Chapter 188: Caleb the Possessor
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 188: Caleb the Possessor
Name.
Kim Jeong-hoon.
Major: Next-Generation Intelligent Semiconductors at S University.
I earned my Ph.D. under my advisor, but I never managed to write the kind of groundbreaking thesis I’d hoped for. Objectively speaking, it wasn't for lack of effort on my part; research is just a field that relies heavily on luck.
For that reason, I quickly gave up on an academic career.
Instead, I used my doctoral research to launch my own startup, but it went under in two years after failing to secure any investment.
Venture capitalists focused more on a founder's career and background than on the product itself. They'd throw money at professors even if they pitched something straight out of a fantasy novel, but they were skeptical of a young Ph.D. That was the first time I realized it.
Eventually, I jumped into the job market and landed a senior researcher position at a major corporation.
I was put in charge of a project, and it was pure agony.
I barely had time for research. I was constantly being called away to give presentations, write reports, submit performance reviews for my team members, and file expense reports for supplies.
If this was how it was going to be, they should have just taken me out of the lab and made me a full-time manager.
We were short on researchers, short on funding, and the project schedule was tight. What the hell was I supposed to do?
I debated whether I should just adapt to the unacceptable environment and tough it out, but I knew my personality wasn't suited for a thirty-year career there, so I resigned.
Strangely enough, that’s when I developed an interest in law.
I’d had a nasty run-in with a patent dispute during my last project.
But for someone like me, who had jumped through every hoop in the world of science and engineering, switching to the legal profession was too great a leap.
‘Becoming a lawyer or a prosecutor is too hard. What about a patent attorney? I could make use of my major.’
After two years of studying and burning through my savings, I passed the patent attorney exam.
I’d always had a knack for studying.
The problem was the low income.
Of course, I knew I could make good money after gaining some experience and opening my own firm, but I was getting impatient.
While my undergraduate classmates had graduated early, gotten office jobs at big companies, and were now raking in cash, buying apartments, getting married, and having kids, I felt like I was just running in place.
Where was the one place that would value me the most, a place where I could gather everything I had—all my experience—and make it all pay off in one big shot?
After much thought, I joined Sam-byul Venture Capital.
“Wow! My goodness! Talent like this!”
I’m not lying. That’s what they actually said to me in the interview.
“We’ve been focusing our investments in the semiconductor sector lately. And you have a Ph.D. in semiconductors from a top university, startup experience, a background as a research team leader at a major corporation, and you’re a patent attorney!”
My resume, which was like a complete gift basket, shattered the narrow gateway of that massive investment firm and landed me in the seat of a lead VC.
With a higher salary than any of my undergraduate classmates.
And the promise of a massive incentive bonus.
Hmm.
How should I put it?
It was a thrill similar to flipping the turn-based hourglass and watching all the spells you’d laid out detonate at once.
My research, my startup, my corporate job.
Every attempt had ended in a mediocre, or perhaps even poor, outcome. But now, all the foundation stones I had laid throughout my life came together to hit a come-from-behind grand slam.
It came with a sense of self-reassurance, a feeling that I had, after all, lived my life diligently.
I had found the exit to my life, which had felt like being lost in a labyrinth.
When I got home, I started up that game again.
Labyrinth of the Abyss.
Whenever things weren't going well in the graduate lab or at the office.
Whenever I was studying for the patent attorney exam in a reading room and felt my anger boil over.
I would often play that game.
It helped calm my mind.
It was a game notorious for its high difficulty, but how easy it was compared to life.
In life, no matter how meticulously you plan your path, some ridiculous, bullshit thing almost always happens to ruin your plans.
It’s rare for things to go smoothly as planned.
But a game is easy.
You just arrange your magic and skills like you’re solving a puzzle, plan your route, and proceed step by step.
That’s all it takes to win.
[Developer Difficulty]
Even a difficulty like this was no different.
I chose the Turn-Based Hourglass special ability, started the game, and found myself in front of the magic university. Dressed in slave clothes.
*
There’s no doubt.
My memory is flawless.
So where and how did things get so twisted?
“You are not a possessor.”
Bipa’s words were a shock.
Looking back now, there were some strange things.
First, I’m different from the other possessors.
What was possession like for Blackdog and the other Assembly members? They slipped into the bodies of people who were already active in Sohen. Not characters they had created.
That’s why mages like Growling Chihuahua already had a Memory Book at the moment of possession. But I started from level 1 with nothing.
Furthermore, Blackdog said he couldn't level up through ‘sleep’ like in the game. But I could even level up my party members that way.
‘What’s the problem?’
My mind is going blank.
Am I really a possessor?
Why is there a gap in my memory?
I know nothing about the time before my possession!
“It’s as if…”
The Spider Doctor spoke.
“It’s similar to how modern humanity knows nothing of the era of the Nine Kings.”
One thing does come to mind now.
The master-level Hourglass skill, ‘Paradoxical Time Trader.’
At a Fountain of Blessing in the Labyrinth, I was able to acquire skills for the Hourglass.
A total of four skills were presented. At the novice level, they were: 1. Direction Adjuster, 2. Time Trader, 3. Memory Book Editor, and 4. Mind Controller.
