Chapter 71
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The Architect I
Shin No-a
1
By the way, while the group called the 'Library Society' has already been mentioned several times, I haven't had a proper chance to explain it to you all.
Why this sudden thought, you ask? Because in the 562nd iteration, Oh Dok-seo once asked this question:
"Mister, mister. How do you join the Library Society?"
"Hm? Why the Library Society?"
"Why... well, because it's cool."
Oh Dok-seo sometimes got fixated on things out of nowhere like this.
A cap that only rappers would wear, a jumper fashion, jeans that looked ready to melt like candle wax at any moment (including three holes), and the visual of her chewing bubble gum (fake) with her mouth—one look and it would be obvious, but Oh Dok-seo had chuunibyou. And a severe terminal case at that.
She possessed the same symptoms that all chuunibyou patients who prided themselves on being self-proclaimed literary girls shared. In other words, she had contracted a mental and perverted disease that made her feel an bizarre ecstasy toward nouns like 'library,' 'society,' and 'librarian.'
According to a paper from the Korean Psychiatric Association, unfortunately, this disease is incurable, and the only treatment is for the patient to actually enroll in a university's literature department—how terrifying is that?
"Mister, you're a regressor who's rolled through hundreds of iterations, so you must be acquainted with the core executives of the Library Society, right? Right?"
"Hmm......"
I made a subtle expression.
"Well, I do know them, but......"
"Then introduce me! No, before that, tell me what kind of place the Library Society is. You upload the Aberration Dictionary on SG Net, but other than that, it's a secret organization wrapped in mystery."
"...You really want me to tell you?"
"Huh? What's with the sudden attitude? Don't be stingy and tell me everything you can."
"You'll probably regret it though.... Well, alright."
If you want it that much, I should tell you.
-Sc̸҉raping, the music for you today is Mozart......
A vintage wooden radio next to the table we sat at was playing music.
I sipped my café au lait, injecting engine fuel into my bright red tongue.
Then I opened my mouth toward the tiny prophet before my eyes.
2
The Library Society.
Its other name is The Great Library.
No one knows when it was founded, but it's a quite old organization—and a secret society at that.
Naturally, its existence was thoroughly hidden from ordinary people. Even if the organization's name were accidentally exposed, people would likely think 'Huh? That sounds like an organization that could actually exist in reality?' and inadvertently dismiss it. In this regard, it's on a completely different level from the Freemasons or Illuminati—groups that only mouth the words 'secret, secret' but are actually exhibitionists.
"Oh... As expected of a secret organization."
Oh Dok-seo's eyes sparkled.
It seemed even Oh Dok-seo, whose default setting for her neurons was fixed on being cynical about everything with perpetually indifferent eyes, possessed something called romance.
I thought to myself, 'This is a big problem'—yet I continued explaining.
The exact location of the Society's headquarters is unknown. However, rumors suggest it's in North America.
The Society's branches are spread across the world. The hideout of the Korean branch is hidden somewhere in Cheorwon.
"Cheorwon? Why Cheorwon of all places?"
"Specifically, it's in Geunnam-myeon, Cheorwon, and there are few residents nearby. They try to avoid people's attention as much as possible, befitting a secret society."
"Oh......"
The 'Library Society' had been aware of the existence of Aberrations even before the Gate incident occurred—perhaps for hundreds or thousands of years.
They collected information about Aberrations, wrote guides and manuals, and secretly cultivated 'Librarians.'
Librarians were all specialists in anti-Aberrance warfare. They were experts who swore to devote their lives to exterminating or collecting Aberrations, even if it meant discarding humanity and morality.
Librarians strictly followed the chain of command based on their ranks.
The ranking system is known to consist of [Knight] [Baron] [Viscount] [Count] [Marquis] [Duke], in that order.
Among these, there is only one Duke. Nothing is known about the identity of the Library Duke who stands at the pinnacle of all Librarians—the so-called 'Black Book Palace' (黑書殿). It's uncertain whether they're even human.
"Wait. Then how do you address Librarians with their titles? Like [Baron-level Librarian]?"
"Well, roughly something like that. From Count-level onward, they have separate epithets created. For example, a Count who specializes in handling forbidden books might be called Count 'Forbidden Book Tower' (僞書樓). That's how they're addressed."
