Chapter 103
“Did you take care of everything?”
“Yeah.”
Kwon Jia answered reflexively to Yu-hyun’s question, but she couldn’t help but pause for a moment when she saw the carnage around him.
Judging by their clothes, the corpses on the floor were those of the collectors who had been locked up behind the iron bars. But their appearance was far from human.
‘So that’s what happened?’
Kwon Jia could guess what had transpired from the clues she saw. And it was thanks to the knowledge she had accumulated through her regression.
The collectors who had been trapped here and turned into monsters.
Yu-hyun had taken care of them all by himself.
“…”
Even so, they must have been human once.
Kwon Jia felt an indescribable emotion as she looked at the man who was still smiling at her.
What kind of past did he have?
What did he see, what did he go through, that he could do such things without any hesitation?
She knew he was a regressor, but she didn’t know anything else about him.
That was what made her feel frustrated.
He was her partner, but he didn’t tell her anything about himself.
Kwon Jia felt a hint of resentment in his behavior, and she was surprised when she realized her true feelings.
‘I feel resentful?’
She knew that emotions were not something that could be controlled by one’s will, but Kwon Jia was confident that she could adjust them to some extent.
Even if she didn’t, the trait of [regressor] would make it so once she followed the flow.
But somehow, since she met Yu-hyun, Kwon Jia was aware of the changes in herself.
She was becoming more ‘emotional’ little by little.
‘Am I…’
Is this how I’m going to change?
Is it okay to change like this?
She kept having these thoughts, but she couldn’t find a clear answer. Kwon Jia tried to shake off her distractions and threw the head in her hand to the floor.
The situation needed to be sorted out first.
“I dealt with the one who ran away. He was trying to drink some water he had hidden below to get stronger.”
Kwon Jia ambushed him from behind and cut off his neck before he could resist.
It was a very easy ending.
The underground rebel must have trusted his seed that he had left as insurance and wasted his life easily, but it had been rendered useless by Yu-hyun beforehand.
It was an outcome he never expected.
“Then we have won.”
The clear condition for this world of thought was to defeat the boss-level fantasy creature.
At the same time, a message window rang throughout the world of thought.
[You have cleared the world of thought ‘Underground Nation’.]
[You have acquired 8,000TP.]
[The story of the world of thought is imprinted on you.]
[You have shown a remarkable story with just two people.]
[As a reward, you have acquired 5,000TP.]𝔫𝙤𝑣ℯ𝙡𝗯Ꭵ𝙣.𝖓𝚎𝚝
The reward was a bit stingy compared to the previous Ghost Land, but it was reasonable considering the difficulty level they had faced then.
[You have acquired the skill ‘Healing Interference’.]
[You have acquired the story ‘Justice Prevails over Evil’.]
[Your stats increase as you absorb the story.]
[Your dignity increases slightly.]
[You have acquired ‘Water Boiled with Ginseng’.]
‘Oh. Not bad.’
Especially, the skill ‘Healing Interference’ was one of the useful skills. A simple skill that interferes with the healing of wounds inflicted on the opponent.
It wouldn’t have much effect in an immediate fight, but it was hard to find a better skill in a long-term fight.
‘As your dignity increases, most beings have excellent regeneration and recovery abilities. This skill is like poison that digs into those guys.’
If the wound regeneration is slow, it naturally affects the fight.
It was useless for weaklings, but more effective for strong ones.
A skill that suited both strong and weak.
From a long-term perspective, it was a good thing to get.
‘And water boiled with ginseng.’
Water Boiled with Ginseng
A mysterious medicine that gave tremendous power to the underground rebel.
If you consume it, your physical abilities will increase.
Grade: Rare
-When consumed: Strength, Agility, Stamina increase permanently.
It wasn’t a huge increase, but it wasn’t a slight increase either.
It was a normal increase.
But considering that it increased three stats that were indispensable for close combat at the same time, it was almost like an excellent elixir.
And it wasn’t temporary, but permanent enhancement.
