NOVEL NEXT Chapter 3
< Chapter 3 >
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Watcher I
Shin Noah
1
The café where I frequently met Old Man Sho… no, let me correct that. The café where I frequently met Old Man Sho’s ‘corpse’ is filled with small aquariums, probably to suite the barista’s taste.
Though they only contain common species of fish, the tails of these fish have a magical power that calms the mind just by watching them. Perhaps it is because time seems to flow slower around those fins, or maybe because the fish’s eyes look as empty and not contain a single thought
While sipping Old Man Sho’s Café au lait, watching a blue tropical fish performing a delicate underwater ballet in the currents of time, there is always one person who comes to mind.
The Saint.
Today, I plan to talk about that person.
2
When the Gates erupted worldwide, Korea unexpectedly held up well. Not because of the government’s efforts, though.
Originally, half of Seoul was devastated, including the National Assembly building in Yeouido. Over a hundred gold badges vanished that day. Whether this was fortunate or unfortunate depends on who you ask, but at least initially, there was a temporary paralysis at the top of Korean politics.
Nevertheless, the reason Korea’s awakened ones were able to manage through the crisis was that a translucent ‘message’ like a hologram appeared before their eyes.
[‘Saint of National Salvation’ shows interest in your heroic deeds.’]
For example, when I took a leading role in suppressing the Busan Station Gate, such a message appeared.
I was not the only one to experience this phenomenon.
“What? What is this?”
“…The Red Cloak Chancellor? He’s interested in me?”
Awakened individuals across the country began to stand out, and invariably, ‘messages’ appeared to them.
The sender of the message varied among the awakened, but one thing was the same: someone was taking notice of their actions.
“It’s the Constellation!”
And someone named this phenomenon ‘Constellation’.
Apparently, the awakened ones who were accustomed to reading web novels found these messages quite familiar. On the other hand, those unfamiliar with web novels, like some awakened ones including me, were naturally perplexed. Eventually, I approached someone who seemed to exude an air of ‘I know what this is! I’ve seen it!’ and asked directly.
“Senior, excuse me for being forward as this is our first meeting. I’m sorry, but what is a Constellation?”
“Ah, you don’t know about Constellations!”
The awakened one who received my question explained excitedly.
“These are transcendent beings who watch over awakened ones like us, showing interest and even sponsoring us! You know about internet broadcasting, right? It’s similar to that! We are like the broadcasters, and the Constellations are like the viewers who donate!”
“Wow.”
“Constellations are incredibly powerful. There are terrifying beings like Cthulhu, and there are also deities that are friendly to humans like us… Anyway, it’s all good! Always make sure to look good in front of the Constellations. Ah, which Constellation should I choose? Maybe the option [choose none] is the trend?”
The awakened one continued to ramble on and explain for a while.
I, too, initially just nodded along thinking, ‘So that’s how it is.’
It wasn’t too surprising to imagine transcendent beings munching on popcorn while watching the human world, especially with monsters roaming around through gates.
[‘Conqueror of the Alps’ admires your exploits!]
[‘The Red Cloak Chancellor’ respects your strategies.]
As episodes progressed, I became accustomed to the existence of the Constellations.
They seemed to follow my actions closely, praising me and encouraging me whenever I showed unique behaviors.
[‘Saint of National Salvation’ praises your achievements.]
Especially, I felt somewhat proud that the Constellation supporting me was ‘Saint of National Salvation’.
This Constellation was famous for cherishing awakened ones with benevolent dispositions, and it was clear that it favored me the most.
Perhaps my life as an awakened one would have felt rather bleak without the Constellations?
While the true nature of Constellations remained a mystery, I, as well as most awakened ones, generally harbored a fondness for them.
“…This is strange.”
Old Man Sho thought differently.
Before Old Man Sho went on a long ‘vacation,’ around the 10th regression, he had been suspicious of the existence of Constellations.
“What’s strange?”
“I talked to some friends abroad a while back. Most of them are dead, but some survived. Those guys say… they don’t see that sort of thing in their country.”
“That sort of thing?”
“Ah. The messages from Constellations, the messages! My friends in Germany say they’ve neither seen nor heard of such things.”
Old Man Sho frowned, tensing the tip of his nose.
