NOVEL NEXT Chapter 77
Promoted Ⅰ
Speaking of wishes, it's more accurate to say that I grant them rather than make them.
[Time Seal].
My unique awakening ability and the reason why my nickname as the Undertaker stuck. It traps the target in their 'happiest day,' forcing them to relive that day for eternity.
-Undertaker, it's too hard. I want to let go of life now.
-Please, Undertaker.
-I want to see my family. Back when the world was still intact, with my family... Please.
-No one in reality remembers me anymore? It doesn't matter. This world is already...
Though they relive the same day forever, those under [Time Seal] never realize it.
People just play all day long in the dreamland amusement park I’ve set up, with an all-day pass.
To the end-of-the-world humanity, I am the ultimate, legally approved final sedative (with narcotic properties).
Naturally, there's a long line of people waiting to get into this amusement park with a free pass.
Today, let me introduce the craziest psychopath standing in that line.
“Vice guild leader.”
“Hmm?”
“My life is too painful.”
Swooosh.
Silver hair fell across the table from the seat opposite me.
That hair was beautiful. Too white to be gray and too shiny to be white. It could only be described as silver.
When an awakener gains their powers, their hair color is randomly dyed. The person before me had lucked out with an SR grade in the tier gacha. (For reference, I got normal-grade black.)
“To be honest, it's too hard to bear sober. I want to end it all.”
“……”
Yu Ji-won.
There’s a person with that name.
In fact, Yu Ji-won has appeared several times in my stories. Some readers might remember, but her first appearance was here.
-Vice guild leader, do you have a moment? A guest has come to see you.
-A guest? Who?
-Yes, the name is... Emim... Schopenhauer? They said they're German.
The day I first met the old Schopenhauer.
The one who first told me a historic moment had arrived, a German geezer visiting, was none other than the SSS-class hair beauty Yu Ji-won, my secretary and lieutenant.
Yes, my secretary and lieutenant. Long ago, when I was just a lackey for Dang Seo-rin at Samcheon World, Yu Ji-won was my lackey. The lackey of the supreme guild leader's lackey—quite a high rank.
Let me introduce how this person got into the core circle of power, our inner circle, in one fell swoop.
It was during the 5th cycle. Yu Ji-won said something to me then.
“Vice guild leader, do you like Romance of the Three Kingdoms?”
“What? You too?”
“Yes. I got into it when I was a kid with Yokoyama's 60-volume strategy Three Kingdoms.”
My eyes lit up. Such pedigree.
The cool and chic awakener with silver hair moved only her lips to mutter.
“After that, I read Go Woo-young’s Three Kingdoms, Hwang Sok-yong’s Three Kingdoms, Yi Munyeol’s Three Kingdoms, and Jang Yeong-sil’s Three Kingdoms. I briefly got into the niche Three Kingdoms commentary before moving on to the Romance of the Three Kingdoms Battle Records and eventually delving into the original historical texts.”
“Incredible.”
I was dizzy with excitement. It was an intoxicating feeling, like a drug.
Is this how a martial arts elder feels when they see a promising disciple?
My voice trembled as I asked, testing if this kid was the successor to carry on my legacy.
“KOEI...? Or, Three Kingdoms: Total War...?”
“Hmm.”
As is common in zen dialogue, Yu Ji-won rested her chin on her hand in thought.
Finally, she lifted her glasses.
“My rational mind calls for Three Kingdoms: Total War, but my young heart cries out for KOEI. And I believe the soul resides in the heart rather than the brain.”
“…Which series do you prefer?”
“Three Kingdoms 3, Three Kingdoms 5, Three Kingdoms 11.”
“Gasp...!”
I had no choice but to acknowledge her excellence. From that moment, Yu Ji-won was immediately selected as my close aide.
Of course, there was one final hurdle.
“Oh, for crying out loud. Kids.”
Samcheon World, which had adopted a global monarchical system over a democratic one, had its own procedures and regulations.
Our supreme leader, the Great Witch Dang Seo-rin, sneered at us.
“Hiring someone as the vice guild leader's aide just because they're a Three Kingdoms otaku? The guild’s management must be thriving.”
“It's ironic coming from a witch otaku and train enthusiast...”
“What did you just say, vice guild leader?”
“Nothing at all.”
“I understand you like her, but you can't promote guild members recklessly without procedure. How will Yu Ji-won feel if she rises through the ranks without proper process? Her peers will resent her.”
“If I may, Great Witch, can I speak?”
