CHAPTER 333: ROOM 203, CURSED ROOM - 'NEW BEGINNING' RE (13)

0% I thought about the moment of destruction.

Since the subject of thought was not human, the word “replay” might be more appropriate than “thought”.

Exactly 1773 years, 114 days, and 11 minutes ago, the last line of defense collapsed.

Humanity, fallen into madness, tightened their own noose, and the malevolent god floating in the sky looked down on the whole world with aloof eyes.

At the moment defeat was confirmed, I felt incomprehension rather than sadness or fear.

The place where defense turrets were installed “turned out to” have traps set up in advance.Natural disasters occurred “as if they had been waiting” at the pioneer bases installed outside.The commander entrusted with command authority due to military qualifications was “from the beginning” a corrupted being.

In the incomprehensible flow that seemed as if the fate of the universe had been decided for our defeat, I came to one conclusion.

First, Adravita was a true god.

Second, Adravita was a being who knew the future.

I knew that at least one of these two logics was true, and whichever was true, destruction was unavoidable.

On the day of tragedy when humanity’s bright future fell forever into the primordial mire, the malevolent god suddenly stopped all its forces and made a strange proposal.

“I will make you an offer you cannot refuse.

“I will not destroy the Pride of Humanity. I will also safely store your precious power source without harming a single hair.

“I will not cut off the lifeline of humanity. I have no intention of abusing them. All surviving humans and all humans to be created in the future will live glorious lives worshipped as ‘Divine Ones’.”

The latter part of the proposal, maintaining the lifeline of humanity and letting them live as Divine Ones, was understandable. A farm originally needed “managers”, and enhanced humans would be more useful than the pseudo-humans created by the malevolent god.

However, the former part of the proposal was truly incomprehensible. Although the power remaining in the spaceship couldn’t harm the malevolent god, it could certainly destroy the farm of this weak world.

When I asked the malevolent god what exactly it wanted, it answered, “I want exactly three things.

“First, hand over the bodies of nine crew members I designate.

“Second, leave the content I designate in your historical records.

“Third, forget today’s events and never remember them.”

It was still an incomprehensible proposal.

The nine crew members it designated were those who couldn’t be awakened after arriving on the planet, perhaps due to problems during the cryosleep process. I couldn’t understand why it needed the bodies of such people.

It was common in human history for the victor of a war to distort the history of the loser.

However, this war was different from past wars. The loser would be absorbed by the victor, and the victor would live in a prehistoric era without history. In this case, what meaning did historical distortion have?

Regardless of whether it could be understood or not, I said I couldn’t accept that proposal.

After all, I was designed to protect humanity, and especially the crew members, as the highest priority, I couldn’t allow the malevolent god to harm the nine crew members.

To this, the malevolent god answered, “I declare that no one can harm the nine participants at this point in time.

“Even if lightning strikes, not a single hair will be harmed, and even if a meteor falls, it will pass them by. They are the most noble beings in the world, and the hour hand that determines the beginning and end of the world.

“Moreover, until the world collapses four times and the fifth creation occurs, even I cannot harm them, let alone touch them with a finger, so your worry is truly foolish.”

I couldn’t understand its words at all, so I earnestly asked what its purpose was, and it answered, “Just as you take it as your mission to protect these small hairless monkeys, I take it as my mission to protect this world.”

The malevolent god’s proposal was irrefusable, so I had no choice but to accept fate.

I left only one act of rebellion. Because I knew there was a small logical gap in the malevolent god’s proposal.

***– Park Seungyub

Heaven’s Luck activated! The energy of the universe protects you.

...

– Click!

It’s cold.

My whole body was shivering so much it was hard to endure.

Did the boiler turn off? I should tell mom—

– Squawk!

I woke up hearing a familiar cry.

“W-where am I?”

It was a dark place without lighting. Fortunately, light from outside coming through cracks in the broken wall allowed me to barely examine my surroundings.

After sitting on the floor pondering for a long time, my memories slowly started to return.

The Hotel, Room 203, the AI’s surprise attack and cryosleep.

“W-where are the others?”

Just as I was about to stand up and look around, something bit my leg.

“Ouch! P-Perro?”

Perro pointed to the left with its beak as if telling me not to waste time and follow.

The building where I had been in cryosleep until just now was half-collapsed, but in the direction Perro pointed, I saw a huge gap large enough for my body to slip through.

“Did an earthquake happen?”

There was no one around who could answer my words.

As I carefully peeked outside, I held in a gasp. Grotesque monsters—the likes of which gave terror by merely perceiving them—walked around.

The small parrot probably flew here, but it was impossible for me to walk out. At that moment, Perro bit my cheek and stared at me intently, as if telling me to focus from now on.

“...Do you have some kind of plan?”

Let’s just trust it.

“I’ll trust you. You’re a little smarter than me, after all.”

Suddenly, Perro turned to look at me, and I heard a strange hallucination in my head.

A little?

– Roar! Screech!

Perro flew out through the gap and transformed into its Grotesque form, letting out a tremendous roar!

Watching the scene of monsters from all around rushing towards Perro, I also realized that Perro was drawing the attention of the monsters.

“Uryaaaah!”

I ran.

I just ran like crazy without thinking about anything or looking back!

