NOVEL NEXT Chapter 3
There were facilities for people who felt uncomfortable, and they could be found all around.
The most common facility for those with vision issues is the tactile blocks embedded in the pavement.
For those with mobility issues, there are sloped paths instead of stairs, and so on…
In society, the general perception of disabled individuals is that they are people who need help.
If you were ordinary, you could manage it, but being lacking in some way means you can’t do the things you naturally should.
And practically speaking… I am currently disabled.
Moreover, I’m a mute with three out of five senses impaired. Even though I’ve awakened my mana and I’m superhuman, my body is weak thanks to the curse of short life…
For me, finding the gate terminal that connects to Shio-ram was quite the ordeal.
I can’t see ahead. How would I possibly know where it is?
I know that Shio-ram is established on a man-made island in the North Pacific, but swimming there is obviously out of the question.
When going overseas, you’d normally think of taking a plane first, but in this world with facilities like gate terminals, you think of gates instead.
Gate. It doesn’t indicate a door or entrance; it’s the type of gate commonly found in web novels, you know, the cliché kind.
The setup that allows for crossing from one space to another—considered absurd in reality, yet… it exists here, so what can you do?
Currently, my destination is the Gate Terminal, a crucial facility of the country where gates from various parts of the world link.
The very facility that gets terrorized day in and day out during the main storyline. It’s no wonder, since blocking it means halting reinforcements arriving in an instant, making it a top target for terror.
I know what the facility is supposed to do, but not knowing where the Gate Terminal actually is left me in quite the dilemma.
How am I supposed to find it with my eyes closed? Asking someone for help is out of the question since I can’t even speak.
And honestly, there’s no one here to ask for help. I can’t just grab a passerby and ask them for directions.
Fortunately, a solution existed.
[Please move 71m to the left.]
[Stop. Please wait at the traffic light on your right.]
The helpful signals ringing non-stop, guiding me to my destination.
The source of this was my smartwatch on my wrist.
It’s a product from this world filled with magical engineering technologies, sent along with the delivery I received from Shio-ram.
There are downgraded versions available in the civilian market, but a smartwatch for superhumans is a different level altogether.
It has to withstand all kinds of monsters since it can’t break during combat, and it comes equipped with hundreds of features for when one is operating in areas disconnected from the outside like dungeons.
[250m ahead, your destination is the Seoul Gate Terminal.]
It even has a hologram function, but sadly, with my current spatial perception, I could only see the outline of the hologram…
If I hadn’t had the bone conduction audio feature, I might not even have been able to activate it properly.
After about an hour of struggling to operate the watch, I finally managed to follow its directions and left my house only around three hours ago.
Though this world is reminiscent of a game, the term “Earth” is still the same.
There are still places called America, South Korea, Japan, and China… but they’re all gone. Even North Korea is gone.
Alongside well-known countries, many either continue to exist or have vanished into the back alleys of history.
What was the setup again? Apparently, powers and mana, dungeons, and towers have been around for almost 200 years.
Back then, the world was almost identical to the ordinary Earth I knew.
But from a certain day over 200 years ago, people began to manifest powers and mana, and dungeons and towers that summoned monsters appeared in the world.
And that’s how, some 200 years later, we’ve reached the present.
A world blended with fantasy and modernity has been completed.
South Korea remains one of the countries that still exists.
Of course, it’s essentially just a shell of its former self, dominated by superhuman forces.
Past political factions were first cleared out by hordes of monsters and later cleaned up a second time by superhuman forces.
Most countries have followed a similar pattern.
“We’re almost there.”
After transferring once on the subway, changing buses three times, and walking for about twenty minutes, I finally arrived near the Gate Terminal.
Since I used to live in a rural area, it took a bit to reach the city where the Gate Terminal exists.
Luckily, I found some cash at home, albeit a small amount.
It’s ridiculous that I have cash in tens of thousands, yet no mobile phone.
Arriving at the Gate Terminal, I was at a loss for words.
“I can’t see anything…”
I had managed to recover my spatial perception range to around 20 meters in diameter, but changing the kind of sight was impossible.
Because of that, the world was filled with a ratio of black and green.
What stressed me out even more was the real-time gazes and whispers directed at me.
I detected the uneasy gazes with an unusually heightened sense.
I sometimes experienced the illusion of being watched, but now there was no way to brush it off as mere illusion; the stares were varied and precise.
