Chapter 181 - The Being III

4

Have you ever wondered which professions would survive even the end of the world?

Soldiers? Chekhov’s Gun had mostly finished them off. Artists? A regressor who favored writers alone had effectively wiped them out.

“Your Excellency. Operations Control Office Team Two has assembled.”

Surprisingly, the answer was “civil servants.”

“Good. Well done.”

“Not at all, Your Excellency.”

KRRR-BOOM!

Thunder rolled across the night sky, courtesy of the autumn rain.

As Yu Jiwon’s silver hair elegantly drank in the rainwater, members of the National Road Management Corps stood in ranks behind her: the Operations Control Office’s strike force, numbering 108 in all.

With the Armed Forces gone, these were the elite civil servants responsible for exercising state-sanctioned violence on the Korean Peninsula.

Not a single one of them had gone without my instruction in aura or a guide to developing their awakened abilities.

“...”

“...”

Naturally, their discipline was ironclad. The gazes they fixed on me radiated almost boundless respect.

I clasped my hands behind my back.

“An unidentified anomaly has spread like a virus. So far, there are 504 infected individuals across the Korean Peninsula. Busan has the highest number, at 311.”

“...”

“Seeing a ‘boat’ is the condition for infection. We’re fortunate it’s nighttime rather than daytime. Even at dawn, the fishing population would have been devastated. In fact, most of the infected were fishing at night.”

A grim tension shone in the Corps members’ eyes.

It wasn’t just because living through COVID as children had left them traumatized by viruses.

In this age of scarce food, fish were practically a staple. Apart from the fact that every fish was now essentially as dangerous as a pufferfish, they were wonderfully nutritious side dishes.

In short, even tomorrow’s meals were now in jeopardy.

“The anomaly’s official designation is ‘Ship of Theseus.’ During operations, we will refer to it as T. T is growing at a terrifying rate. Depending on circumstances, even the sound of the word ‘boat,’ not merely its image, may cause infection. From this moment onward, all boat-related words are prohibited. Understood?”

“Yes, Your Excellency!”

The Corps combat team answered in unison.

Why did they insist on calling me “Your Excellency”? Well, uh. Because their boss was the silver-haired psychopath standing beside me.

“Those infected with T are running indiscriminately through the city, luring uncontaminated citizens toward bodies of water and boats.”

“...”

“The National Road Management Corps has already taken action, but we cannot predict where unexpected casualties may arise. There is a strong possibility that the infected are carrying photographs of boats and similar materials. Be prepared to put on blindfolds at any time. That is all.”

The Corps members snapped off a salute, their movements so impeccably disciplined that Mussolini would have envied them.

I pressed a hand to my forehead. I’d told them countless times to stop doing that, but they never fucking listened.

Still, their competence was undeniable.

What Mussolini should really have envied wasn’t their crisp salutes, but their fighting power.

“Your Excellency. We’ve captured them all.”

Before the night was over, every infected individual in the Busan area had been captured.

“Casualties?”

“Two affected. Based on your information, we organized capture teams of three, with at least one member always wearing a blindfold. That allowed us to minimize casualties.”

The reason for the blindfolds, of course, was that the infected tried to show people boat-related images at every opportunity.

Apparently, one of them had even tattooed a boat on their own body.

With the culprit unconscious, a team member had let their guard down, seen the boat drawn on the crown of the culprit’s head, and become infected.

In other words, the anomaly had made someone with alopecia areata tattoo their own bald spot.

Now you all understand why I categorically reject coexistence between anomalies and humanity, right? Anomalies. You are creatures that should not exist.

“Saintess, how are the other regions faring?”

[“Generally well. Incheon has been hit hardest, but almost all the infected there have been captured too. Daejeon and Sejong have had no casualties at all.”]

“So inland areas really are less affected.”

[“Yes. At this rate, I think we can completely cut off the routes of infection before dawn.”]

I breathed a sigh of relief.

“Then the problem now is...”

[“Yes. SG Net.”]

My heart grew heavy.

In the real world, we could simply isolate people. The internet was another matter.

Even now, SG Net was being flooded with posts and comments of every description.

-A beautiful ark.jpg

-Click this post and I’ll give you 3 million won

-I’m scared anyone wanna talk??

-No boat pics here so come on in

-[Must Read] Tips for boarding the ark!!

Every last one was bait.

Most were posts containing boat photographs.

Even posts with no displayed images weren’t safe. They contained painstakingly crafted ASCII art.

In fact, four awakened had already become infected after ignoring the constellations’ warning: [Do not access SG Net under any circumstances for the time being]. Were they idiots?

“Saintess. Are you certain all the awakened whose usernames are posting now have been captured?”

[“Of course. We’ve confiscated all their smartphones too. There aren’t any macros running elsewhere, either.”]

