#4
Wonwoo couldn’t open his eyes.
The light tickling his eyelids told him that the virtual experience had ended and he had returned to ‘reality,’ but Wonwoo couldn’t bring himself to open them.
He felt that if he did, a bizarre, humanoid monster, spewing a thick black liquid while opening and closing a mouth that boasted thousands of teeth, would be standing right in front of him. If not that, then a grotesque plant, like a Venus flytrap grown thousands of times larger, would suddenly appear from somewhere and snatch him up.
As if to wake him, the alarm, which he now found grating, went off.
-Bbirong bbirong!
“…Fuck.”
Wonwoo, who had tried to swallow the curse but failed, spat it out and very carefully, slowly, opened his eyes.
The curtains swayed in the breeze coming through the slightly open window, the plain beige wallpaper was unremarkable, the desk was a cluttered mess of various objects, and the bed was untidy.
Just like that, Wonwoo had finished the ‘virtual experience’ and returned to his room.
Feeling an odd sense of relief that he shouldn’t have needed to feel, Wonwoo swept a hand over his chest.
-Bbirong bbirong!
The alarm, clearly from SYSTEM Talk, rang out as if to say, ‘Don’t forget about me.’ Wonwoo scrunched up his face and unlocked his phone.
[Thank you for using the ‘World Destruction Virtual Experience’ (*❛ᴗ❛)]
[The virtual reality the user just experienced was a ‘trial version.’ Another ‘World Destruction’ experience has been prepared for user ‘Wonwoo.’]
“…A trial version? Is this a game, huh?”
Wonwoo felt like if the system were a real person in front of him, he would have grabbed it by the collar and shaken it back and forth.
A trial version where people were crushed to death under debris, where grotesque creatures appeared and ran rampant, and where people were devoured by them!
[Well then, we will now guide you to the next ‘World Destruction Virtual Experience’!]
[The ‘What If the Gates That Appeared Like Mushrooms All Exploded at Once?’ experience program is now activating!]
“Don’t, no, no! It’s fine! Stop!”
[Please be advised that you may feel intense heat…□■□■]
[…Program activation has been canceled at the request of user ‘Wonwoo.’ ＞﹏＜)]
Wonwoo readjusted his grip on his phone.
“I get what you’re trying to say….”
Wonwoo thought and realized. Hidden behind cute emoticons and a cheerful tone, this system was currently threatening him.
If he ‘hadn’t regressed’… he would have died without even properly knowing why. No, he might have died a horrific death.
Wonwoo recalled the countless suckers of the grotesque ‘something’—not quite octopus legs, not quite tentacles—that had squeezed him tightly, and his body trembled.
From that danger, from that terrible situation, he had somehow escaped. And having escaped, he was now being told what to do by the system.
All he had done was ask the system, ‘Why me, of all people?’ And the answer the system gave him was a vision of ‘destruction.’ As if it had saved him on a whim and was now demanding payment.
That’s why Wonwoo suspected the system had noticed his uncomfortable and reluctant feelings and was now threatening him.
He couldn't help it. He couldn’t even believe the fact that he had died and come back to life, and he had no idea why he was alive, or why it had to be him. When you know nothing, you’re bound to be cautious.
‘But if I’m just cautious… it’s not like what I’ve been through will just disappear. This is difficult.’
He had died and come back to life. He had also time-slipped in the process. And he was in an era with monsters and Espers who used superpowers. In such a situation, it was hard to completely deny the words ‘world destruction.’ Even now, if he closed his eyes, he felt like the monster he had seen in the virtual experience would pop out and attack him.
The ghost-like system seemed to notice this doubt and expressed its disappointment with a crying emoticon.
[o(TヘTo)]
“Yeah, yeah. Go ahead and cry.”
Wonwoo let out a deep sigh. And as if in response to his sigh, the system sent another message.
[SYSTEM’s GUIDE for user ‘Wonwoo’!]
[If user ‘Wonwoo’ had not become a Guide, you would have died. 〒▽〒]
[Since it was a life you were going to lose anyway, please contribute to Guide activities! ＞﹏＜]
'If this isn’t a threat, then what is it….'
“…I’ll do it. The Guide thing? The revitalizing tonic. So, what do I have to do.”
[Don’t worry! That’s what this ‘SYSTEM’ Talk is for, for the ‘Guide’s’ GUIDE! （*＾-＾*）]
The system’s intention to snap him to his senses through the virtual experience had, in any case, worked 100%.
Though he was trembling slightly, Wonwoo covered his right hand, which was still clutching the phone, with his left and squeezed.
[■□■□■□]
[If you know your enemy and know yourself, you will be victorious in every battle! ( •̀ ω •́ )✧]
[First, how about researching the ‘S-class Espers’?]
[You need to know their names and faces to act like you know them when you run into them on the street!]
“…You think just because I became a Guide, I’m going to run into people—no, Espers—I’ve only seen on the news? It’s hard enough to see an A-Class in real life, let alone an S-Class!”
[You never know in life!]
[Did user ‘Wonwoo’ normally know that it was your destiny to die and come back to life? (*￣0￣)]
[That’s what life is. ψ(｀∇´)ψ]
“…Damn, you’re so annoying. Seriously. Ugh!”
