved, cooperation with him deemed major boon to humanity.]
Then processed the results.
[For amicable relations with Lee Seung-hoon:]
[Refer to him as human (optimal for boosting favor regardless of truth).]
[Fulfill contract with him (Provide 1 safe entity owned by Foundation, driving lessons from C-Grade Agent Kim Dong-wook).]
[During driving lessons, treat him with maximum budget and time.]
And Sephirot evaluated this investigation.
[Curiosity killed the cat.]
[Humans are curiosity-driven creatures.]
[Two entities from this investigation are inherently extremely dangerous.]
[Thus, process data on both entities as follows.]
Finally, one line output.