The Skeptic VII
"You seem especially unfocused on your studies today, Mr. Undertaker."
"Ah."
I lifted my head.
The Saintess and I were at her residence in Yongsan, an aquatic temple of sorts where the shadows of fish flickered past in glass tanks.
In the heart of her temple, the Saintess of National Salvation was gazing quietly in my direction, a book titled The Source of Normativity held in hand.[1]
"Is there anything on your mind that's worrying you? If you need counseling, I can help."
I hesitated. "Thank you. But I think I need to sort out my thoughts on my own for now. I'll definitely ask for counseling later."
"All right, I understand."
I went back to looking down at the book.
My conversation with Go Yuri was on hold for the moment. The revelation that "Leviathan" and the "Puppet State" were in fact the same Anomaly had been a shock to my system. Plus, I first had to take care of the study session I'd promised the Saintess.
"Well then, I'll read the next paragraph." The Saintess's gentle voice flowed like water as she read, "'The commonality between Neo-Kantian arguments and Hobbesian arguments is as follows: both presuppose that each individual acts according to their own sense of reason...'"
Letting my mind follow that hushed rhythm, I began thinking about something else, all on my own.
Leviathan.
Looking back, Leviathan also possessed an incredibly wide-range brainwashing ability.
Back in the 664th cycle, when hundreds of sailors were trapped inside the Super Monsoon Anomaly, they all complained of severe mental contamination. Even Ha-yul, who was with me then, couldn't remain unaffected.
- When we were submerged and turning into frogs, I felt strange.
- I felt nostalgic. Happy. I couldn't breathe through my nose or mouth and yet... I felt it through my whole body.
- It felt like I was breathing through my skin, and that by just breathing, everything that makes me"me" opened wide up. Like I was becoming one with the world..."
That was it.
Ha-yul's testimony contained a clue: a sense of oneness. It was the sensation of merging with something far bigger than oneself. Intoxication. The pleasure of self-forgetting.
For humans, that sort of euphoria is most readily found when identifying with a crowd. To view it through a negative lens, the iconic case of this would be Nazism.
The illusion that oneself and the State are fused into a single body—that alone yields a potent rush of intoxication. So if we assumed that the root identity of Leviathan was "the State," then the frustration that had been bottling up, like a jammed holiday highway, suddenly cleared.
'That's right... Leviathan's mental contamination was strong enough to beguile my companions. Very few can pull off such intense brainwashing.'
Even so, there remained one mystery, lodged in my mind like fog clinging to a rainy road.
'I understand that Leviathan is dangerous. Maybe it's even grown to an Outer God-class threat level. But... why is Go Yuri so wary of it?'
Because it was an Outer God? That kind of reasoning wouldn't cut it.
Even when Cheon Yo-hwa had seized both the Infinite Void and the Mastermind at the same time, Go Yuri never showed herself. If it were just about an Outer God-level threat, Cheon Yo-hwa back then would have been impossible to ignore. Indeed, Cheon Yo-hwa had even used her simulation ability to "duplicate" as many as 5,427 copies of Go Yuri. Though she had then gone on to scramble for her life at the sight of the Pink Legion, she still mocked Go Yuri's very presence.
'Even then, Go Yuri didn't contact me directly or warn me about Cheon Yo-hwa. Then why? Why is Leviathan the exception?'
If I could solve that mystery, I might also glean a clue about the true identity of Go Yuri, who I'd always kept at a distance and avoided.
"Ah."
The Saintess's voice brought me back to reality.
"It's raining."
"Pardon?" I looked out the window. Sunlight was still streaming through a gap in the blackout curtains, and I couldn't hear any rain. "I'm sorry, Saintess. Were you making a metaphor about rain?"
"No, it's actually raining. It started in the waters off Busan about a minute ago."
Oh, right. She could see it with Clairvoyance.
Still, I tilted my head slightly. Why tell me about rain in Busan specifically? Was she offering to lend me an umbrella for the trip?
The Saintess parted her lips to speak.
"It's reached Gimhae now. Yeosu. Daegu. Pohang. Gwangju. Jeonju. Daejeon. Sejong. Suwon..."
The average speed of a rain cloud was around 30 km/h, yet the Saintess listed the cities one by one in precise order, reporting the raincloud moving north.
"And..."
Plip.
"Seoul."
Patter-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r...
A few seconds ago, the sky beyond the window had been all sunlight. Now, out of nowhere, raindrops were pelting the glass.
I could no longer hear the pages of the Saintess's book turning or the low hum of the computer. Everything was drowned out by the deafening sound, leaving room only for the rain's din until the boundary between inside and outside blurred. The window filtered out the physical rainwater, leaving only the sound—but that sound alone was enough to drench a person's very soul.
"It's already reached Sinuiju as well... All of Korea has been blanketed by rain, Mr. Undertaker."
I checked the calendar on my phone.
April. Usually, that was the time for spring breezes.
'Go Yuri warned me that Leviathan would make landfall this summer...'
It was still a ways off from monsoon season, so why was it raining today?
'This isn't the full effect of the typhoon. It's just the preliminary showers. Yet even this indirect front is enough to drench the entire Korean Peninsula.'
I held my tongue, staying quiet.
The longest summer was coming.
"Damn it. This rain is so fucking nasty..."
Bang!
Noh Do-hwa slammed open the door and walked in, muttering obscenities as her white doctor's coat dripped onto the entryway floor, the fabric soaked clean through like a cheap raincoat.
"That's why I told you to train your Aura on the regular," I said, skipping the greetings. "Everyone else is walking around just fine in transparent Aura raincoats, so the NRMC Commander stands out, looking like a drowned rat."
"I have zero interest in relying on that suspicious power you people call Aura. The thought of exerting physical force with mere will? Hah, I fail to see how that's any different from an Anomaly..."
Do-hwa took the dry towel I handed her and roughly scrubbed down her hair. Meanwhile, I accepted her monocle with a practiced hand, rinsed it clean, and returned it.
"So, how's the Sword Marquess doing?" I asked.
"You were right. He says these damned raindrops are making any crops that drink 'em accumulate Void Poison at dangerous levels..."
"Hmm."
When the rainy season began in April, I immediately called for an emergency mobilization of the Regressor Alliance. We had to rally all the resources and manpower we'd amassed so far if we wanted to survive this summer.
"I'm baaack!"
Dang Seo-rin came in right after Do-hwa. She was as neat and dry as ever, but the broom she flew on was drenched from top to bottom.
"Ugh, seriously. What's with this rain? It's all slimy and gooey—nearly fell off my broom mid-flight."
"You did great. How's it looking out there?"
"Mm, the Magical Girl Association says it's raining over the entire Japanese archipelago. I haven't personally checked Okinawa, but chances are it's raining there too."
"...So it's everywhere."
The Saintess even used Time Stop to travel across mainland China and back. It was the same non-stop downpour there, which meant nowhere near the peninsula was safe from Leviathan.
'The rain is so heavy that we can't rely on signal fires for scouting. And I'd bet good money it's raining all across the Eurasian continent.'
The idea of evacuating civilians anywhere else was a non-starter, and we couldn't repeat our old plan of building 12 Arks. That had only worked when we could limit Leviathan's target to Busan, but this cycle's Leviathan seemed hell-bent on sinking the entire world. Even the Himalayas might not be safe.
I bit my lip. "That leaves me no choice, then... Noh Do-hwa, we'll evacuate everyone into the Inunaki Tunnel."
"Huh? Can it handle that many people...?"
"We'll make it handle them. Even if we have to expand the underground floors to 100, or even 1,000 levels. I'll negotiate with Inunaki directly."
"Uh... Are you sure about that, mister?" Dok-seo asked, sounding unsure.
I couldn't blame her. Increasing the tunnel's capacity basically meant letting the Inunaki Tunnel grow stronger.
"I know what you're worried about. Using one Anomaly to escape another... It's like paying off one credit card with another, but we have no choice. We have to secure a shelter for civilians, even if it means making sacrifices."
Dok-seo clamped her mouth shut.
I looked around. "Once the people are inside, we'll use Tutorial Fairies to put them all to sleep."
"Hoh..."
"Who knows how long this monsoon could last? Pack millions of people into a closed environment, and you've got endless variables on your hands."
"So you'll just have them sleep, guaranteeing some semblance of comfortable living through their dreams... Not a bad plan."
This wasn't limited to only the Korean population. Japan, China, and possibly everyone beyond—anyone we could manage, we'd evacuate.
