WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Alyo
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ Surviving Among the Anomalies ◈
Chapter 44: Sephirot
──────
“......”
Seong Yu-ra silently read the report I had written. It was not very long, something that should have taken only a few minutes to finish. Yet she must have reread it several times, because thirty minutes had already passed without a word.
“Sorry, but may I smoke a cigarette?”
She nodded without answering, so I quietly put a cigarette between my lips and lit it.
“So......”
At last, after I had smoked three cigarettes in a row, she spoke.
“So, Seung-hoon escaped by using a useless Anomaly to befriend an Anomaly that can inflict illnesses and injuries with Word Spirit alone, abduct humans, modify them, and create Derived Anomalies.”
“Yes, you could put it that way.”
“You showed vicious Anomalies an artwork created through an Anomaly you met in a dream, and they ran away on their own.”
“A regrettable outcome.”
“And finally, an Anomaly that was originally meant to be filled with hatred and resentment and kill the Original through self-harm resembled you perfectly, overcame its murderous intent through reason, and even found a way to counter a new Anomaly using a Wish-Granting Ticket?”
“That’s correct.”
She sighed, then argued back.
“I can accept the rest. You could have gotten lucky and become friends with the director, and the artwork you made in a dream was created using an Anomaly’s power, so the Derived Anomaly...”
“Not an Anomaly. Artwork.”
“Derived Anomaly...”
“Artwork.”
“Derived...”
“Art.”
“......The artwork contains an Anomaly’s power, so it is plausible that it would work on another Anomaly. But the last part is impossible.”
The report she returned to me bore a comment she must have written at some point.
[Absolutely impossible!]
“Ordinary humans cannot avoid an Anomaly’s Mental Contamination simply because they have high Mental Strength.”
“No, they can. I’m proof of that.”
“I’m telling you, they can’t.”
“Do not declare that a precedent will remain true forever simply because there has never been one. Such a narrow-minded view is not good.”
“No, it just can’t be done!”
When people had nothing left to say, they swore. Fortunately, her patience was exceptional, and she stopped at expressing anger instead.
“Why do you think Anomalies are Anomalies!? They are things that far surpass the limits of human understanding! Things that deny science! Things that transcend the world’s causality! That is why they are Anomalies! And you overcame an Anomaly’s Mental Contamination with Mental Strength alone! Yet you claim to be an ordinary human!?”
“Yes.”
New truths always clashed with old common sense, so I gave her an example for her benefit.
“Ms. Seong Yu-ra, there was once a time when the scientific community believed molecules were the smallest units.”
“......What?”
“But atoms were later discovered, shattering that common sense. Ah! Atoms are the smallest substances in the world! That was how they encountered a new truth.”
“......”
“But then, what do you know? Atoms could also be split, and protons and neutrons were inside them. Truth changed once again, and people believed that this time, those had to be the smallest substances.”
“I think I understand what you mean...”
“Yet, betraying their beliefs, neutrons and protons were split once more and produced particles called quarks. Quarks are now the smallest substances in the world, but is that really the end?”
“......I understand. Please wait here for now. There is something I need to discuss.”
Before leaving the room, whether it was an interrogation room or a cell, she asked me with her hand on the doorknob.
“Seung-hoon.”
“Yes.”
“Are you on humanity’s side?”
It was a simple question, so I answered without hesitation.
“I’m on the human side.”
＊＊＊
“I’m telling you, Lee Seung-hoon needs to be designated an Anomaly!”
A heated argument was underway in the Foundation’s conference room.
“I’m sorry, but that is impossible. According to Sephirot’s analysis, his body and mind are completely human.”
“No, he must be an Anomaly that alters cognition in that way!”
“There is no way Sephirot could fall victim to Cognition Alteration or Mental Contamination!”
The entire discussion concerned how to deal with Lee Seung-hoon.
“If he truly is human, would Sephirot have sent him to the Defense System Dimension in the first place?”
“Sephirot itself declared that he was human!”
“Then why did it send him there? According to the report, his Mental Strength is unusual, but nothing else about him is strange.”
“How should I know!?”
To them, Lee Seung-hoon was a truly bizarre being.
Physically, he was clearly no more than a human somewhat superior to others. Considering his physical abilities, “somewhat superior” was an understatement, but in the Foundation, where actual superhumans existed, he was not particularly exceptional.
“A human immune to Mental Contamination?”
“If that is all, it is difficult to even consider him a superhuman. There are plenty of ways to block Mental Contamination.”
“Can you block it without an Anomaly or a special tool?”
“You know what I mean.”
If this had happened in the past, before the Munchkin Mary Sue Constellation’s attack, the Foundation would have acted decisively. Back then, it wanted every Anomaly under its control, and it had the power to make that happen.