“And yet posts are still appearing under their usernames, without any trouble...”

[“Yes. Presumably, T has infected not only the people in reality, but their online ‘usernames’ as well.”]

Their personas, so to speak.

As Sim Aryeon demonstrated, quite a few people believed the true world existed inside their monitors.

Even if they weren’t quite that far gone, a considerable number distinguished between their “online self” and their “real-world self.”

The Ship of Theseus had exploited that gap.

-Is my online self real? Is my real-world self real? What is my true self? Does the concept of “me” actually exist?

Something along those lines.

Ultimately, the anomaly had infected not just the “me living in reality,” but the “me roaming the internet” as well.

They had literally become internet ghosts.

We’d succeeded in apprehending the infected people, but we had no way to deal with the virus carriers inside SG Net.

What could we do? Seo Gyu himself, the one with administrative authority over SG Net, had already lost his marbles.

“Your Excellency. I have a secret stratagem,” Yu Jiwon said.

“What is it?”

“Isn’t SG Net a virtual space that cannot be maintained without its administrator, Seo Gyu? Therefore—”

“If your secret stratagem is to kill Seo Gyu, don’t even say it.”

Yu Jiwon obediently shut her mouth.

‘What do I do?’

Even now, the Ship of Theseus was evolving in real time.

The lettering that read “SG Net” on the homepage began to warp strangely.

Its form writhed and shifted into “kll Net,” “suicde Net,” and “u kll.”

For now, it was only fiddling with letters, but before long, it would probably be able to alter image files at will, parasitizing Seo Gyu’s awakened ability.

Once it placed a boat image on the site’s homepage, that would be the end.

An internet anomaly that humanity must never access would be born. And every other website was already down.

‘I can’t lose Seo Gyu in such a ridiculous way.’

I racked my brains.

‘Boats. Boats. Boats. Charon, the ferryman. Something that carries people to another world. A means of traveling from this shore to the other shore. How do I get rid of this? What are a boat’s weaknesses? Water? Typhoons?’

Just then, a strange sound reached me from afar.

“Ahhhhh...”

Singing.

A strand of song was drifting toward us from downtown Busan.

“Hm?”

Yu Jiwon and I turned our heads at the same time.

A melody resonated from speakers installed throughout Busan.

Strangely, the moment I heard the song, the fatigue throughout my body began to ease.

“Ah. The Great Witch is singing.”

“In the middle of the night?”

“Yes. Haven’t the Corps members, the Three Thousand Worlds guild members, and Busan’s citizens been toiling all night? A superhuman such as yourself may be an exception, but most are complaining of fatigue and pain. The Great Witch is probably using Spell-Song Chanting to soothe their sleeplessness, however slightly.”

“Ah... I see. I hadn’t thought of that.”

I admired Dang Seorin’s thoughtfulness, but Yu Jiwon sneered indifferently.

“Winning the public’s favor whenever she can by ostentatiously singing at moments like these. A political maneuver worthy of Busan’s Great Witch.”

“Hey, Jiwon. I keep telling you, you need to get rid of that nasty streak. I know you only act this way in front of me, but if anyone else finds out, you’ll really—”

It happened right then.

An idea flashed like lightning through the folds of my brain and shot straight down my spine.

‘—Wait. A song? A ship that starts with T?’

As I’ve mentioned several times, the nape of my neck had developed sixth-sense nerve cells absent in other Homo sapiens.

Another name for them was goose bumps. Those goose bumps were now chorusing “Eureka!” in unison.

“A song. Yes, a song!”

“Your Excellency? I beg your pardon?”

“Jiwon! Grab some recording equipment and let’s go see Dang Seorin right now! I’ve thought of a real secret stratagem to defeat T!”

The expressionless psychopath tilted her head.

5

In fact, there was another ship just as famous as the ark in Genesis.

The Titanic.

When it sailed from Britain in 1912, it was the world’s largest passenger liner.

Seeing its luxurious grandeur, the press dubbed it “unsinkable.” Meaning it would never sink.

Naturally, in pop culture, when anyone other than the protagonist bears a title like “undefeated” or “invincible,” that is merely an Eastern-style euphemism for “will inevitably lose someday” or “will inevitably fall to an enemy someday.”

In 1912, Britain had long monopolized the starring role in Earth’s theater, but across the Atlantic, the young country noblewoman Miss America was rapidly rising to prominence.

With “Unsinkable” setting out between Britain and America under those circumstances, the tragedy to come was plain as day. It was the opening act of a change in Earth’s leading player.

The film inspired by this true story was James Cameron’s <Titanic>.

And <Titanic> was famous as a masterpiece that blinded and deafened its audience.

First, Leonardo DiCaprio’s insane good looks blinded them. Then, what deafened them was—

“Uh... Undertaker. You want me to sing?”