Except, of course, for the Awakeners who'd join our Leviathan Subjugation.
"Everyone," I called out. All of my companions in the meeting room turned to look at me. "I know you're all reeling from this unprecedented situation, but we must remain calm and act swiftly. Please use the Tutorial Fairies whenever you need rest or sleep. We have to maximize our waking hours. Every minute, every second, we stay active can save that many more lives. Don't forget that."
They nodded.
April and May raced by.
In places like Pyongyang or Sejong, where a single authority figure maintained clear control, evacuations went smoothly.
We hammered it home on SG Net, on radio broadcasts, and via telepathy from various Constellations—how perilous this summer would be, and why. Still, some people outright refused to evacuate.
There wasn't much we could do about that. You can't lead a person from water if the world has no breathing room left.
"Phew. We've evacuated all the residents in th-the Eastern Holy State..."
"Good job, Ah-ryeon."
"Hehe. N-no, this just means I can finally ditch most of the Saintess work, s-so it's actually a relief."
Outside the tunnel entrance, lines of people snaked out like trails of ants. The cacophony of displaced souls made the whole city roar with noise.
"Don't cut in line! Don't cut in line! Please proceed in an orderly fashion to avoid any stampedes!"
"Group 31! Group 31! Those of you from Daegu, please move out now!"
Even in the pouring rain, members of the Samcheon World guild zipped around on flying brooms or soared overhead, trying to keep the crowds in check.
"Gosh, what a mess."
"They say some terrifying sea dragon or whatever is coming. And it's not just the North—the entire world's in danger."
"Don't push! I said don't push!"
"Mom, give me that bag. Why do you keep carrying it alone?"
"Everyone, do not drink the rainwater! Please be extra careful not to ingest any of it!"
It wasn't just one city. The Inunaki Tunnel entrances in Seoul, Busan, and Kyushu were each swamped by enormous lines of refugees. Assigning a number to every city and controlling the population flow day by day was already stretching the administrative capacities of the National Road Management Corps, the Magical Girl Association, and others to their limit.
– Ooooooh...
Suddenly, from far off in the sky, there came a ghastly wail.
In an instant, the uproarious city fell silent. Tens of thousands of evacuees and Awakened alike all turned toward the southern sky.
– Gwoooooo...
– Oooooooh...
– Uwooooooo...
The sky-rattling roar gradually faded, lost to the white noise of pouring rain and the rising swell of whispers on the ground.
"Man, that's creepy."
"Hasn't that sound been happening more often lately?"
"My brother's an Awakener, he said that noise means the sea dragon or whatever is getting closer."
The refugees moved on, but you could see a deep fear lurking in their expressions.
"Group 32! Group 32, move now! Those from Daejeon!"
"Don't all rush forward at once! Two lines! Please form two lines, Daejeon group!"
The procession shuffled forward.
Unlike those of other cities, Awakeners and ordinary citizens alike from Daejeon were all remarkably orderly. Their eyes seemed somehow blank, vacant.
Right at the front of the line, pink hair shimmered brightly through the hazy rain.
Go Yuri glanced my way for a moment.
"..."
"..."
She smiled.
Go Yuri lightly pinched her skirt at the sides and offered a polite curtsy. I bowed my head in return.
"We have no choice. Let's make a temporary alliance just for this cycle!"
"I still won't forgive you!"
Some silly meme along those lines popped into my head.
I still had no idea what was going on in Go Yuri's head, but it was better to choose a lesser evil than the worst scenario.
'Just for this run. Once we figure out how to defeat Leviathan, we'll keep our distance again next run.'
Suddenly, Dok-seo beside me started waving excitedly. "Ah! Yuri unnie! Heeey! Long time no seeee!"
"Wait..."
"Huh?" She paused as I pulled her back. "What is it, mister?"
"Why are you acting like you know Go Yuri? I mean, why greet her as if you two are close? This should be your first time ever meeting her face-to-face."
"Eh?" Dok-seo asked with a tilt of her head. "What are you talking about, mister? Yuri unnie's been one of our original crew since the Busan Station waiting-room days...
"She said she'd rather stay behind and help the ordinary folks who got stranded instead of living it up alongside you. But she's still been commenting on my SG Net posts all the time. Of course I'm happy to see her! Man, you won't find someone as genuine as Yuri unnie anywhere else...
"I mean, the Noh-Undertaker ship is great, but next in line is definitely the Go-Undertaker ship. Ha! Pink can be tricky to pair with other colors, but it goes perfect with black, don't you think?"
"...Hmm."
Choosing a lesser evil was better... Right?
Summer was coming.
Footnotes:
[1] In The Sources of Normativity, the author Christine Korsgaard identifies four schools of thought on what defines morality. The first school is what Hobbes believed, that those ordained with absolute authority like God or a tyrant dictate the boundaries of what is the common good. For those interested, the other three are (broadly) that there are objective truths and universal goods in the world, that the greater good of humanity determines what is good for the individual, or that morality is inherent and specific to each individual person (Kantian).
-x-X-x-
The Skeptic VIII
"Your Excellency the Undertaker."
"Mm."
"The intake process is complete."
It was raining.
Early June.
We had finally completed the massive undertaking of taking in refugees from the Korean Peninsula, most of the Japanese Archipelago, and parts of mainland China into the Inunaki Tunnel.
Total evacuees: 5.5 million.
"Let's hold a celebration tonight to give the administrative team a break after all their hard work."
"Okay. Around midnight, I'll mix sleeping aids into the food and drinks so that the administrative team can get some rest as well."
"Great. Make sure to coordinate everything thoroughly with the fairies. Hang in there just until tonight."
"As you command."
Ji-won saluted and left while I stood at the entrance of the tunnel, looking up at the sky.
It had begun raining back in April and still hadn't stopped—more than fifty straight days of heavy rainfall. Low-lying coastal areas had sunk long ago. Even neighborhoods on hills, if they lacked a decent drainage system, were now underwater.
Everywhere I looked—rain, rain, and more rain. Fog clung stubbornly over huge pools of stagnant water, and muddy cascades crept over the land without rest.
Gone was any sign of that once proud cityscape that Busan citizens had boasted was "the world's best place at present."
'And to think this isn't even the real monsoon, just a precursor...'
I couldn't begin to imagine what kind of catastrophe might be unfolding in faraway cities like Venice.
For all we knew, the 5.5 million people in the tunnel might be the last surviving humans on Earth.
"Nyaaa. Don't make such a gloomy face, meow."
Before I noticed, a cat-eared magical girl had padded over and tapped my waist.
"Manyo Neko."
"Show a little more confidence, nya. Thanks to you, Undateikeo, we still managed to save quite a lot of people, didn't we?" A laugh tinkered out of her in a gentle purr. "If you put more weight on the lives you couldn't save than on those you did, even the strongest Awakeners can break down after just a few days, nya!"
It was a saying often spoken in these apocalyptic times, but hearing it come from Manyo Neko somehow carried special weight. She was, after all, the one in the 145th cycle who managed to clear the Inunaki Tunnel without being tempted by the ghost of her childhood friend, pushing forward to the end.
"Thanks. That's a helpful reminder." I reached out and gently stroked her head and the back of her neck.
"Nyaanyaang..."
Manyo Neko purred with pleasure.
Because she was a Miko possessed by the Cat God, she especially liked this kind of affectionate touch. Of course, she still had a perfectly human sense of reason, so she never allowed anyone but a close friend to pet her so intimately.
Or was it the other way around? Because she was still a rational human, she enjoyed such touches, but only granted them to those whom she was close with, precisely because she was possessed by the Cat God?
Despite living through hundreds of cycles, the mysteries of human-cat behavior only deepen.
Manyo Neko gave a little shiver. "Seriously, Undateikeo! You're like the most terrifying butler on Earth, nya! No matter how ill-tempered a cat might be, it's impossible to resist your hands, meow..."
"At this rate, Obsidian Qin might catch me in the act. You magical girls in administration won't see them for a while after tonight, will you? At least give them a proper goodbye."
"Nyaang! Good night to you too, Undateikeo!"
Manyo Neko hopped away, splashing the rainwater under her boots with each step.
That night, we had a drinking party into the late hours in a café within the Inunaki Tunnel. When midnight struck, all Awakeners except the combat team would enter a long-term sleep like ordinary civilians.
"Long live the Magical Girl Association!"
