WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Irevi
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ I Became the Upbeat Newbie the Infinite Regressors Are Obsessed With ◈
Chapter 17: Administrator of Causality
──────
The Oseong Gang was a criminal organization notorious in Busan’s underworld.
Lee Geon-woo, the youngest member of the Oseong Gang, was smoking heavily in an alley lined with studio apartments when he got a call.
“The bosses are all here, but the youngest punk is missing. Are you out of your mind? Where the hell are you?”
Inhale. Exhale.
“Lee Geon-woo! This bastard's really lost it. You not gonna answer?”
“Fuck off, you piece of shit.”
“Wh-what?”
Click. Click.
Ptui!
“You pathetic human.”
“It’s too late for middle-school syndrome. You high or something?”
“Shut your mouth and wait right there. I’ll be over soon to snap your neck.”
Beep!
He ended the call and grabbed the railing along the studio apartment stairs.
Groooan.
The iron railing bent easily beneath his grip.
“Ha ha, ha ha ha!”
This power was real.
A superpower.
Lee Geon-woo was beside himself with joy at having gained the superhuman strength found only in comics and movies.
He had already been sick of the criminal organization he had joined after bouncing around juvenile detention centers.
This was not a world where brute strength alone got you anywhere.
South Korea was one of the safest countries in the world.
The days when you could conquer the underworld with nothing but your fists were long gone.
Criminal organizations had no choice but to evolve toward using their brains if they wanted to survive.
Naturally, Lee Geon-woo hated it.
No matter how he looked at it, he was the more impressive one, so why did those pathetic bastards who schemed their way through things rise so easily?
He had thought he was born in the wrong era.
Until the Tower appeared.
“Those bastards are all dead.”
When he first received the Tower’s message, Lee Geon-woo thought he had gone insane.
But the moment he saw the message saying the challenger of Infinity Difficulty had reset the Extinction Timer, he knew.
This was an opportunity.
Lee Geon-woo entered the Tower immediately.
A harmless liquid monster.
And an armory.
It was exhilarating.
Wasn’t it obvious he was supposed to grab a weapon and beat that liquid monster to death?
He had a strong intuition that an age of might was about to begin.
Without even looking at the weapons, he burst the slime with his fists alone.
Now that his Strength stat had risen from the Tutorial-clear reward as well, nothing could stand in his way.
The law?
Wasn’t it just a sandcastle built by weak non-Awakened people?
He could not find a single scrap of information on the Tower or Awakened people, as if the government was still trying to control things.
“My era has begun.”
The existing order would collapse, and the world would clearly revolve around Awakened people.
Still, his experience as a thug had not gone anywhere.
Lee Geon-woo decided to act immediately.
First come, first served.
He would seize the underworld, keep climbing the Tower, and grow stronger.
And in that process, non-Awakened people, in other words, humans who had failed to follow the course of evolution and been left behind...
There was no need to care about them.
First, he would swallow the Oseong Gang he belonged to.
Then, he would gather Awakened people like himself, “evolved humanity,” and build power.
In the process, he could spare a few useful non-Awakened people who knew how to use their heads.
Just as he was about to head to the Oseong Gang’s company dinner, two agents in black suits and sunglasses entered the alley.
Golden badges gleamed on their chests.
“We’re from the Awakened Protection and Management Bureau. Are you Mr. Lee Geon-woo?”
“First, please calm down and hear us out. We’re not strange people. Have you perhaps suddenly started seeing a translucent window in front of you?”
“...Ha!”
Lee Geon-woo gave them a sinister smile.
So the government bastards weren’t complete idiots.
Were they trying to recruit Awakened people for their initial response?
‘Can’t let that happen.’
Awakened people could not side with the government.
‘I’ve probably never properly used my strength against non-Awakened people before.’
He strode toward the two agents.
“How dare humans like you...”
Just as he stretched out his tattoo-covered arm to rip out an agent’s throat...
Fwish!
The two agents flew backward in an instant.
“?”
Literally.
They simply went whoosh! as though someone had grabbed them by the scruffs of their necks and thrown them.
Thud!