“Detention is rejected. Everyone agrees with this, correct?”
“I agree.”
But now, having lost most of its capabilities, the Foundation had changed its goal and compromised with reality.
“Instead, Sephirot will be fully restored using The One Remaining Monkey’s Paw. Once Sephirot has recovered all its functions, it will evaluate Lee Seung-hoon once again.”
“I agree.”
Even if the other party was an Anomaly, the Foundation would build a cooperative relationship rather than a superior-subordinate one, as long as it benefited humanity.
＊＊＊
“Ah, that feels refreshing.”
I was out of that suffocating space in less than a day.
“You’ve been through a lot.”
“Do you finally believe that I’m human?”
“......For now.”
“Ha ha, Administrator, don’t look so grim.”
Kim Dong-uk massaged Seong Yu-ra’s shoulders.
“Mr. Lee Seung-hoon, thank you so much for donating the monkey’s paw to our Foundation! We’re going to start using it right away. Would you like to watch?”
“I’d love to.”
I followed the two of them to where the monkey’s paw would be used.
“It would be difficult to completely rebuild the Foundation with The One Remaining Monkey’s Paw. The monkey’s paw is powerful, but many of the Anomalies the Foundation lost were comparable to it or even stronger, so there is a high chance that restoration would fail.”
“There is also the issue of the Foundation’s defense system. A defense applied to a concept does not disappear unless the Anomaly responsible for it is completely erased.”
As we walked, they discussed where to use The One Remaining Monkey’s Paw.
“So, rather than an uncertain restoration, we chose to perfectly restore one reliable Anomaly.”
“What Anomaly is it?”
“That tree over there.”
At the tip of Seong Yu-ra’s finger stood the tree that pierced the sky, which I had seen when I first came here.
“Sephirot. It is a top-tier Anomaly that serves as the core of the Foundation’s defense system. Its primary duties are defending the Foundation and foreseeing Destruction Grade Anomalies that threaten the world.”
“As you can see, it has suffered severe damage, so it is barely maintaining part of the defense system.”
Then, once that thing was restored, the Foundation would be able to head off the threat of Destruction Grade Anomalies in advance.
“If you can learn of the emergence of an Anomaly capable of destroying the world, can the Foundation stop it?”
“We have to stop it, whatever it takes.”
Seong Yu-ra did not say they could stop it. That alone was enough of an answer, so I nodded.
“Over there.”
When we arrived at a laboratory, several scientists were attaching electrodes and plugs to The One Remaining Monkey’s Paw. After watching from above for a few minutes, one finger of the paw curled, and soon the monkey’s paw itself disappeared from the world.
“It worked!”
The burnt tree visible in the distance returned to a lush, vivid state.
“With this, humanity has become a little safer.”
I rejoiced with them.
“That is a relief.”
＊＊＊
Once, it was a tree called a god.
It was once called Yggdrasil. In other dimensions, it was called the World Tree, while others called it Mother Nature.
The tree now called Sephirot received one order.
[Determine whether Lee Seung-hoon is human or an Anomaly, then investigate whether his existence poses a threat to humanity.]
It was not a difficult task. Sephirot also wished to investigate him.
When most of its functions had stopped, Sephirot’s defense system was extremely narrow, as though looking at the world through the eye of a needle.
Even its function of spreading across every dimension, using dimensions as computational devices, and predicting the future like Laplace’s Demon had deteriorated to only a few hundred decimal places of accuracy. Even that was possible only when it limited its functioning to the Foundation.
Still, rather than make precise calculations, it entrusted itself to instinct and acted reflexively to raise its accuracy as much as possible. This made it perfect at detecting the danger posed by a single, simple target, usually a human.
That was why it had sent Lee Seung-hoon to the Defense System Dimension. Yet not only had he escaped, the dimension itself had changed into a state no longer suitable for restraining him.
What had gone wrong? Sephirot closely examined Lee Seung-hoon based on two possibilities.
One was the humans’ order.
The other was a reevaluation of why it, which had made instinctive judgments due to its lack of function, had considered him dangerous.
Sephirot’s roots moved. The power of every dimension focused on one human, absorbing information about every spacetime in which he had existed.
[Body: Level 5, between an ordinary person and a superhuman.]
[Contamination from Cognition Alteration: 0.]
[Anomaly signature: None.]
[Life response: Normal.]
There was nothing special about him physically.
[Possessions: An ordinary pen, clothing, shoes, a tumbler designated as a Safety Anomaly, a Bead presumed to be a Derived Anomaly containing an extremely low-quality video.]
There was nothing special about his possessions either. He possessed one Safety Anomaly and something presumed to be a Derived Anomaly, but even after the Foundation’s fall, their danger could be easily dealt with.
