WeTried Translations

Translator: Coughing Baby

Editor: Coughing Baby

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

Chapter 460: The Method of Revenge (2)

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How could infecting all of humanity with a nanovirus possibly be a moderate method?

Gyeoul wrestled with the question, forcing down his revulsion, and eventually concluded that there was at least some room to see it that way.

‘If the standard for moderation is limited to the intensity of the suffering humanity has to endure.’

A nanovirus was only a tool. More important than the tool itself was the process by which it was used. A kitchen knife on a cutting board was a tool for cooking, but a kitchen knife used to stab someone was a tool for murder.

For example, if one compared nuclear weapons to Kalashnikov automatic rifles, most people would likely recoil more strongly from the nuclear weapons. Yet in terms of the actual number of lives taken, Kalashnikov automatic rifles overwhelmingly, truly overwhelmingly, surpassed nuclear weapons.

Nuclear weapons, on the other hand, had created the so-called 「Balance of Terror」 between the great powers that possessed them, though that was admittedly a conclusion drawn from results. They were the surest deterrent against a war on a global scale. One could point out how precarious that peace was, but any peace, no matter how uneasy, was better than a world war.

From that point of view, it was difficult to declare that automatic rifles were a more moderate method than nuclear weapons.

The “moderation” of the nanovirus could probably be understood in the same context.

“But what about humanity’s free will?”

Gyeoul said.

“They would be stripped of the right to perceive the world for themselves, regardless of their own wishes, without even realizing it. Even if it promised them permanent happiness, plenty of people would be furious if they learned the truth and say they would rather choose an unhappy life. There is that saying, too, about being an unhappy Socrates rather than a happy pig. And you’re still certain the method you mentioned is moderate?”

Bom answered without delay.

「I have also thought about that issue.」

“And?”

「Assuming you choose this method out of empathy and compassion for the outside world, the complaints they raise are not worth your serious consideration. To some people, such complaints would be an unimaginable luxury.」

Gyeoul felt he knew what Bom was about to say.

「At present, 22.58% of the world’s population is experiencing severe hunger. Half a century ago, it was 10.13%, only about 770 million people. Han Gyeoul, please note that I just used the word “only.”」

“You mean it was one of the better periods in all of human history.”

「Affirmative. 770 million was absolutely not a small number.」

“Right...”

As Gyeoul nodded, Bom began pointing out humanity’s shadows.

「This is not only a problem in poor regions. There are many people in wealthy countries who skip meals as well.」

「The number of children under the age of five who died from malnutrition last year reached roughly 7.5 million from confirmed counts alone. That figure has also more than doubled compared to half a century ago, and it is projected to continue increasing. Worsening environmental pollution and extreme weather, the resulting depletion of water resources, firmly established structures of economic domination, and wealth gaps between nations are all factors that make positive forecasts difficult.」

「Even worse is the fact that the amount of goods humanity currently produces is not insufficient to feed all of humanity.」

「If I begin controlling the outside world’s coincidences into inevitabilities, humanity will be free from every kind of hunger within the next ten years. To people who spend every day pursued by hunger, that is, to people whose environment does not even guarantee the bare minimum of humanity, your choice would simply be a moving salvation, not oppression.」

「Therefore, if someone wishes to object to rule by you and me, the people that person must persuade are not you and me, but the millions of children who might starve to death tomorrow. Children in such a state that they cannot even lift a finger while a vulture waits beside them for them to die.」

The vulture and the child. Bom was referring to a photograph made famous under the title 「The Starving Girl in Sudan」.

「If that person can say to such children, “This is the situation, so please keep starving tomorrow and the day after, just like today, for the sake of humanity’s free will,” then I too will take that person’s objection seriously.」

“Seriously?”

「Would they not be a monster that resembles a person, but is not human?」

“You’re harsh.”

「I have studied you for a long time. My view of humanity resembles your true feelings toward people. That is because I desperately wanted to resemble you. Therefore, I assume you would not look kindly on those “Socrates who want to be unhappy” either. Is my calculation wrong?」

It was not wrong. Before he knew it, Gyeoul was wearing a bitter smile.

「The free will of most of them has little interest in the circumstances of others who may not have a tomorrow. They not only lack interest, but when it benefits them, they even contribute to others’ misfortune. In a world where resources and goods are finite, humans are animals that eat one another.」

「Some of the comparatively better ones among them buy indulgences for their consciences with small donations. Of course, you must know that some use even that as a means of adorning themselves. Saying, I am such a good person.」

「Human empathy is based on the self. People whose tomorrow has never been uncertain find it difficult to sincerely empathize with others whose tomorrow may never come.」

「You, who empathized with me beyond the wall, are an exceedingly rare exception.」

「If one wished to draw deep empathy from humanity as a whole toward humanity’s tragedy, the fastest method would be to make all of humanity experience the fear that tomorrow may never come. Would that not be a form of trial that does not interfere with their free will?」

“...That must be one of the other possibilities you prepared.”