The two agents sailed through the air for quite a distance under an invisible force before landing on their asses.
“U-ugh! What the fuck was that?!”
“Telekinesis? Is this telekinesis?”
Leaving the panicked agents behind, Lee Geon-woo surveyed his surroundings with gleaming eyes.
He realized it instinctively.
Another Awakened had saved the lives of two government lackeys!
“Hey! I don’t know who you are, but get out here first!”
No answer came.
The two agents stared blankly.
Had they realized they had narrowly escaped death just moments ago?
“Awakened Lee Geon-woo! In accordance with Management Bureau policy, we ask for your cooperation...”
“Backup! Requesting backup! We’re facing an Awakened!”
The two agents quickly got to their feet and put distance between themselves and him.
Of course, they were not important to Lee Geon-woo.
“Hey. I don’t know where you’re watching from, but it’ll be a problem if you don’t come out.”
He placed a hand on the ground, lowered his body, and gathered strength in his thighs.
Grrrrrk.
A sprinter’s stance.
It plainly declared that he was about to kill the agents.
“I’ll give you three seconds. Come out.”
At that moment.
Flash!
A dagger gleaming with a cold green light beneath the streetlamp embedded itself in the ground before Lee Geon-woo.
“What is this?”
Lee Geon-woo narrowed his eyes at the dagger, then looked toward where it had come from.
There, sitting like a cat atop the flickering streetlamp, was a man.
“...Pfft! Are you playing hero?”
The stranger was dressed like a phantom thief from a comic.
A black cape that covered his entire body.
And a pure white mask with black eyeholes.
Lee Geon-woo relaxed his stance and pulled out the dagger.
“Come down. Let’s talk.”
Non-Awakened people were one thing, but his own kind was another matter.
He would try persuading him first, then get rid of him if he refused.
“...”
The mysterious figure merely watched him in silence.
“Silent-type gimmick? Fine. I’m good at making people open their mouths.”
With a grin, he immediately threw the dagger at an agent.
Fwoosh!
He had thrown it with strength that far surpassed human muscle power.
There was no way it could be stopped.
At least, that was what he thought.
Twang!
With the sound of a taut thread being pulled tight, the dagger stopped a hair’s breadth before the agent’s pupil.
“Ah, aaah!”
The agent’s legs gave out, and they collapsed.
The dagger floated through the air for a while before returning to the mysterious figure’s hand.
Smack!
Watching this, Lee Geon-woo grinned wide enough to reveal his yellow teeth.
“A telekinetic? I want you.”
That was when it happened.
Fwoosh!
The mysterious figure swung an arm, and the dagger shot toward Lee Geon-woo.
“Ha! You don’t want to talk?”
Then he would simply be removed.
Lee Geon-woo tried to catch the incoming dagger.
Whoom!
But the dagger moved as though it defied the laws of physics, abruptly changing course midair and severing both of Lee Geon-woo’s Achilles tendons.
Slice!
“Ghk, aaaargh!”
Thud!
His massive body lost its strength and collapsed.
“You fucking bastard! You!”
Lee Geon-woo tried to rise somehow with both arms.
Slice! Slice!
But the dagger controlled by the mysterious figure instantly severed his muscles.
“Arghhh!”
This was not an ordinary Awakened.
He had extensive knowledge of the human body, knowing exactly which muscles to sever to incapacitate an opponent!
Both arms and legs had been rendered useless almost absurdly quickly.
“You’re an Awakened, you fucking idiot! Kill those morons! Why are you messing with your own kind?!”
The mysterious figure landed before Lee Geon-woo, cape fluttering.
Then, slowly...
He placed the cold, wavy-bladed dagger against his forehead.
Starting from his forehead, he lightly cut his eyelids and lips.
Drip.
A streak of red blood ran along the green dagger.
The mysterious figure stabbed the dagger into the asphalt.
Then, at his gesture, Lee Geon-woo’s head was automatically pulled back.
“Ghh...”
Forced to lift his head while lying face down, he looked utterly pathetic.
As if telling him to look, the mysterious figure pointed at his chest.
Flash!
A pure white glow began to gather, and a badge shaped like a Möbius strip, the symbol of infinity, appeared on his chest.
