I’m an Infinite Regressor, But I’ve Got Stories to Tell
chapter-170

The Diver II

In the past during the Joseon Dynasty, there was a policy called the "Empty Island Policy." As the name suggests, it involved evacuating residents from islands to the mainland. Rather than allow regions rich with minerals and gas to be continuously raided by Zerglings (pirates), it was better to simply move the command center as a whole. This also showed how our ancestors cared for their people as if they were SCVs. As a Terran descendant, I too had to make such decisions and follow their example.

"Mr. Undertaker, we've evacuated all the residents from Jeju Island."

"Good work."

Under my orders, Yu Ji-won went around the southern islands, guiding the refugees to safety. Some resisted, but I ignored them. The difference between what the public perceived as a "monsoon" and the approaching "super monsoon" was as vast as the difference between a whistle and a typhoon. If we didn’t evacuate now, they’d all be wiped out, as had been proven in many cycles before. The evacuation order wasn’t just implemented in the real world.

- [Samcheon] WitchJudge: (Must Read) Instructions for Living During the Super Monsoon Season.

- [Baekhwa] EighthGrader: All roads connected to Sejong City will be closed until the end of the super monsoon in July and August! Those low on food, please apply for refugee status at Sejong City Hall!! >_<!;

- Admin: (Notice) SG Net may not be fully functional during the super monsoon period.

Guild leaders who cooperated with us like Dang Seo-rin and Cheon Yo-hwa took the initiative to act as canaries in the coal mine through the virtual hyperspace. Even Seo Gyu, the SG Net operator, stepped forward. The rare appearance of the ‘Admin’ nickname sent alarm bells ringing for even some of the macho, bravado types.

- Anonymous: Has SG Net ever been down before?

└ Anonymous: No, but it sometimes connects to weird sites. I once typed in the same address and got linked to a site called ‘Live Net’ by force.

└ LiteraryGirl: Eeeek

└ Anonymous: That was just a suicide site anomaly, SG Net itself wasn’t blocked. Nothing like this super monsoon has ever happened before.

- Anonymous: So Busan is the most dangerous place to be. Why not just run away?

└ Anonymous: That’s why most ordinary people in our neighborhood have gone to Daejeon. At least they have well-run shelters and free meal services there.

└ Anonymous: They might get lost and die in the void while going up tho lol

└ [NRMC] Officer: The National Road Management operates emergency caravans twice a week. We welcome their use by the general public. Please use them.

- CookingQueen: All those in need, come to Daejeon. We will help you as soon as we are able.

The southern part of the Korean Peninsula was bustling with preparations for the flood. Despite all the warnings, however, some people remained complacent.

- Anonymous: Why the fuss lol?

- Anonymous: Typhoon? We have Japan’s SSS-level breakwater, the Japanese archipelago. No worries.

Humankind as a race was enslaved to dopamine and thrill. We often ignored dangers, camping in valleys during floods and swimming in the sea during typhoons. It was human nature.

- Anonymous: Isn’t it just the rainy season? Even if it rains, Awakeners won’t die from getting wet, right?

Those leaving Busan, those staying, those building arks, those sneering in protest—upon all those under the same sky,

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the rain began to fall.

[I can see the wall of the typhoon with my own eyes.]

The Saintess's voice echoed in my mind. It wasn’t just me; all the other Awakeners would have heard her as well. Except, they would have heard it as a message from their constellations.

[Jeju Island is now within the typhoon’s path.]

"Good. Begin evacuating the Samcheon World guild members scattered along the southern coast."

[Understood.]

The Samcheon World guild members, all capable of flight magic, were acting as storm spotters. As they flew over the sea using a staff, they watched the typhoon approach. The Saintess shared the observers' vision through her Clairvoyance, allowing us to track the typhoon's path from multiple angles.

[This is…]

The Saintess, despite having witnessed countless anomalies and voids, was stunned speechless for a moment.

[Jeju Island is being torn apart. No, it's being swallowed. The island is being consumed whole.]

[It looks like a tsunami, like the ones you’d see in a movie, but much larger. A wave over 10 kilometers high is approaching from the horizon. How is this possible…?]

Even the Saintess, known for her calm demeanor, lost her composure upon seeing the typhoon. The storm was composed entirely of seawater, a massive vortex at least 10 km high and 1,200 km in diameter, capable of engulfing Mount Everest. The sight would strike fear into anyone.

"Saintess, we cannot let this move to another region. Guide it slowly toward the ark using the Samcheon guild members."

[But can the arks withstand something like that, even if we’re the ones who built them?]

"They have to. If they can’t, Japan will be submerged, or the entire Korean Peninsula will be submerged."

[Understood. I will start guiding it.]

The Saintess regained her composure and began executing my plan. The command center was situated on the first ark. Do-hwa, Seo-rin, Ji-won, Gyu, Ha-yul, and I all watched the map, with chess pieces representing the Samcheon scouts. Thanks to Yu Ji-won’s [Minimap] ability, we tracked the typhoon's movements in real time.

"The typhoon will arrive soon."

"......"

"That typhoon is both an anomaly and a void. When it reaches Busan, we will enter the 'super monsoon void.'"