Moreover, my hearing had become overly sensitive, allowing me to pick up whispers as well.
Gazes of fascination. Whispers questioning whether I was blind. Gazes of pity…
“Ugh…”
Being already anti-social, it’s incredibly uncomfortable to have so many eyes on me.
In the past, I could have probably ignored it, but now, it irked me.
To put it simply, it was really freaking annoying.
“What am I supposed to do…?”
I entered the large building. But now I didn’t know what to do.
Using methods I experienced in the game? It’s a bit simplified and I don’t know the procedures.
I was at a point where I was looking around, lost in thought about what to do next.
“Hello? Do you need any help?”
“?”
Someone came bouncing over and spoke to me. A quick analysis revealed that, judging by the mana in her body, she was not an ordinary person but a superhuman.
The person who approached me—well, let’s just say she had curves that only a woman could possess.
After pondering for a moment, I tapped my smartwatch to display subtitles in hologram.
This was the smartwatch’s second essential feature.
I couldn’t see the hologram, but she could certainly see it.
[Are you a staff member?]
Thanks to the bone conduction audio, she understood what I had written.
“No, no. I just asked in case you needed help. I’m a student too, just waiting for the gate.”
I was taken aback by that and quickly scanned the area again, realizing I’d mistaken her for a staff member by her clothing.
Superhumans generally have a vast amount of mana within them. Though common folks have some, it’s just negligible.
Thanks to that, it’s easy to discern between superhumans and regular individuals.
“Hmm.”
If someone could help me, that would be great. I was just about to grab a nearby staff member to ask about the procedures.
[Would that be a bother?]
“Not at all. I’m not helping you with anything significant.”
I decided on that and, after a moment’s hesitation, she smiled brightly and clapped her hands. Then she gently grabbed my sleeve and led me toward the desk to assist with the basic procedures.
“…May I have your identification, please?”
[Sure.]
“…Identification. Please move to the gate waiting line.”
When I showed the staff my admission notice from Shio-ram on my smartwatch, they quickly wrapped up the procedures.
After all, this was the time of year when new students were entering Shio-ram. I’d heard that there were a few others also using the gate.
“Oh, I’m Elia Slade, a new student at Shio-ram this year. Just call me Elia.”
[I’m Lee Ha-yul. I’ve also enrolled this time.]
After completing the procedures, we decided it would be too awkward to stand around waiting for the gate’s activation, so we found a nearby spot to chat.
“…She’s smaller than I expected.”
This was true when standing side by side earlier, and it remained true now as I sat across the table from her.
I hadn’t realized it because I hadn’t been out much in my previous world.
Being a guy, I figured I should be taller than a girl, right? I didn’t have any pride about it, but nonetheless, I felt somewhat intimidated because I was shorter.
“I was told by my parents that no matter how difficult things get, there’s always hope (Every cloud has a silver lining). I didn’t think much of it as a child, but now it really sticks with me—”
Her name was Elia, and her lively speech was quite impressive.
Her unique ability was healing, and she had a younger sister who, because of her stoic nature, didn’t have any friends, which worried her. She often heard proverbs since childhood, and now it seems they’ve stuck with her… that kind of detailed information.
To sum it up, she was good with words.
Meanwhile, here was I, a total introvert who now couldn’t even speak properly.
Thanks to that, all I could do was nod along or diligently type to project holograms.
As I listened to the storm of her relentless chatter, I realized there was a conspicuous absence of dialogue regarding sight…
She helped me when I was unsure of what to do, and while keeping me entertained with conversation, she carefully avoided talking about my eyesight, showing meticulous thoughtfulness.
‘How interesting.’
At the same time, I was internally amazed.
Elia Slade. As her name suggests, she’s not Korean. To give her the benefit of the doubt, she might be Korean at heart, but the language she was speaking wasn’t Korean.
Yet we could still understand each other. Not just in translation; even cultural nuances and proverbs were etched effortlessly into my mind.
‘The Tower of Harmony…’
One of the towers that sustains the world.
After the collapse of the previous electrical network due to mana waves, the Tower of Harmony rebuilt a new internet infrastructure through mana and unified the world’s language.
“…Mr. Slade, Mr. Lee Ha-yul. Please stand in front of the gate.”
As I was absentmindedly agreeing and lost in thought about the tower, time seemed to fly by.