Lee Geon-woo’s eyes widened, and he sharply inhaled.
There was no way he would not recognize it.
A badge symbolizing infinity, formed with the Tower’s distinctive effects?
This, this mysterious figure...
Was the challenger of Infinity Difficulty.
“You, you...!”
The mysterious figure merely raised an index finger to the mouth of his mask.
A universal gesture.
“Shh.”
Cold sweat ran down Lee Geon-woo’s face.
He had thought nothing could stop him after Awakening, yet this person was an Infinity Difficulty Awakened?
And the gap between them was this immense?
For the first time, Lee Geon-woo realized that Awakened people had ranks among them too.
In the past, he would have cursed inwardly and lowered his head.
But not now.
His world was only just supposed to begin, and yet he had become crippled before it even started?
He could not accept it.
“You fuck...”
Just as he ground his teeth and tried to curse...
The mysterious figure waved a hand.
Fwoosh!
Smack!
Lee Geon-woo’s head slammed into the asphalt, instantly noise-canceling him.
“...!!! ...!!! ...!”
He did not know how it had been done, but he could not lift his head, as if he had been fitted with a collar.
A moment later.
Press.
The mysterious figure pressed an acupuncture point at Lee Geon-woo’s cervical spine with a finger, knocking him completely unconscious.
The two agents, who had watched the entire situation from beginning to end, fixed their eyes on the mysterious figure’s chest as he approached.
The Möbius strip gleaming brilliantly there.
The challenger of Infinity Difficulty.
“Ah... th-thank you!”
“C-could you be Infinity...”
Nod.
“!!”
The two agents immediately understood and nodded rapidly.
The mysterious figure nodded along as if satisfied, then extended one finger and pointed at the ground.
Bzzzzzt!
A blue laser emerged from his hand.
The laser bored into the asphalt and wrote a message.
-Deliver this to Management Bureau Director Kwon Dojun.
“!!”
“H-how do you...”
Smack!
One quick-witted agent covered the other agent’s mouth.
“Shut up and listen!”
“Mmph! Mmph!”
Nod.
The mysterious figure seemed satisfied.
The oblivious agent understood the situation and nodded too.
The mysterious figure continued writing.
-I will keep climbing the Tower, so do not make any attempt to find me. Also, stop tracking down Awakening suspects one by one. Release the information and recruit openly. That way, you won’t get hurt.
“U-understood!”
“Y-yes! We’ll deliver the message exactly as you said!”
Bzzzzzt!
-You’d better. When the opportunity arises, I will come to the Management Bureau myself.
“!!”
“Th-thank you! Thank you so much!”
The mysterious figure nodded for a long while again, then pointed to the broken CCTV installed beneath the streetlamp in the studio apartment district.
“We understand! Yes!”
Nod.
That was when it happened.
A commotion began to rise in the distance.
“...Management Bureau agents! Awakened Lee Geon-woo is...!”
“We’ve arrived at the scene!”
The mysterious figure briefly looked toward the noise.
Watching him, an agent asked in a trembling voice.
“A-aren’t you leaving?”
Flicker. Flicker.
The broken streetlamp flashed.
The challenger of Infinity Difficulty remained silent.
Tap tap tap tap!
Backup had nearly reached the alley.
Flicker.
“Are you all right?!”
Flicker.
“Uh, huh? What is this...”
The two Management Bureau agents who arrived could not help but be shocked by the scene.
The two agents sitting on the ground.
Awakened Lee Geon-woo lying unconscious.
And a mysterious black-caped figure with a badge symbolizing infinity on his chest.
“What is...”
Flicker.
The instant the streetlamp flashed, the challenger of Infinity Difficulty vanished.
As if he had never been there in the first place.
“W-what the hell happened here?!”
“What? Where did that guy go?”
The two agents who had been at the scene stared at the spot where the challenger of Infinity Difficulty had stood as though they had seen a ghost.
* * *
In an empty back alley in Busan, I changed clothes a short distance from the scene, then smiled at the glowing window in front of me.
-Administrator of Causality, Achievement Accomplished!