"Cheers!"
"Beijing Liberation Assault Force, bottoms up!"
"Bottoms up!"
For now, everyone gathered around in lively camaraderie.
Awakeners of various nationalities mingled freely, some of them not even sharing a common language except what the alcohol made up for, clinking their glasses nonetheless. It went beyond Koreans to Japanese and Chinese, and even further still to Mongolians, Russians, Filipinos, Vietnamese, Indians, Nepalese, and more—all of them people who knew me personally and had faithfully heeded my warning that "if you don't evacuate now, you'll all be wiped out."
Ours wasn't an ordinary bond. Many of them had been part of the 23rd cycle's final charge against Meteor Shower, then believed to be humanity's final boss. They had cast aside the divisions of nationality and race in favor of forging a ladder for humanity's survival.
In that sense, at nearly every brink of apocalypse, we would see many of the same faces. We weren't joined by where we were born but rather by the place where we'd face death.
Across from me, I faced Do-hwa as she swirled a wine glass.
"I suppose it's all thanks to you, the guy who handles multiple languages like a native speaker, that you became our focal point... I've long wondered why you insisted on calling the National Road Management Corps headquarters the Tower of Babel..."
"Mm."
"The Tower of Babel is a symbol of human arrogance and failure, reduced to dust by the wrath of God. You're always harping on how names are crucial, but then you went and attached that label to the Corps's most important building..."
She rested her chin on her palm at an angle.
"Only now is my question answered. You wanted to invoke the 'spell' that in the Tower of Babel, all of humanity could communicate without a language barrier..." When I didn't respond, she huffed. "All these people from different countries, cooperating without conflict... Others might call it the romantic notion of unity in the face of crisis, but I see it differently."
How many runs of painstaking effort did it take to gather only those cooperative souls who'd band together this way?
Do-hwa didn't speak the quiet part aloud, but the look in her deep eyes echoed the truth never put to the spoken word.
I pulled a key from my jacket, making sure she saw.
"Huh? What's that...?"
"It controls the doors into the Inunaki Tunnel," I explained. "I molded some bird feathers with wax and let them harden into shape."
"Oh, Daedalus...?"
"Yes. The Inunaki Tunnel's rapid growth has caused it to evolve into a Labyrinthos, a 'Grand Labyrinth.' Now, without this key, opening the great gate of the Inunaki Tunnel is nearly impossible."[1]
I took Do-hwa's hand in mine. She flinched, her brow twitching at our closeness. Still, I kept eye contact and slowly, respectfully, placed the Key of Daedalus in her palm.
"Tonight, once every administrator Awakener has gone to sleep, seal the tunnel entrance from the inside with the guards we assigned. Then, no matter what, even if the Saintess uses Telepathy to plead otherwise, don't open the door for anyone."
A literal lockdown.
Leviathan could very well be on the cusp of Outer God-class ascension. Waging war against such a monster with an untrained mob in tow would only lead to annihilation.
3,721. That was the number of Awakeners, carefully—more than carefully—handpicked to form our strike force. We had burned our bridges behind us. We never intended to retreat into the Inunaki Tunnel for rescue in the first place.
"The moment you crack that door open, Leviathan's rainwater will seep in. And that water is anything but ordinary."
"Yeah, yeah, I've heard it a million times. One drop on human skin, and you turn into... some kind of water bug or something? A lethal poison, basically."
"Exactly. Noh Do-hwa, as humanity's final gatekeeper, you must protect the tunnel's entrance."
She froze as her gloved fingers brushed lightly across my hand.
"Hmph..." she scoffed eventually, fingers still resting across the webbing of my index and middle fingers. "Well. I can wait ten years... If a decade passes with no word of success, I'll have the fairies kill all 5.5 million inside who are asleep. After all, it might be interesting to become the cause of the world's end myself..."
Indeed. That was an ending I had to prevent at all costs.
After midnight, the raucous drinking party began to settle. The administration-type Awakeners who had taken Uehara Shino's special sleeping pills started collapsing one by one.
"All right, let's clean up!"
"Aw man, we're already risking our necks out there, now we gotta do the cleanup for these people too?"
"Cleanup's gotta be done by whoever's sober, you moron. If you hate it, then you should've drunk yourself silly."
"Ugh, so unfair..."
"Unnie, sleep well. We'll be back soon."
"Heuk! Humans, please follow our guidance and transport the sleepers in an orderly manner!"
With cooperation between Awakeners and fairies, the party was tidied up in no time. Then those who would be heading into battle said their final farewells to their colleagues.
No one told them to, but all 3,721 of our combat troops began to gather in the casino lobby, one hundred meters underground in the Inunaki Tunnel. Those who'd had no interest in the party and went off to tinker with slot machines and who'd simply dozed off out of boredom also gathered in the lobby.
3,721 capacity. Zero absent.
I looked around at them.
"Anyone who wants to turn back, this is your last chance."
The instant I raised my hand, my voice resounded throughout the room to the Awakeners assembled from every corner of the world, in a medley of different languages:
– Anyone who wants to turn back, this is your last chance.
They flinched.
"Huh?"
"What?"
Some Magical Girls shot me looks, confused why I would be speaking in Japanese. Meanwhile, the Beijing Liberation Assault Force members were baffled at the Chinese echo of my words.
I ignored their puzzlement and kept speaking, moving my lips and fingers in tandem.
"Over the past two months, as you evacuated humanity into this shelter, you saw the ugliest sides of human nature."
– Over the past two months, as you evacuated humanity into this shelter, you saw the ugliest sides of human nature.
"And now, we set out from this safe haven to fight an unprecedented Anomaly for the sake of those same humans."
– And now, we set out from this safe haven to fight an unprecedented Anomaly for the sake of those same humans.
A curious phenomenon was unfolding. I was definitely speaking Korean aloud, but a murky black Aura spread through the entire lobby like cobwebs, instantly translating the words for all 3,721 present.
[Ah.]
The first person to understand was Phantom Blade from the Magical Girl Association.
[This is... a form of telepathic magic.]
"Huh? What does that mean, nya?"
[Undateikeo-san is using the sound waves of his spoken words, vibrating them in real time with Aura, and delivering them to each of us individually.]
Phantom Blade had always used telepathic magic to communicate, given an extreme language impairment, so she recognized the technique faster than anyone else.
[Feel the flow of Aura. Can you sense how the pulses differ ever so slightly depending on each listener's nationality?]
"Uh..." Manyo Neko twitched her ears. "I-I think so, kind of... Wait, are you saying Undateikeo is, all on his own, using Aura vibrations to... to translate everything for each of the four thousand people here, nya?"
[Precisely so,] Phantom Blade marveled. [What's more, he's controlling the wave so it doesn't bleed over to adjacent listeners. That means right now all our hearing is effectively under Undateikeo-san's control.]
"Is that even possible, nya?"
[You tell me. The flawless Tokyo dialect you're hearing right now is proof enough, isn't it?]
For the record, Phantom Blade was from Kyoto.
In any case, she wasn't the only observer of this particular phenomenon. A few seconds later, the other Awakeners also began to realize the extent of this display and were astounded.
"What on earth...?"
"You can do that with Aura?"
"I knew he was impressive, but..."
Once again, these weren't random onlookers but meticulously selected fighters. They knew just how absurd a feat this kind of Automatic Translation via Aura really was. They noticed no matter how much they murmured or muttered, my voice remained "unchanged" and "clear," cutting through everyone's clamor.
How? There was only one answer: I was accounting for their chatter in real time and adjusting the sound waves to remain perfectly audible.
"There is no obligation whatsoever to save humanity."
– There is no obligation whatsoever to save humanity.
Awe comes before heed. When someone truly listens to another's words, often it's not just because they empathize with the content, but because that person is exceptionally capable.
It might sound cynical, but at that moment, that power was precisely what the Awakeners before me needed most.
The existence of an absolute powerhouse on their side.
The confidence that our fight wouldn't end in a pointless slaughter.
"We each of us have witnessed humans slaughtering each other too many times for us to appeal to 'the bonds of humankind.'"
– We each of us have witnessed humans slaughtering each other too many times for us to appeal to 'the bonds of humankind.'
Before I knew it, without any formal warning or caution, the entire crowd fell silent.
Gazing back at these Awakeners from all nations, I went on.
"There are a million reasons why humanity might deserve destruction... and so we alone are left."
Dang Seo-rin watched me with a steady faith in her eyes.