Following Elia, we made our way toward the gate, guided by the staff.
‘Will it look the same?’
In the game, it was portrayed as a large structure resembling an arch with swirling blue hues.
As I walked, I reached the end of my spatial perception boundary, and…
Did I find it?
‘What’s this?’
The space was cut off. No, was it not?
On the other side of the gate, I felt a different scenery.
‘Am I sensing what’s beyond the gate?’
Even though I only saw a green outline, it was undoubtedly a different space from the terminal.
Is that Shio-ram?
“Ha-yul?”
But what caught my attention wasn’t what was beyond the gate.
It was the empty space between the Shio-ram over there and this terminal. The moment I glimpsed it, a sense of crisis hit me.
I mustn’t look at that. It feels like I’ll make eye contact with something.
I shouldn’t go there. The moment I step any closer, I doubt I would leave a trace behind.
It felt as if an insignificant ant was facing the enormity of the universe.
A warning echoing on an instinctive level sent cold sweat down my nape.
My current spatial perception had lost many features in the cost-cutting process.
If.
If I had looked at that vacancy with intact spatial perception, I sensed things wouldn’t have ended well.
[Noooooo.]
Answering Elia’s worried question, I minimized my spatial perception as much as possible and threw myself into the gate.
Moving my legs felt like I was stuck in a statue.
“Why are there so many death flags, damn it?”
On the first day of transmigrating, I almost burned my brain; I passed out and nearly starved to death, and now I was on the brink of seeing something that might explode my head.
I faced three near-death experiences in ten days. If there’s a god, they must certainly hate me.
If any being called a god exists, who else would place me in this world if not them?
As I threw myself into the gate, a jolt overwhelmed my entire body. Before I could catch my breath, I found myself at the Shio-ram Gate Terminal.
Rushing outside, the cool breeze brought comfort to my body. It felt like a bit of the burden on my chest had been lifted.
“Are you okay? Your condition just…”
[I’m fine.]
“You’re sweating a lot right now.”
‘Sweating?’
As I heard that, I wiped my face and felt the cold sweat on my hand. Only then did I realize my face was drenched in sweat.
[I was just a bit tense.]
“Maybe you should visit the nurse’s office…”
[I’m really okay.]
Avoiding Elia’s hand, which was reaching to wipe my forehead with a handkerchief, I shook my head.
Though I barely replied, Elia still looked worried. After repeating that I was okay and thanking her for the guidance, she finally nodded.
[Really, thank you for the guidance.]
Finally, Elia made sure to escort me all the way to the front of my dorm building.
It’s a heartwarming thought that such kind people exist in the world.
Surprisingly, the dormitory was a skyscraper.
I took a moment to look around and check it out.
Eight buildings easily surpassing several dozen stories were arranged in a 2×4 formation on one plot of land.
I could only perceive the base of the building now, but that’s how it was in the original work.
There are parks, walking trails, lakes, and various facilities nearby. Just looking around felt so much better compared to the place I used to live.
As I nodded, Elia seemed to hesitate for a moment, then extended her arm, which had the smartwatch on it.
“…Can we exchange contact information? It’d be nice to keep in touch and go around together.”
[Sure.]
[Contact ‘Elia Slade’ saved.]
With a crisp notification, my smartwatch synchronized with hers, and our contact information saved seamlessly.
After exchanging contact numbers, I reminded her to reach out if anything came up, and then turned to leave.
Even in parting, I could feel her gaze filled with concern.
Such a kind person could end up getting taken advantage of, and that worried me.
After worrying about the disappearing Elia outside my spatial perception range, I entered the dormitory.
[Student Lee Ha-yul, authenticated.]
The dormitory entry was automated, making it quick and hassle-free.
When I placed my smartwatch near the doorknob, it automatically unlocked. Once I stepped inside, I heard the sound of a fan kicking in, reminiscent of a click.
‘…It’s hot.’
Ever since I saw the vacant space earlier, I felt clammy from the sweat. I needed to shower.
Kicking off my shoes near the entrance and throwing my luggage around, I headed straight for the shower.
It was troubling that I got exhausted even before things had properly begun.
I fretted about tomorrow.
‘Ouch, ouch, ouch! Ugh, ahhhh!’
Because I couldn’t distinguish the colors of the taps, I ended up having to ice my burnt hand.
Thanks to that, I experienced the curse of silence once again today.