"That's cool......?"
"For reference, the word attached at the end of epithets also differs by rank. For Baron it's 'Gate' (關), for Viscount it's 'House' (家), for Count it's 'Tower' (樓), for Marquis it's 'Pavilion' (閣). For instance, the Marquis who oversees the Forbidden Book Management Division is someone called 'Cheonhae Pavilion.'"
"That's completely cool......?"
Oh Dok-seo's gaze grew increasingly dreamy.
According to some theories... in the deepest abyss of the Great Library headquarters sleeps a type of prophetic book called the 'Black Void Book' (黑色空冊).
The Black Void Book contains prophecies about disasters that will befall humanity and Aberrations that will destroy the world, written in very bizarre languages and characters.
To prevent the coming day of doom, to preserve humanity, to continue history, the Library Society's Librarians are still working in the shadows somewhere.
"——And all of this is a lie."
Blink.
Oh Dok-seo blinked, holding the espresso I made for her in one hand.
"Huh?"
Mm. Quite a delicious reaction.
I wore a gentle smile.
"My child. Something like the Library Society doesn't exist. Well, if you dig around, there are plenty of groups with similar names, but there's no organization that's been active in humanity's shadow for thousands of years to counter the threat of Aberrations."
"Huh? Huhhh? Why? How come......?"
"Because."
I slowly stood up.
"I, Jang Uisa, am the master of the Great Library, the founder of the Library Society, the one and only Duke, the Black Book Palace Duke."
"......"
Why. What are you surprised about.
I smiled a vile smile like a veteran thief at an inn toward the chuunibyou bubble gum girl who was opening and closing her mouth like a goldfish.
Did you think the fake organizations I created while rolling through over a thousand years would be just one or two?
Playing the mastermind is always new and thrilling. I was an SSS-class regressor prepared to return the answers 'Ah yes, I planned that' 'That was me too' 'That was also me' whenever any incident occurred.
But even a regressor couldn't create something from nothing. That was a fact already proven by a demon named Parmenides in 500 BCE.
I also had a source that inspired me to establish the Library Society... no, I could rather say I was 'forcibly stimulated' by it.
In other words, there was an original.
That stimulus point began in the 46th iteration, from a certain radio broadcast estimated to have come from the USA in the North American continent.
3
Since the fall of civilization, humanity's cultural level, which had been singing the glory of the video era, regressed to the radio era.
And I was very familiar with handling radios from the early stages of regression. I even had experience setting up a broadcasting station myself to help with Dang Seo-rin's idol activities.
To brag a little... the legendary radio channels like 'Nymphocalypse' and 'Ravenclaw Busan Branch' that boast numerous listeners not only on the Korean Peninsula but also across the Tsushima Strait in the Japanese archipelago, all of them would have struggled to even break ground without my help, Jang Uisa.
This wasn't mere self-praise but an objective fact. Just looking at the channel hosts, they frequently made such remarks:
-Ah, are you talking about the Benefactor? Wow. The Benefactor's help was truly, truly huge in getting our channel started and maintained! Until 5 years ago, I didn't even know how to operate a channel!
-Are you speaking of the Benefactor? Hmm. I've mentioned it several times on air already, but he's truly someone to be grateful for. Sometimes when we need rare materials or tools to maintain the channel, if we ask the Benefactor, he obtains them like magic.
The 'Benefactor' and 'Benefactor' mentioned here all referred to me. I contributed significantly to maintaining the cultural level of East Asia after the Apocalypse, you see.
Once a year on Christmas Day, the event of gathering famous radio channels to conduct a 24-hour continuous relay broadcast—the so-called 'Radio Festival'—was also planned by me.
Always be grateful to me, cultural citizens of the Far East.
For that reason, radios were always displayed on one wall of my hideout.
The lineup was splendid too. Starting with Korea's first vacuum tube radio, the Goldstar A-501, to Sony's CF-580, CF-3800, Germany's Grundig Party-Boy 210 radio, China's TECSUN PL-680, and so on.......
Among them was a radio called the K731 made by Zenith company.
There's no need to know what kind of product this is. You only need to know that it's an antique manufactured in the 1950s, a vintage product made of maple wood.
