WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR

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◈ The World After the Fall ◈

Chapter 172: Episode 23. Driver (6)

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“The end of the Phantasmal Tree. As I thought, that is what you want.”

Manri Shintong sighed as though he had expected it after hearing Jaehwan’s words.

It was not strange. There were not many reasons for someone as strong as Jaehwan to climb the 〈Metaverse〉.

‘What lies at the end of the Phantasmal Tree?’

No one in the 《Abyss》 knew the answer.

Even gods who had lived long lives rarely dared to seek it. Everyone who pursued that answer either died or went mad.

Martis added, “There was a saying long ago. Those who wish to know the end of the world should climb the Metaverse. Though that was more than a thousand years ago.”

Runald asked, “There is something I am curious about. Why are you interested in something like the ‘end of the world’?”

Manri Shintong looked intrigued by Runald’s question.

“An interesting question. Why are gods curious about the ‘end of the world’?”

“Is it not because they do not know?” Martis said.

Runald asked again, “But there are plenty of other things we do not know. Like what is in Jaehwan-nim’s head, or Jaehwan-nim’s family name...”

Rene and Karlton, who had been listening, chimed in.

“I am curious about that too.”

“I am as well.”

“That is exactly what I mean. There are so many things to wonder about, so why be curious about something like the ‘end of the world’?”

The answer came from an unexpected person.

“Because it is a ‘Big Question.’”

It was Jin Eunsae.

Runald asked, “A Big Question? What does that mean?”

“If you know the answer to a ‘Big Question,’ you can know the answers to every other question.”

Jin Eunsae’s words seemed difficult, and Runald looked troubled for a long time.

“Does reaching the ‘end of the world’ tell you Jaehwan-nim’s family name?”

Rather than joining the conversation, Jaehwan waited for the Driver’s answer.

The Driver still gave none.

Perhaps taking that silence as a signal, the Leader interjected.

“Mmph, mmph mmph.”

「Hey, did I not tell you?」

“Mmph mmph mmph mmph mmph mmph.”

「Big Questions like that are meaningless.」

Jaehwan remembered the Leader saying something similar.

Had he said that Big Questions were too vast to answer alone?

It was sound advice, but not advice suited to Jaehwan at the moment. The size of a question did not matter to him in the first place. He was the kind of person who believed that if a question was difficult to answer, one only had to stab once and ask again.

Whether the Driver understood Jaehwan’s thoughts or not, when he finally spoke after a long pause, he looked somewhat displeased.

[That is unexpected. Most powerhouses at your level do not ask things like that so directly.]

“...”

[Those who are curious about the ‘First Nightmare’ tend to have thoroughly twisted minds. Most of them think too much by themselves and get drunk on philosophical questions.]

The Leader’s lips twitched at the Driver’s words. Whether the Driver noticed or not, he continued.

[Even when the Driver gives them a proper answer, they often get angry. Sometimes they suddenly draw a sword.]

The Driver chuckled as if he found it amusing. He seemed to be recalling the passengers who had challenged the Tenth Floor in the past.

[Sometimes I wonder whether they really came seeking an answer. Maybe they only came because they wanted to hear that the answer they had already decided on was correct. In that sense, I like your question. It is very simple. You seem to carry a terrible Worldview, but you are not twisted. Gods like that are very rare.]

Jaehwan showed no particular pleasure at the Driver’s praise.

“The introduction is too long. Give me the answer first.”

[Fine. Your question is simple, so the answer should be simple too. The way to reach the ‘First Nightmare’ is easy. Follow the method of those who challenged the ‘First Nightmare’ before you.]

“What method?”

[Gather all Three Divine Artifacts of the Ancient Gods. Then you will naturally learn how to reach the ‘First Nightmare.’]

The Allies stirred at the Driver’s answer.

Jaehwan asked, “Did the Ancient Gods challenge the ‘First Nightmare’?”

[It is certain that their Three Divine Artifacts are the ‘key.’ That is all I will say in answer to this question.]