Yu Ji-won said.
As described several times, Yu Ji-won always wore an expressionless face and spoke with discipline. She had a talent for making even the most nonsensical words sound plausible when they passed her lips.
“Hmm? Go on.”
“I wasn't recommended for the position of vice guild leader's aide just because of my Three Kingdoms knowledge. I have other skills as well.”
“What, your awakening ability? The minimap thing? I know that. I value you too. But as I said, organizations need procedure and order…”
“I majored in Latin and can write freely in Latin. Naturally, I can also translate song lyrics into Latin.”
“Promoted.”
Yu Ji-won, appointed to the executive level!
Yu Ji-won’s promotion to the inner circle was thanks to her knowledge of Three Kingdoms and her Latin skills, but that didn’t mean she was incompetent as an awakener.
In fact, she was quite capable.
“Ji-won.”
“Yes, vice guild leader.”
“It’s about time to start the operation. Turn on the minimap.”
“Yes, sir.”
Minimap.
This was Yu Ji-won's awakening ability. Any Korean who had sold their soul to the ethnic game StarCraft would instantly understand what the 'minimap' ability was just by hearing its three-syllable name.
Swoosh-
Yu Ji-won spread a map on the operation table. The scale was 1:50,000. She placed the chess pieces she had prepared on the map.
Amazingly, the chess pieces began to move on their own.
“Vice guild leader, the enemy is gathering in the eastern district as expected. They seem to be planning to use boats to attack us from behind.”
“Hmm.”
The seemingly ordinary chess pieces had red stickers with names like 'Kim Sung-woo' and 'Park Hyun-mo' written on them.
All were names of the enemy leaders we were up against.
The chess pieces imitated the locations and movements of the enemies on the map. It wasn’t just the enemies.
♝ ♛
Yu Ji-won Dang Seo-rin
The bishop labeled 'Yu Ji-won' and the queen labeled 'Dang Seo-rin' also accurately showed their positions on the map.
Dang Seo-rin was impressed.
“It really feels like fighting with a minimap on. This ability is broken. Ever since Ji-won joined Samcheon World, guild wars have become so easy.”
“You flatter me, Great Witch.”
Yu Ji-won, the master of social skills, bowed at a perfect angle—neither too exaggerated nor too stiff.
“My ability has limits. Without your leadership, my ability would be useless.”
“That's too much flattery. Be careful, or I might sew your mouth shut.”
“Yes.”
Yu Ji-won was just pretending to be modest while flattering, but her ‘minimap’ had some flaws.
1. The minimap only displayed targets Yu Ji-won had met and knew by name.
For instance, Yu Ji-won couldn’t display the 'Saintess' on the minimap. She had never met her and didn’t know her name.
2. The minimap only worked in cities Yu Ji-won had physically visited.
For example, in the 5th cycle, Yu Ji-won had never been to Gyeongju. Despite being a cycling enthusiast who toured all of Korea and even Japan, she had never set foot in Gyeongju.
So no matter how much she used the minimap, she couldn’t track anyone fleeing to Gyeongju.
In such cases, the chess pieces would move until they reached the edge of the map and then fall over.
The expression 'set foot in the city' might seem vague, but it had a very clear criterion: visiting a convenience store in the city.
Oddly enough, if Yu Ji-won bought something or stayed in a convenience store in a city for more than a minute, that city was considered 'visited.'
So, cities where convenience stores had completely disappeared couldn’t be ‘visited.’ For instance, in New York, which was devastated by an ocean-class anomaly, there were no convenience stores to be found.
In other words?
“Guild leader, I'll take Ji-won to various guild leader meetings and travel across the country.”
“Sure. Please do.”
I dragged Yu Ji-won around the country under the pretext of being my secretary, making her familiarize herself with people’s faces.
As a result, the ‘vast network’ that Yu Ji-won built through me was reflected on a map of the entire Korean Peninsula.
“Impressive.”
I looked down at the huge map and opened a beer bottle.
The major guild leaders of each city, those with special abilities even if they weren’t guild leaders, and anyone who could influence the power dynamics in Korea.
The locations of all these important figures were displayed in real time.
“Thank you. It's all thanks to you, vice guild leader.”
“It’s your skill and your major that paid off.”
“I never expected my Latin major to shine more after the world ended. I used to worry about starving before the apocalypse.”
“Isn’t it life’s unpredictability?”
