Chapter 80
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Questioner II
Shin Noah
2
There is a saying: internal trouble and external aggression.
Usually it means the extreme suffering of enduring pain both inside and out, like getting food poisoning while also stepping on a Lego with your bare foot. But the true meaning of this old idiom lies elsewhere.
It is the wisdom that internal worries can be easily resolved by simply pointing to an external enemy.
This ancient truth was proven once again after I captured 101 fairies, filmed the scene, and uploaded it to SG Net.
-Anonymous: Is the Undertaker a god? Is the Undertaker a god? Is the Undertaker a god?
-GoryeoJang: Watching those fairy bastards get wrecked is so satisfying lol
-Anonymous: Mom, I want to be an undertaker when I grow up! Mom, I want to be an undertaker when I grow up!
-LiteratureGirl: But why do we only get to watch this hilarious hidden camera footage through videos? Can't you sell some现场 tickets too??
└Anonymous: Looking at the building, I think I know where this is. Recruiting for a现场 cheer raid party.
-[National Path] Officer: Truly karma. Proof that justice still breathes in this world. Those running wild calling it the end times should reflect on themselves after watching this video.
-dolLHoUse: Concerning.
-[Yuldo Nation] Sword Empress: Truly excellent cinematography!
"Hmm."
I nodded with satisfaction.
Just looking at the upvote count on the post, it was the most overwhelming number in my entire 89th regression life!
We awakened ones may have had vastly different tendencies and personalities, but didn't we all share the same hatred for those damn fairies!
But it was too early to rest easy. No matter how excellently you crush an external enemy, internal problems don't simply disappear. It was nothing more than a simple sleight of hand.
My internal trouble, a tumor in human form, was emanating a sweet fragrance beside me.
"Wowahh... To capture all the tutorial fairies from across the country and gather them in one place. How did you even come up with such an idea, Guild Master? That's amazing."
Pop quiz.
Who is this person who just smiled brightly at me while expressing admiration?
Hint 1. This person called me 'Guild Master,' and surprisingly few people use this title.
Hint 2. This person has pink hair, which is uncommon.
Hint 3. Right now it's the 89th regression.
"As I thought, Guild Master seems like quite a unique person. I think I made the right decision to follow when you recommended I join back at Busan Station..."
Correct answer. Ko Yori!
Any normal human would scream "Kyaaah! Yiyah! Cthulhu fhtagn!" and flee the moment they heard the answer.
But I was far from a normal human, and moreover, at this point I had no idea that the 89th regression would end in a massacre ending.
Naturally, I didn't suspect that Ko Yori was a Yungella (Pokemon) of brainwashing hypnotic beams wearing a human disguise.
"Well. Thanks to you joining, running the guild has become this easy. Sometimes it seems like the guild members like you more than me, you know?"
"Ahaha. Guild Master, really. I just don't have any responsibilities or orders regarding guild management, that's all."
And so, the 89th regression me, listening to the laughter of this pink shiny Yungella, could only think, 'What a pleasant voice.' What an idiot. Run.
"Also, honestly, I think luck played a part in this one."
"Luck, you say?"
"Yes. I do know all the patterns of the fairies surviving on the Korean Peninsula, but still, they were captured without much resistance."
"...."
Ko Yori smiled brightly.
"It's 'do your best and leave the rest to heaven,' isn't it? Ultimately, it's fortune that concludes human affairs, so looking at it the other way around, the fairies just had bad luck. I think the Guild Master should just be happy about it."
"Hmm. You're right."
No! Undertaker. No!
Run right now. I said run!
...But no matter how much I might film Interstellar on my own, there was no way my voice would reach the me of the 89th regression.
If there was one fortunate thing to point out, it was that Ko Yori's brainwashing hypnotic beam wasn't particularly a species supremacist.
Not only Homo sapiens but also fairies were subject to Ko Yori's authority. Thanks to that, the 101 fairies didn't cause much trouble even in prison.
"Hwekk... W-where is this?"
"It's an unfamiliar ceiling."
The detention location was Cheongsong Prison.
Since the apocalypse broke out and the walls also crumbled, Cheongsong Prison, which had been experiencing continuous population outflow, was truly bustling with new inmates for the first time in a while.
"Kidnapping? Are we being kidnapped?"
"Us, created for the sake of clichés, becoming toys of clichés?"