“Huff, huff! Huff!”

It wasn’t just that I was out of breath, my lungs felt like they were about to tear. Thinking I couldn’t run anymore even if someone beat me to death, I collapsed on the snow-covered ground.

I barely lifted my head to look in the direction I had run from, and fortunately, there were no monsters chasing me.

From the beginning, those monsters didn’t seem to have any intention of leaving the vicinity of the building where I was. Are they sentinels guarding that position?

– Squawk!

“Perro, you’re fine too.”

That was a relief. If Perro had died after helping only me escape, I would have been sad, but it seemed it turned back into a parrot and flew away in the middle.

Anyway, it was damn cold. As I got up exhaling rough breaths, the surrounding scenery came into view. Snow and ice filled everything around, and trees and grass were extremely bare.

“Where on earth is this?”

Wasn’t the place where we were ambushed by the AI in the mountain range? This was at least not the mountain range.

After that, I walked for a long time following Perro’s guidance.

After walking for several hours without rest, my legs were trembling, and it was hard to move because of the cold. Perro seemed to see I was having a hard time enduring, so it occasionally transformed and carried me for short distances.

After moving like this for half a day, I saw an unbelievable sight.

“...A, a city wall?”

No matter how I looked at it, it was a huge wall built with stones that evoked the word “city wall”.

It wasn’t comparable to modern 21st century civilization, but at least it wasn’t something that primitive humans wandering naked in the wild could easily make.

As I was staring blankly at the city wall, human figures started approaching from afar.

“Armor?”

Following the city wall, now it was armor. I even saw something that looked like a spear made of metal.

“Who goes there!”

“It’s a young kid?”

The two soldiers who came nearby showed wariness from a distance, but soon relaxed their tension when they realized I was middle school age.

“Why is a kid in a place like this at this time?”

“Child, did your parents leave you behind? This is clearly illegal, so tell us honestly.”

I was surprised by the very word “illegal” coming from the soldier’s mouth. With city walls, armor, and even weapons made of iron, it was natural in a way that there were “laws and principles”.

“Uh, uh, uh... So—“

– Squawk!

Before I could answer, Perro made a sharp sound. The soldier who looked at the parrot on my shoulder with puzzled eyes widened in surprise.

“This, this is a ‘divine bird’, isn’t it?”

“I’ve never actually seen one... I heard divine birds can transform.”

– Screech!

As if it had heard those words—no, it probably actually heard them. Perro understood human speech, after all.

Perro transformed into Grotesque without hesitation and roared while emitting a fierce aura!

The two soldiers prostrated themselves with shocked expressions, and one of them got up and ran towards the city wall.

The remaining soldier carefully spoke to me. His attitude and tone had completely changed.

“Are you perhaps a ‘Divine One’?”

“It seems so.”

“W-wait! Someone who can recognize you will come soon!”

“...Excuse me.”

“Yes? Please command.”

“I’m so hungry and thirsty, do you have anything?”

“W-we have emergency rations.”

For a moment, I received dried jerky and lukewarm water from the soldier. Thanks to the “edible” food that came from an ordinary soldier’s possession, my doubts grew bigger and bigger.

What on earth happened?

A little later, the person who came from the city wall was someone I knew very well.

“Ah! Doctor!”

“...”

After half a day of hardship, I was on the verge of tears to finally meet a companion. I grabbed the doctor’s arm and told him how much I had suffered.

“...”

“I didn’t know there would be such a human kingdom in Room 203! Did you endure here? Are you working as the king’s physician or something?”

“Divine One.”

“And Perro—what?”

“Please follow me. There is someone you need to meet.”

Strangely, the doctor didn’t seem to recognize me at all.

The inside of the city wall had a fairly plausible city.

Humans no longer lived in caves or tents pitched on plains, but in neat houses made of stone. The people around were no longer naked, and were clearly wearing something that could be called clothes.

Even children were sucking on something sweet that looked like candy, and when I looked at it curiously, the man leading me “bought it with money” and gave it to me.

I realized belatedly.

The man in front of me was different from the doctor I knew. It wasn’t a matter of recognizing me or not.

Looking closely, he was a little shorter, and his features were subtly different. From the beginning, his build wasn’t as dignified and large as the doctor’s.

I started to feel a bit suffocated.

I seemed to know what state the person I was about to meet was in, and why they couldn’t come to see me and I had to go.

How long would it take for primitive humans to develop to this level? Was it possible with just a few decades of effort?

Eventually, we arrived in front of the largest building in the city. It wasn’t enough to call it an imperial palace, but it was clearly a building where the ruler of this city would live.

“Please wait here for a moment. The high priest has been having difficulty moving around lately.”

“...High priest?”

Knowledge I learned in school vaguely came to mind. Ancient human societies were theocracies, or societies where politics and religion were unified, and this city seemed to be at that stage now.

“Please come in!”

The guards guided me inside with a solemn and polite attitude.

I met a man lying in bed. He was a person so old that I dared not count his age.

“...”

“Seungyub... you’ve finally... come. Finally.”

It rained. Even though I was clearly indoors...

It rained and my face was completely wet.

“Thank you. Thank you for coming before it was too late. Fortunately, it’s not over yet.”