Surviving Among the Anomalies - Chapter 12

WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: Alyo

◈ Surviving Among the Anomalies ◈

Chapter 12: Toy Well (2)

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Should I call him, no, her, no, it?

[Male is my gender. Aren't there two genders, male and female?]

Regardless of the unfamiliar yet somehow familiar name Unified Asian Union, or the sense of kinship from speaking Korean, the world beyond the well was completely different.

[Huh? What are you talking about? There are six genders: Sebulum, Pandennia, Auguste, Leveling, Hominos, and Pangaea.]

It had some similarities, but far more differences.

That was the world beyond the well, and it fascinated me.

[Wow, that's amazing. I learned about it in class once. The Korean Peninsula was called Korea five hundred years ago!]

[Is that so? How large is the Unified Asian Union? I'll enclose a map.]

[This is incredible. The land is so small. It really is another world, isn't it?]

Much of the map Shingu Hoerang returned had been painted over.

[Our world is about this big.]

[The continent is twice as large. What about the population?]

[It recently exceeded two hundred billion.]

[Two hundred billion?]

[Ah, that includes the colonies. Only ten billion live on the main planet.]

A world that seemed like the future, yet was not the future.

[Does your world still use fossil fuels? Oh my god. Coal! Petroleum! Gas! Primitive energy sources I only heard about in science class!]

[Then what kind of energy do you use?]

[Festorium, of course. It's a room-temperature superfluid and incredibly versatile. When mixed with arsenic, it becomes solid, and then it becomes a room-temperature superconductor. In its fluid state, it fuels every machine, and as a gas, it is the core component of antigravity devices.]

A world that seemed like Earth, yet was not Earth.

‘What an interesting world.’

During the Age of Exploration, discovering a new continent meant exchanging new goods.

[What is Festorium's chemical formula and molecular structure? Could you possibly get some?]

[They sell it at charging stations. I'll buy you a bottle.]

Unfortunately, the Festorium I received evaporated the instant it crossed into our world. Though it was inside the bottle, it seemed not to have been permitted to exist. For a fleeting moment, it wriggled up the walls as only a superfluid could, then vanished.

“Why did it disappear?”

As we continued exchanging knowledge, I learned that the world beyond the well followed physical laws similar to ours, but not all of those laws were the same.

[The chemical formula you sent is a little strange. It has at least two more molecular structures.]

[The one I received is the same. Water molecules are H2O? Not oxygen?]

Any substance whose physical laws did not match between our worlds disappeared as soon as it crossed over. After several cross-checks, that much became certain.

[That's unfortunate. I wanted to see a substance called diamond with my own eyes.]

[I feel the same.]

I continued regularly exchanging knowledge with Shingu Hoerang and learned a shocking fact.

[About the history Seung-hoon told me. You discovered a new continent and mined gold? Gold?]

[There is also something I don't understand. The context says they discovered a new continent and gathered luxury goods like wood.]

[That’s because gold is useless. It's heavy, soft, and bulky. What could you possibly use it for?]

[Isn't wood a plant that grows from the ground and can be found anywhere in the world?]

In a world where everything was different, even common sense was different.

[Then how do you make paper?]

[Paper? You finely grind Dust Mineral, soak it in water, then spread it out. Do you use gold as a luxury good there?]

[It is used as a luxury good and as an important component in electronic parts.]

[Gold? If you're using it for electronic parts, Optical Redition would be one hundred ten thousand times more efficient. And as a luxury good, Oleria is ten thousand times better.]

I found an unexpected way to acquire wealth.

[Would you like to trade?]

＊＊＊

[I need to go on a business trip to Mars for a while. Let's discuss the trade again after I return.]

Unfortunately, interdimensional trade could not begin right away. In the meantime, I prepared what I needed to do.

“How do you like it?”

“I do like it, but I'd like to see a few more places.”

First, I found a house. I moved out of the small one-room apartment I had been renting and into a large two-story detached house with a basement and yard.

“It isn't bad. I'll take this one.”

Combining the money I had made from illegal gambling with the money I already had, I was able to find a suitable house in the suburbs.

“You made a good choice. An elderly couple built this house after retiring, but they put it on the market after living here for a few days because the suburbs were more inconvenient than they expected. It's practically brand-new.”

Now that I lived in a detached house, outsiders would not know what I did inside.

[I'm back from my business trip. Let's resume the trade we discussed before!]

Around the time I finished moving, Shingu Hoerang returned.

[What is the price of gold in your world?]

[One hour's minimum wage can buy one gold bar. What about wood there?]

[It is similar here.]

I bought construction lumber and left it in the yard. I cut some of it, carried it into the basement, and put it into the well.

“Oh...”

A little while later, a gold bar shot out of the well along with a note.

[Yay! Seung-hoon! I'm rich now! I look forward to doing business with you!]

I wrote a reply and placed it in the well.

[I look forward to doing business with you as well.]

I had obtained alchemy that turned pieces of wood into gold.

＊＊＊

Gold bars slowly piled up on the pallet in the basement.

[Let's trade slowly and regularly. We both need time to deal with the goods we exchange, don't we?]

Fortunately, the gold from that world was the same metal as the gold in ours, down to its molecular structure, so it crossed over safely. After cutting off a piece of a gold bar and selling it to a gold exchange, I confirmed it was the gold I knew.

‘The current gold price is 650 million won for 12.5 kilograms.’

The gold bar that crossed over weighed fifteen kilograms.

‘It would be difficult to sell it as is.’

