Surviving Among the Anomalies - Chapter 40

WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: Alyo

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

◈ Surviving Among the Anomalies ◈

Chapter 40: 10%

──────

“There are ninety-nine routes to the Foundation.”

Sinking deep into the back seat of the antique sedan, I listened closely to Seong Yu-ra.

“Eighty of them were permanently destroyed in the unfortunate accident that recently occurred at the Foundation.”

“You mean the Munchkin Mary Sue Constellation?”

“...I didn’t expect you to know even that. As a result, nineteen routes remain, and we’ll be entering the Foundation through one of them now.”

However, I couldn’t take my eyes off Kim Dong-uk.

“This route can only be taken by vehicles carrying a special item, so I must warn you in advance not to attempt it later.”

“What happens if someone tries without the special item?”

“If they’re lucky, they’ll only receive disapproving looks from those around them. If they’re unlucky, they’ll wander the gaps between dimensions forever.”

Even on winding roads, the ride remained smooth and steady.

He pressed the accelerator fearlessly amid the flow of traffic, maintaining perfect spacing.

His hands moved without the slightest delay, as though he and the vehicle were one.

“Oops! I forgot the Dimensional Stabilizer!”

“Mr. Dong-uk, I told you not to make jokes like that.”

“Ha ha, the mood felt a little stiff, so it just slipped out.”

More importantly, he had the composure to joke while driving.

‘Beautiful.’

I was insanely jealous of his driving skills, the way his hands handled the wheel, and the command he had over the vehicle as though it were part of him.

“...You’re not really gay, are you?”

“I swear I’m not.”

“You said earlier that you don’t look at bodies...”

“I meant that I don’t discriminate between beautiful and unattractive women.”

“Then why have you been staring at me this whole time...?”

“Because I envy your driving skills.”

Setting aside my disappointment, I made Seong Yu-ra a proposal.

“Ms. Seong Yu-ra, may we review our contract?”

I had willingly agreed to hand over The One Remaining Monkey’s Paw to the Foundation. However, we had agreed that I would visit the Foundation and sign a contract created using a special Anomaly. The monkey’s paw was still in my possession, and our agreement was only verbal, so I wanted to add another condition beforehand.

“Yes. Mr. Lee Seung-hoon will transfer The One Remaining Monkey’s Paw to us. In exchange, Mr. Lee Seung-hoon may take one of the safety-grade Anomalies held by the Foundation.”

In a way, it was a losing deal for me. However, restoring the Foundation would help both me and the world, so I did not mind at all.

“May I add one more condition?”

“What is it?”

When I looked at Kim Dong-uk with burning eyes, his body trembled.

“I would like to receive driving lessons from Mr. Kim Dong-uk.”

“Are you really satisfied with that?”

“Yes. I’m already receiving an Anomaly.”

Only then did Kim Dong-uk understand what I meant, and he spoke playfully.

“Come to think of it, Mr. Lee Seung-hoon, you have quite a lot of penalty points, don’t you?”

“Yes, that’s just how it happened.”

“Ha ha, at first, we thought our investigation was wrong. But now that I’ve met you in person, I can see why.”

He casually wiped beneath his nose.

“It was an incident involving an Anomaly, right? An Anomaly that manipulates computer systems? Or one that manipulates vehicles? If not, you must’ve gotten caught up in an Anomaly that causes bad luck or accidents and ended up with an insane number of penalty points.”

“No, I’m simply bad at driving.”

“Ha ha, that’s a funny joke! How could anyone get more than a thousand penalty points in a single day? Still, if you’re making this a condition, you must’ve always been a poor driver. Don’t worry! You have a great eye for talent! A few friends of mine received lessons from me, and now every one of those guys drives around Busan without a single accident!”

“I’m already looking forward to it.”

“Once this is over, shall we set a date? I’ll take time off for it.”

“Mr. Dong-uk, since it’ll be stated in the contract, we can count it as work. Or would you prefer paid leave?”

“Oh, paid leave! Thank you, Administrator!”

His enthusiasm nearly brought tears to my eyes.

“Thank you.”

So this was affection.

＊＊＊

“We will now enter the Foundation.”

The moment we entered the roundabout near Sungui Rotary in Michuhol District, Incheon, Kim Dong-uk planted himself firmly in his seat.

“Fasten your seat belts tight!”

We continued circling the roundabout. The number on the dashboard climbed to 200 kilometers per hour.

‘We aren’t hitting any cars?’

As the vehicle continued around the roundabout, we passed through other cars like ghosts. The speedometer needle kept rising, and even after circling the gauge once, it did not stop.

Everything in the world became solid lines. At that endlessly rising speed, there was nothing a mortal like me could do. I simply entrusted myself to the seat and waited for this moment to end.

‘It’s dark.’

At that moment, the world beyond my right eye unfolded.

In darkness that felt as though I had been thrown into the middle of space, I saw a brilliant light.

Hundreds, hundreds of millions, trillions of stars passed by, becoming shooting stars. Beyond them, an endless Milky Way unseen from Earth embroidered the darkness and proclaimed its majestic presence.

Within it, I was a speck smaller than dust.

A grain of sand that would never be remembered by the world.

Drifting debris, pushed along by the current and unable to move as I pleased.

“We have arrived.”

Then, without any warning, the world returned to normal.

“Are you physically all right? Studies show that people experiencing a Spatial Jump for the first time have a 99.9% chance of feeling severe lethargy.”

“Is that so?”

“The exact cause has not yet been determined, but it is assumed that Spatial Jumps put excessive strain on the body.”

This wasn’t a problem with my body.

Either way, there was nothing seriously wrong with me.

“I’m fine.”

“That’s a relief.”

I had long accepted how insignificant human existence was, so I remained composed.

