The Creator III
"You really set me up..."
After the event wound down, the meeting shifted to the after-party. In fact, this was the main event, since it wasn't often that the leaders of all the nation's guilds gathered together.
As soon as the drinking began, I used the excuse of going to the bathroom to step onto the cruise ship's deck. Noh Do-hwa followed me like a ghost, easily tracking me down.
I feigned ignorance."Set you up? Me?"
"You've blown up this road project so much."
"Oh, come on. It wasn't me, it was the alliance leader. Why blame an innocent man?"
"Samcheon World's guild leader, Dang Seo-rin..."
Do-hwa murmured.
"She's certainly an excellent person but has a strong sense of pride. She's good at distinguishing between personal and public feelings, but that means she still holds onto personal grudges even if things proceed publicly. I even used the word 'cripple' to provoke her pride, yet she introduced me to the guild leaders. This isn't possible unless she values me highly enough to treat me like an official."
Do-hwa's eyes narrowed."It means she must have asked someone about me, and that someone gave her a glowing recommendation."
"Indeed. Who could that be?"
"It's likely the person who was in the guest lounge when I spoke with Samcheon World's guild leader."
Do-hwa offered me one of the two glass cups she held, a cold lemon tea. I gratefully took it and drank.
Beyond Busan Harbor, where the cruise ship was docked, the city stretched out in the night. The familiar sight of electric lights painting the Milky Way on the ground was gone. There was only a faint glow, a bit of shadow, and lots of moonlight.
The sea breeze brought a tang of salt to the deck.
Noh Do-hwa and I looked at the cityscape, engulfed in the sound of the waves, for a while.
"You really set me up..."
"You just said that. About what?"
"Trying to make me work for free. Don't you think your conscience has gone on a trip?"
"It's not free. Whatever resources, funds, or manpower you need, we'll provide whatever you require."
"Heh."
Do-hwa laughed slyly.
"What I require? Sure, then restore the world to how it was..."
"......"
"When you hear the word 'infinite,' what do you think of? Space? Time? For me, the only infinite thing in this world is human misfortune."
Do-hwa's tone was even darker than the night's view.
"Saving one life? That's possible. I've done it. But does ending one person's misery solve everything? When misfortune disappears, does happiness come? That's entirely up to that person. No one else can be responsible for it. When will it end?"
These were the words of someone who cared for the disabled, ignored even in this ruined world.
"So the idea of helping others is wrong to begin with. Help has to be limited. Instead of helping a person with their entire life, think about helping them with just their severed arm. Then it's manageable. It's something I can do and do very well... But."
Do-hwa leaned forward to peer at me, like a long-necked snake.
The aroma of freshly brewed lemon tea mingled with the salty scent of the sea.
"You want me to take charge of the national road network, not just Busan?"
Her two eyes, like a full moon split in half, locked onto my face.
"Well, it's possible. And I might do it well. But what next? Roads are infrastructure. Do you know what they call people who handle infrastructure, Undertaker?"
"Government."
"Not too keen on privatization, huh? Correct..."
Do-hwa laughed deeply.
"The whole world? I have no intention of shouldering that..."
"......"
"It's already enough dealing with the broken. No way I'll handle a broken nation. I know. For now, I have to introduce myself and suck up to the guild leaders. But as roads are built, the guild leaders will end up kneeling before me. Oh, yes. A new power player in this broken world. The king of the Korean Peninsula. Sweet, right? But... I don't want it. I don't like it. Why? Did you think I'd be happy if you handed me power? Go fuck yourself."
"Noh Do-hwa."
"Ah, too ashamed for some self-pleasure? Then ask Samcheon World's guild leader to do it for you. Heh. If you're trying to save the world, the noble ones should save it themselves, not drag in some poor guy..."
"I'm a regressor."
The waves gently lapped against the cruise ship.
Perhaps from the vibration, Do-hwa tilted her head.
The lemon slice, cut like a crescent moon in her glass, slid slightly.
"Uh...?"
"You secretly have a winery in your workshop's basement, where you've stored twenty bottles of Château d'Yquem 1990."
"Uh..."
"I know you opened one of them secretly the day you decided to build the road for the elderly in Bansong. Why Bansong? Because the people living there are in the worst condition. And if you connect with the guild leader holding that territory, you can interfere if necessary."
"Wait...?"
"When you were a civil servant, you won the first prize in the lottery but never revealed it to anyone, right? You used that money to buy wine and also privately collected the equipment needed for making assistive devices."
