Chapter 29
Someone Destined Will Become (3)
5.
From empty air a crimson crack opened, and from between it a bespectacled man in a suit appeared. He hovered in the sky, arrogantly looking down. He looked as if he were staring at some kind of insect.
“Player Yu Seong-woo.”
It wasn’t hard to guess who he was. An Administrator. An Abyss administrator, presumably. So — when you find an Abyss administrator, what do you do?
“Start filming.”
Insup had said that meeting an administrator was extremely rare. They didn’t show themselves unless some special event happened. According to the info Insup gave, administrators possess overwhelming power, and in particular can paralyze a player’s system. If I filmed this, a million views would be the minimum. Ah—this is why you should live kindly. Views just fall into your lap…
[Administrator uses <Freeze Command>.]
[Recording will stop.]
[System ma@!#!#???]
…but the world wasn’t that kind.
The Administrator immediately stopped the filming. How petty. The Administrator clicked his tongue at me, as if he’d read my thoughts.
“You’re crazy. You’re the first person I’ve ever seen who immediately starts a broadcast the moment they see me.”
“Just five seconds. Five seconds only. I’ll give you something good.”
“You’re the returnee you mentioned to upper command? An irregular who acted in another dimension? Second-floor Administrator Kim Yu-shin, Administrator number 232. I hereby commence execution. You will be held accountable for the fatal error you caused.”
[<Scales> scans your cheating.]
[Scan result: <Tampered System>]
[Judgment: <System Authority Revoked>]
Red light surged from all directions. That red light was apparently the power administrators used. The system message frame turned red too; it was a very unpleasant aura. Hard to call it mana exactly — not holy power, not dark magic. Interesting. Is this the power that constitutes the Abyss?
Kuwaaaak—!
That red light instantly became cuffs and bound my hands. Then a strange message window popped up.
[System@#!@#!!@ seal???!@#in?????]
“As you disturbed the Abyss system as soon as you entered, no rebuttal is allowed. You could have ruined some grand design.”
“Yu-shin. Are you from the Republic of Korea? You don’t look it, but I like your name.”
“I’m the only one who asks questions here.”
“Were you in the military, by any chance? Marine Corps? Army?”
I babbled nonstop. He slowly descended to the ground while still wearing that arrogant expression and looked at me.
“Still, thanks. Because you caused so much karma on the second floor, I can activate the Scales.”
“What the hell is the Scales, you otaku?”
“Originally, we would have restrained you on the third floor.”
He said that and flicked his finger. This time shackles were attached to my legs. How many years had it been since I’d worn handcuffs and shackles? I think the last time was when I was imprisoned in the Vatican’s underground jail as a heretic. Pleasant memories surfaced.
“Player Yu Seong-woo significantly damaged the system in the first and second floor zones and simultaneously altered the system with external power. Therefore this <Abyss> sentences you to system authority revocation and immediate execution.”
“I’m not familiar with legal procedures, but isn’t there some kind of trial? My brother’s a big-shot lawyer. Don’t I have the right to hire a defense attorney?”
“Your human laws are garbage before the Great Will.”
No matter how much I jabbered, he stayed on task with professional resolve. The Scales seemed to be an Abyss management system the administrators used.
“Yu-shin. Talk to me.”
“I have no intention of conversing with vermin.”
“Yu-shin.”
“I will carry out the execution.”
Wuuuuuuung—!
A sound drew my eyes upward. There was a gigantic blade in the sky — a murderous edge reminiscent of a guillotine. They really intended to kill me.
“If I deal with you, I get promoted. Good volunteering.”
“Oh, you volunteered? You’re more ambitious than you look. Good. But, Yu-shin.”
“Die, vermin.”
I called his name over and over, but he swung his hand down. At the same time the blade fell toward me. Time felt slow. Staring at the blade, I muttered sadly,
“Am I going to die like this?”
I couldn’t even get ten million views on Mitube. Ian couldn’t buy me a house. I couldn’t buy buildings for my brother and Bitna noona! Dying here would be a huge injustice. So—
“No. I’m not dying.”
I wasn’t going to die here.
Kwad-deuk-deuk—!
I lightly shattered the cuffs and shackles, then bit the blade charging at me with my teeth. And then, with relish—
Crunch—!
The blade shattered on my solid teeth; I smiled brightly, holding a shard of broken blade between my teeth. The Administrator — no, our Yu-shin — trembled and started to deny reality.
“…The system should be frozen? What is this… wha— Don’t come! I warned you. Don’t come!”
“Ushina (Yu-shin).”
“Report the situation! Emergency! Requesting support. Requesting support…”
“Ushina! (Yu-shin!)”
It’d been a long time since I’d had a blade in my mouth. Since I escaped the Vatican and danced with knives. Maybe that’s why my pronunciation was off.
System seal? Immediate execution?
[The system is not sealed.]
[This administrator does not have access rights to this system!]
Looks like my backing is better. Since they’d been entertaining me so far, shall I do a little blade dance?
“Knife-dance, let’s go.”
6.