“Out of curiosity, I asked a few friends from other countries, and they said they’ve never experienced such messages.”
“……”
“Then, does this mean that this bizarre phenomenon is occurring only in Korea? Isn’t that too strange? Why do the ‘Constellations’ operate only in Korea? They are supposed to be transcendental beings. What reason do they have to favor Korea?”
“Uh… maybe they like K-pop?”
“That’s ridiculous Doctor.”
At that moment.
[‘The Saint of National Salvation’ is disheartened by your conversation.]
[‘The Conqueror of the Alps’ asks you to drop your suspicions.]
[‘The Red Cloak Chancellor’ scoffs at your shallow understanding.]
As if they had been waiting, the messages appeared.
By this time, Old Man Sho and I had already garnered considerable attention from the ‘Constellations.’ It was inevitable. Old Man Sho was undoubtedly the strongest swordmaster, and I was… well, an irreplaceable resource.
I glanced sideways. Old Man Sho also seemed to see something, narrowing his brow.
“You too, sir?”
“Indeed. These beings are closely monitoring every little thing we do.”
Old Man Sho grumbled. He swiped through the air as if shooing away an annoying fly.
“Anyway, there are too many suspicious things. Before I learned Korean, these beings never sent me messages. But as soon as I started using Korean, they eerily began to send them, didn’t they?”
“……”
“As you say, it’s hard to explain unless they are really drunk on K-nationalism. Doctor, don’t trust these ‘Constellation’ fellows too much.”
Sadly, Old Man Sho was unable to unravel the secrets of the ‘Constellation.’
After the 26th episode, the old man took a long vacation with his wife, leaving no time to delve into the mystery.
But I was different.
As an Infinite Regressor, I am like the Bill Gates of time. It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that all I have is time.
‘Why do the ‘Constellations’ appear only in Korea?’
I stroked my chin.
In the countless regressions, it seemed worth investing at least one cycle into this intriguing puzzle.
Firstly, Old Man Sho’s point was correct.
Not only the awakened beings operating abroad but also those operating in Korea who did not know Korean never received the ‘messages.’
‘Thanks to this, Korea has somewhat decent quality or perhaps consciousness of awakened beings.’
In other countries, ‘awakened’ individuals were causing terrorism, massacring civilians, or various crimes were reported multiple times a day.
Yet, in Korea, the crime rate among the awakened was notably low.
Why did this phenomenon occur?
I thought there were two possible answers.
First, perhaps the Constellations were truly addicted to K-nationalism and only cared about Korean awakeners.
And the second possibility was…
‘Do the Constellations only speak Korean…?’
If this were true, it would have tremendous implications.
Think about it. Even Old Man Sho, with his rigid mind, mastered a foreign language after just a few episodes.
But these beings called Constellations only know Korean?
What kind of transcendents were they?
‘So, the Constellations are not transcendents.’
I formulated a hypothesis.
‘However, it would be difficult for anyone but a transcendent to monitor all awakeners in Korea and send messages individually every day. There must be some hidden secret .’
From regeession 35, I began a formal ‘Study of the Constellations.’
I was determined to find out what kind of beings my friends, who had admired and been astonished by my actions so far, were.
‘First, attract the attention of the Constellations.’
The method to attract their attention was simple. The Constellations had a habit of showing interest in outstanding awakeners.
As soon as I started the 35th regression, I pushed my abilities to their limit and cleared the gate that erupted at Busan Station in under 20 minutes.
In the first regression, I died without closing this gate.
It wasn’t until the third regression that I managed to conquer it after a week.
But now, I had finished the gate in less than 20 minutes. Besides, out of the 399 humans summoned to the main hall of Busan Station, all but one survived.
I also farmed silver bells for the souvenir shop in the main hall, so it was no waste of time.
It was a literal speedrun.
A record that would shock the Constellations.
[‘The Saint of National Salvation is astonished by your prowess!’]
[‘The Lord of the Red Horse feels pride in your power.’]
[‘The Conqueror of the Alps pays attention to your movements.’]
[‘The Red Cloak Chancellor guards against your skills.’]
Sure enough, the Constellations bit the bait as if they had been waiting.
In succession, 11 Constellations continuously sent messages.
