The Second Gate's Examinees: Me and Gu Jun-hyeok
The examinees for the second gate were me and Gu Jun-hyeok. But no matter how I looked around, I couldn't spot Gu Jun-hyeok anywhere.
The test we were seeing couldn't be different for each of us. If it were, there would be immediate suspicions of unfairness. In the Charity Holy Mark reelection exam, where fairness was layered upon fairness, Florence Academy wouldn't make such a stupid mistake.
Thud.
At that moment, something fell from the sky. It was a notebook. A notebook that had suddenly appeared out of thin air. I immediately flipped it open.
muš: snake
Aushk: love
nuru: light
…….
"……A dictionary?"
The notebook contained characters that looked vaguely like English but weren't, with their meanings written beside them. It was formatted like a dictionary or a word list. Suddenly, memories of cramming English vocabulary for the entrance exam triggered a wave of PTSD.
I flipped through the pages, meticulously examining the words listed in the notebook. But there wasn't a single clue that stood out. It was just an endless list of words from some unknown language and their meanings beside them.
Thud.
I closed the notebook and gazed at the construction site visible in the distance. Overseers were cracking whips at the laborers, who were sweating profusely as they hauled stones.
All the judging criteria were confidential. The notebook, which I'd expected to hold hints, was filled with nothing but useless words. I had no idea where Gu Jun-hyeok was. There was too little information to deduce anything.
Racking my brain while standing still wouldn't yield anything.
"Hoo."
In that case, the best approach was to dive in headfirst. I started walking toward the construction site.
*
I soon arrived at the construction site.
"───!"
"──, ────!"
The site was filled with noise. The overseers' shouts. The laborers' grunts as they moved stones. There were even work chants. But I couldn't understand what any of it meant. They were conversing in their own language, neither Korean nor English.
[Hmm. I'm not entirely sure what language it is. I've definitely heard it somewhere before...]
Legba let out a thoughtful hum. Even Legba, proficient in linguistics, didn't know this language. It must have been the unique tongue of the Ark's "natives."
If language was a barrier, the situation grew even more complicated. At least if we could communicate, I could try persuasion with the eloquence I'd honed as cult leader. But without a common language, there was no room for persuasion. No matter what I said, they wouldn't understand me, and I wouldn't understand them.
Crack!
As I wandered blankly toward the site, a whip flew from somewhere and narrowly grazed past my feet. I turned my head to see an overseer with hands on hips, glaring at me with a fierce expression.
"───?"
The overseer said something. Naturally, I couldn't understand it.
"───. ───!!"
As I stared blankly at his face, he shouted with an even more crumpled expression. I involuntarily stepped back, intimidated. His voice was really loud.
The overseer twitched his eyebrows in confusion, then called over another overseer and whispered to him. After their hushed exchange, they both looked up, eyeing me warily as they spoke.
"───? ────!"
"What are you even saying─"
"……? ──? ───! ───!!"
"H-Hey, wait a second. Why are you suddenly─"
The moment I opened my mouth, the atmosphere turned hostile. The overseers advanced toward me with threatening postures, as if ready to lash my body at any second. Even the laborers hauling stones glanced at me with fearful eyes, sensing the intruder.
"───! ────!"
Crack!
"Wha─ wait, no."
With the overseer's shout, the whip came threateningly at me. I backed away slowly, and the overseers matched my pace, advancing slowly but menacingly.
I could have used Loa powers to eliminate them all, but the two undisclosed judging criteria worried me. There might be a condition like "Do not kill the Ark's natives," so I couldn't kill the overseers recklessly. And of course, there was guilt too.
That left one option.
Whoosh!
"……! ──! ────!!"
"────!!!"
Run. The overseers weren't fast runners, so I could shake them off easily without even using Bosu's power. Glancing back, they were chasing me, swinging their whips threateningly.
How many minutes did I run? Eventually, the whip cracks stopped. The pursuing overseers had returned to the site.
"Hah, huff... ha, ah. What the hell am I supposed to do here?"
I barely hid in a rocky cave near the construction site and caught my breath slowly. It was bad enough that we couldn't communicate, but the overseers were hostile toward me. Not only could I not stop the construction, I couldn't even approach the site. Sneaking in past the overseers might be possible, but even then, I doubted I'd find a way to halt the work.
[This is tricky.]
As my racing heart gradually calmed, Legba muttered.
"What?"
[...Open the notebook.]
I had no idea why suddenly, but I opened it as instructed. In my mind, Legba's humming continued for a while. Finally, he cleared his throat and spoke.
[As I thought. The language they're using is Sumerian. All the words in the notebook are Sumerian too.]
"Su-mer, what?"
[Sumerian.]
Legba said. The sun was just beginning to set toward the horizon, sunlight seeping into the cave. Crouched in the darkness, I used the incoming light like a lamp to examine the notebook. It contained thousands of words and hundreds of grammar rules summarized.
I had some confidence in language acquisition. If I put my mind to studying Sumerian, I could reach basic conversational level in a few days.
"……Time."
The problem was, I only had one hour. Mastering a brand-new language in an hour was impossible. If Legba knew Sumerian fluently, it would be easier, but...
[It's a language extinct for thousands of years, so my memory isn't complete. I can vaguely infer what they're saying from a few audible words, but I can't form sentences to persuade them.]
"Infer?"
[I can grasp the general meaning from key words I can understand.]
Unfortunately, even Legba wasn't fully fluent in Sumerian. Grasping rough meanings wouldn't be enough to persuade them.
"……."
The situation felt utterly hopeless. As my thoughts turned negative, I shook my head.