"......"
Do-hwa touched her lips with her index and middle fingers.
"Hmm. Aha? Ugh. Hmm... Very interesting claim. If it's true..."
Do-hwa gazed at me, scanning my legs, hands, chest, and body.
"That explains why you've always looked like this. Aha, sure. I see. It makes sense. Your movements make sense in many ways."
Silence.
"But even if it's true, if you're an incompetent human being, it's meaningless. Ah, I'm not saying you're actually incompetent. What I mean is, you have to be competent enough to restore the world to how it was. I know you took down the Ten Legs, but that's not enough. Do you understand what I'm saying?"
"I understand."
"Prove it."
I looked up at the night sky.
"Saintess. Are you watching?"
[Yes.]
"Send a message to Ms. Noh Do-hwa."
The Saintess didn't question my judgment. She knew who I was.
"...!"
Do-hwa, beside me, flinched. Her expression briefly flickered with confusion, curiosity, and a hint of joy.
"Was the Constellation a lie...?"
"Yes. SG Net is run by me."
"Huh? Oh, a site made by the Constellation? Ah, I see."
Silence.
"Not bad..."
Do-hwa's pupils calmed down.
"Monopolizing information doesn't mean controlling its content. You have to secure the very channel it passes through. Hmm. This could all be a scam involving telepathy or manipulation, but if you have the skill to pull that off, then it's as good as having the regression ability."
Do-hwa glanced back at me.
"How many times have you regressed? Is this your second time...?"
"It's my 54th cycle. The first time I met you was in the 11th."
"Wow, that's a hell of a grind..."
Do-hwa seemed slightly horrified.
"Well, the world had to have gone to hell. But weren't there better candidates than me? Aren't there plenty of perverts drooling for power...?"
"I've roughly tested them all."
The Second Provisional Government, the military coup factions. Even the more influential politicians I didn't mention.
Do-hwa furrowed her brows.
"I'm the best among them? Impossible. Wouldn't it be better to give it to someone imitating the Constellation...?"
"Ah, that person is a true shut-in, so it won't work."
[......]
I felt the silent pressure from the Saintess, but I shrugged.
"If there's one thing I've learned from 54 cycles, it's that if I try to do everything myself, it's endless. It's similar to your theory about infinite misfortune. We need to leave fields we can afford to alone. People will emerge to fill those gaps."
"Is that me...?"
"Even without my intervention, you have a high chance of rebuilding Busan's road network. In the last cycle, you went to see the leader. I wasn't there."
"......"
But that wasn't all.
In the future that hadn't arrived yet, in the 90th cycle, when I coaxed the Tutorial Fairy into running a convenience store.
Noh Do-hwa attended the last supper held in front of that convenience store. She was the one who sprinkled her precious wines to gain the praise of the Awakeners.
And before forming the final raid party with other Awakeners to charge into the meteor shower, Do-hwa left a letter at my store.
[The road here is too rough. Nearly died bringing the wine bottles. - NDH]
I don't think that will was a complaint directed at me.
It was her regret about herself.
If she had pushed herself more to connect city to city with roads before the world completely broke, maybe she could have delayed the world's end even a little.
I think such regret was in her words.
She was someone who always carried those feelings in her heart, both in the past and future.
So, was her behavior and attitude a kind of camouflage?
Everyone knew Noh Do-hwa was significant. Even those in power thought about how to use her more effectively. But hearing her shameless insults, they could only back away, thinking, "She's a defective Homo sapien."
Even so, I was here.
When I first met Noh Do-hwa, I also thought she was someone who couldn't be of much use.
What made me different was that I was always given the chance to correct my prejudices.
In the last cycle, I joined her workshop to observe her character from start to finish. Her interactions with patients, negotiations with other guild leaders, even when the apocalypse was imminent, prioritizing her patients...
For over nine years.
The result was a pass.
As I told Dang Seo-rin, Noh Do-hwa was a good person.
"You don't need to worry about failure. Rather, fail in as many ways as possible. The failures you experience this time will be data for the next version of yourself."
"Hah..."
"Lay the roads wherever you want. Start projects wherever your instincts guide you. Eventually, you'll find the optimal route. Try out various people when building your team. In the end, you'll figure out who fits your organization best."
"Regression is certainly a scam. You can seduce people with words like these."
Noh Do-hwa scratched her temple.