Cheon Yo-hwa gazed at me as though in worship.
Sim Ah-ryeon gave a bright, naive smile as if my feat were natural.
Lee Ha-yul and the Saintess remained poker-faced.
Oh Dok-seo was typing furiously into her phone.
Go Yuri—
Go Yuri still wore that inscrutable smile, quietly staring at my face.
"We don't care about the contempt other humans may hold. The curses of Anomalies don't matter to us. If humanity's survival rests in our hands, our blood, then we will fight Anomalies without hesitation—because I, because we, are the owners of this world!"
"That's right!"
A voice boomed out.
It belonged to the leader of the 17th Company of the Beijing Liberation Assault Force, the stationmaster of Ciqu Station, an Awakener known as Kwon Ryong. When he unleashed his Lion's Roar, it echoed not just in Chinese but in every language.
That was the spark.
"We're in charge here!"
"Mr. Undertaker's right! Smash every last one of those monstrous bastards!"
"Wu! Wu! Wu! Wu!"
"Kill them! Kill them all!"
Even as their shouts of passion mingled in a chaotic roar, my own voice remained crystal-clear, and their collective cheers fused into a single universal language.
"We are humanity's last resistance, we are humanity's final united force! Come, comrades! Shed your blood, brothers! With our blood, we shall restore the world to these five million souls!"
"Uwoooohhh!"
The massive gate of the Inunaki Tunnel swung open, and the downpour that had been pounding the door now flooded in with thunderous noise to reveal a horizon blurred by rain.
From beyond it, the Sea Dragon, aware of our presence, let out a roar that shook the skies.
– G҉ o҉ o҉ o҉ oo҉ o҉ o҉ oo҉...
But even that sound couldn't drown out our war cry.
I stepped forward. Behind me followed the footsteps of 3,721.
The Human Allied Forces were now departing for battle.
Footnotes:
[1] Daedalus is the craftsman who created the Labyrinth (in Greek, Labúrinthos) on the island of Crete. According to myth, he crafted it so cunningly that he struggled to escape it with his son, Icarus, and ultimately devised a plan to make wings of beeswax and bird feathers to fly out of the maze.
-x-X-x-
The Skeptic IX
Squelch.
Squelch.
When our Human Allied Forces at last marched out of the Inunaki Tunnel, the first thing to greet us was the smell of soggy earth that clung like muddy chocolate, along with an endless deluge of rain and fog.
[Visibility is terrible,] the Saintess reported quietly. [I'm using Aura to sharpen my eyesight, and even then, it's hard to see more than 50 meters ahead.]
The plaza in front of the casino, which had always been crowded with homeless drifters and beggars pleading for loose change, now lay eerily empty.
The rain beat down without end, cold to the touch, as the surrounding fog clung to us, creeping over our fingers, our thighs, and the backs of our necks in a clammy embrace.
Already, the Super Monsoon Anomaly was letting us sense through the temperature and the feel of it all that its master had arrived.
– Kyeeeeh!
All of a sudden, beyond the wall of dark fog, something like a hunting hound came rushing at us—if you could call a figure with two heads and tentacles writhing from its forepaws a "hound," that is.
The creature leaped from just a few meters away, heading straight for Manyo Neko. The instant she let out a "Funya!" in fright, a jet-black Aura slashed across the hound's neck.
– Kkiaaaak! Kkieeek! Kiiiii!
Then, the hound splattered. Its body and severed head thrashed a final death spasm, but before the surrounding Awakeners could react, it vanished into splashes of mud without leaving even a corpse behind.
"Th-thanks, nya, Undateikeo."
I locked eyes with Manyo Neko in acknowledgement, then said, "Everyone, stay on guard. Visibility is extremely poor. Even a village-class Anomaly can inflict serious wounds if we let it ambush us."
Manyo Neko and several of the Awakeners nodded in agreement.
Right on cue, the gate behind us closed with a great creak and a thud. As previously discussed, Do-hwa sealed off the entrance to the tunnel.
Ahead of us stretched limitless territory and lurking death. Behind us lay survival, but the path was barred. A true predicament.
All 3,721 of our allies had literally put themselves in a do-or-die position.
A chill of murderous tension swept through our ranks. Before the hearts I had stirred with my speech could cool in the face of this menacing reality, I issued an order.
"Ha-yul."
[Yes, Oppa.]
"Activate all your totem dolls."
[Got it.]
Ha-yul's stockings soaked through as she knelt in the mire, paying no mind to how the mud buried her prosthetic leg.
[Strings that bind a human's shoulders...]
[But to a spider's legs, it's just a circus wire...]
As soon as the Puppeteer murmured that incantation to herself, a wave of golden Aura spread outward from her small body. It branched like a spiderweb, splitting again and again until the entire city was veiled in shimmering light.
"Whoa..."
"Incredible skill for someone so young."
"They say she's Mr. Undertaker's adopted daughter. Makes sense."
Impressed whispers spread among those who had never before witnessed the Puppeteer's abilities, particularly the Awakeners from overseas.
Ha-yul paid no attention to those looks, focusing solely on controlling her Aura.
"Keep it going, Ha-yul."
[Okay. No problem.]
As mentioned before, Ha-yul's puppet strings functioned almost like a superconductive medium for Aura, an asset she had put to use all across Korea. Needless to say, her web was even more extensive in Busan. Even under the crushing pressure of rain and fog from above, that golden spiderweb gleamed like a river of stars, enough to spark a fragile hope for survival.
[Oppa, I've finished connecting.]
Creak, clank.
All around Busan, "dolls" opened their eyes. They had been hidden at key points among that golden constellation that blanketed the city, numbering no fewer than 999 dolls in total, each one a perfect look-alike of Ha-yul.
A legion of dolls, obeying the single command of Lee Ha-yul, had awoken.
"Well done," I said warmly. "No need to micromanage their line of sight—just keep them linked to your consciousness."
[Got it.]
Across the city that had been swallowed in thick fog, giving Anomalies an absolute advantage, the Puppeteer had planted hundreds of "wards." Of course, Ha-yul couldn't personally watch all 999 points, but that hardly mattered.
"Saintess."
[Yes. I'm connected to Ha-yul's feed now.]
We had our own dedicated "control tower" ready to interpret all those vantage points in her stead.
[Anomalies are gathering from the north side of Busan—places like Nopo-dong and Dugu-dong.]
[They're also crossing the Nakdong River. We can probably consider the Sasang District completely fallen by now.]
[Same thing in the east. The area near Haedong Yonggung Temple is already gone. The downpour beyond is much heavier, closing in on us from every direction.]
[It appears to be a Monster Wave.]
[We suspect it's a Monster Wave that's been taken over and mutated by Leviathan.]
[Their target is here, the entrance to the tunnel.]
The map lit up. Almost immediately, howling calls ripped through the fog on all sides.
– Grooaaaar!
– Kkieeeeeeek! Kiek, kyeeeh!
– Uu-uu-uu-uu-uu...
They had sensed us.
Just as we gazed into the Void, the Void was gazing back.
Though Leviathan's true form had not yet appeared, the Anomalies enslaved by the sea dragon howled as they rushed in unison toward our position.
The first to breach the fog were colossal, octopus-like tentacles. They whipped out, stretching over ninety meters to grab three of our Awakeners at once.
"Aaaaaah!"
"Sever it! Intercept!"
"Stay calm!"
Ever vigilant, our Awakeners immediately fought back. Two of the captured fighters managed to break free, but the last was dragged off by the remaining tentacles.
"U-urgh...!"
Even as he was hauled off, the Indian Awakener slammed his sword into the ground—zzzzik!—tearing a twenty-meter-long line through the black mud as he slowed himself.
"Nice one!"
"Hold on, we'll save you!"
"O-ooh... oh..."
The tentacle was hacked apart by a barrage of attacks from his comrades. Just before he was pulled beyond the veil of fog, the Indian youth was freed.
But then—
"O-o-o—o-o-o..."
Around the man's waist, where the tentacle had grabbed him, "water droplets" began to bubble out.
Wherever the bubbles churned, muscle fibers and blood vessels appeared beneath his skin until the foaming had gone so bad that his bones were laid bare.
The would-be rescuers froze in their tracks. The "water foam" had already spread up to the young man's chest.
"A-Akash! Snap out of it!"
"O-o-o-o-o-o—"
In an instant, the bubbles swept up to his neck, head, arm, fingers, and right back down to the hand that gripped the sword. Then—
Pop!