For the time being, I ignored the messages.
Only after I left Busan Station and reached a deserted parking lot did I speak.
“Constellations, I am aware that you are Korean.”
Suddenly, the messages that were like Hogwarts acceptance letters ceaselessly arriving, stopped all at once.
As the messages that had filled my vision disappeared, the sky cleared. I looked up into the void.
“I also know you are not transcenders. I could disclose this fact to the awakened ones… but I am more curious about who you truly are. Please, tell me about your nature.”
-…
No response came.
To be honest, at that moment, I was quite nervous.
Though the possibility was slim, what if the Constellations really were transcendents who wrap seaweed around kimchi at every meal, listen to K-pop during tea time, and watch ‘Korea Pride TV’ at night?
If they were showing this mysterious nationalist favoritism only towards Korean-speaking awakeners…
‘My audacious suggestion might anger the Constellations, and they might all attack at once.’
I prepared for battle.
Although my awakened power was not combat-related, after rolling with Old Man Sho, the strongest swordmaster for three years, my combat ability had grown considerably.
Thinking that even if I died here, I would simply move on to the next iteration, I was resolute.
[‘The Saint of National Salvation’ invites you.]
The message appeared.
Fortunately, the scenario where the Constellations appear to punish the impertinent mortal did not unfold.
Instead, tens of Constellations remained silent, and only one voiced their intention to me.
Coincidentally, it was the ‘Saint of National Salvation,’ the first Constellation who had shown interest in me.
I asked cautiously.
“An invitation? What kind of invitation?”
A moment later, the message returned.
[‘The Saint of National Salvation’ invites you to the Jamsu Bridge on the Han River.]
Seoul.
The hell on earth where Old Man Sho lost his wife and countless gold badges were buried.
‘Ah.’
…I then realized anew that the Constellations had never once spoken in dialect.
3
I had already mentioned several times that the center of Gangnam had been turned into a mess due to the explosion of a Gate. However, the areas that the Gate did not reach remained surprisingly intact. Jamsu Bridge on the Han River still retained its appearance from before the world had changed.
The place where ‘The Saint of National Salvation’ and I had agreed to meet was a sky-blue convenience store near Jamsu Bridge. For an invitation by a Constellation, it was an unexpectedly commoner-friendly location.
Under the convenience store’s parasol sat a woman with her hair tied back.
She looked ordinary. The water-blue color of her hair was unusual, but it was not uncommon for an awakened one’s hair to change color as they became aware of their abilities.
She did seem like a being transcending humanity.
“Hello, are you ‘The Saint of National Salvation’?”
“……”
She looked at me. Her gaze swiftly scanned my entire body.
Her eyes resembled those of a fish, seemingly submerged in water rather than lost in thought.
“Busan Station Gate?”
“Yes, that’s right.”
“I never imagined you could make it from Busan to here in less than a day.”
As half of Seoul had fallen, most of the infrastructure leading to the capital had been rendered useless. Roads, railways, everything was destroyed.
On the flip side, this meant that there were still some means of transportation remaining, albeit few.
Old Man Sho had wanted to get to Seoul before his wife disappeared, leading to extensive research on ‘the fastest way to get from Busan to Seoul.’
…Though no matter how fast, arriving in less than a minute was impossible, rendering the research ultimately useless. Well, thanks to that, I was able to meet ‘The Saint of National Salvation’ quickly.
“My codename is Mortician. Nice to meet you.”
“Ah, yes… Mortician?”
“It’s a nickname with a backstory. Feel free to just call me ‘Doctor.'”
After shaking hands with her, I sat opposite her.
In the distance, Seoul’s skyscraper, also known as ‘Sauron’s Tower,’ loomed like a shadow.
“Before anything else, I want to ask you this.”
“……”
“Are you really ‘The Saint of National Salvation’? Or are you a representative? What is a Constellation? Are you truly a Transcendent?”
She remained silent. A flurry of thoughts seemed to cross her eyes momentarily.
After a while, she pursed her lips and clenched her fist.
Then, she sighed softly.
“…Yes. I am ‘The Saint of National Salvation.'”
I knew it.
Just as I was about to nod, she looked me straight in the eye.
“Are you a Regressor?”