“Huh. Not just any Part, but the ‘Three Divine Artifacts.’ That is an answer impossible to act on even if you know it.”

The other gods nodded at Manri Shintong’s words.

The Leader, on the other hand, looked as though he might faint after hearing the Driver’s answer.

“Mmph mmph mmph mmph mmph!”

Though the Leader was gagged, the Driver seemed able to understand him and smiled.

[Big Questions and small questions. Right. Of course they matter. You need to ask questions well to get proper answers. But in the end, the one who solves a problem is not the one who asks questions, but the one who acts. Not fools who shut themselves away in the Metaverse and play at imagination.]

“Mmph mmph mmph mmph!”

[Why did I not tell you this method? Because even if I had, you would not have set out to gather the Three Divine Artifacts.]

“Mmph! Mmph mmph!”

[Is that not why you asked me about another ‘shortcut’? Because you know that too.]

The Leader fell silent.

Jaehwan asked, “A shortcut?”

[Ah, it seems the Leader did not tell you. There is one other way to reach the ‘First Nightmare.’ A method only the 〈Metaverse〉’s Driver can use. You may use it if you wish. Though with your personality, I do not think you would choose this path.]

“What is the method?”

[Is that your ‘third question’?]

Jaehwan stared at him silently. The Driver scratched his cheek.

[Fine. I will tell you this one for free. A Driver who gathers World Power in the tower for a thousand years can ascend to the end of the 《Phantasmal Tree》. Simple, right?]

The declaration threw everyone into chaos.

Manri Shintong, who had been checking the dessert Vertus brought, choked. Martis looked dazed, as though he had returned to Yesterday. Rene looked as though Fate’s prediction had gone catastrophically wrong.

Jaehwan asked, “If I kill you, can I become the ‘Driver’?”

The Allies looked at Jaehwan as if he were absurd.

The Driver laughed.

[No, you would only become the person who killed the Driver. I have to pass the position down to you. And did you listen to what I said properly? Becoming the Driver is not enough. You have to gather World Power for a thousand years.]

“I am confident I can endure time.”

[I know what you are thinking, but it will not be easy. Especially for a god like you, who has endured an uncertain amount of time. Until now, you may have somehow survived by repeating simple movements, but you should give up the idea that you can keep doing that. If you repeat that kind of thing, one day all your emotions will wear away and you will become a Concept God.]

“A Concept God?”

“It means a god who has lost all emotion and personality, leaving only a concept behind. They still have World Power, but they are practically extinct,” Andersen said.

Jaehwan paused at Andersen’s answer. He too had recently felt his emotions dulling.

He had thought it was simply a side effect of 「Alienation」.

The Driver continued.

[Anyway, enduring a thousand years as the ‘Driver’ will be different from the time you endured alone. You will have to endure years that pass thoroughly and precisely. And you will not simply endure them. You will have to work while being exposed to countless stimuli all day.]

“What work?”

[What else? You have to gather World Power, in other words, ‘trust.’]

As if something had suddenly occurred to her, Rene spoke up.

“Wait. By gathering trust, do you mean...”

[That is right. Sell Skins, sell packages, sell buffs and consumables. In short, you have to make trust by selling those things in bulk to idiot gods.]

The work was so nakedly crude that it was almost absurd.

“Why are you doing that?”

[I told you. I need trust.]

“So what are you using that trust for...”

Jaehwan suddenly remembered what he had seen when he first entered the Tenth Floor.

The scene of the Dream Demon Neil Crash drawing blueprints for the Metaverse’s internal design.

He had passed it over at the time, but now that he thought about it, the Metaverse’s layout had been unusual.

It had resembled a launch pad built to send a spaceship into the sky.

“This tower was made so that the Driver could reach the end of the world.”

The Driver wore a strange expression at Jaehwan’s words. When the Allies looked at Jaehwan as if asking what he meant, Jaehwan added, “This tower is a kind of launch pad. It was built to pierce through the ceiling of the 《Abyss》 and leap to the end of the Phantasmal Tree.”