I acquired Direction Adjuster and Time Trader. At the last Fountain of Blessing on the 6th floor, I was presented with the master-level versions of only those two skills. And I acquired Ranged Direction Adjuster, the advanced version of Direction Adjuster.
I didn't acquire the master skill for Time Trader, but I did read its description. That was Paradoxical Time Trader.
Its effect was to ‘rewind real time by 60 seconds.’
It was a real-world version of the ‘undo a turn’ option from the classic difficulty. The effect was certainly powerful, but it came with the major penalty of shattering the Hourglass.
But…
‘The hourglass in the Ethereal Galaxy was broken.’
Could someone have cast a regression skill with that enormous hourglass?
Perhaps that caused me to regress to a point even further in the past than my intended possession, creating a problem with the possession itself and wiping my memory in the process.
It’s a wild guess, full of gaps, but it’s the most plausible theory I can come up with right now.
But if so, who used the hourglass’s regression?
The sheer size of that hourglass was on a completely different dimension from my own.
It was as if…
‘It proved the claim that a single turn for Wizus or the Labyrinth Master lasts thirty thousand years.’
Dalstream said it was impossible for humans to fathom the history and wisdom of the universe.
Because the Grand Game between Wizus and the Labyrinth Master is fought on too vast a scale, under the pressure of an immense timer.
No matter how wise the pieces on that game board may be, they can never fully grasp where they are headed or what they are fighting against.
Dammit.
Could it be the same for me?
It feels like Wizus used an ‘undo a turn,’ and I’m just a mouse scurrying around inside it, lost.
It really is…
‘A shitty feeling.’
I guess I can’t help my personality.
But this really does feel like shit.
Dalstream might have humbled himself, talking about the eons of wisdom and history of the Ethereal Galaxy and the Labyrinth.
But I can’t stand this.
These forces, like fate or some cosmic law, that seem to be controlling and eating away at my life behind my back, without my knowledge.
It’s just like that time in my Ph.D. program when a similar paper was published by MIT right before I submitted my own to a journal, making my seven years of research fizzle out.
It’s just like when I listened to that rigid VC explain that having a professor title was more advantageous for passing investment reviews, even if the item and the logic were sound.
Or like when I was a research team leader at the company, and some parachute executive from the finance department cut our team’s research budget without any consultation, screwing up our equipment purchases, and then, when I brought the research director to confront him, he made some bullshit excuse about a ‘misclick.’
I’m so angry.
My hands are literally shaking.
I’m the kind of person who is only satisfied when I’m the one planning and designing things.
A control freak.
Maybe that’s what you’d call me, but I absolutely cannot stand situations I can’t control.
“Ca-Caleb…?”
Bipa studied my face with a worried expression.
“Are you okay?”
“…Yes.”
Calm down.
Thinking about it another way, this isn't the first or second time something like this has happened.
My Ph.D., my startup, my corporate job.
I’ve been through countless shitty situations. All that matters is hitting that come-from-behind grand slam at the end, right?
“I’m fine.”
I need to see what lies in the abyss of this story. I’m going to find out everything and take back control.
“I want to ask the three of you. Back when I was in Hyedam’s party.”
Let’s start from here.
“What happened with the Labyrinth Master?”
*
Wyndham’s greatest Deep Layer adventurers: Hyedam, Bipa, and Mugol.
The three-person party was famous for rarely ever filling its final spot.
There was always just one third-rate, rookie porter tagging along.
Of course, he could never go to the Deep Layer. The elevator didn't go that far.
“Let’s go!”
So, the trio of Hyedam would take one rookie and commit the eccentric act of forcing their way straight to the Deep Layer in a single push.
Why on earth would they do such a thing?
If anyone asked, the party leader, Hyedam, would say it was a hobby, but the truth was…
“Caleb!”
It was because of her fiancé waiting at home.
“You’re a little late today.”
“It took a while to settle the accounts. Here, this is our income from this adventure.”
Hyedam, who had lived her whole life in Fox Pass and was naive about the ways of the world, had handed over all financial control to her fiancé.
And Caleb would use that money to prepare the supplies Hyedam would need for her next venture into the Labyrinth’s floors.
For the 3rd floor, anti-confusion measures and cold-weather countermeasures.
For the 4th floor, dust-proofing methods to block volcanic ash.
For the 5th floor, ways to avoid sunburn and methods for hydration.
And on top of that, strategies for the various Exit Bosses and ways to overcome the special zones.
The reason Hyedam became Wyndham’s top adventurer in just two months wasn't simply because of her own exceptional skills.
And…
“I think it’ll be okay, Caleb. You can come with us now.”
Caleb had always wanted to enter the Labyrinth with Wyndham’s trio.
The reason Hyedam had consistently refused was because the Labyrinth was dangerous. She was worried the three of them wouldn't be able to protect Caleb.
“Let’s go together.”
But now, Hyedam was sure.
After a few ‘practice runs’ with some rookies, she calculated that the three of them could protect Caleb with room to spare.
“If you’re with us, you won’t be in any danger, even in the Deep Layer.”
Wyndham’s strongest shaman, Hyedam of the Eight-Tailed Fox Spirit tribe, was full of confidence.
“Unless we happen to run into the Labyrinth Master.”
“Finally!”
Caleb was overjoyed.
As if, despite not being an adventurer himself, it had been his dream to enter the Abyss with them.