Chapter 127 - The Victim I

1

Today, let us talk once again about the end of our world.

2

Every time, around fifteen years after a regression begins, a period of peace and stability gradually settles over the Korean Peninsula.

Of course, foreigners and Koreans have long been famous for reacting differently to the phrase “peace on the Korean Peninsula.”

“A siren? What is that? An air raid? Has the Korean War broken out?”

“No. This is normal.”

“What?”

Even while other countries peacefully harvested mackerel and herring from the sea, the East Sea’s local specialty was missile parts.

The end times, with the world stained by the void, were not much different. Even Busan, the peninsula’s largest city in both name and fact, suffered power outages practically every other day, as if whenever things got boring. Anomalies held little social gatherings inside and outside the city.

Seasoned residents of the Korean Peninsula were ready to humbly accept reality, thinking, 'Well, all things considered, this seems pretty peaceful.'

Foreigners were different.

For most regions, “year fifteen” marked the point when civilization began meeting its end, with nothing left anyone could do about it.

[“Mr. Undertaker.”]

“Yes?”

[“A monster wave has been observed in North Korea. We currently estimate that it is moving south from Gando toward the interior of the Korean Peninsula.”]

Monster waves.

A phenomenon in which all the anomalies mass together and surge forward like a tidal wave.

Countless nations and societies were destroyed by this very anomaly. Russia, Türkiye, Iran, Pakistan, India, Mongolia, China...

The Korean Peninsula was no exception.

[“Sixteen hours since the monster wave was observed. The Holy State of the East continues to resist in North Korea, but its final defensive line is in danger.”]

[“The final defensive line has fallen. Urban combat has begun in Pyongyang.”]

[“Mo Gwangseo Christ Cathedral has collapsed. It has just been swallowed by the monster wave. The number of awakened within Pyongyang is plummeting.”]

[“Ah. Light from the cathedral. The light... keeps flashing. We estimate that Mo Gwangseo is dying over and over.”]

[“The Church of Resurrection’s believers in Pyongyang have launched their final charge. Soon, every awakened observable through Clairvoyance will be wiped out. Six, five, four, three, two... One.”]

[“Pyongyang: total annihilation.”]

[“The monster wave continues south.”]

Even if we skipped the runs in which Tenlegs tore us apart and Meteor Strike swept us away—even if we overcame them—humanity could not escape destruction in the end.

Threat Level 4. Ocean-class.

Monster waves were not even anomalies with unique gimmicks like Meteor Strike or Gapless.

True to their name, monster waves were better suited to the simple word “monster” than the strange and mysterious “anomaly.”

There was just one simple reason this thing—no, these things—was so powerful.

[“The monster wave will enter Seoul shortly. The number of anomalies swallowed into the wave is approximately five hundred thousand. Estimated at approximately five hundred thousand.”]

[“Detonating Jamsu Bridge.”]

Overwhelming numbers.

3

“A hundred thousand. Two hundred thousand. Five hundred thousand. In the worst cases, it truly rivals an army a million strong. It’s simply an anomaly we have no answer for.”

“Hmm...”

Naturally, whenever I convened a secret meeting, I shared this information with my sworn allies.

Noh Doha, whom I recruited into my Regression Alliance in every run, let out a troubled hum, as though finding it all a nuisance.

“Is there no particular way to beat it...?”

“There is. According to the information I’ve gathered so far, the first monster wave occurs here, in Istanbul, Türkiye. It appears exactly one day after I regress.”

“Oh...?”

“When it first begins appearing in Istanbul, the monster wave actually isn’t all that difficult. It’s only a thousand anomalies clustered together.”

“A thousand. Hmm, then isn’t that just barely within your ability to defeat alone, Undertaker...?”

“Exactly. So next run, as soon as I land in the Busan Station waiting room, I intend to collect just the Saintess and head straight to Istanbul.”

The Saintess, who had been quietly sipping instant coffee beside us, looked up with a start.

“What?”

Noh Doha and I looked at her. Then we looked back at each other.

“Is it really necessary to take the Saintess? The longer the constellations stay silent, the more the awakened will run wild...?”

“I need the map on when I fight, too. Going with Jiwon would be fine, I suppose, but even I’m not quite up for enjoying a trans-Eurasian trip with a highly intelligent psychopath. I’ll defeat it and return as quickly as possible.”

“Hmmm. Well, understood. Then I’ll prepare a protocol for next run that will let us hold out for at least the first month without you and the Saintess...”

The Saintess cautiously raised her hand.

“Um. I’m sorry. Such a long trip overseas is a little much for me. Mr. Undertaker? Commander Noh Doha. My opinion—”

The end times were far too harsh an era to respect the opinions of a shut-in homebody.

Next run, I crossed Eurasia with the Saintess on my back.

As if all that endless aura training had been for this very moment, my footwork was literally on another level.

“Please tell me whenever you get tired.”