[Wow, how did you know?]

The Driver admitted it so readily that it was almost absurd.

Whistling, he continued.

[It takes an enormous amount of energy to use this launch pad, so it needs a lot of trust. You have to gather trust for at least a thousand years just to maybe launch it once.]

The Driver’s shocking words left the Allies staring blankly. Only now did they understand why the tower had been desperately selling Parts all this time.

Rene snapped in an agitated voice, “How can you do this? What are you? What are Drivers supposed to be?”

[Why? What is the problem? I found a shortcut to reach the ‘end of the world’ without gathering all Three Divine Artifacts. Is that not incredible?]

“That is not what I am talking about. There are people suffering because of you. Do you know what happens to the Dolls and Vicegerents on the lower floors?”

[Hm? It is the same in the Abyss. Weak gods are oppressed, and Followers unlucky enough to serve the wrong god are exploited. It is a tragedy found everywhere. The difference is that in this tower, those tragedies are all used as meaningful fuel.]

“What...”

[Did you not enter because you thought this place would be better than the 《Abyss》?]

When the Driver yawned, countless screens began to float across the penthouse walls. The screens showed the gods of the 〈Metaverse〉.

[It seems you have all enjoyed this tower enough already. Everyone looks up to you.]

The gods on the screens were watching Jaehwan’s group through 《Little Brother》.

Among the crowd were the God of Flash, Rayray, who had failed to enter, and Baeko of the Black Shop.

[This tower gave gods what they wanted. It even let gods cast aside in the 《Abyss》’s competition dream.]

Gods who admired Jaehwan were climbing the tower. They dreamed that one day they too would cross the Ninth Floor’s wall and reach the Tenth Floor. They watched Andersen’s tears with emotion, imagining the day when they would be the ones shedding such tears.

[To gods who dream of freedom and equality, it gave the illusion of communication.]

Andersen appeared on the screen, talking with her Companions.

The heroic gods from five hundred years ago, preserved in memory.

Andersen, Ethan, Arteina, Justice.

The history of those who dreamed of a world where gods and Followers were equal flowed across the gods’ retinas like the lyrics of an old song.

[To those who wanted rest, it offered pleasure.]

There were gods trapped in the 〈Metaverse〉’s ‘Yesterday,’ dreaming sweet dreams. Like the humans deceived by the Dream Demon Stone and trapped in the past, they betrayed reality and chose greedy isolation.

[To those who longed for the end of the world, it showed the way.]

At last, the screen showed those who had reached the tower’s Tenth Floor.

The Leader, reigning above the Alliance. Jaehwan, who had fought against him. Shapes presumed to be Mulack and the Rift Lord also appeared briefly.

[I gave you everything you wanted, so what is wrong with collecting a little trust?]

“It is not real. You sold fakes. You sold fakes to protect yourself.”

[They are not fakes. Just as the tears that crow shed were not fake.]

The Driver smiled quietly as he looked at Andersen.

[This tower sells experiences. The story of a god and a Follower. The story of an adventurer climbing a tower. The story of reclaiming a Companion. The story of someone dreaming of the end of the world. You cannot call those things fake.]

“That is...”

[You chose to enter the tower. And the tower gave you exactly the story you wanted.]

None of the Allies could refute him.

Perhaps it was because the Driver was right.

Jaehwan alone kept a calm expression.

Then, after struggling with all his strength, the Leader tore off his gag and spoke.

“Enough with the Zen riddles. It is time for me to receive my reward.”

The Allies were astonished by the Leader’s shamelessness in trying to claim his reward even now, but they were also curious about what wish he would make.

The Driver nodded.

[All right, Eoduksi. What do you desire?]

“You already know my wish.”

As though he had waited a long time for this moment alone, the Leader made his wish.

“Turn the 《Phantasmal Tree》’s time back seven hundred years.”

Footnotes:

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