Chapter 10
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The Troublemaker I
Shin Noah
1
Old Man Sho's coffee is delicious today as well.
In that sense, just like the episode from the time before last, I'd like to share another story from the 50th iteration.
2
The 50th iteration was the round where our SG Man, Seo Gyu, established SG Net for the first time.
In many ways, SG Net became a turning point in Awakened society.
Until then, Awakened individuals had formed guilds separately and acted independently. Occasionally, guilds would form alliances when raiding large Gates, but fundamentally, guilds were exclusive toward one another.
However, SG Net presented them with a new horizon.
-[Satisfaction] CookingQueen: Do you seek peace of mind? Join the Satisfaction Guild! Our main base is in Daejeon!
-[ThreeThousand] WitchJudge: Busan City. Under 40 years old. Preference for Awakened with levitation abilities. Preference for Awakened with magical abilities. Inquire via whisper for membership. May not check whispers from 11 PM to 9 AM.
-[WhiteFlower] HighSchool6thYear: ★Recruiting connections to move forward together in the friendship club WhiteFlower★ >_<)!
SG Net was fundamentally a site where only Awakened could join.
For guilds that were desperate to recruit as many high-quality Awakened as possible, this was naturally irresistible.
They actively promoted their guilds.
From some point onward, guild members began indicating their affiliation with [brackets] in front of their nicknames, and this became established as a custom on SG Net.
It was good for us because we could easily obtain Awakened information, and it was good for Awakened because they gained a means to freely promote their guilds.
Of course, SG Net didn't only have positive influences.
-Goryejang: Retards hanging out together.
The infamous Goryejang Villain.
He was an Awakened who joined as a full member immediately after SG Net opened. He didn't join any guild.
He may have actually been affiliated with a guild, but at the very least, he didn't display a guild name.
There were many 'lone wolf' type Awakened who insisted on solo play even as time passed, besides the Goryejang Villain.
However, such people generally tended to keep a low profile and avoid attention.
On SG Net as well, most lone wolves operated as non-members.
-Goryejang: I heard a Gate burst in Chungju yesterday? Population goes down, food distribution gets more generous, nice.
The Goryejang Villain's distinctive characteristic was that he had no intention of hiding himself at all.
Not only did he become a full member with a nickname, he practically lived with profanity in his mouth.
SG Net inherently had few trolls. After all, wasn't it a site personally created by a Constellation, a transcendent being?
Even if one were to spew curses, it was natural to do so as a non-member 'Anonymous.'
In that situation, the Goryejang Villain, who behaved as if telling the Constellation to fuck off, inevitably attracted people's aggro.
-Goryejang: WhiteFlower? Friendship club? The world has gone to shit, what kind of friendship is that, you frozen friendship. Brats who haven't even grown fur yet, don't go living too long and becoming retards for nothing, just run away to a foreign country quickly. This country is ruined.
└[WhiteFlower] HighSchool6thYear: Hueeng. That's too meanㅠ_ㅠ)…….
└[Satisfaction] CookingQueen: Words are a reflection of thoughts, and thoughts dampen oneself like misty rain on a cloudy day. How about trying to use slightly clearer and brighter language?
The Goryejang Villain even went beyond having aggressive speech patterns and actively picked fights with other members.
His targets for attack didn't distinguish between the strong and weak.
In particular, the WhiteFlower Guild was a group that would later grow into a super-sized guild representing Korea (in a bad sense). It was a fact only I, a returner, knew for now.
Other members' reactions were naturally not good.
-Anonymous: Crazy bastard.
-[YuldoCountry] SwordQueen: Can't we block that child?
-Anonymous: Everyone, just don't feed the troll; the aggro cost-effectiveness is insane.
-[ThreeThousand] WitchJudge: Honestly, I hate seeing his face.
-ZERO_SUGAR: Member, you'll get hurt if you keep that up.
But the more aggro he drew, the more excited the Goryejang Villain became.
-Goryejang: ㅗ
As the world began to fall apart, large communities withered away. They just unnecessarily took up traffic.