The watery foam burst, and the muscles and bones that had made up the youth's body vanished into thin air.
All that remained was rainwater. Even the severed tentacle sections had completely evaporated.
At the spot where man and monster had died, droplets wiggled in place before crawling off into the fog like centipedes.
"Ah..."
"Avoid physical contact with the Anomalies at all costs!" I commanded, all the while repelling the other Anomalies assaulting us. After crushing the pack of hundreds of hounds, I shouted so that every Awakener could hear, "This rain and fog is Leviathan's Void! If moisture seeps into a wound, you'll lose sight of yourself and become part of Leviathan's forces!"
"Aaaargh!"
Skirmishes erupted all across the plaza as Awakeners clung to our makeshift barricades, warding off the enemy's ambushes.
'Good. So far, this isn't too bad.'
We'd lost one fighter in that sudden attack, but the Human Allied Forces followed protocol and responded to each threat accordingly. Seo-rin's Cursed Song Incantation was already at its fifth verse, all dedicated to defending our minds against brainwashing or mental pollution. If we kept up a battle of attrition like this, we could survive at least a week.
'Of course, if it drags on a full week, that's effectively a loss for us. But if we discover a clue to Leviathan's weakness in that time, we can still mount a counterattack.'
In the worst-case scenario, we still had the Saintess and Ah-ryeon. With the Saintess maximizing Time Stop or Ah-ryeon bringing the World Tree into bloom we might stand a fighting chance, even at a great sacrifice.
'Is this all?' I thought to myself as I adjusted my cane-sword, Do-hwa. 'Rain and fog covering every side. A poisonous "Void" that transforms you into some water-bug if you suffer even the slightest injury. A Monster Wave forcibly mobilized by Leviathan.'
It was definitely a tough enemy.
'No doubt it's dangerous... but it doesn't feel insurmountable.'
A day passed. Then two, then three.
We lost four Awakeners on the first day, but there were no further casualties after that.
'It seems we may not even need anyone to sacrifice themselves.'
The sticky humidity made breathing a chore, but we had more breathing room than I expected.
'If I can just hold out until I find some clue to defeating Leviathan, I'll reset this run afterward. Next time, I'll unite the Human Allied Forces well before June, then march straight to Leviathan's origin and wipe it out easily before—'
"Doc."
I blinked.
I had only closed my eyes for a second, but from one glance to the next, Go Yuri suddenly stood in front of me, pink hair and all.
That in itself was nothing strange for Go Yuri. If she wanted, it'd be easy for her to toy with my perception. Strangely, though, not a single drop of rain clung to her clothes or hair.
Go Yuri's external Aura mastery was, at least by all outward signs, pretty terrible. If she'd truly avoided a single raindrop for three days of non-stop battle, wouldn't she be risking letting everyone see she was "not normal?"
"What's up, Go Yuri?" I asked cooly. "I'm busy leading the troops. If you want to talk, come back once the enemy's assault eases up a bit."
"Oh! Sorry! Didn't realize you were so busy."
"Of course I am. I'm putting every ounce of care into ensuring that there are no more casualties. Not even one."
"Hmm?"
Go Yuri put a finger to her lips.
A soft smile curved over the neatly trimmed nail.
"Mmm. I see. But that sounds a bit strange."
"Strange how?"
"Yes, because―"
She exhaled, and the sweet scent of apples slipped into my nostrils.
"Doc, you finished your speech just now and haven't even moved one step away from the tunnel entrance, have you?"
"..."
The sound of rain.
The smell of mud.
Squelch.
Squelch.
When our Human Allied Forces at last marched out of the Inunaki Tunnel, the first thing to greet us was the smell of soggy earth that clung like muddy chocolate, along with an endless deluge of rain and fog.
[Visibility is terrible,] the Saintess reported quietly. [I'm using Aura to sharpen my eyesight, and even then, it's hard to see more than 50 meters ahead.]
The plaza in front of the casino, which had always been crowded with homeless drifters and beggars pleading for loose change, now lay eerily empty.
The rain beat down without end, cold to the touch, as the surrounding fog clung to us, creeping over our fingers, our thighs, and the backs of our necks in an oppressive embrace.
The Super Monsoon Anomaly spoke through temperature and touch, announcing the arrival of its master.
– Kyeeeeh!
At the exact moment a hunting hound emerged from the fog with fangs bared, my jet-black Aura was already slicing through the mongrel's throat.
Its head and body parted ways in a splattering gasp, but my Aura didn't stop there. It burned the hound down to the last hair.
"E-ehhh? F-funyaaang?" Manyo Neko let out a startled cry. The enemy had died before she had even registered the ambush. It was no wonder she was flustered. "Wh-what just happened, nya?"
I had come back. The moment I finished my speech in the lobby and stepped out of the tunnel—I had returned to that precise point.
Or rather, I might never have left it.
I swallowed hard. "Saintess."
[Yes?]
"There's a soldier from New Delhi, India, named Akash among our allies. Check whether he's safe."
[Oh, of course. Right away.]
"And also count how many people are in the Human Allied Forces. My memory says we had 3,721."
[Understood.]
Creeeeak, thud.
Right then, the tunnel gate shut behind us. As planned, Do-hwa had sealed the entrance.
The moment it closed, the Saintess reported, [I've checked, Mr. Undertaker. First, there is no one here named Akash. It seems nobody else has noticed, but he's nowhere to be found. Also, right now the total headcount of the Human Allied Forces is 3,717.]
It had decreased.
Our numbers had dropped.
By my memory, we'd had four casualties over the course of the three-day battle. I could still picture our struggle to survive clearly in my mind as if it were reality itself. Yet for whatever reason, I was back to the instant we'd set foot outside. It was as though all that memory had been a lie—
'In other words, in the mere blink of an eye, four people have already died.'
Rain roared in my ears.
The sensation of rain soaking my shoes, the vibration of rain pounding my eardrums, the smell of rain in my nostrils—these were all undeniably real.
"...Ha-yul."
[Yes, Oppa.]
"Activate all your totem dolls."
[I'm already on it.]
Was it reality or illusion?
I couldn't tell them apart, but I also couldn't afford to dismiss this as a mere hallucination and abandon the fight.
'If everything up until now was an illusion and only this moment is real, then Leviathan might deceive me into giving up the battle altogether. And that might be exactly what Leviathan wants.'
"Seo-rin," I called.
"Huh? What's up?"
"This time, be especially cautious with your Cursed Song Incantation. Leviathan has wide-area mental corruption abilities, we've confirmed that."
"Oh... Sure, but wasn't that in the strategy briefing? Don't worry, I came plenty prepared."
Three days passed again.
We were even more thorough in defending against mental contamination this time, wrapping ourselves in Aura so thoroughly that not even moisture could permeate our senses. It led to greater fatigue, but we limited the casualties to two. We'd been through the same fight once, after all, and it felt easier this time.
'Even if this too is an illusion, it's fine. Next time, I'll reduce casualties from two to zero, and keep going without losing a single person.'
"How curious."
I blinked.
Again, after just a moment's break in my vision, there Go Yuri stood. As before, not a single drop of rain clung to her feet up to her pink hair.
"Go Yuri..."
"Please don't look too frightened, Doc. Like I said before, I'm only here to help you."
"...So I'm imagining things? These last three days of battle were all fake?"
"Hmm, that's a tough question." She smiled as though sheepish as she explained, "I can't really tell the two apart. Rather, think about it from Mr. Dragon's point of view."
"You mean from Leviathan's perspective?"
"Yes. If you're difficult for the Dragon to handle, it's precisely because you remember everything in perfect detail."
Complete Memory.
Thanks to that ability, I was immune to most mental brainwashing. Whenever faced with illusions contradicting my recollections, I could instantly deduce, This was fake.
For a contrasting example, look at someone like Dok-seo, who had incomplete memory. She was instantly deceived by Go Yuri's presence, believing, Right! She's been with us since the Tutorial Dungeon!
"But as you know, Doc, advantages can become drawbacks."
"What do you mean?" I asked warily.
"Illusions that vanish into hazy memory are meaningless against normal people. It's impossible to trick your memories, so what if Leviathan repeats the same scene over and over, in continuous succession?"
"What?"
"A reversal in perspective, Doc."
Go Yuri breathed out a laugh.
"For a normal person, if you feed them illusions of two or three days, it won't remain crisp in their mind. But for you, giving you illusions of three entire days has the effect of actually making you live out those days."