-You have altered the fates of Management Bureau agents who were destined to die.
-The Management Bureau’s policy will change.
-The Management Bureau will no longer be obsessed with finding the challenger of Infinity Difficulty.
-In addition, rather than approaching Awakening suspects, they will publicly release information and recruit Awakened people on a large scale.
-Reward: 50 Shop P
I see.
Achievements were earned by pulling off something worthy of an Infinite Regressor.
‘With 50 points, the range of things I can trade for will grow massively.’
The gift bag of the Infinite Regression Gallery’s newbie Santa had gotten considerably fuller.
Still, I couldn’t help feeling a little disappointed.
‘That Management Bureau duo was pretty entertaining.’
There was a high chance I wouldn’t see them for a while.
Still, we would meet again in the near future. Near future by their standards, anyway.
It was more of a gut feeling.
‘Once the magic stone research is complete, I’ll have to sell my magic stones to the Management Bureau.’
So when I said I would visit the Management Bureau soon, it hadn’t been empty talk.
I could sell them in private transactions or to guilds formed by Tower climbers, but...
‘If I want to sell them quickly and safely without revealing my identity, the best option is still to hand them over to the Management Bureau at the regular price.’
I had confirmed the Management Bureau Director’s sincerity in the previous Run.
As long as I kept climbing the Tower, the chance of them stabbing me in the back was as close to zero as it could possibly get.
Anyway, I had confirmed that things were conclusively settled through the Infinite Regression Gallery messages.
As I boarded the KTX I had booked, I opened the Infinite Regression Gallery.
I had to enjoy my mastermind hype video, obviously.
[How’s Newbie’s Mastermind Hype Video?]
[Author: Amor Fati]
(Thumbnail of someone in costume sitting like a cat atop a streetlamp)
Mana Thread Manipulation <- Seems like mandatory mastermind education lol
What would’ve happened if I hadn’t learned this?
ㄴSolo Hero*) I seriously never thought I’d hear someone say “you pathetic human” in my life LOL
ㄴVampire Princess) A fitting end for a third-rate villain!
ㄴMartial God) Hahahaha! You really put what I taught you to good use, Newbie. You can hit acupuncture points on your own now, and it looks like you’re getting familiar with the human body too?
ㄴHeretic Exterminator) He was someone who deserved to pay for his sins.
ㄴArchmage) Good. It seems things with the Management Bureau are more or less sorted out now.
ㄴPuppetmaster) My disciple (proud).
ㄴPoisoned My Blade) “Shh,” my ass LOL
ㄴDungeon Rogue) The gimmick is absolutely top-tier
“Ahhh.”
This was the feeling. This was it.
Anyone who’s been showered with praise knows.
I had planned to sleep on the way home, but it seemed sleep was no longer an option.
* * *
Management Bureau agent Lee Juhui beamed as she looked over her assigned mission list.
“Ahhh! I get to meet Lee Han-gyeol in person! This really feels like a dream!”
The future in which an agent was murdered had changed because of Lee Han-gyeol.
That meant this time around, the crazy plan to kidnap Awakening suspects had not even been discussed.
Lee Juhui had already packed a poster board and markers in preparation for a fan meeting.
But Park Junyoung, her senior on the same team, completely crushed Lee Juhui’s dream fan-meeting plans.
“Ah, Lee Juhui. Throw all that out. We’re releasing the information tomorrow and recruiting Awakened people on a large scale.”
“What? Why all of a sudden?”
“Because we made contact. With an Infinity Difficulty Awakened.”
“W-what!? Then I can’t have a fan meeting with Lee Han-gyeol?”
Park Junyoung frowned as if fed up, then tapped Lee Juhui on the head with a file folder.
Tap! Tap!
“A fan meeting? Where did you leave your brain? Since the Infinity Difficulty Awakened is being cooperative, the Director decided there’s no need for us to act first. So stop messing around and throw away all the information. We’re going to be insanely busy starting tomorrow.”
“Waaah...”
Lee Juhui could only pout as she discarded the list of Awakening suspects.
‘Bye-bye, my dream fan meeting.’
Footnotes:
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