"Ugh... I'm sorry for telling you to go fuck yourself, and I apologize to Samcheon World's guild leader too."
"I don't care."
"Do you think you can restore this world to what it was?"
She had asked this earlier too.
I looked directly at her.
"Not on my own."
"......"
"I need your help."
Do-hwa let out a long sigh.
The waves of the night sea seemed to resonate with her sigh, gently lapping against the hull of the cruise ship docked in the harbor, never to sail again.
"This is a disease."
The waves whispered, murmuring in the darkness, and the unmoving cruise ship groaned.
"A truly wretched epidemic. The carriers of this shitty plague speak of their grand ideals and good intentions... I've healed countless cripples, but the biggest cripple of all was me. I can't find a prescription to fix myself, and there won't be one until I die..."
I didn't answer. I figured it was just Do-hwa reflecting on herself.
With slumped shoulders, she held out her cup.
"Well, let's do it. This public project..."
Clink.
Our glass cups clinked together in a small toast. The lemon aroma drifted up to my nose.
"Pleased to be working with you."
"So, is this going to repeat forever?"
"If you're competent, Noh Do-hwa, then yes."
"Well, fuck me..."
There's an epilogue.
The next day, an official organization was launched.
National Road Management Corps.
True to its simple name, this organization's purpose was singular: to repair and maintain the rapidly crumbling road network, linking cities and towns that had been isolated and were barely sustaining themselves.
"We don't need a government right now, and it can't even be maintained..."
A week later, Do-hwa gave us a briefing. By "us," I didn't mean the nation's guild leaders.
It was just me and the Saintess.
A private meeting was held with those who almost always knew that I was a regressor. Later, this group would expand to include Oh Dok-seo and others, but for now, it was just a three-person blood pact.
"Let the cities be managed as usual by the influential guild leaders of each region. They're like feudal lords. Think of the National Road Management Corps as the royal family, or rather, an administrative body under the royal family, that simply signs contracts with these feudal lords."
The Saintess raised her hand, as was her habit.
"Yes, what is it?"
"Won't it have too little power?"
"Yes. The less authority it has, the better. The more fields power occupies, the wider it becomes. But the more irreplaceable a field is, the stronger it becomes. And we don't need broad power. It'll just lower efficiency and lead to corruption... In an era of self-sufficiency, when cities can't care for one another, the National Road Management Corps will be responsible for connecting and maintaining the road network."
Do-hwa spoke confidently.
The National Road Management Corps was made up of laborers, construction workers, and combat units. Once a one-lane road was secured, the combat units would regularly "patrol" the roads.
"This regular patrol is critical."
People and merchants traveling to other cities naturally tagged along on patrol days. Do-hwa collected a fixed usage fee from them.
"It's basically a tax, but they'll protest if we call it that. So, we'll insist it's a usage fee."
Cities connected by the road network also had to pay usage fees. They could try using the roads for free, but they'd have to protect themselves from monsters that might attack.
"We must market it as though other choices are available, and they should actually be available. It's crucial for people to believe it's not coercion but their own choice. That's when the importance of the National Road Management Corps will be etched into their minds."
Guilds could form their own groups to use the roads, but if they wanted to reach distant cities, they'd have to pass through intermediate stops. Passing through each city meant paying taxes to that city's guild.
"They'd be pissed off."
It was far more reasonable to pay a small tax to the National Road Management Corps and travel under their protection.
Ordinary people and Awakeners alike relied on the National Road Management Corps for travel, naturally increasing Noh Do-hwa's influence.
The members of the National Road Management Corps, handpicked by Do-hwa, became like "diplomats." Guilds that would have fought each other could communicate better with the National Road Management Corps as a buffer.
Do-hwa utilized the relationships, pride, and competitive spirit of the guild leaders in each city to extract maximum efficiency.
Of course, there were trial and error. Actually, there was a lot.
"These assholes..."
There were many in the National Road Management Corps who lined their pockets instead of negotiating. Some, trusted by Do-hwa, were spies sent by other guilds. Other times, even though they chose the shortest road, it turned out to pass through a monster den.
But gradually, the National Road Management Corps found its footing.
I really have a good eye for people, don't I?
Though for some reason, Do-hwa often looked at me with eyes full of resentment.
"When I get to the next cycle, please make sure to pass on my failures."
"What should I tell you?"
"You having fun reaping the rewards, you son of a bitch?"
I passed on the message.
The response from Noh Do-hwa in the 55th cycle was concise.
"Bullshit."
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