A chill crawled up my neck.
"A fleeting illusion might fade for anyone else, but for you, it's indistinguishable from an actual 72 hours."
"So you're saying Leviathan is... bombarding me with these three-day illusions from the moment I step outside the tunnel?"
"Yep!"
Go Yuri pressed her palm to her cheek and sighed.
"How troublesome."
"..."
"That thing you consider your most reliable armor is flipped around and chaining you in place."
That's right.
Complete Memory, the skill that let me gather up even dreams and illusions without losing a scrap.
Leviathan had forged that into its deadliest weapon against a regressor like me.
-x-X-x-
The Skeptic X
Thinking about it now, all of the Anomalies that relied on mental domination or brainwashing always made the same mistake when they tried to ensnare me: they all tried to show me a "sweet" illusion.
– How about this happy ending?
– I'll show you the ideal partner you'd like best.
– Play with me. You can rule the world as you please.
The typical temptation.
However, no matter how tempting that "dessert" might be, it never suited my taste. Once I'd already swallowed the red pill that it was a bogus illusion, there was nothing they could do.
I mean, really. What thrill is there in owning a massive penthouse if it's not real, but just a penthouse in a game?
As a realist, I, the Undertaker, could point out the flaws in their logic with cold precision.
"Hmm, so you're offering a happy ending, but for that to make sense, you'd have to assume from the start that no Anomalies ever appeared, right? Also, no matter how ideal that partner might be, forcing me to like them is... Well, I prefer something more natural. And controlling the world? Would that really be fun?"
"Huh? Then just die."
My mentality was an iron fortress, impregnable to the point that all those mind-control Anomalies, so fearsome against regular people, would inevitably shower me with praise.
All except for Go Yuri. That was simply a difference in compatibility.
Centuries upon centuries passed, and at last, Anomalies began adapting to this new meta. Some even discovered the "Undertaker Tactics" they needed to succeed.
"You won't accept anything if it's not reality?"
"Then we can just color in the parts of your past you don't remember with illusions."
"You were actually a private tutor for me... or for us, the twin sisters."
By all accounts, the first to draw "first blood" was Cheon Yo-hwa.
She didn't offer me much. She didn't demand much, either.
Cheon Yo-hwa was alive, was a Miko, was a strategist, and was once my disciple who sacrificed herself to seal an Outer God in my stead.
That was it.
No sweet happy ending, no jaw-dropping powers. In return for sealing away the Outer God, Cheon Yo-hwa merely claimed a little drawer in the corner of my memory.
And now, here came Leviathan:
– So you won't accept it unless it's real? I get it. You're a die-hard realist.
– Then I'll show you a perfectly "real" illusion, indistinguishable from reality at 100% authenticity.
– Which of us will tire first? You, repeating that same three-day cycle over and over? Or me?
– I can do this all day.
– Oh, and by the way, if someone in the illusion dies mid-battle against the Anomalies, it counts as a real death. Good luck.
What kind of cheat is that?
I'd love to call in a referee to penalize him, but the truth was, I was cheating too. After all, Go Yuri, basically an end-boss of mental powers, had temporarily joined my side.
Both sides were cheating. It was a chaotic, all-out fight. No matter who won or lost, the outcome would be stupid. However, we had no choice but to pick a side.
"So, what will you do now, Doc?" Go Yuri asked.
I still couldn't figure out why she was revealing all this to me. Judging by her expression alone... it seemed like she was simply curious, barely able to contain her anticipation over what I would do.
"You have no way to know whether the moment you're in now is reality or illusion. If you don't figure out a method to tell them apart, you'll be trapped forever in an endless sequence of three days."
"For one..." I began, still thinking. "I could observe your appearance. If your clothes get wet from the rain, it's reality. If they stay perfectly dry, it's an illusion, right?"
"Oh! So you're basically letting me be the standard for what's real? I'm flattered."
I couldn't settle for that. Even though we'd formed a temporary alliance, entrusting something so crucial to her was out of the question. It'd be like inviting a tiger to ward off a fox.
I clicked my tongue. Then, making sure Go Yuri couldn't see, I hid both hands behind my back and scribbled a note on my palm.
"Saintess."
[Yes?]
"I'm heading to the Tower of Babel for a moment. The Anomaly assault has eased a bit, so we shouldn't take heavy casualties if I step away."
[Understood.]
The Saintess raised no objections to my sudden decision. As soon as I was ready to move, she followed up by saying, [By the way, that convalescent ward system that Go Yuri mentioned while speaking with you—I think it's quite useful. Since you agreed, I'll set up a hospital ward in the rear.]
We never had a conversation about that. Not from my perspective, anyway.
"Understood. Please take command of the Human Allied Forces while I'm away."
[Yes.]
With that, I left Go Yuri behind and slogged through the mud.
The Tower of Babel wasn't far. Normally, I could have reached it with my eyes closed, but in the midst of Leviathan's "Great Void," the terrain could have changed in unpredictable ways. Fortunately, many of Ha-yul's puppet-strings still glowed gold, forming a path that had not yet lost its light. By its very nature, an Awakeners' Aura fundamentally resisted the Void, so as long as I followed those strings, I could make it to the Tower of Babel with ease.
– Please help me, just a bite.
– Ribbit.
– One per person. Let's not sell out our conscience for a piece of bread. Please maintain order.
– My child is starving. If you would help me, just for today, I'll never forget your kindness.
In the fog blanketing the Tower of Babel plaza, watery shapes crawled about. Those water droplets burst without pause, and each pop produced "voices."
– Please, just a bite of bread.
– My child is starving.
If one ignored that the figures were made of water, the same scene was the same old, same old for the Tower's plaza.
Leviathan was copying my complete memory of this space and re-enacting it.
It wasn't just the humans that got copied either. The paving stones of the plaza, the streetlights the Samcheon World guild had installed for charity, even the exterior walls of the Tower of Babel HQ—all were gradually replaced by water, as if the world had been made of water from the beginning.
– Thank you. God bless you. Ascended being, thank you. Because of you, my child can keep living.
– Ribbit, ribbit.
– Just one bite. Please.
If the first Great Flood of mythology merely drowned the surface of the earth, this second Great Flood, summoned by Leviathan, was submerging the very existence of everything.
'An Anomaly has neither malice nor intelligence. If it seems to have them, it's because the human gazing at it does. If an Anomaly knows love, it's because humans themselves hold love in their hearts...'
I quickened my pace, stepping onto the half-translucent outer walls of the Tower of Babel HQ to climb up. Once on the rooftop, I found...
Nothing.
'It's gone.'
That was decisive proof.
'The crystal tombstone of Cheon Yo-hwa. It's nowhere to be seen.'
Just in case, I also visited the soccer stadium in Busan. There, all matter had been replaced by water, leaving the entire ruin bubbling with watery foam. The tombstone for the soccer player Kim Joo-chul had vanished from sight.
'All right, no doubt now.'
This was not reality, but an illusion crafted by Leviathan.
To be fair, I still suspected that Go Yuri might be the true culprit. There wasn't only one Anomaly capable of illusions, after all. She could frame Leviathan for everything, pretend to be my ally, and hoodwink me.
It was certainly well within her wheelhouse.
'But whichever of them is behind this, they still couldn't replicate my Time Seal.'
The means of distinguishing illusion from reality came, paradoxically, from something that no longer existed in the real world: an absence in the present.
Rain blurred my vision. For the first time since the Leviathan Offensive began, I smiled.
'So my reality is founded on the things I've already lost...'
I descended from the rooftop and returned to the front line.
Go Yuri silently stared at me. The Saintess asked questions, but I offered no response.
'I can do this. I just have to wait, until the clock of these three days runs out again.'
Squelch.
Squelch.
When our Human Allied Forces at last marched out of the Inunaki Tunnel, the first thing to greet us was the smell of soggy earth that clung like muddy chocolate, along with an endless deluge of rain and fog.
"Corps Commander!" I shouted, the moment I returned to this starting point.
The tunnel gate was still wide open. The entire Human Allied Forces was still behind me, inside the Inunaki Tunnel.
Past the great door, I could see Do-hwa's damp, curly hair.
"Don't close the door!"
"Huh...?"
"Everyone, retreat! This is a strategic fallback!" I turned around without even letting the outside air fully hit me and hurried back inside the tunnel.
"Uh, wh-what?"