“We’ll arrive shortly.”

The vehicle carrying us drove across a dry desert. The desert changed into grassland, and the grassland changed into a vast mountain ridge.

“It will take some time, but time flows one hundred times slower here than outside, so there is no need to worry.”

“This isn’t Earth.”

Seong Yu-ra spoke with a voice full of pride.

“This is a Multidimension. More precisely, the Foundation has fixed the intersection where infinitely connected dimensions meet and uses it as its headquarters.”

“A Multidimension...”

“There were originally twenty-seven cross-dimensional branch offices, but all of them were destroyed by the Munchkin Mary Sue Constellation.”

“We’re almost there.”

Hearing Kim Dong-uk’s voice, I asked something I had been curious about for some time.

“How much damage did the Foundation suffer because of the Munchkin Mary Sue Constellation? You don’t have to answer if it’s difficult.”

“No, it’s fine. Trust is built by sharing each other’s secrets, especially when the other party trusts us.”

As expected, she clearly possessed an ability or an Anomaly that could determine whether I was telling the truth.

“The damage caused by the Constellation was unprecedented in the Foundation’s history. Of the Destruction Grade Anomalies the Foundation contained and used, 246 were erased, destroyed, irreversibly damaged, permanently sealed, banished to outer space, or lost in other dimensions.”

As she spoke, our destination drew near, and a new landscape came into view.

“A total of 1,024 safety-grade Anomalies became unusable for the same reasons, along with one hundred unclassified special Anomalies.”

Then I saw them.

Three suns floating in the sky.

“Communication with 274,689 dimensions was severed, and 89% of the technology we received from them has suffered irreversible loss.”

All three suns were surrounded by enormous structures like rings. Numerous transmission towers stood tall upon them, as though they intended to deliver the energy greedily devoured from the stars to someone. They were so massive that they could be seen clearly from the ground.

‘Dyson Spheres.’

Other surreal sights appeared one after another.

“All of the Foundation’s ultimate administrators and executives were permanently erased. The Foundation is now led by nine Administrators, including myself, and 90% of its former personnel have died.”

This time, three moons crossed the sky. Their surfaces were covered in metal, and all of them were artificially modified planet-type spacecraft.

“Eighty-eight Symbiosis Grade Anomalies were erased. Of those that remained, 127 Anomalies grew uneasy, broke off their cooperative relationships with the Foundation, and fled to other dimensions.”

A gigantic dragon that seemed as though it belonged in a fantasy world spread its wings and flew through the sky. Women dressed as magicians pursued it from behind.

“Ten Higher-Dimensional Entities owned by the Foundation were erased, two hundred spaces were deleted, and all Stellar Weapons and Dimensional Weapons were lost or damaged beyond repair.”

Soon, along the trail they left behind, a city-sized saucer-shaped spacecraft appeared and vanished in an instant without even causing a sonic boom. The futuristic city in the distance naturally brought cyberpunk to mind.

“In the end, the Foundation suffered roughly 99.8% damage due to the Munchkin Mary Sue Constellation. Three months have passed, and we have restored 10%, but the remaining 88.8% suffered irreversible damage and cannot be restored. The Foundation’s current policy is therefore shifting toward recruiting new talent and securing technology.”

Finally, at the center of one such city, I saw an enormous burned tree rising high enough to pierce the sky.

“Even so, we will not give up. For humanity.”

At last, we arrived in the city.

“Mr. Lee Seung-hoon, welcome to the Humanity Protection Foundation.”

This was only 10% of its original power.

“The honor is mine.”

＊＊＊

I stood alone in the middle of a bleak ruin.

“Hmm.”

I tried to recall what had happened.

‘I definitely shook hands with Ms. Seong Yu-ra and entered the city.’

As soon as I blinked, I found myself standing in this place.

“Was this the work of an Anomaly?”

But an Anomaly causing trouble in the Foundation’s headquarters? Their power had weakened, but I did not think their defenses would be so lax that they would allow an Anomaly to scheme freely.

“Then this must be the Foundation’s doing.”

I did not blame them, since I did not know whether this had been intentional or an accident.

‘Then I’ll hold off on escaping with The One Remaining Monkey’s Paw as well.’

The place I was in was a ruin. It looked like what a once-prosperous city might become after it fell, everyone left, and ten years passed.

‘At least the power’s still on.’

Relying on the streetlights, I searched the area while recalling the information about the Foundation that I had learned from the game.

‘If you join the Foundation, your goal changes from surviving Anomalies to protecting humanity from them.’

The shop signs were written in Korean, but the road signs bore meaningless place names like 「United Kingdom Soup Ingredients」 and 「London Traditional Market」.

‘If you entered through the Foundation route, the genre changed into a kind of tycoon game involving strengthening characters, using Anomalies you possessed, recruiting talent, and so on.’

I spotted a lit building in the distance and headed toward it.

I passed through an entrance marked 「Moscow University Hospital」 and entered the building.

‘Of those things, what relates to the current situation is the Foundation’s defense system. It blocks intrusions by Anomalies, hostile organizations, and individuals targeting the Foundation, then defeats them. Once fully upgraded, it could immediately catch even a spy who had hidden their identity and joined the Foundation, without requiring any special investigation.’

I passed the examination rooms and entered the only lit hallway.

“But the game never explained how it handled the spies it caught. Could it have thrown them into a place like this?”

Then I opened the door to the operating room, the only place where noise was coming from.

『Who?』

『Who are you?』

『Who is it?』

The doctors and nurses, who had been splitting and cutting apart some unknown creature, all turned their heads toward me at once.

『A new patient?』

『Surgery?』

『Patient?』

I greeted them as their pitch-black eyes stared at me.

“Hello?”