I slowly poured beer into Yu Ji-won’s proffered glass. We raised our glasses to celebrate the completion of the ‘national map.’
“Cheers.”
“Cheers.”
Clink— The glasses made a lovely sound.
With Dang Seo-rin's leadership, my support, and Yu Ji-won's overwhelming information-gathering ability, Samcheon World continued to prosper.
It would be nice if this invincible triumvirate lived happily ever after... but as you all know, this story is far from a happy ending.
Shortly after we ascended to power in Korea, the situation grew increasingly grim.
In cycles without Noh Do-hwa, the cities were isolated and perished one by one. In cycles without the SwordMarquess, food supplies dwindled rapidly. In cycles without Seo-gyu, the Awakeners lost their communication network. In cycles without Old Man Scho, we lacked the strength to break through the anomaly's onslaught.
Even for the executives of Samcheon, the situation was dire. Maybe even worse.
Dang Seo-rin, the supreme leader in our autocratic system, was a rare breed—a 'benevolent ruler.'
Executives had to set an example at the front lines, and if even one guild member starved, so did the executives.
Dang Seo-rin endured. I endured well.
Yu Ji-won struggled.
Despite her cool and chic persona with silver hair, Yu Ji-won had the words ‘power’ and ‘promotion’ inscribed on her heart. For her, the dire situation was unbearable.
The brutal truth was that Samcheon World was still the best off in Korea.
Yu Ji-won, who needed power and success to be satisfied, was tormented by the environment that refused to fulfill her desires.
If there had been a guarantee of success in another guild, Yu Ji-won might have followed the example of Prime Minister Ye Wanyong of the Great Korean Empire and defected.
In reality, Yu Ji-won had every intention of continuing her ancestors’ legacy.
“Vice guild leader.”
“Hmm?”
“Could you arrange a boat to Japan?”
I didn't bother to lecture her, 'Why run away to Japan? Aren't you ashamed as the vice guild leader’s aide?'
Instead, I sipped my coffee. By this time, I had started to see through Yu Ji-won's true nature.
“I could arrange one, but it would be a one-way ticket.”
“What do you mean?”
“Until recently, there were Japanese ships occasionally coming to Busan. But they’ve all disappeared since three months ago. What does that tell you?”
“……”
We fought bloody battles against anomalies across the country with our guild alliance. Yu Ji-won, as my direct subordinate, was always with me.
“Vice guild leader, what about China...”
“Based on what the constellations said, Shandong is out of the question.”
“……”
“And you said your [Minimap] works in Korea and Japan but you’ve never been to China. Your ability would be useless there. Are you okay with that?”
“……”
Indeed, betrayal requires someone to accept you, and escaping needs a paradise to run to.
The times were turning her into an eternal loyalist.
Just as talented people born in the wrong era often do, Yu Ji-won finally acknowledged that her desires would never be fulfilled.
She had nowhere to go. Where could she go when the whole world had collapsed?
Actually, there was one last place to run to.
“Vice guild leader.”
“Oh, for crying out loud. Lieutenant Yu! Are you scared? Let’s just die together. Life is short anyway. We’re all doomed soon...”
“Please kill me.”
I turned my head.
My expressionless lieutenant was staring at me.
“Give me a funeral. With your power. Please.”
“……”
I sighed.
There were many who had asked me for a funeral... that is, [Time Seal].
Sure. Some of them were personally important to me.
In short, I was a professional undertaker. I had already experienced sending close acquaintances into eternal caskets multiple times.
And I knew that when people I had seen through and through asked for a funeral, I could offer a slightly more detailed consultation than usual.
To summarize the consultation in one line:
-I'm a regressor. The wheel of time will turn to the next cycle, and the world will be a bit better. Are you sure you want to be sealed now?
Upon hearing my secret, Yu Ji-won was shocked. Her mental shock lasted exactly six hours.
Less than a day later, my silver-haired lieutenant came back.
“Your excellency, you said this is the 5th cycle.”
“……”
It’s evident she was a tough nut to crack since she started addressing me as ‘your excellency’ the moment she heard I was a regressor.
“Yes.”
“Well, then wouldn’t it be logical to think that the 2nd cycle would be better than the 1st, the 5th better than the 4th, and the 6th better than the 5th?”
“…That’s true.”
My silver-haired lieutenant nodded seriously.
Then she began to say something I had never heard in my entire regressor life.
“Your excellency, I believe getting sealed in time now, in the 5th cycle, would be a significant loss.”
?
Footnotes:
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