The core of persuasion wasn't linguistic fluency. The most important elements were persuasiveness and emotional appeal. A true persuasion expert could sway hearts with just a few words.
Clink.
I pulled it from my pocket. The "Fourth Angel's Trumpet" from Bae Jeong-hwan. A holy relic that temporarily blinded those who heard its sound.
……There was a way.
*
Whoooosh...
Wind blew across the barren desert plain on the way back to the construction site. I turned to look behind. Footprints in the sand were scattering in the wind and vanishing.
The sun had long set, the only light the faint glow from the starry sky.
Rumble─!
As I neared the site, the majestic sound of stacking the tower reverberated. Even the grains of sand seemed to tremble in shock.
The night desert was cold and harsh, yet the construction continued unabated. I carefully approached the site, avoiding the overseers' eyes.
"───!"
"──, ────!"
"───? ───?!"
A conflict had arisen during the work; laborers and overseers were arguing. It was fortunate for me. I slipped into the chaos, blending among them stealthily.
Sharp-eyed laborers tilted their heads curiously at me, but that was it. They didn't report me to the overseers.
"As expected."
I'd anticipated it, but the laborers and overseers didn't get along. While laborers sweated hauling stones diligently, overseers stood with arms crossed, barking orders. No wonder the laborers resented them.
That worked in my favor. I took out the trumpet from my pocket and infused it with a small amount of divine power.
Toot...
A weak, deflating balloon-like trumpet sound. Some natives who heard it rubbed their eyes and looked around, thinking dust had gotten in. But no matter how much they rubbed, the darkness didn't lift.
Realizing they'd gone completely blind, the natives collapsed, screaming.
"───! ───?"
"──! ───! ───!!"
Grotesque screams on the boundary between human and beast, wails of despair. Alarmed overseers came rushing. Even as overseers lashed whips and shouted angrily, the laborers wouldn't rise. They just sat screaming until their throats gave out.
The site filled instantly with cries and chaos. Laborers' screams and overseers' shouts drowned out the sounds of hauling stones and building the tower.
But my plan wasn't over.
Toooooot─!!
Another trumpet blast. This time, I poured in as much divine power as possible. A much louder, grander sound.
All natives—laborers and overseers alike—collapsed screaming in blindness.
"────!!!"
"───! ────!!!"
Blindness spread like a plague. Chaos intensified. With even overseers blinded, construction naturally halted.
But it wasn't "completely" stopped yet. The Fourth Angel's Trumpet only blinded temporarily. Their sight would return, and work would resume.
I needed to drive the final nail.
"……Bosu."
Gazing at the Babel Tower soaring skyward, I summoned Bosu. To stop the construction, I had to climb that tower first.
Crack.
I jammed the trumpet into the wall like a pickaxe and began climbing the tower like a rock face.
*
The blinded laborers screamed. Not all, but some overseers too, wailed in blindness. Blindness spread like plague.
The site brimmed with chaos, fear, and terror.
"──? ───?! ───!!!"
As everyone wailed or trembled in fear, someone gently caressed their eyes and slowly stood.
He, who had lost sight first, regained it first and shed tears of joy.
"……! ───!!"
"───? ──? ───!!"
Starting with the first recovery, laborers' sights returned one by one. Overseers' too.
Regaining vision, they—laborer or overseer—embraced, weeping in joy.
Rumble...
But before joy could settle, an ominous sound.
The natives knelt instantly, bowing heads. It was surely the sound of heaven's wrath.
Flash.
Lightning struck from the sky, hitting the tower's center waist precisely. Thick, ominous black smoke billowed from the strike point.
Natives bowed for heaven's mercy while some lifted heads to witness its fury.
"……──?"
Then, someone who looked up voiced doubt.
At the lightning strike spot stood someone. From their fingertips rose a pure flame never seen before.
Whoosh!
The growing ember became a pillar of fire, descending before the kneeling natives.
Sweat poured from natives like floods. Not just from the heat, but indescribable terror at witnessing divine wrath and miracle.
Whoooosh─.
Wind blew. The scorching pillar threatening to devour them scattered in the wind.
With it, the one atop the tower spoke.
"──."
Me.
He on the tower said that. Natives presumed him god, angel bearing god's will, or prophet.
With vital yet appropriately measured voice, he continued.
"──, ──, ───, ──."
Light, blasphemy, wrath, punishment.
It wasn't full speech. Just enumeration of words.
Yet natives understood his intent, slamming foreheads to ground in obeisance.
"I" meant "I am that I am, self-existent one." Announcing descent of god or equivalent.
Enumeration of "light, blasphemy, wrath, punishment" warned: Angered by blasphemy against light, punishment descends.
I have come to punish blasphemers of light. God declared thus.
Natives huddled, trembling. Some convulsed in excessive fear. They deemed it divine punishment too.
Whoosh!
Then, he atop the tower ignited fire. His flame banished desert's harsh dark and cold.
With it, he spoke again.
"─."
End, or last. Exact meaning unclear, but vaguely: stop construction now.
Natives trembled bowed in endless fear.
His flame swelled to pillar again, but didn't descend—instead engulfed him.
He became one with fire, ascending to heaven and vanishing.
"───……."
"──? ───!"
"───……!"
Witnessing god's miracle, natives cheered—laughing, crying, or terror-stricken.
Any will to resume construction had long vanished from their hearts.
And behind the tower they'd watched, in darkness untouched by native eyes.
"Phew... Not sure if that worked."
He who appeared with lightning, vanished with fire pillar. The god-angel-prophet impersonator... Do Seon-woo sighed deeply, hanging his head.
(To be continued in the next chapter)