"Undateikeo, what the heck is going on, nya?"
Confusion.
They'd just heard me screaming "Let's go kill those Anomalies!" moments ago, and now I was ordering a retreat. One could only imagine how baffled they felt. The troops here must have been less confused than those at the historical Battle of Wihwado, when General Yi deserted the front lines.[1]
"Crap, wh-what...?"
Do-hwa's expression was a sight. She was holding the feather key, staring at me like Commander Choi Young must have stared at his map, flipping it upside down in disbelief.[2]
"Don't tell me you got explosive diarrhea or something. Then again, you can just flush it out with Aura, you freak..."
"Come on, call me a gentleman who values cleanliness, if you would please."
"You think that kind of bull is what everyone wants to hear when over three thousand Awakeners from across the globe are watching your back...?"
I would have loved to enjoy a long-overdue, leisurely chat with Do-hwa, but there was no time.
Raising the collar of my coat to cover my mouth, I muttered, "Saintess."
[Yes?]
"You must be taken aback, but please keep everyone calm and guide them back inside the tunnel. Leviathan's mind-control is stronger than anticipated."
[Understood.]
"Everyone must be confused. Could you also use your Constellation powers to soothe them a bit?"
[Okay.]
As expected of the Saintess—she followed my abrupt orders without a word of protest. Even so, her power as a Constellation had limited range outside Korea. The foreign Awakeners might not be so easily swayed.
The Great Priestess approached, leading a group of Magical Girls in tow. "Undateikeo, I can't warp my mind around this. What's going on?"
I looked around and said, "The moment we took one step outside, we experienced a palpable wave of Leviathan's psychic corruption."
"We accounted for that as a risk factor in the operation, no?"
"Yes, but the actual severity is beyond anything we predicted."
We were speaking in Korean, but the conversation was being interpreted in real time for the other Awakeners. Even in their confusion, they all listened to me.
"With just a single step—literally one foot out the tunnel—our force has already suffered casualties."
"What?"
"Listen up, everyone!" I barked, raising my voice. "I'm going to call out some names! Check if these Awakeners are safe! Akash from New Delhi, Kunpeng from Shenzhen, someone from Haiphong..."
I listed the six who had vanished to Leviathan's illusions. All of them were part of some group or unit, so their missing presence was quickly noticed.
"Wait, what? Where'd he go?"
"He was right next to me a second ago..."
"Akash! Akash, where are you?"
Murmuring spread, evolving into a new kind of pandemonium. Suspicion of me was replaced by shock at the situation.
Before that sentiment could fester, I called out again.
"We lost six allies just by stepping outside. Their teammates didn't even notice them vanish. If we charge blindly into that fog, the damage will skyrocket. Until we establish proper countermeasures, we'll remain here in the tunnel lobby!"
I glanced over the assembly. No one doubted my words now. They were too shaken by the realization that in the mere blink of an eye, they had lost companions without noticing.
Leaving them there, I sought out the person who could be a clue to this entire situation.
"Team Leader Yu Ji-won."
The silver-haired psychopath saluted. Around her, the other ops staff all snapped to attention.
"Yes, Your Excellency."
"Leviathan just unleashed a huge wave of psychic corruption. By my sense of time, it lasted close to ten days. How did it feel to you?"
"I didn't detect anything at all, sir," Ji-won answered promptly. "As far as I could see, you had one foot outside and one foot still inside the tunnel, and then you suddenly stopped. Then you returned."
"And you had no hallucinations or illusions in that interval?"
"None, sir. At least from my perspective, there was nothing strange."
I nodded.
'So Leviathan focused its illusions on me. From my perspective, ten days had passed, but for everyone else, it was only the blink of an eye.'
Ji-won's testimony was credible, as she was the one who hadn't been fooled by Go Yuri. She was a genuine beacon of hope for humanity. We didn't know the exact details, but she definitely has a trait like Brainwashing Immunity Lv. 99.
"Ji-won." I lowered my head, whispering so no one else would overhear.
Her sleek lashes didn't even flutter as she asked, "Yes, sir?"
"This Anomaly is stronger than I thought. Sorry, but this time, you'll have to do it."
"At your command. Whatever you ask, I shall obey."
Our eyes met.
The expression of my deputy who had once fashioned a pocket of hell beneath this very tunnel was empty as ever.
I whispered, "Become Leviathan's Miko."
Footnotes:
[1] A reference to a 14th-century event in Korean history, where General Yi Seong-gye famously turned his troops back at Wihwado.
[2] Commander Choi Young was the general who ordered the invasion of Wihwado, and who was in turn baffled as a fellow General turned coat and retreated back to the capital to stage a coup.
-x-X-x-
The Skeptic XI
If I had to pick exactly one person in the world who was the farthest thing from faith or devotion, I'd confidently nominate Yu Ji-won.
"Your Excellency the Undertaker."
Clearly, she thought the same of herself.
"If Your Excellency orders me to charge into fire itself, I am of course prepared to obey without hesitation."
"Well, that's not surprising. If you wrap yourself in Aura, there's no risk of getting burned, so obviously you'd go."
"I was merely speaking figuratively to express my loyalty, Your Excellency. But all joking aside, do you really think I would make a suitable Miko?"
"Hmm."
Before going to her, I'd thought long and hard about it—if Leviathan really had grown to the threat level of an Outer God, who should I partner with to tackle it?
"The truth is, there aren't many candidates among us who could feasibly become Leviathan's Miko," I explained. "It's basically down to Do-hwa or you."
At that moment, the only quasi-government body functioning in Korea was the National Road Management Corps. And among the Regressor Alliance, only two belong to the Corps: Noh Do-hwa and Yu Ji-won.
I myself had had a huge hand in founding and operating the Corps, but it would be a stretch to label me "a member." Think about it. I'd also been a key figure in the founding of the Eastern Holy State, but that hardly made me a member of it.
"But Do-hwa... To be frank, she's less fit for Miko duty than you are, Ji-won. Can you even imagine her serving anyone else?"
"Honestly, not at all, sir."
"I can hear every damn word, you bastards..." Do-hwa flicked a casino chip at us, which I casually dodged, then continued speaking.
"Whereas you, Ji-won, you're practically made to be an offshoot of Leviathan."
"Pardon?" Ji-won stared blankly, blinking twice to process. "You mean me?"
"Who else?"
Allow me to prove it.
Q: Do you, by any chance, regard all other living beings as insects?
"Your Excellency, I have never in my life treated someone's life like that of a bug's."
"What do you think is the difference between a human life and a bug's life?"
"All life is equal, Your Excellency. The idea that humans deserve special treatment is pure anthropocentric bias."
"What about the difference between life and matter?"
"All life arises from matter and returns to matter. Every existence is equal. If you think living beings deserve special treatment, that's an egocentric bias favoring life."
"Then why you in particular? Why should you be special?"
"Because the world revolves around me, obviously. You could call it 'Ji-won-centric.' Although if I am Earth, then Your Excellency is the Sun, so the true center of the universe is―"
Out.
Q: What is the most valuable thing in this world?
"My loyalty to Your Excellency."
Q: Clarification: second-most valuable thing.
"Power."
"What's so special about power?"
"Power is influence. If you die without power, you alone simply die. But if a person of power dies, it causes a massive commotion. In other words, it's harder to kill a powerful person. Like how it's harder to destroy a gigantic mass of matter—the higher the power, the harder it is to dismantle. Only power can compare to the eternal life of matter."
Out.
Q: All humans have turned into animals. You can become whichever animal you want. Which do you choose?
"Hmm. Is a mythical creature allowed?"
"Sure. Anything you like."
"Then I'll be a dragon. One blast of Dragon Fear and all those other animals will lose it."
Out.
"Yu Ji-won! You're a perfect match to be Leviathan's avatar!"
"I'm not sure why, sir..."
Three outs, and we switch sides.
Despite Ji-won remaining as expressionless as ever, she somehow looked a bit deflated. I could almost see the little "nyoro-n" sound effect floating above her head, but no one would get that reference anymore.[1]
"Still, Your Excellency, if that's your decision, I trust it. However, becoming a Miko to an Outer God... I doubt it's as simple as wanting to be one."
"Of course." If it were something like Infinite Metagame, which blatantly chose Oh Dok-seo and backed her, that might be different. Under most circumstances, though, merging a single human with a single Outer God required a great deal of effort. "But I have a little trick up my sleeve."
