YM778.TV Chapter 65 – Sleepwalker III
Chapter 65 – Sleepwalker III
4
That’s how I received the report titled ‘Devastation’ after the first encounter with the meteor shower.
In fact, even calling it the first encounter reflects a rather human-centric mindset. It was the third encounter from the perspective of the meteor shower.
Since I’ve already written a report, I might as well finish it. Although the me from the 25th encounter couldn’t grasp it, the scenes unfolded as follows after the meteor shower descended to Earth.
Flash―――.
Simultaneously with the meteor’s fall, the starlight evaporated within a radius of tens to hundreds of kilometers in an instant.
Evaporation, literally evaporation. It’s a phenomenon that’s difficult to describe with any other word.
-Kwaaaang!
Everything engulfed by the starlight, not just humans, but also animals, plants, and even most of the monsters, all turn into ‘ashes’ in an instant.
The ashes are not gray but a very white color, making them look refined.
If you run to the spot where the meteor appeared, you can see the entire world turned into a pile of white ashes, with countless particles fluttering in the air like cherry blossoms. It’s quite magnificent.
Of course, it’s better not to get too close just because it’s beautiful.
Even if you take just one step into the ‘territory of ashes,’ or even just one finger crosses over, everything will burn white.
Yes, that’s for me from the 26th turn. Such a crazy experiment-loving idiot.
Thus, the Gyeongsangnam-do province of South Korea was wiped out in one go, but unfortunately, the meteor’s activities didn’t end there.
After the Korean Peninsula, the meteor goes on a world tour, hitting Hawaii in the Pacific Ocean, Ingushetia in Russia, China, France, India, Pakistan, Israel, and so on, one after another.
Naturally, with each hit, the world is riddled with holes like Swiss cheese frequently seen in Tom and Jerry. The areas where humans can live decrease accordingly.
The total time for this world tour is 6 years.
Exactly 6 years after the meteor first landed on the Korean Peninsula, the entire world turns into a friendly pile of ashes.
By the way, in the 5th year, the meteor lands in Seoul. At that time, not only the Korean Peninsula but also half of East Asia becomes the ‘territory of ashes.’
The meteor that killed me in a convenience store roleplay session was this Seoul-bound meteor.
There are no exceptions to destruction.
No matter how deep you dig underground to build a bunker, or even if you escape to the sea on a boat, eventually, the entire surface of the Earth will be covered with ‘ashes.’ Even the sea turns white when hit by the meteor.
A beautiful death.
A whitened apocalypse.
A world of white.
“……”
In the 27th turn, I succeeded in escaping from the meteor.
It would be more accurate to say ‘scouting for future strategies’ than ‘escaping.’ Anyway, as long as I stayed out of the meteor’s range, my escape wasn’t difficult.
Even as the Korean Peninsula, Tang Seorin, and many other connections turned into ashes by the starlight, I meticulously collected information about this monster.
‘Now is the time to endure.’
It was something familiar to me, a regressor.
During this time, I also started using the term ‘monster’ instead of ‘creature.’ Observing the meteor, I corrected many of the fixed notions I had about monsters.
Of course, that didn’t mean there was a miraculous defeat of the meteor right away.
Because the Korean Peninsula at this time was truly a hellfire peninsula.
“Bul-sal-yeong-saeng! Yeong-saeng-hwa-eom! Eok-ri-gung-jeong!”
“Ah! You know Shinbul (New Buddha)! If you put a flower on your head, you can survive even if your arms and legs are cut off!”
“Why do we need to awaken? If you just believe in Shinbul, you can really enjoy eternal life, right?”
When the 7th year arrived, and a meteor shower poured down on Gyeongsangnam-do, I took it a step further and bloomed the World Tree, ‘Udumbara.’
But that’s not all. If we couldn’t properly seal Baekhwa High School, our black magic sorcerer, Cheon Yohwa, would laughingly turn it into a ‘School City.’
Honestly, even though I’m a regressor, this was a bit too much to handle.
To compare it to a nuclear explosion-level meteor strike and to spread it across East Asia as a powerful end-times cult, adding a zombie city to the mix? What’s going on? Are they telling me to just die quietly?
‘I endure.’
So, I obediently died.
Yes, a regressor dies once anyway.
‘Surely, the tide of change will come.’
In other words, I waited for an opportunity.
Sometimes I died from being hit by the starlight bombardment of the meteor, sometimes I was torn apart by the million zombie army of School City, refining strategies for the various ways the world ends, lamenting the lack of masterpieces to execute those strategies, feeling impatient, enduring, and waiting.
Is it really possible to clear such difficult stages, or rather, scenarios?
I endured.
Shouldn’t I focus on enjoying small pleasures now, like an old Scho, instead of burdening myself with obligations? After all, no matter how many times I return, the fact remains that the world doesn’t change much, right?
I endured.
Perhaps I should confide everything to Tang Seorin.
I endured.
And then.
“There are no exalted beings.”
Finally.
“The Saintess of the World and the Conqueror of the Alps are all just characters I created myself.”
Swoosh.