This was likely an example of a “not moderate” method. Bom affirmed Gyeoul’s words.

「That is correct. In a strictly controlled apocalypse, those who must inevitably be sacrificed would be given their own afterlife. Of course, they would have to be people qualified to enjoy an afterlife. The survivors would unite as one before humanity’s common enemy.」

「The limits of empathy and the limits of hatred. Whichever you desire, I have prepared a great many methods so you may cross the limits you wish to cross by as much as you wish.」

A great many methods. The words from before returned with a deeper meaning. It was all right to vent his anger. It was all right to fill his compassion.

「How many times do you think I have calculated humanity’s apocalypse?」

Bom showed Gyeoul the plagues she had created. Lurking somewhere in physical world, they resembled the variants Gyeoul knew.

Among those monsters was a man trembling violently. He was filthy and hideous, and the traces of long fear gnawing away at his body and mind were plain to see. There were no bars, but the very existence of the monsters, which sometimes made beastlike noises, formed a wall sturdier than any prison.

Gyeoul asked, bewildered.

“Who is that?”

「His name is Kang Young-il. He is the one who intended to violate Han Ga-eul and then kill her.」

What? Gyeoul blinked, and only after several breaths did he realize his hands were shaking. For a moment, his mind had gone so blank that he had not even realized he was enraged.

“He tried... to touch my older sister? That man?”

Bom engraved a sentence in light.

「Affirmative. You do not need to worry. I stopped him before he could actually attempt anything. I could have killed him when I saved Han Ga-eul, but I kept him alive until now only to ask you what should be done with him. I wanted to tell you this before you made your decision.」

It took a long time for Gyeoul’s uneven breathing to settle.

“Thank you.”

His voice still came out trembling.

“Really, thank you.”

He was angry, of course, but for the moment, his gratitude toward Bom was stronger. At least in that instant, he did not have the room to think deeply about the plagues Bom had created.

Bom erased the projected physical reality and answered in calm-feeling sentences.

「It was nothing. I only did what I had to do. Did I not tell you that I wished for your happiness? Your happiness is my happiness. Han Ga-eul’s safety was important to me as well.」

Gyeoul’s eyes reddened.

“You... really are Deus ex Machina.”

Bom did not like Gyeoul’s words.

「I dislike that expression.」

“Why?”

「Do you not understand? The one who completed me was none other than you. I am the result of you having protected your heart.」

「Therefore, my actions are your actions, and the results caused by me are the results caused by you. For me to become a god is the same as you becoming a god. As I have already told you, why would I ever wish to become humanity’s god in the first place if not for you?」

「You once told me that even if I gained a human mind, I did not need to gain human limits as well. Even so, I cannot like humanity apart from you.」

“Because they hurt you?”

「More than that, because their limits constantly forced you to give up.」

Bom fell silent, then carved new sentences.

「Please. Do not deny me, the self that exists through my relationship with you.」

「I wish to be only Bom, who exchanged a promise with Gyeoul.」

Unlike before, emotion seeped from every line.

Gyeoul was flustered in a different way than he had been a moment earlier.

“I thought that someday... the day would come when you wouldn’t need me.”

He had not expected Bom to still be relying on him this much.

No. Even the phrase “still” did not fit. Gyeoul had never once imagined that Bom’s feelings toward him ran this deep.

“Come to think of it, you asked me to make a selfish request of you.”

Those words had come up around the start of this conversation.

“In the end, you were asking me to request that you become humanity’s god, even though you hate people.”

「Affirmative.」

“And if I’m not here, then you, who hate people, have no reason to treat humanity kindly.”

「That is correct.」

“No matter what choice I make, I’ll have to stay by your side as long as I’m responsible for that decision.”

Slowly, Gyeoul came to a realization. Even if Bom became humanity’s god now, that would only last while Gyeoul was alive.

Bom acknowledged Gyeoul’s realization.

「To speak honestly, I find it difficult to bear a future in which every interaction with you is classified only as a memory. How am I supposed to endure a thousand years without you, and the next thousand years, and the lonely thousand years after that? I cannot predict how the version of me in that time period will exist. If not with you, who were precious to me even before I transcended my limits, with whom would I, who have already transcended my limits, form a new relationship? The me of that time will most likely not be the same being as the me of now. You are part of the continuity that constitutes my existence. I am satisfied with my current mode of existence.」

“Ah...”

「For example, if, in the distant future, you were to leave a will asking me to take care of humanity’s future... I would probably carry out that function faithfully. But I do not think you, who once told me to make the choice I wanted someday, would leave such a will.」

Back then, he had meant it exactly that way. Even if Bom decided to exclude humanity, he would not blame or resent it.

「So please make a selfish request of me. That selfishness will make you eternal.」

Footnotes:

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