Wonwoo almost threw his phone against the wall. But he remembered he’d gotten the phone not too long ago and that he still had to pay off the installments since the world hadn’t ended yet, so he suppressed his anger.
But then, Wonwoo came to regret not just throwing the phone away.
[The forced activation of the ‘World Destruction Virtual Experience’ has caused an overload in the ‘SYSTEM’… (ﾟДﾟ )ﾉ]
The system had run into an error.
“You told me not to worry! You said you were here for me!”
[Do not let the ene…my know of my err…or….]
[■□■□… Rebooting ‘SYSTEM.’ Please wait.]
[Time until ‘SYSTEM’ normal operation, 119:59:59….]
“120 hours?!”
Wonwoo wanted to cry. He had just steeled his heart and made a firm decision, only to feel abandoned by the system.
“…Let’s just get something to eat.”
Clutching his rumbling stomach, Wonwoo walked to the fridge.
With no energy to cook a proper meal, Wonwoo just boiled some instant ramen to get by. In truth, he couldn't get any more down after a bite or two. The noodles reminded him of something, but he tried his best not to think about it and moved his mouth mechanically.
He stacked the pot and bowl haphazardly and tossed them into the sink, then turned on his laptop.
With over 100 hours until the system came back, he couldn’t just sit around twiddling his thumbs. Wonwoo decided to do what he could.
“If you know your enemy and know yourself, you will be victorious in every battle.”
Wonwoo’s hands moved busily over the laptop.
***
‘The Bureau’—the national institition that handles South Korea’s Gate problems faster and more efficiently than anyone else on the front lines.
This organization, composed of a small number of Espers and a large number of administrative civil servants, is called the heroes of the Republic of Korea.
Their work ranges from small tasks like recording Gate appearances and relaying Gate news through the media, to larger tasks like outsourcing to private Esper guilds or freelance Espers to resolve problems when Gates appear. And if a situation arises that even they cannot resolve, Espers belonging to the Bureau are dispatched to conquer the Gate themselves.
The timing of Gate appearances is not fixed. Therefore, the working hours of those who handle Gate-related tasks are naturally irregular. That is why another name for the Bureau was ‘The Lighthouse of Yeouido.’
And among them, there was one man whom everyone unanimously called the ‘Lighthouse Keeper of Yeouido.’ It was none other than the Bureau’s only S-Class Esper, Shin Yonghyun.
He was so famous for being at the Bureau 24/7, 365 days a year, that rumors circulated among the Bureau’s civil servants like, ‘Is the entire Bureau headquarters building actually Shin Yonghyun’s house?’ or ‘Actually, Chief Shin Yonghyun is married to the Bureau.’
But the only reason Shin Yonghyun could be the ‘Lighthouse Keeper of Yeouido’ was simply because he was an S-Class Esper.
His physical abilities were dozens of times superior to those of an ordinary person, so he only needed to sleep once every three or four days, and he was the only S-Class Esper whom the state could ‘use as they pleased without limit.’
As someone who handled that much work, he was just an office worker who wanted to finish everything as soon as possible and submit his resignation letter.
And then one day, as the cold receded and spring approached, Shin Yonghyun received a strange email in the middle of the night.
[[URGENT] Delivery of measures for ‘□■□ ■□ ■□’]
He checked the sender, but like the subject line, it was filled with unintelligible characters and was unreadable.
As someone who frequently heard stories about a team’s server being wiped out by ransomware, or some private guild having all their Gate strategy information stolen after receiving an unknown spam message, the usual Shin Yonghyun would not have opened such a suspicious email.
But at that time, Shin Yonghyun hadn't slept for three days. Moreover, he had just returned from being dispatched to a Gate appearance without even having had dinner.
Therefore, he was far more on edge than usual. Perhaps because of that, as soon as he saw the broken characters in the email subject, he could feel ‘something’ like Gate energy.
So, Yonghyun rather impulsively opened the email. As if in response, the broken characters changed once he opened it.
[[URGENT] Delivery of measures for Resolving the Gate Problem]
[This lucky email, originating from the system, was first sent in 201n and has traveled through 13 dimensions to reach you.]
“…I see.”
Anyone else would have let out a disbelieving laugh and immediately thrown the email in the trash, but Shin Yonghyun did not.
He began to read carefully, sentence by sentence, word by word.
[You don't have to forward this email to other espers or other dimensions. Of course, the lucky letter that was said to have started in England must leave the recipient within a week, but not this email. This is because it is a special lucky email delivered only to S-Class Espers. You may believe it to be a lie, but the contents of this email are true. So, rejoice. For you have gained the good fortune of ‘resolving the Gate problem.’ A certain nameless Esper who ignored this email lost their abilities a year after receiving it and died in a Gate. And another so-and-so Esper deleted the email without even looking at it and went missing, swept into an absorption-type Gate within 5 days. I implore you, do not take this email lightly.]
Shin Yonghyun swallowed dryly. From the seemingly prankish email that spoke of an unbelievable way to solve the Gate problem, he read a strong sense of ‘Interference’ and ‘Absolute Power.’
And so, Shin Yonghyun’s three all-nighters became five, then six all-nighters.
___________
(t/n : unlock more chapters on my ko-fi (◍•ᴗ•◍))
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