A small wave sounded in my world.
――Finally, the current of change has arrived.
5
No matter how much the world tries to force me into the trash genre, I, Doctor Jang, never faltered.
If the bookworm heard me, they would say, “No, sir, not faltering is the exact key seasoning that makes trash delicious,” but I would ignore the literary otaku’s remark with style.
Game Changer.
The overwhelming abilities of the joining Saintess completely reversed the situation that had repeated dozens of times until now.
“I found it. Doctor Jang.”
“Chungcheongnam-do. Asan. Onyang.”
World Tree Udumbara, conquered.
The ‘knowledge’ of the regressor about the future and the ‘eyes’ of the Saintess about the present created an incredible synergy.
Even without considering her awakening ability, the Saintess was a reliable partner.
We shared information, devised strategies, and gradually eliminated the elements that were turning this Korean Peninsula into a hellfire.
“But I don’t know how to deal with the meteor shower. From the starlight falling from the sky to the effect of forcibly putting people to sleep…”
“Don’t worry. I have a plan.”
I said.
“The role that you, the Saintess, should focus on right now is solely prophecy.”
“….?”
The Saintess tilted her head.
Before long, transparent messages appeared to all awakeners active on the Korean Peninsula.
[“The Saintess of the Salvation” sends out a quest.]
“Huh?”
“What’s this?”
The awakeners tilted their heads as they read the quest window.
The message read as follows:
──────────
[Meteor Strike]
In 6 years, a special monster, ‘Meteor’, will fall on the Korean Peninsula. Meteor will engulf the entire southern region of the peninsula in flames.
Survive the threat posed by Meteor.
-Reward: Survival
-Failure: Death
──────────
A quest distributed to all awakeners on the Korean Peninsula. Thanks to the Saintess’s [Telepathy] ability, both voice and text messages could be delivered.
Of course, the messages were sent under the name of the Saintess, not directly from her.
“Death? Just die?”
“This is crazy. What kind of quest is this?”
“The probability of it being a lie… is it nonexistent?”
The awakeners were confused.
The Saintess played the roles of the Constellations so well that even I, as a regressor, could have been deceived. It was very difficult to doubt the authenticity of the quests given by the Constellations. After all, who would imagine that some crazy person would mimic the Constellations using [Far-Sight], [Telepathy], and [Time Freeze] abilities simultaneously?
Above all, this was the moment when the Saintess’s mastery of controlling the Constellations and her innate talent for manipulating the minds of the awakeners would be revealed.
“Monster? Meteor? … What is that?”
“Well, aside from saying it will happen in 6 years, there are no other clues. How are we supposed to proceed with this quest?”
“Is there anyone with more specific information! If you share information with our guild, we’ll reward you generously!”
The Saintess didn’t reveal all the information from the beginning. She guided the awakeners to string together clues themselves voluntarily.
[“The Red Cloak’s Master” secretly teaches the term ‘monster’ to refer to monsters.]
She slowly leaked messages, making it seem like special information given only to dedicated awakeners.
[The Chain Quest for ‘Meteor Strike’ is activated!]
For specific awakeners, information about Meteor was presented like a quest, gradually revealed in steps.
──────────
[Identity of Meteor] (2/4)
Through our investigations so far, it has been revealed that Meteor is the main culprit behind the destruction of numerous worlds.
If Meteor’s starlight touches the ground, no one can escape destruction.
You are the only one who fully understands the danger of Meteor at the moment.
──────────
I prepared all the quest rewards to motivate them.
As seen when I ran the convenience store, I could secure a considerable amount of remaining logistics in South Korea if necessary.
I hid goods in remote warehouses, and when the Saintess revealed the location of the warehouse as an ‘event reward,’ the awakeners eagerly rushed to grab the supplies.
In addition, when Cheon Yohwa later joined our operation, the authenticity of the “quests given by the Constellations” reached its peak.
“Ah, Meteor…? Definitely. Those things plunged my home world into the end.”
“I’m just a refugee. So I don’t know much about Meteor. But according to rumors… before the starlight falls from the night sky, there’s always a song that echoes.”
NPCs created according to my orders.
Occasionally, when venturing into the depths of the void, I arranged for towns populated by NPCs to be discovered. The NPCs claimed they were ‘refugees from a world that had already been destroyed.’
“A song? What song?”
“I don’t know any more details than that.”
“Ha, this seems like really important information… We’re stuck here.”
The NPCs had parts of their bodies melting like zombies, and this visual shock ironically added credibility to their words. Anyone unfamiliar would consider it a sign of something truly ominous happening.
And so, about a year passed.
-Anonymous: Isn’t it about time for guilds to gather and conduct joint training, with Meteor’s appearance just a year away?
-Anonymous: Even now, they’re already regularly summoning allied guilds in the Three Thousand Worlds.
-Anonymous: It seems objectively that the only master of the Korean Peninsula is Tang Seorin….
└Anonymous: Are you wearing a straw hat?
The awakeners on the Korean Peninsula had perfectly prepared themselves to hunt Meteor.
Now it was time for the regressor’s time to shine.