For Kwon Jia, who lacked physicality, it was essential.
[The spirits are satisfied with your performance again.]
[You have received 12,400TP as a donation.]
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Yu-hyun sighed inwardly at the points he earned.
He had earned too much in the previous Ghost Land, so this amount didn’t seem much.
It wasn’t bad, but he didn’t feel the satisfaction that tickled his heart.
‘If other tellers heard me say this, they would grab me by the collar. What kind of guy is this?’
Splash!
The world of ideas shattered into pieces of letters.
I had seen this scene several times already, but it was still a magnificent sight to see a world made of stories return to stories.
“It’s over.”
As the reward was settled and the world disappeared, Yu-hyun and Kwon Jia found themselves back at the place where they had first entered. The book completed by the second collaboration with Kwon Jia headed straight to the library shelf.
“Phew!”
“We, we’re back!”
The three hostages who came out first trembled and stood in front of the outside scenery.
I didn’t know how long they had been trapped inside, nor did I care. But seeing their sincere reactions, I realized that it wasn’t a short time.
They bowed their heads repeatedly when they saw Yu-hyun and Kwon Jia come out.
“Thank you, thank you so much!”
“How can we repay this kindness?”
“Don’t worry about that, just go see your families first. They must be worried about you.”
I should have called the police considering the condition of the survivors, but I didn’t feel obliged to do so. They would probably notify their return themselves, and the incident would be resolved naturally.
“…They’re gone.”
Kwon Jia muttered in a strangely gloomy tone, as if something was bothering her.
“What are you talking about?”
“Those authors just now. They’ll never work as collectors again, will they?”
I thought of the three men who had left. They thanked us, but there was fear in their attitude about being trapped in the world of ideas.
“Well, after going through that, I guess they won’t. It’s natural to crumble under pain and fear.”
“Natural… reaction, huh.”
Kwon Jia gave a bitter laugh. She had fought like this after experiencing hundreds of deaths. But they gave up after one failure.
She was already a collector who could hardly be called normal, but most collectors couldn’t bear the despair of failure. Kwon Jia felt bitter about that.
It wasn’t a criticism of their lack or weakness. The strange one was herself.
Kwon Jia realized that she was different from them, and that she had gone beyond the normal category.
‘I am…’
Yu-hyun looked at the backs of the survivors and opened his mouth.
“Well, we can’t force them to stand up and fight again. In the end, only those who remain have to keep walking forward. And that role suits weirdos like you and me.”
His words were just stating the reality as it was, but Kwon Jia felt like he was comforting her.
She chuckled inwardly, thinking that she had worried for nothing.
“Yeah. This is our role.”
“Oh. You understand?”
“But let me correct one thing. You’re the only weirdo here. Make sure you get that right.”
“What? Don’t try to sneak out by yourself. You and I are the same.”
“Shut up. Let’s go get our rewards.”
“Hey. Don’t change the subject.”
Yu-hyun and Kwon Jia headed to the association to receive their rewards for clearing the world of ideas.
Yu-hyun also planned to apply for Kwon Jia’s rank upgrade.
He had cleared two worlds of thoughts, so he should be able to raise her rank by at least two.
They took a taxi and headed straight to the collector headquarters.
“What’s going on?”
They witnessed a strange scene near the collector headquarters.
At the end of their sight, a group of protesters gathered near the association headquarters, holding pickets and shouting loudly.
“Evil collectors, receive God’s trial!”
“Don’t run away! If you’re going to do that, get rid of all collectors!”
“Follow God’s will! Who do you think you’re living so well thanks to?”
The passing pedestrians frowned at the sight and naturally avoided the protesters, while the security guards guarding the association headquarters stood near them, watching if they would do anything.
[Wow. Why are they doing that? What’s their reason?]
Bakryeon, who was watching the scene, couldn’t contain his curiosity and asked.
‘It’s because of religion.’
[Religion?]