"That too is nothing but a cliché."
"Hwae... If only I had been born 500 years earlier, I would have dominated the world's literature, but I was born in the wrong era..."
"In the Middle Ages there's no cola, no potato chips, no cup noodles, so what's the point of dominating?"
"You could make all literature students born 500 years later regret not being born 500 years earlier."
"Hiik, what a terrifying genius...!"
Buzz buzz-
Having gathered as many as 101 fairies who were noisy even left alone, it was truly like Noryangjin Market.
Now it was time to start the main show in earnest.
Then Ko Yori smiled as if she had prepared in advance and handed me a microphone (it gave me chills). I stepped onto the platform.
"Aah- Mic test. Mic test. Hello, fairies. Nice to meet you."
"Hwek. You are...?"
"I am your guide. I'm sure you were very surprised to be suddenly kidnapped to a place like this. But don't worry. From now on, this instructor will kindly guide you from beginning to end."
The fairies scattered across the auditorium blinked and whispered to each other.
"Where have we heard this repertoire before?"
"For some reason, the lines feel very familiar."
"These ropes, I don't know what they're made of, but they're so tight I can't undo them..."
"Busan Station Awakened!"
Kkyaaah! One fairy screamed from the middle of the auditorium.
"I've seen it in footage! That, that human, the human who cleared the nightmare-level dungeon Busan Station that 264 was in charge of in less than 20 minutes! That's definitely it!"
"Hieek?"
"20 minutes? The protagonist-type Awakened that the seniors warned so much about!"
Buzz buzz buzz!
The fairies became noisy in an instant.
However, the righteous speaker who believed himself just was not shaken by such commotion outside the stage. Like Martin Luther King Jr. at the Lincoln Memorial, I steadfastly continued my speech.
"Please calm down and listen to me, fairies. When do you think evil arises in this world?"
"Hwe?"
"I believe evil arises when one cannot or deliberately will not consider the other person's position and emotions. Refusing to see, refusing to know. In that sense, Socrates' old proposition that ignorance is the root of evil can truly be evaluated as correct."
"...What is this human babbling about?"
"I don't understand at all..."
"Ah, ah. This instructor has prepared this occasion to save you from the abyss of evil. The reason you play with humans like toys is simply because you've never had the experience of becoming toys yourselves."
Question marks appeared simultaneously over the fairies' tiny heads.
In the now somewhat quieter auditorium, my voice resonated nobly like a righteous cry.
"Do you roughly understand? From now on, kill each other."
"...?"
It didn't take long for the hunched question marks to be hammered into exclamation marks.
Fairy-exclusive tutorial dungeon, start.
"Hieeeek! Save the fairy!"
"Kyak! Rock! A rock is rolling! Kyaaah! Hieeek!"
All sorts of malicious traps, limited supplies, stage design crafted to instill paranoia and doubt, and so on.
They say all creation is born from imitation.
When constructing the Cheongsong Prison dungeon, I too was entirely inspired by the great seniors of this field. Those seniors were now happily playing in the structure designed by their junior.
"W-How can a human in disguise do such things! Do you truly have no human heart!"
"I don't. Instead, I've equipped a fairy heart. Hwe- Hweeeeng-"
"...."
"Why. Why are you glaring, number 76. When humans begged for their lives in Yeongwol, did you grant their requests?"
"Hiik! W-we just followed orders!"
"Is that so. I'm similar. I am entirely my own master, and right now I'm ordering myself. Since we're in similar circumstances, I ask for your generous understanding, fairies."
"Crazy human... He's a crazy human..."
The fairies trembled.
Ah. For reference, this entire process was recorded flawlessly by the smartphone in Ko Yori's hand.
"Ah. Guild Master. Sorry, but you're not in the frame. Could you come a little further inside?"
"Like this?"
"Yes."
As the days at Cheongsong Prison continued—one day, two days, three days—Ko Yori's smile evolved from 'beaming' to 'beaaaming.'
True to her mastery of mental manipulation, Ko Yori was also skilled in video editing.
Director/Screenplay Undertaker, Filming/Editing Ko Yori, Lead/Supporting Fairies.
With our powers combined, the touching documentary weekend drama [Tutorial Reversed World] succeeded in hitting 100% viewership every time it was uploaded to SG Net.
"Guild Master is truly, an interesting person."
...Looking back now.