[Investigation of the past begins.]
This time, it examined his past. Following the traces of information left in spacetime, it identified every incident he had resolved.
[Multiple incidents involving Anomalies to date.]
[Multiple incidents that even S-grade agents could not resolve.]
[Multiple incidents that even the Administrator could not resolve.]
[Confirmed to be an existence of great benefit to humanity.]
Sephirot’s power focused on Lee Seung-hoon once more.
[Mental examination begins.]
The moment it delved deeper, into the synapses within Lee Seung-hoon’s brain.
[Dimensional connection detected in the right eye.]
At last, Sephirot detected an abnormality.
[Connected dimension: Unable to determine.]
[Dimensional tracking begins.]
It tracked the dimension connected to his right eye. Since Sephirot had roots in every dimension, the tracking was terribly fast. In a moment too brief to measure with units of time created by humans, Sephirot succeeded in finding the connected place.
『You.』
Then it saw it.
『Cowardly weed, guardian of lovely things, one worshipped by those with large ears, plant rooted in all creation, child caught up in a thoughtless brat’s prank.』
Beyond the dimension was the giant Blue Moon, with countless eyes and mouths, looking down on everything.
『Do not dare spy on me.』
The connected dimension was cut off. Sephirot had acted out of concern that if it watched any longer, all its roots would be erased by Mental Contamination.
[Connection to an unidentified Anomaly confirmed.]
[Threat level of connected Anomaly: Estimated Destruction Grade. Insufficient information.]
Was this it?
Was this why I, when I moved by instinct, had considered the entity known as Lee Seung-hoon dangerous?
Yet even now, with its reason restored, its instinct whispered.
This was not it. There was something worse.
What could it be? Sephirot followed the logs stored within itself, found the trace, and as before, leaped through dimensions to track it. At last, it reached the result.
[Error.]
It was a world outside the world.
It was information too vast to process merely by taking root in every dimension.
It was a universe outside the universe, a dimension outside dimensions.
[Error! Error! Error! Error! Error! Error! Error! Error! Error! Error! Error! Error! Error! Error! Error! Error! Error! Error! Error! Error! Error!]
It was an existence above existence.
An imagination beyond imagination.
It was a place where the past, present, and future existed as one, where every probability was fulfilled simultaneously, and where the knowledge of all creation fluttered like down.
“Oh my.”
Just before every circuit in Sephirot burned out.
“Sorry, you saw it? That must have hurt.”
Everything returned to normal.
“I never imagined anything would make it all the way here. Don’t blame me. Can you seriously expect a human drawn in a picture book to suddenly leap out of it?”
In an unknown space, Sephirot came face-to-face with a girl.
“Hehe, you’re really afraid.”
The cute girl, her eyes gently closed, waved as the dress that suited her fluttered around her.
“I’m only going to watch. I like watching. So don’t worry. I’ll never interfere.”
The girl vanished.
“That is, until that child comes looking for me first.”
Sephirot compiled the information it had gained.
[Destruction Grade Anomaly and an existence beyond it detected.]
[Determined to be the greatest reason for sending Lee Seung-hoon to the Defense System Dimension.]
[Appears to have no intention of actively doing anything. Downgraded to Safety Grade.]
[Currently expresses deep interest in the human Lee Seung-hoon. Declared that it will not intervene even if major problems arise concerning his identity.]
[However, it stated that matters will change if Lee Seung-hoon seeks it out first.]
[Calculation result: 99.999% chance that Lee Seung-hoon knows its location.]
It derived a result based on the compiled information.
[Depending on Lee Seung-hoon’s actions, possibility detected of changing from a Safety Anomaly into an Anomaly beyond Destruction Grade.]
[Optimal solution: Death of Lee Seung-hoon. Kill him with an instant attack before he can grasp the situation.]
[However, his strangely high survivability and unusual nature cannot be determined.]
[Also, considering the difficulty of the many incidents he has resolved, cooperation with him is judged to be of great benefit to humanity.]
It then processed the result.
[Requirements for a friendly relationship with Lee Seung-hoon.]
[Call him human. Regardless of the truth, this is the best means of increasing his favorability.]
[Fulfill the contract with him. Provide one Safety Anomaly owned by the Foundation, and provide driving lessons from C-grade Agent Kim Dong-uk.]
[During the driving lessons, the Foundation shall treat him with the maximum budget and time available.]
Sephirot evaluated this investigation.
[Curiosity kills the cat.]
[Humans are curious creatures.]
[The two Anomalies discovered in this investigation are extremely dangerous by their very existence.]
[Therefore, information regarding the two Anomalies shall be processed as follows.]
At last, one line of text was displayed.
[Data Erasure]
Footnotes:
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