I began to repeat the information critical for our final briefing. "The rain from this typhoon isn’t ordinary water but a deadly toxin called 'void poison.' Contact with it risks severe bodily transformations."

"......"

"Even though our ship is designed to act as an ark, it will inevitably flood. When that happens, stay calm and use buckets to bail out water continuously, whether it’s for one hour or several. The act of bailing water itself is vital."

We had repurposed old cruise ships into arks. An ark’s exterior was reinforced with wood, and its interior stocked with enough provisions to last 40 days. There were 12 arks in total, each capable of holding 5,000 people, making room for about 60,000 Busan residents. They had already boarded the arks docked along the Geumjeongsan Ridge.

"Rain will inevitably pour into the ship. Do not relocate carelessly. Each section must remain isolated. If you must communicate with another section—"

I held up a thread.

It connected like a spider web across the control room’s ceiling, linking to other sections. Ha-yul had set up the doll strings.

"Use these strings. As we approach the typhoon, SG Net and Telepathy will fail. Transmit Morse code through the threads using aura."

At that moment, a raindrop hit the window, splashing against the tempered glass. The drop wriggled like a living creature, spreading out to form the character for rain, 雨. Every raindrop writhed, each eventually forming the same shape.

With each raindrop, the faint sound of frog croaking echoed. Oddly, there were no frogs on the ark. It was modeled after Noah's Ark from Genesis for survival, but we hadn’t truly built it as a cradle for life.

v

[Mr. Undertaker.]

雨

[The typhoon has made landfall in Busan. Now, oh, the storm waters are rapidly converging on the population center. No way, the typhoon… It’s transforming from a giant spiral into a long, thin tube like a straw, oh. The water■, a tsunami on the horizon, it’s all all converging on ■. Everyone, evac■―]

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雨

The Saintess’s usually crystal-clear Telepathy was interrupted, broken up by intermittent static. The croaking grew louder.

Croak.

Seo Gyu, who had been fidgeting nervously with his smartphone, froze. “Hyung, SG net is down— croak—” The space of the ark, held securely by the law of universal gravitation, and the ship we were standing on, felt like it was suspended in mid air. Seo Gyu just opened his mouth.

Rrrribbit.

Dang Seo-rin shouted something like “Undertaker!” alongside him, but their voices were entirely drowned out by the sound of the rain pouring outside and the croaking of frogs resonating with that rain.

Croak.

The rain fell.

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The overwhelming sound of rain and frog croaks filled the room. I blinked, and suddenly, I couldn’t breathe. My vision blurred. Everyone in the control room, including me, was submerged under water.A stream of bubbles rose before me.

My eyes locked on Ha-yul’s panicked, gasping form. It was her first time encountering this type of void, and her distress was clear to see. In just a blink, we were all submerged in water.

"......! ......, ......!"

Ha-yul flailed underwater. Others reacted much the same. No matter how much I’d emphasized the instructions, it was hard to remain calm when surrounded by water. The worst part was, Ha-yul and the others' fingers were slowly turning into ‘frog hands’. Body mutations and existence contamination were typical symptoms of void poison exposure. Seeing their limbs transform into frogs' triggered temporary panic.

Blub-blub. Croak. Blub-blub. Croak.

Human panic accelerated the spread of void poison. Ha-yul’s blurbling gasps sounded increasingly like the croaks of a frog. Frogs (蛙) shared the insect radical (虫) in their Chinese character, explained by the resemblance between a frog's posture and the radical’s shape.

Croak. Blub-blub. Croak. Blub.

Frog hands, frog legs, green skin. My comrades were quickly turning into insects. This transformation took only about six seconds.

"Move the buckets!" I shouted, Infusing my voice with aura so that my roar echoed underwater. "Start bailing water, no matter how awkwardly! Bail! Ha-yul, move! I’ve told you many times!"

Finally, Ha-yul and the others regained their senses and grabbed buckets. It was hard to move underwater, but they had practiced together before boarding the ark.

"......!"

"......! ......!"

In seemingly comical desperation, they performed the ‘bailing water’ motion. As they did, the water level in the control room slowly began to recede. The water didn’t physically move out, but it reduced as if genuinely being bailed.

"Phew, ha!"

As the water level dropped, everyone emerged, gasping for air. Their greenish skin returned to a human tone.

"Damn, almost died!"

"Haa… Haa…!"

"Is everyone okay?"

My comrades panted, drenched. Their hands still resembled frog limbs, with membranes between their fingers, but they were healing.

"It’s too early to relax."

Everyone turned to look at me while I glanced out the window.

Outside was only rain. The ark was completely submerged, not in the life-giving sea but in the deathly void poison.

"We need to check if the other sections are safe," I decided.

"......"

"Ha-yul, come with me."

"Okay."

We kept bailing water until the room was dry, then Ha-yul and I stepped out.

Croak, croak, croak.

The long corridor of the ark echoed with frog croaks from all directions.

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[1] The shape of Chinese characters often represents the words they depict. The character for rain 雨 is a pictograph of rain itself, with the line above representing the sky under which drops of water fall through the atmosphere down to the earth.