‘Yeah. After the Day of Transformation, the world changed a lot. They’re part of it.’
The Day of Transformation didn’t just create collectors and worlds of thoughts on Earth.
The rise of religion was also a result that came along with the change of the world.
There were various religions on Earth before, and it was true that they had great power.
But most people still kept some boundaries and distinctions.
That was when people thought everything with reason and science, and religion was a matter of faith rather than reason.
But after the Day of Transformation, when Earth became a mixed world from a material world, that changed greatly.
‘How would people feel when they found out that the gods of the myths they believed in actually existed?’
[Uh. Um. They would be very happy and excited? Or maybe scared?]
‘That would be nice. The influence of religion has become much stronger than people thought.’
Religion had a great influence in modern times even without the actual existence of gods.
But that became much stronger in recent times.
So much so that even the government couldn’t touch it easily.
Even atheists who didn’t believe in God before, felt fear and awe at the existence of spirits and turned to religion.
This naturally brought along social problems.
It was not uncommon for new religious sects to emerge from not only specific religions, but also folk beliefs or general myths that were only passed on by word of mouth.
Recently, fanatics and cults began to dominate.
‘Especially, the most serious thing is probably the conflict between collectors and religious groups, right?’
[Huh? Why would they fight?]
‘Collectors don’t have a reason, but those religious people do.’
Religious people think that the worlds of thoughts are trials given by gods.
But now collectors were more busy using and exploiting the worlds of thoughts rather than clearing them.
Of course, from the perspective of religious groups, the behavior of collectors who rejected the noble trials given by gods was not pleasant.
‘To them, collectors are heretics who oppose God’s will. That’s why they fought often.’
[What? Ugh. They’re crazy. They’re nuts. Since when are spirits gods?]
From Bakryeon’s perspective, the sight of the protesters who revered the spirits so much was disgusting. Spirits were great beings, but they were not omnipotent enough to be called ‘gods’.
Yu-hyun agreed with that, but the problem was that the people gathered there did not think so.
‘From the perspective of ants, humans look like gods. To those people, the great beings of the stars look like gods relatively.’
As they had such a conversation, the behavior of the protesters became more violent.
Some radical protesters tried to break into the collector headquarters and were stopped by security guards, and then more excited protesters joined them.
Eventually, the feared clash occurred, and some collectors who were watching the situation nearby clicked their tongues with annoyance.
“Ugh. Those religious bastards are making a fuss.”
“Seriously. They should just leave them alone. They’re nothing but a bunch of weaklings.”
“They weren’t like this before. Why are they acting like this lately?”
Yu-hyun realized the strangeness of the situation late.
‘That’s right. They weren’t like this before, but something got worse.’
[Got worse?]
‘Yeah. In my previous life, as far as I remember, the relationship between collectors and religious people was not very good, but it wasn’t as vicious as this. But this is the first time I see them clash like this. Maybe it just wasn’t an issue?’
[Hmm. If you’re right, then something has changed?]
‘It might be. No, it is.’
It wasn’t only Yu-hyun who noticed the change, but also Kwon Jia. She spoke to Yu-hyun with a look of contempt.
“Something’s wrong. The religious people are much more radical than I thought. I remember they had some protests before, but not to that extent.”
“That’s right. I feel the same way.”
“So do I. There must be something that makes them move like that.”
At that moment, one of the protesters dropped his picket on the ground as he crossed over the security wall.
Naturally, Yu-hyun and Kwon Jia’s eyes were drawn to the words written on the picket that fell on the floor.
[Why don’t you get rid of the worlds of thoughts like Geomhu when you can!]
And below that in small letters was a phrase criticizing the current behavior of collectors.
But Yu-hyun and Kwon Jia focused on the word Geomhu.
“Geomhu?”
“Why is Hye-rim there…”
“No way…”
They realized what had happened too late.
“Is it because of me?”
The worlds of thoughts that had been maintained until now.
Yu-hyun’s movement to destroy them one by one had a great impact on religious groups.