Gold had long been a symbol of wealth, and in modern times, it was a reliable asset that nations wanted to hold directly. If I sold it like this, even if I processed it first, its source would be questioned.

‘Once or twice might be fine, but I need absolute wealth. I need somewhere to sell gold bars over the long term, safely.’

It was not that difficult. From the moment I received the gold bar, one thought had stayed in my head.

“Trading with an Anomaly is dangerous, but it can't be helped.”

To put that thought into action, I packed several gold bars into a bag and left the house. I had already bought a car, so I no longer needed to take the subway or bus.

[Enter your destination.]

I reached for the navigation system and entered the destination.

[Korean Gold Exchange Headquarters]

＊＊＊

The Creepypasta genre has the weakness of lacking plausibility.

‘The unrealistic idea that, in the modern age rather than the past, beings that produce countless victims could remain nothing more than urban legends, ghost stories, and rumors.’

There were CCTV cameras everywhere.

“Hey, kid! Drive properly!”

Through social media, people were connected to countless others.

“You fucking bastard! Can't you drive properly!?”

Technology to find missing people and determine how the dead had died had also advanced.

“You stupid bastard! If you want to die, go quietly hang yourself at home! Don't drag innocent people into it on the road!”

That was the kind of world it was. If monsters, ghosts, or transcendent beings appeared in such a world, their identities would inevitably be exposed and spread through the media to everyone in an instant.

‘Of course, some beings manipulate minds or memories in preparation for that, but not all of them do.’

That was why many Creepypasta stories introduced an organization to satisfy that need for plausibility. An organization that secretly contained and managed dangerous beings to protect society from them in this dangerous world.

Surviving Among the Anomalies had such an organization as well, a common and predictable place with the same name as those in other works.

“You crazy bastard! Are you driving high!? Get out! I said get out, you bastard!”

But that was not where I was going. There was no way for me to get involved with them, and even if I did, nothing good would come of it.

Where there was one group, there was another. I was heading to a special group closely watched by the Foundation.

[You have arrived at your destination.]

After getting out at a paid parking lot in Jongno 3-ga to meet a group so unusual that it had been classified as an Anomaly, I inspected my car.

“I thought my driving would improve because my Physical Ability improved.”

Would anyone believe this was a car I bought less than a week ago?

“Driving ability and Physical Ability are separate things.”

I had learned something new.

＊＊＊

The Korean Gold Exchange Headquarters stood in Jongno 3-ga. I headed there, stopped before its sign, and recalled information from the game.

[I visited the Korean Gold Exchange Headquarters to trade gold bars I had acquired by chance.]

I pushed open the glass door before me and quietly recited the incantation.

[But I remembered the business card I received some time ago. A person whose face I could not remember had given it to me, saying I could meet them if I recited an incantation while crossing the threshold of the Korean Gold Exchange Headquarters. As though possessed by something, I opened the door while reciting the incantation I heard then.]

“Because gold can accomplish everything, gold is god.”

The door opened normally, and the interior was exactly the same as what I had seen through the glass.

“Welcome, customer! How may I help you?”

“I came to sell gold.”

“Yes, please come this way!”

Trusting the friendly manner of the ordinary-looking employees, I followed them into a room.

“Please wait a moment. One of our employees will come and begin the transaction shortly. Please make yourself comfortable until then.”

“Yes.”

Leaning back on the sofa, I looked around the room. The first thing I noticed was a plaque mounted below the ceiling across from me.

「Golden Omnipotence Corporation」

Elegant letters written in gold, and beneath them, a framed message written in the same color.

「We can trade anything. So long as you have enough gold!」

A little later, an employee entered.

“Hello. I am a Suit, assigned to handle this transaction.”

“My name is Lee Seung-hoon.”

“Yes, Lee Seung-hoon. Shall we begin the transaction? First, tell me what you desire, and I will tell you the appropriate amount.”

The employee who introduced himself as a Suit was ordinary. So ordinary that I would not recognize his face if I saw him outside.

“First, I would like to turn this gold bar into money.”

“Allow me to inspect it.”

The Suit pressed his nose to my gold bar and sniffed it.

“Sniff! Haaah, sniff! Oh, this scent, mmm!”

Next, he carefully pressed his ear to it.

“Oh, ohhh, this sound! The heartbeat of gold!”

Then he licked it with his eyes.

“This beautiful, lovely form.”

And then he actually licked it.

“Oh, yes! Oh! Wow! Wow! Wow!”

His body shuddered. After enjoying the lingering sensation for a while, he quickly calmed down.

“This is excellent gold. It passes. Would you like to exchange it for money?”

“Yes. I would like it exchanged not simply for money, but for money that will cause absolutely no problems.”

“Please explain in more detail.”

“Money that will not draw the attention of the state, money with no tax issues, money whose source will not be questioned, money that will not lead banks or the National Tax Service to investigate me even as the amount accumulates.”

“In short, you do not wish to be disturbed.”

“That's right.”

“Including those conditions, we will purchase the gold bar for 550 million won. Do you agree?”

It was heavier than a standard gold bar, but the price was one hundred million won lower.

“Yes.”

“The transaction has been concluded.”

The Suit hugged the gold bar with a happy expression. At the same time, a deposit notification arrived on my phone.

[Sent via web]

Nonghyup 10/12 Lee Seung-hoon 550,000,000

The money had been deposited immediately.

“There is one thing I would like to ask. Do you also sell information or other things?”

“Of course! So long as you have enough gold!”