"As expected of Your Excellency. May I ask what it is?"
"..."
"..."
"My, my."
Three of us stood hand in hand.
Specifically, Yu Ji-won and I were side by side with Go Yuri.
The arrangement was simple: Ji-won was in the middle, holding my hand on her left and holding Go Yuri's on her right.
"Um, Doc? You suddenly asked me to hold this lady's hand, so I did, but what exactly are we doing here?"
"Don't worry about it. We need your power to break through Leviathan's contaminated Void, but I can't afford direct contact with you. Hence, we're using Ji-won as a filter."
"My, my... Ah ho ho."
A tiny laugh fell from Go Yuri's lips, but even her usual smile that crinkled her eyes couldn't hide the sense of unease drifting around her. Her gaze bounced between me and Ji-won as she spoke.
"This really is fascinating... Do you know everything, Doc? Because if you do, I might be really surprised."
"I have no idea what you're talking about."
"I'm weak to this person."
I said nothing.
I hadn't explained the mechanics of it in detail, but in a past cycle, I discovered that Ji-won wasn't affected by Go Yuri's mental manipulation. Evidently, Go Yuri already knew about that weakness.
Ji-won tilted her head. "Huh. Excuse me. I'm not good at recognizing faces. Are we acquainted?"
"...Ah ho ho."
"I believe I spoke in a universally understandable language. Are you not Korean? If you'd like, I can speak your native tongue."
"..."
"Your Excellency, it seems this lady shares the same trait as Lee Ha-yul or Phantom Blade."
Ji-won's facial muscles remained flat and composed, no different than usual. Meanwhile, I was stunned to hear these two "people" (though neither truly qualified as an ordinary human) having an actual conversation.
'Go Yuri... She's gone all timid?'
Based on her interactions on SG Net alone, it was clear to me that Go Yuri could talk circles around anyone. Her entire shtick was to feed the other person exactly what they wanted to hear, after all. Even extending that to group conversations, she usually gave every participant the "ideal" line or ran an even more advanced form of brainwashing.
'But Yu Ji-won is conversing with Go Yuri face to face, and I can hear them both perfectly!'
When I observed Yu Ji-won vs. Go Yuri during that previous cycle, I kept my distance. This was my first time seeing their exchange up close.
A wave of confidence washed over me.
"Allow me to introduce you, Go Yuri. This is Yu Ji-won. She's my esteemed adjutant. It'd be great if you two got along. Or maybe all three of us can arrange a routine tea party―"
"Doc, do you like slimes?"
"Huh? Not especially, no."
"Would you like me to make you a fan?"
"..."
The Undertaker was now timid.
And so, hand in hand, we stepped out of the Inunaki Tunnel, leaving the rest of the Human Allied Forces with some excuse about going "on a scouting mission."
– Kieeeek.
– Groooaaa...
Splat.
All three of us planted our feet simultaneously.
Then, something incredible happened. Even Ji-won, who rarely displayed any hint of surprise, blinked.
"Your Excellency, the fog..."
"Yeah," I said. "It's moving on its own."
The wall of thick fog that veiled everything beyond ten meters in any direction began shifting like a living thing. The raindrops followed soon after, pausing in midair and then wriggling sideways...
All skittering away from where Go Yuri set foot.
"..."
"..."
"Wow! The open air does feel refreshingly cool. So where to, Doc?"
"...I'll lead the way. Keep pace with me."
"Okay!"
Splorch.
Yu Ji-won and I trod upon the mud while Go Yuri's heels somehow landed on ground that was dry and solid, as if freshly baked. Occasionally, a water-bug rained down from above and landed on her wide-brimmed hat.
...! ...!
Then the droplet would contort in silent agony, as though under torture—stretching out horizontally, vertically, in all directions, and then contracting over and over at high speed—until it burst barely a second later.
"I've always wanted to take a walk with you like this, Doc."
"...Always? Sorry, but we only met a few months ago at best."
"That's just a difference in perspective."
Splorch.
"Doc, do you love Ha-yul?"
"I do."
"Have you always?"
"Yes. Always."
"Even in the distant past?"
"..."
Splorch.
"You surely didn't love her the instant you laid eyes on her. She's not your birth daughter. It must have taken time and observation for that love to grow."
"...What's your point?"
"'I love Ha-yul.' Even that simple statement needs context, right? Like 'but only after enough time had passed since we met.'"
Splorch.
"I'm the same way, Doc."
"..."
"I've always wanted to walk with you like this."
Go Yuri glanced sidelong at me, a faint smile playing about her lips.
Tens of thousands of liquid creatures crawled around her, writhing. It was as if she were enveloped in an inverted, transparent umbrella.
"It's just a different viewpoint. Same as you."
At long last, we reached the Tower of Babel. Already, half of it had been replaced by water, yet all three of us managed to climb with no problem—thanks to how the watery steps reverted to stone steps under Go Yuri's feet.
And so we reached the rooftop. A place with nothing except a door that only I could open: the door to the Time Seal.
"...We're fine now that we've made it here. Thanks for bringing us."
"You're most welcome."
Go Yuri smiled.
"In the end, you plan to solve everything on your own, without really relying on me."
"...If you hadn't accompanied us, Ji-won and I could never have gotten here so smoothly. I did accept some help."
"Yes, but only that much. You've decided that 'borrowing this much power won't come at too steep a price,' right?"
Beyond the seal of this crystal tomb lay an area safe from Leviathan's mental corruption. There was no reason to risk more conversation with Go Yuri. Yet somehow, I felt an urge not to end things here with her. An intuition that I shouldn't just part ways now.
Maybe that's precisely Go Yuri's brainwashing...
It might be.
"...I'm sorry."
Go Yuri blinked.
"Huh?"
"..."
"What are you apologizing for, Doc?"
I was as baffled as she was.
Those words slipped out of my mouth without my own volition. Some unconscious part of me had moved my lips.
Up here on the rooftop, rain and water-bug squirming noises merged into a haze of background noise.
I thought:
'I'm sorry... to Go Yuri? Why? About what? Where does that come from?'
But the question was short-lived. Even before my rational mind pieced things together, my heart, from ages past, was already hiding the answer.
"I always thought... that I was smart to avoid you. Because the best way to handle a danger you can't defeat is not to confront it. But in hindsight, you were only doing what the other person wanted."
Go Yuri could have come to me at any time, as evidenced by the current cycle. She pierced through every precise boundary I'd set and forced a meeting. Yet for hundreds of runs in the past, she never came to visit me.
Why?
It was simple.
"Because I avoided you. Because I didn't want to meet you, you simply stayed away to match my desire."
"..."
"I'm sorry."
I still didn't know exactly what Go Yuri was or how she worked, but if her absence over those centuries was merely my doing, my fierce wish not to see her, then somehow, now, this moment, I had to apologize.
"..."
Go Yuri was quiet for a while. Expressions of surprise, acceptance, contemplation, and a tiny smile each crossed her face in turn.
"All right. I'll take that apology as payment for what I did to help you today."
Clap.
Go Yuri brought her hands together, and in that instant, the loud crashing of the rain abruptly cut out, as if someone hit pause.
I realized she was doing that for me—like a gentle push on my back, telling me to leave now.
"...Thanks."
Go Yuri didn't respond. Instead, she let go of Ji-won's hand and backed away from me as well. Then I stepped through the Time Seal door with Ji-won.
When I glanced back one last time, Go Yuri was standing politely, seeing us off.
Atop the Tower of Babel, locked within the Time Seal, was none other than Cheon Yo-hwa—the one who was once both the Infinite Void and the Mastermind, calling herself my pupil and strategist.
In that sealed space, she saw only the happiest day of her life on an endless loop.
"Hmm, hum-hum... Hmm... Huh?"
To Cheon Yo-hwa, it was a classroom. Long ago, she'd confessed her love for me in that illusionary space. There in that classroom, she sat perched on a desk, humming a tune.
Crimson eyes flicked up to see my face... and Yu Ji-won holding my hand.
"Heh."
Someone destroyed, yet never truly gone—an Outer God or perhaps the Miko of an Outer God—she—tilted her head.
"Yeah. Welcome back, sunbae."
The orange-haired girl beamed.
"I always believed this day would come."
Footnotes:
[1] A reference to Nyoro-n Churuya-san, a 4-koma series that usually features a girl named Churuya getting treated unfairly and then her disappointment with a little "nyoro-n" sound effect in the last panel.
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