“Yes.”

“And <My Heart Will Go On>, at that?”

“Precisely.”

That’s right.

<My Heart Will Go On>.

Composed by James Horner. Sung by Celine Dion.

One of the most successful songs in cinema history.

“... Why, all of a sudden? That’s your go-to song, not mine.”

“Because we’re going to play it over speakers, and your voice is overwhelmingly better than mine.”

“But your English pronunciation is better...”

“It’s fine. Just pronounce it as if it’s Latin instead of English, and there won’t be any problems.”

“Oh?”

Dang Seorin, the greatest idol in all Korea (TOEIC score: 560), delivered a flawless rendition of the English pop song.

Recording in hand, I went straight to Seo Gyu first.

“Seo Gyu.”

“Yes, Boss. But what is Seo Gyu? Is it a designation referring to the administrator of SG Net? Or, according to your claims, does it mean the human destined to die first at Busan Station if you leave him to his own devices? In that case, one could consider the Seo Gyu from a run in which he died first at Busan Station and the present Seo Gyu to be different people—”

“Cut the bullshit and listen to the song.”

“Aaaaaaagh!”

Seo Gyu thrashed, his limbs bound with ropes.

“Get outside! The walls will be sealed off! Get out! Leave your luggage! Lower away! Lower the boat! Lower away! Aaaaaah!”

“...”

Seo Gyu screamed and struggled desperately, as though water were truly flooding in before his eyes and the Titanic were sinking.

Noh Doha, who, like us, had been engrossed in containment work all night, muttered in disbelief.

“Wait, this actually works...?”

“We were lucky. The Ship of Theseus starts with T, just like Titanic, and the anomaly wasn’t content with reality, extending into virtual spaces too. So if we sink a ship in a movie, the anomaly likewise has no choice but to sink.”

This was the fatal end awaiting an anomaly that had rashly tried to level up.

The more concepts an anomaly contaminates, the greater its influence becomes. But at the same time, its weaknesses become that much clearer.

A fine example of how recklessly expanding your territory can get you taken out in a single blow.

Ultimately, an anomaly that doesn’t want to be easily defeated has no choice but to keep its true identity thoroughly hidden. The Gods of Alienation don’t lie low for nothing.

“Haaah, haaah... Huh? B-Boss?”

“Yes, Seo Gyu. Who are you?”

“What? Uh, what do you mean, who am I...? I’m Seo Gyu, obviously?”

I nodded. Definitely effective.

With the countermeasure proven, we immediately played <My Heart Will Go On> for every infected person.

Oh, and of course, we made it SG Net’s background music too.

-Aaaaaaagh!

-It’s sinking! The ship is sinking!

-Everyone ruuuuun!

But there was nowhere to hide on SG Net. The anomalies that had turned into internet ghosts helplessly “sank.”

I patted the shoulder of Noh Doha, who was exhausted from working all night.

“Good work, Commander.”

“...”

“There’s no need to thank me. Even though a new anomaly was born at your fingertips, causing deaths, and even though it was only the competence of a regressor such as myself that made its swift suppression possible, there is absolutely no reason for you to be grateful to me.”

“Fuck...”

Just as I was about to turn away, savoring an overwhelming sense of superiority over Noh Doha for the first time in ages, something earth-shattering happened.

“... Thank you, Awakened Undertaker...”

Would you believe it? Noh Doha had muttered those words in a tiny voice, her back turned to me.

I was so astonished that I froze for a moment. Noh Doha had honestly expressed gratitude? Was this an anomaly?

“...”

All the while, she stood motionless with her back to me.

I shrugged.

“Mm.”

“...”

“You’re very welcome. I’ll have Yu Jiwon handle the follow-up work. Take today off.”

Then I left the commander’s office.

And so, an anomaly that might have endangered the entire Korean Peninsula by infecting anyone who so much as encountered a boat image was defeated in a single night.

6

Epilogue.

“Come to think of it, Aryeon.”

“Yesss?”

“How did you avoid getting infected by the Ship of Theseus? You’re on SG Net all night, every night. Did you just happen to skip every post with a boat image?”

“Huh? N-No, I didn’t?”

“Then?”

“I saw them. The boat pictures...”

What.

“B-But I was fine after seeing them... Of course, for a moment I had thoughts like, ‘Who am I? Where am I?’ But th-those are things I always think anyway. Hehe. Whatever s-someone like me might be, it’s not like I could have any value, right? It’s a completely worthless thing to worry about...”

“...”

“Posting a single comment on SG Net is way more important than that stuff...! I just kept hanging out on the board. Then it suddenly got weird, and suddenly went back to normal, so I wondered what that was about. That’s why I was r-really surprised when you told me it was because of an anomaly, Guild Leader... Did that really happen?”

“...”

End of epilogue.

-The Being. End.