You know how when you visit old people's houses, there are wooden wardrobes? Like that, this wooden radio also has a smooth texture that's exceptional.
-Sc̸҉raping, this is... CP Foundation. Current situation is... sc̸҉raping.
Right from that antique, on a winter morning, it quietly slipped out a whisper in English.
"Hm?"
At that time, I was consuming a cup of romance by making café au lait just like any other morning. Not fully awake from dawn sleep yet, I looked at the radio with bleary eyes.
'Did I... leave the radio on last night?'
And at this point, it's revealed that I'm completely unsuitable as a horror movie protagonist. Because I possess total recall ability, so I never just brush things off with 'Eh, must be my imagination?' or 'Hm, my memory is vague' and give the audience cancer.
'...I didn't turn it on.'
My eyes snapped open. I immediately turned up the radio volume. The characteristic static noise of radios crackled up loudly.
-Sc̸҉raping, Sector 7 has fallen. I repeat. Sector 7 has fallen. We used nuclear warheads according to protocol, but they had no effect.
Nuclear warheads?
Trying somehow to settle the static and listen to the voice, the other party seemed to be an elderly person. An American using typical Californian English.
-Oh, the Evil Dragon... the Evil Dragon has been released. It's all over now. Sc̸҉raping. Can you see? Beyond the mushroom clouds, the Evil Dragon's massive, sc̸҉raping shadow is reflected. It's ruined. The Foundation is destroyed. The world is destroyed too.
I turned the frequency back and forth. However, each time the frequency moved, only crackling static rang out, but the old man's voice continued droning on without cutting off.
The conclusion was clear.
"...This thing has become an Aberration."
I clicked my tongue.
Contamination.
Since the world started breaking, it was a common occurrence for various electronic devices to be encroached upon by Aberrations. I named this phenomenon 'Contamination' or 'Infection.'
CCTV, telephones, mobile phones (older models being more dangerous), computers, GPS navigation, radar, and television were particularly dangerous. These had a fairly high probability of going insane.
In fact, it was these 'Contamination' phenomena rather than physical threats like the Ten Clans that dealt the most fatal finishing blow to human civilization.
In the early days, the leadership of various countries tried to respond to Aberrations with nuclear bombs, only to merge with the almighty mushroom clouds while questioning 'Huh? Why are the missiles flying toward us instead of the destination?'
Radios couldn't be an exception to contamination either.
However, I had thought the radios I collected were relatively safe since I performed intensive exorcism work on them.......
-This is Sector 7. I am Martin Russell, Director General in charge of Sector 7. Upon confirming the failure of Sector 7's final barrier protocol, I moved to Bunker 24 and am currently attempting external communication.
"Hmm."
-From the bunker, we can check inside and outside the sector via CCTV, but many are malfunctioning. I judge that the remaining cameras won't last long either. If a rescue team is organized, I request they be dispatched promptly so we can coordinate from inside. Currently, the survivors visible on CCTV within the sector are 3, 4, 5...... 6 people including me. I'm alone in Bunker 24, and the remaining 5 are scattered separately.
-On radar examination, the entities that escaped containment are not dispersing to various parts of the world but are moving concentrated toward the North American region. What? What could be the cause?
By the way, the radio content was quite strange.
Usually, contaminated radios would just mimic ghost sounds going 'Hiiiiissss' or launch some nonsensical mental attack.
-Foundation personnel would already know this, but... Sector 7 is located on Molokai Island, Hawaii.
-This shouldn't be possible, but if by any chance a civilian hears this communication, ignore everything. And flee as far as possible from North America, just get away. Or just enjoy a last supper with your family.
But this Aberrance... according to its own words, it belonged to some 'Foundation,' and was mimicking a person quite elaborately.
As if a human was really broadcasting from beyond the radio.
As if someone was truly confined somewhere, sending out waves desperately, urgently.
That was why I, in the 46th iteration, couldn't help but feel interest while also harboring a question.
-The entities are indiscriminately destroying the Foundation's sectors. Sc̸҉raping. Oh, God! Please have mercy on humanity......
If this were true.
If the old man was really in Sector 24 or whatever, if the organization called the 'Foundation' actually existed, and if the entities said to have escaped containment were real too.
Then what on earth was happening in the North American region right now?