“You’ve lost a lot of skill. Back in the day my nickname in the hero party was ‘party-ruiner’ — when I did the knife dance, teammates would both praise and curse.”
“Is…is that so?”
“Keep your stance. Put strength into it.”
“Yes sir!”
“Hmm, still kinda interesting. Your bodies don’t bleed, but do they feel pain?”
“It’s kind of possession… For efficient management we produce an avatar suited to the area, then possess that avatar.”
“So they’re clones, but why do clones feel pain?”
“When executing, battle may accompany it, so we raise the synchronization. So…”
“Ha, your company’s a black company, huh?”
An Administrator? Not much to them. I’d heard their combat power was very strong, but the reality fell short of expectations. I’d hoped to satisfy some of my combat craving, but that expectation was completely betrayed.
I simply smashed the cuffs and shackles, grabbed his collar, and slammed him into the ground about twenty times. As a result he was covered in blood and had become my personal human chair.
“Can administrators be this weak and still manage players properly?”
“We… normally restrict the system, then punish defenseless players.”
“You strip power and kill them all?”
“Not exactly. In fact, admins personally carrying out executions has only happened twice. And revoking system authority is extremely rare.”
The Abyss administrator, Kim Yu-shin. I got some useful information while talking to him. Administrators are entities that help the Abyss run smoothly: they maintain ‘transference phenomena’ that occur in the Abyss, patch various bugs, recalibrate floor difficulties according to player level — basically functioning like diligent GMs.
“My system has problems?”
“…Upper command thinks so. They suspect a system made elsewhere was forcibly grafted in, from outside the Abyss.”
“Hm.”
That fit roughly. My system was essentially the system I’d been using in Avalon — practically transplanted as-is. Alright, one or two more questions.
“What exactly is the Scales?”
“It’s the Abyss system that adjusts balance. When balance-breaking phenomena occur, it summons administrators to recover it.”
He was seriously keyed up. Sometimes you need to beat someone to make them talk. Yu-shin answered politely and I nodded in satisfaction.
“What is the Abyss?”
Since returning to Earth, that’s what I’d been most curious about. What exactly is the Abyss and what purpose does it serve? I’d dug for info but only found speculation. Even famous professors only hypothesized. A whole field called “Abyssology” emerged, but it hasn’t yielded clear results. Maybe an administrator would know something?
“Brother, trust Yushin.”
“Sorry. I can’t answer that.”
“I’m offended.”
“If I answer that, my avatar connection will be severed and I’ll get disciplined. My soul might even be annihilated… eek!”
Yu-shin trembled when I showed him the blade fragment. From what I’d gathered so far, he didn’t have the guts to risk his life for secrets. These kinds of people were generally risk-averse. Yu-shin already knew I was capable of anything. So perhaps he’d still not tell the truth?
“It’s really true. Really.”
“Can’t you be tortured into telling? Maybe beg for death?”
“…If you climb to higher floors you’ll learn naturally. So… please. I’m just a low-level who follows orders. If I talk about the Abyss’s origins, my very existence disappears. Ugh.”
Still, a few things became clear. The system I have works in the Abyss, but Abyss-related people can’t meddle with it. I vaguely remembered the term “World Soul of Earth,” but I’d need to keep investigating. Being a low-level admin, Yu-shin didn’t have much nourishing info. I spent about thirty minutes asking him more. After someone endured a hellish time, finally—
“That’s all you can tell me?”
“Ye—yes.”
“Got it.”
“…Will you trust me?”
“If I meet more admins later I can catch and interrogate them.”
I got a good amount of necessary information. Summarized:
Abyss administrators have marked me as a person of interest. They’ll interfere during my ascent.
Because I broke the balance, administrators will have more reason to intervene.
Abyss administrators feel pain too.
Number three was the most important. If they feel pain, then if we catch them like today, we can interrogate them for info. Of course, they’re not stupid — they won’t make the same mistake again.
“Yu-shin, why did you come alone if I’m a person of interest?”
“As I said earlier… I wanted promotion… blinded by ambition…”
“Work hard. By the way — how did you stop that drone?”
“Because it contains Abyss metal components, we can stop it with our authority.”
“Anywhere?”
“Not everywhere. Only when we manifest as we did just now.”
Good. If that were universally possible, my income would be cut off. This was enough info for now. It seemed unlikely I’d see Yu-shin again. He’d been captured acting alone, had his info stolen, and upper command would deal with him. But before I sent him back there was one souvenir I wanted.
“We met for a reason — leave a memory?”
“What do you want?”
“Photos are what remain. Reactivate that recording drone.”
“That’s difficult…”
“I picked up interrogation techniques from a cursing elf. You know — filleting someone thin while keeping them alive. Interested? It’s been a while, so I’m rusty.”
Yu-shin sweated and signaled the drone. The drone that had been halted buzzed back to life.
[Recording resumes.]
“World-first! Interview with an Abyss administrator.”
“…Yes?”
“It won’t be a live stream; I’ll edit it nicely. Relax, okay?”
He’d tried to kill me, yet I’d let him go? No. Even if he returned alive, we’d extract everything. So he would willingly become my view count.