However much I followed the wisdom of internal trouble and external aggression, drawing out such consistent reactions from SG Net overflowing with crazy people was difficult.
Perhaps Ko Yori's 'edited' videos already had cognitive manipulation embedded in them. Enough to appear as satisfying videos even to Sim Ar-yeon or the Sword Empress.
It must have been from exactly this point that Ko Yori began to develop genuine interest and obsession with me.
3
Of course, establishing a prison exclusively for fairies wasn't solely to avenge the accumulated racial grudge. (That was merely 50% of the reason)
I looked down at the fairies falling 60 meters underground after losing the real-time tug-of-war.
'I've captured all the fairies remaining on the Korean Peninsula and reduced them to mere clowns. Will you still not show your face?'
Fairy Lord.
Yes. A special-grade anomaly presumed to manage and dominate the 'tutorial dungeons' and 'fairies' that appeared simultaneously not only on the Korean Peninsula but worldwide...
A great evil that, according to the Library Society classification system to be established later, might warrant the first Level 5, Alienation, Foreign God (疏外神) grade designation.
'I've put this much effort into capturing fairies. In this regression, I must gather as much information about that guy as possible.'
Hieeeek-! The fairies screamed and collapsed.
Surprisingly, even after coming this far, I still knew nothing about the Fairy Lord's true identity.
During all 89 regressions, I hadn't obtained a single piece of meaningful information.
That very point stimulated my wariness.
'He's no ordinary fellow.'
Unlike other attention-seekers in creative works who, despite being villains, desperately want to subtly reveal their identity, the boss of the fairies was a true mastermind.
The only information in my hands was the four syllables 'Fairy Lord.'
"Hey. Mass murderer."
"Hweek..."
I tapped the forehead of the prone fairy with my finger.
"Why don't you start telling me about your boss? Do you think I'll just cause chaos in Korea and stop? China, Japan, India... are a bit much. But anyway, in most neighborhoods, I can wipe out the fairy seed entirely."
"Hiik, I-I can't say that..."
"Why? Because you have one mouth? If I make it two or three, could we have a somewhat rational conversation?"
"Hieeeeek!"
Footsteps sounded, tok-tok. I glanced back to see Ko Yori standing with her hands behind her back.
"Interrogating, Guild Master?"
"Yeah. Well, it's not a pretty sight, so I don't want to film it."
"Not a pretty sight? It's a very pretty sight, so rather we should treasure it so others can't peek."
Ko Yori tilted her head.
"Hmm. Are you having trouble because the fairies won't answer? If there's any way I can help, I'd like to assist."
"Hmm? If you can help, of course I'd be grateful, but these guys have unusually stubborn mouths. I'll just gratefully accept your sentiment."
"...."
Smiling. Ko Yori smiled.
"No need to be grateful. What were you asking about just now?"
"Ah, I was in the middle of asking about the Fairy Lord's true name..."
"——The Fairy Lord is simply the Fairy Lord."
Muttering.
I looked at the fairy. Our eyes met. The lips of the fairy, who had consistently pleaded ignorance even after fifteen days of interrogation, were twitching.
"But humans misunderstand the true meaning of 'Lord.'"
"...Misunderstand? What misunderstanding?"
"The lord you think of is 'monarch' (君主). It means a superior person whom subordinates serve and pledge loyalty to. But our Fairy Lord is different. Our lord is 'group master' (群主). The master who forms a 'collective body' called fairies."
The fairy smiled brightly.
"We are one. One is us. Therefore, when we speak of 'our Fairy Lord' in the true sense, defiance is merely betrayal of oneself. We are——."
BOOOOM!
The fairy's lips wobbled, then an explosion erupted from inside. The fairy's body inflated like a balloon.
Flash of light. I instantly raised my aura to create a barrier between the fairy and us. Bright red liquid splattered splat-splat-splat! against the glass-like defensive shield.
After the explosion subsided, nothing remained where the fairy had been sitting except for chunks of flesh.
"What on earth is this...?"
"Ah, it seems some kind of bomb was implanted for secrecy."
Ko Yori murmured beside me.
"Hmm. This is the first time this has happened... but still, it shouldn't cause the Guild Master too much trouble, right?"
"What do you mean?"
"There are still 100 fairies left, aren't there?"
Ko Yori clasped her hands together.
"That means you can ask 100 more times."