“...! Wait, a sec, just—Mr. Under, taker. A little slow, er—”

“I’m glad you seem to be doing fine.”

Just 113 hours.

That was how long it took to reach Istanbul, Türkiye, bounding across voids crawling with terrifying anomalies of every description and showered with tactical nuclear bombs whenever things got dull.

What a relief that the Saintess had mastered [Time Stop]. Even the human necessity of sleep could be satisfied in an instant by simply clicking time to a halt for a while.

Me? I was perfectly fine going up to six days without sleep.

“Saintess, I’m sorry to ask this as soon as we arrive, but please use the awakened’s fields of vision and let me know immediately if you spot any remnants of the monster wave.”

“... I’ve just decided that I am never traveling with you again, Mr. Undertaker.”

“Don’t worry. I’ll give you an even faster ride back to the Korean Peninsula!”

“...”

Istanbul, one of the most deeply rooted cities in the world, was now suffering from “overtourism” courtesy of the monster wave.

Anomalies of differing natures and types mingled like filthy water, forming a tsunami. This was no mere metaphor: from a distance, they truly resembled a black tidal wave.

Still, getting our travel tickets as early as possible had paid off. The black tidal wave was only surging through western Istanbul.

This much was well within my ability to handle alone.

Enter yours truly.

“No! Impossible. Who on earth are you...?”

“Thank you! Friend who has come from afar! We will never, ever forget the help you have given us!”

The locals, who had been planning a reclamation operation from across the Bosporus, could not contain their gratitude.

The monster wave was exterminated without a hitch. Though both our governments had collapsed, it was a moment that renewed the “brotherhood” between Turks and Koreans.

After casually starring in a little national-pride drama, I returned to my companion.

“Thank you for your hard work, Saintess. Still, we’ve defeated an anomaly that would eventually have grown to Ocean-class. Surely that makes this profoundly meaningful? Let’s return home as soon as possible and share the good news.”

“Ah... Ah...”

“It warms my heart to see how happy you are, too.”

“Ah... Aah... Ah...”

We returned home safely.

Everyone was happy.

And exactly seventeen years later, the entire Korean Peninsula, Busan included, was engulfed by the monster wave’s pitch-black tidal surge and destroyed.

“Hey. You fucking—you crazy regressor bastard. You said you’d exterminated it...?”

“Ah, I’m sorry.”

Those were Noh Doha’s and my last words.

4

What had gone wrong?

To get straight to the conclusion, monster waves were not a phenomenon exclusive to Istanbul.

They simply happened to appear there first. Given the right conditions, a monster wave could emerge anywhere, at any time.

“Conditions? What conditions...?”

“It turns out that once a void grows beyond a certain size, this happens without fail.”

A void had formed in the heart of Istanbul, much as it had in Seoul.

But unlike Seoul, where it had simply swept away everything aboveground, the interior of Istanbul’s void was abnormally vast.

Even by a rough estimate, an area the size of the Mediterranean stretched out within it. This great void, dubbed “Constantinople,” teemed with imaginary crusader anomalies.

“Even if we somehow stop the one in Türkiye, it won’t do any good. Once civilization starts breaking down in earnest, voids become so common you practically trip over them. Germany, India, Russia, Mongolia—monster waves can occur anywhere.”

“Hah...? Then how are we supposed to exterminate them...?”

“In practical terms, we have to consider that impossible.”

Yes.

Even as a regressor, there was nothing I could do about this. That was how immense the power of “sheer numbers” was.

“We’re already struggling just to take responsibility for the Korean Peninsula. We can’t look after the entire Eurasian continent.”

“Well, that’s true...”

“Yes. Of course, if we somehow defend against the enormous anomaly hordes pouring in from Manchuria, survival itself is possible.”

The problem was...

“But monster waves don’t appear once and end there. They keep coming, periodically. Sometimes a month apart. Sometimes a week. As we fend off waves of anomalies numbering in the hundreds of thousands... even with me leading the charge, our losses inevitably accumulate.”

“...”

“After all, awakened are by no means invincible.”

As our fighting strength was chipped away bit by bit, eventually we would reach the point where stopping the monster waves’ southward advance became too much for us.

We could win a reprieve. We could postpone it.

But someday, we would inevitably reach the “end of the line.” Whether we wanted to or not.

The National Road Management Corps conference room fell silent.

Noh Doha let out a hollow laugh.

“Isn’t this a bit of a cheat...?”

Only because it was Noh Doha could he laugh it off at all.

We kept this information to ourselves. Had word spread that such a “guaranteed bad ending” awaited humanity’s future, countless people would have despaired.

At least Tenlegs and Meteor Strike existed as individuals. They could be killed.

But an anomaly that existed only as a collective—a natural phenomenon that could occur at any time? How on earth were we supposed to contend with such a thing?

“Mo Gwangseo’s Church of Resurrection. Isn’t there some way we could put it to use...?”