The internet world fragmented into small, closed communities like decades ago. In waters where the water level had dropped, aggro fishermen wore long faces.
For them, SG Net must have been like a newly reconstructed paradise.
-Goryejang: Honestly, if you have a conscience, all old people should commit suicide.
-Hey, the government's stockpiled food has already run out, and they're handing even a single gun to children and pushing them to the Gate front lines.
-In this situation, useless old people, what are they trying to enjoy in life, parasitizing off young people and sucking their marrow dry? Did your brain cells die along with your conscience? I'll say it seriously one more time, if you think you're an old person being a burden to your children, please die as soon as possible.
In particular, he seemed to hate elderly people intensely.
The Goryejang Villain posted something every day with the tone 'all elderly people must die,' as if determined to live up to his nickname.
So-called consistent posting.
And here, some Awakened even sympathized.
-Anonymous: Hmm.
-Anonymous: This bastard is a retard, but it's true that old geezers are disgusting.
Of course, the majority of members detested the Goryejang Villain's posts.
-SonLove: You seem like a young person, but your words are too harsh…….
└Goryejang: You an old person? Look at that disgusting nickname. Why aren't you dying already? Is it fun sucking your son's marrow and living?
-[YuldoCountry] SwordQueen: Those whose heads aren't even dry of blood have gone mad.
-[Satisfaction] CookingQueen: Brother, if you have a secret you cannot tell anyone, please consult with me anytime. People kill people, but people also live by people.
└Goryejang: Please just fuck off.
└Anonymous: This bastard even says bad things to CookingQueen. Sigh.
-Anonymous: They all seem to have no mother or father.
-[WhiteFlower] HighSchool6thYear: Hueeng. Oppas, don't fightㅠ_ㅠ)…….
-ZERO_SUGAR: Member, you'll get hurt if you keep that up.
└Goryejang: ㅗ
As an anonymous non-member pointed out, consistent ignoring is the only answer for attention-seeking trolls.
However, many Awakened seemed to be experiencing an internet community for the first time.
"Wow, this guy is seriously disgusting……."
Among them was Seo Gyu, the site operator.
"Brother. Can't I block that guy?"
"No."
At my immediate answer, Seo Gyu tilted his head.
"Why not?"
"Because you mustn't appear human."
"Excuse me?"
"……."
I assembled sentences in my mind.
The longer I lived through repeated regressions, the shorter my words became. So I consciously tried to speak at length.
"To Awakened, this site's operator is the Constellation's proxy. You're the disciple of the only Constellation revealed in Korea so far. If someone like you shows human reactions like getting angry, or sad, or furious, you might get immediate support, but eventually, your authority will be undermined in the long run."
"Ah……."
"Seo Gyu, you need to appear as if you live in a completely different dimension. Only in one single case, when 'the nameless Constellation' is insulted, should you step forward. The Goryejang Villain has never once insulted the Constellation. So we leave him be."
Seo Gyu wore a puzzled expression.
Probably didn't fully understand.
But it didn't matter. The fact that he didn't fire back with an announcement saying 'You fucker! What kind of bullshit is that!' was already Seo Gyu fulfilling his role.
"Then what do we do? Just leave him be?"
"No. I mean you shouldn't step forward."
I murmured while pouring coffee.
"You never know about worldly matters until you look into them."
"……?"
Then one day.
-JustJoinedToday: Fuck, my father passed away.
A few years after SG Net was created, a long post appeared on the board.
The content was as follows:
-I originally operated as anonymous, but I joined to post this.
-Today, after hunting monsters, I bought sweet rice blood sausage for the first time in a while and returned to my lodgings, but my father wasn't there, only a letter. He wrote in the letter asking me not to look for him, but did he think I wouldn't look?
-So for the past 4 days, I frantically searched the neighborhood. And finally found him in the river of the third-next neighborhood over. I don't know how someone whose waist and legs aren't even intact managed to drag himself all the way here.
(Photo attached)
-Anyway, the Awakened here must have all witnessed people dying, so I roughly mosaic-ed it.
-In the old days, crematoriums operated in a few places, but nowadays even that's gone. They say when someone dies now, you just put them in a field and let monsters tear them apart, that's the trend? Fuckㅎㅎ.
-Among the older sisters I know, there's one who uses fire magic, so I bowed my head and asked her. That sister always complained at drinking gatherings that she's burned more corpses than monsters, that everyone around her treats her like a human crematorium. I never thought I'd end up making such a request myself.
-My father was an Awakened too. F-class. His ability was completely useless, but thanks to it, he could pass time chatting with people on SG Net. His nickname was 'SonLove,' I don't know if anyone knows him.
-Yesterday, on my way back after meeting the sister, I was reading the posts my father wrote and the comments one by one, and fuck, this 'Goryejang' bastard's post caught my eye. He practically held a ritual for my father to commit suicide?
(Photo attached)
-I know you didn't kill my father. But the very fact that a bastard like you exists is disgusting.
-I'll give my entire fortune to anyone who kills this Goryejang bastard or tells me where he is. I'm not lying. Send me a whisper.
-He's operating as a full member and running his mouth, so he seems confident in his skills. Let's see if he can still spout bullshit with an axe in his head.
The post by 'JustJoinedToday' created a stir on SG Net.
-Anonymous: Oh no…….
-[YuldoCountry] SwordQueen: I pray for the deceased's peace.
-[ThreeThousand] WitchJudge: I pray for the deceased's peace.
-Anonymous: Not a lieㄴㄴ.
-[Satisfaction] CookingQueen: How great must the sense of loss be? I don't know what words to use for comfort. Your father must have gone to a happy place.
-[WhiteFlower] HighSchool6thYear: Hueengㅠ_ㅠ)…….
-Anonymous: Is this real?
-dolLHoUse: Condolences.
The post was registered as a popular post not long after being uploaded. Recommendations exceeded 300, and hundreds of comments were posted.
99% of the comments were all mourning the writer's father.
In other words, it meant there was a 1% exception.
-Goryejang: Retard. I'm a Korean resident in Canada, how are you going to kill me? Come if you want to see. One old geezer cutㅎㅎ.
└Anonymous: Wow, seriously disgusting to the end.
Countless members erupted in public outrage at that shameless response.
"Brother. Is he really a Korean resident in Canada?"
"As if."
I shook my head.
"Obviously a lie. That guy joined as a member right when SG Net opened. That means he connected right after receiving the Saintess's message, and the Saintess can't send messages as far as Canada."
"Ah."
"It's not impossible that he went to Canada after that……. Hmm. Looking at his connection times, it doesn't seem likely."
My prediction hit the mark.
"He lives in Korea."
The Saintess said with her eyes closed.
It was easy to tell what ability she was activating now. If she had both hands together, telepathy. If her eyes were closed, clairvoyance.
No matter how S-class an ability was, constraints always followed when using it.
"I'll guide the path directly via telepathy."
"Thank you. Oh, and could you also locate where 'JustJoinedToday' lives?"
"Just a moment……. Yes, I've pinpointed it."
"Hmm."
I realized anew the usefulness of the Saintess and Seo Gyu.
Without the two of them, it would have taken considerable effort to obtain even such trivial information.
At that moment, the Saintess murmured.
"But this Goryejang person……."
"Hm? What about him?"
"…His identity is diverse. He's a rather peculiar person."
The Saintess sipped her coffee expressionlessly.
I shrugged my shoulders once, then connected to SG Net with my full member ID and left a comment for the Goryejang Villain.
Call it a final warning.
-ZERO_SUGAR: Member, you'll get hurt if you keep that up.
Ding.
A notification came as if waiting for it.
-Goryejang: ㅗ
I nodded.
I figured as much. Kids these days really have no netiquette.
Such troublemakers needed to be managed promptly. To successfully execute the ambitiously prepared SG Net project as well.
It was absolutely not because, calculating my entire regression life, I was overwhelmingly the oldest human in this world and got scratched by the Goryejang Villain's words and actions.
Definitely not.