It was against this backdrop that the proposal to use the Holy State of the East as a puppet state emerged.

From Noh Doha’s perspective, he probably wanted to erect even a “human wall” in the north. A means to delay the monster waves’ advance south, however slightly.

It was an effective method, but not a perfect solution.

I, too, sank into deep thought.

“Hmmm.”

Besieged on all sides.

As the runs went by, I steadily accumulated strategies against the other anomalies, while always pondering a definitive solution to monster waves. Yet no brilliant idea would come to me.

While I sat on a sofa in Café Hideout, imitating Rodin’s The Thinker, green-haired Sim Aryeon suddenly trotted over.

“G-Guild Leadeeer...”

“Hmm? What is it?”

“Y-you know the Meteor Strike anomaly you told me about last time? That one. I finished its illustration today... I want to post it on the SG Net board under [Librarian of the Great Library]. W-would that be okay...?”

Our Aryeon wanted to play constellation again.

I readily nodded. Ever since witnessing her reduced to sixteen-bit pixels in the Logout Game, I had become something of a soft touch where this girl was concerned.

“Go ahead.”

“Yay! G-Guild Leader, you’re the best! Hehehe. Predicting anomalies that haven’t even appeared yet and acting like a constellation is so much fun...!”

Just as Sim Aryeon went tumbling off in a hurry toward her homeland—the world of the internet—a certain inspiration flashed through my mind.

“...!”

It was an utterly tremendous revelation.

Had I majored in art, I would have slapped Picasso across the face on the spot. Had I been a Buddhist, I would have immediately laid out a lotus cushion beside Shakyamuni.

“Aryeon, wait!”

“Y-yes?”

“I’m just asking, but how do you think you’d feel if every human living on this earth—or at least everyone on the Korean Peninsula—came to hate you?”

“What...?”

“Of course, they wouldn’t really hate you personally. For instance—yes. The Goryeojang villain. Or [Librarian of the Great Library]. The being you play would receive the most vicious hatred and contempt in the world.”

“G-Guild Leader. Have you been calling me the ‘Goryeojang villain’ in your head when you think of my username?”

“That’s not important right now. Just answer my question! Quickly.”

“Hmmm...”

Sim Aryeon rested her index finger against her chin.

“I-if people singled me out personally and hated me, obviously I wouldn’t like that, as a person...”

“But?”

“If something I was playing monopolized all that incredible hatred... I-I don’t think that would be bad. But why?”

“No, I understand. Thank you for answering. Now go devote yourself to your villainy.”

“I-I’m not a villain!”

In the next run—run 217—I put my unprecedented idea into practice.

Recruiting Seo Gyu, Sim Aryeon, the Saintess, and the others as companions immediately after regressing was no different from previous runs.

But just as Tenlegs, the solitary gourmet, was about to begin rampaging through the Korean Peninsula in earnest...

[The ‘Saintess of National Salvation,’ stricken with grief, announces to the humans of this land that darkness has descended.]

The peninsula’s awakened received a new message unlike anything they had ever witnessed before.

[The ‘Saintess of National Salvation’ urges the awakened to check Constellation Net immediately.]

Though puzzled by the cryptic message, the awakened logged onto SG Net.

And...

As soon as they logged in, they saw a certain post appear on the site as a “pop-up window.”

――――――――――

Author: ‘Collector of All Anomalies’

Greetings, human awakened active on the Korean Peninsula.

I am a constellation who has long taken an interest in your activities.

For your benefit, as you have been producing meaningful results compared to other regions, I have decided that the Korean Peninsula needs a somewhat more... “difficult choice.” (Laughs)

Beginning today, my apostle, known as ‘Tenlegs,’ will appear in the Korean Peninsula region.

Tenlegs possesses innumerable tentacles. If one of these tentacles impales you, escaping death will be difficult.

Moreover, its tentacles continually regenerate in real time. Even if you succeed in severing one tentacle, others will simply grow in its place.

Will you truly be able to endure this trial unscathed as well?

My, even though I thought of it myself, this looks to be a most interesting “experiment.” (Laughs)

I wish you luck.

――――――――――

And shortly afterward, Tenlegs truly appeared, inflicting numerous losses.

“Aaaaaah!”

Sim Aryeon, logged onto SG Net under the username [Collector of All Anomalies], cheered. Yes. That was a cheer, not a scream.

“G-Guild Leader! Amazing! This is absolutely amazing! The power! The voices and curses of people who hate me... so many, so much! They’re pouring into me...!”

“Mm.”

“I-I feel like I could do anything right now! Oh my god! Guild Leader! I feel so strong...!”

That’s right.

Why hide it?

A project to make every major anomaly that would appear on the Korean Peninsula seem to have been sent by one particular constellation.

A system that would naturally channel the grudges and resentment directed at those anomalies toward their “mastermind.”

Its operation name was <Zero Requiem>.