Chapter +0. Below, all payments have been made (3)
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Sadly, the miracle of all of the enormous amount of records that Vex had prepared being delivered to me did not occur.
“Due to data corruption on the device, [Happy Time. avi], more than 90% of the videos stored in it have been lost. Ah-”
“Oh my…”
158 years is long enough for the era of the Opium War to change into the 21st century.
That was enough time for the recorded video information to disperse and disappear, and 100 years had passed since Bex, now in his 70s, left behind stories of those who had left before him.
Bex’s record was nearly three hours long, with only the moments remaining when he replaced Corduro with a new video chip.
It’s a short three-minute story in which everything disappears and what’s left falls apart.
“I can’t believe it…. If they had known that such valuable materials were still inside Corduro, the church would have secured them and protected them somehow, but the story that should have been told to you disappeared like this.”
“it’s okay.”
However, the story contained in the short video did not feel that short, at least to me.
『This is your last moment seen from below.』
My death. How did it appear to people?
『You… died… and became a star.』
For a moment, a bright light, like a supernova exploding, covered the video.
The darkened sky was decorated with countless meteor showers, and the heat of the burning metal fragments was enough to blow away the thick dust that covered the sky of the wasteland.
People who were scared forgot their fear in the clear night sky that they had never seen since the nuclear war.
The moonlight, which reached the ground for the first time in nine years, softly shone in the night sky, and beneath it, there was another small star emitting a bright metallic glow.
“Oh, no one found out what happened to you. All that astronomers revealed was that the moment the light exploded, the satellite rain ring where you were was released, creating a huge magnetic force that was enough to cause all observation equipment on the ground to malfunction. Thanks to its small mass, the new celestial body orbiting the Earth orbits much closer than the Moon, so it rises and sets three times a day. Although it straddles the border between natural and artificial satellites, it was defined as a ‘star’ according to the deceased’s wishes, and it was named acreedor (creditor), the second satellite of the Earth. That was all.』
『Dana, the star that only picked an ambiguous time to rise and disappear quickly resembled you. Me too-』
Chiji-ik-
My story ended there.
“It’s a story about the origins of the Holy Land.”
“…Holy place?”
“yes. Satellite Acredo is a debtor star. “It is the source of our denomination’s faith and the greatest miracle and evidence of Professor Park, who watches over us, encourages us, and guides us to become better people.”
Lazard’s explanation and the observation data of the glossy stars proudly displayed throughout the exhibition hall where I was corroborated Bex’s words, but it still took a considerable level of imagination to accept it as fact.
“If you go out, you can see the debtor’s star rising around the time when you feel lazy after eating. Church members often look at the shrine, which rises and sets three times every day, and reflect on whether they have lived faithfully that day.”
“I said I wanted to be remembered by people, but not in this way…”
“Sadly, you have already passed away, so I guess it’s something that can’t be undone now.”
From that day until now, for 158 years, people have seen my corpse crossing the sky three times a day.
Professor Park’s legacy was permanently left in Earth’s orbit in a very existential and noticeable way.
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Chijiik-
『Nephew. Roe deer. Holly. Heungan dumplings. And old man Woojin… created a small volunteer group.』
Next is the story of the friends.
「Urajil. I was forced to retire because that damn bastard said useless things before he got old. “If I don’t have anything to do, I’m just waiting for the day when I grow old and die, so I have no choice but to do it as a pastime,”
said old Woojin with a raspy voice, sighing as he pulled up his soot-covered welding mask.
“It’s just… it was burdensome to stay still. I really am a nobody, and all I’ve done my whole life is wear nice clothes, eat good meals, and live with my father’s money. But I wonder if a person like Professor Park is worth saving by performing such incredible miracles… “I heard that.”
Holly, who was learning Woojin’s work in her work clothes next to her, was dirtier than before, but had a brighter look on her face.
“It’s not like grace. “Professor Park, that bastard left us a very dirty and nasty bomb.”
“Just like he said, we have a mountain of debt!”
And Jokas was struggling to bend the steel frame erected in front of their small office.
“A feeling of burden. That too is a huge burden of life debt. This damned bastard spread the burden that had followed him his whole life to people all over the world. “I want you to experience it too.”
“Until now, we’ve been clinging to ‘surviving’ somehow, but now just living and breathing has become insufficient – this is it. You bastard. “People are bothering me!”
He grumbled loudly!
Jocas, who eventually succeeded in bending one of the steel frames, patted it with satisfaction and said,
“…Because of that guy, we have become bodies that can no longer be satisfied with just living and breathing. At the very least, if someone becomes someone worth saving so desperately, wouldn’t that debt star that slowly rises up whenever I’m just resting be less of a burden?” “That’s
why I started doing things that could be helpful to someone other than myself, and that’s it. As I walked around, people similar to me started to gather one by one. As the number of people increases, we form volunteer groups, get approval from the dome, recruit members, and so on.”
Clap!
When the work was finished, Old Man Woojin and Holly came out, loading something that looked like a large plate on a cart.
[HANGERS]
[Volunteering/Resettlement Support/Pioneer Support]
[We must do better]
was the signboard. A signboard with a wasteland feel, made by welding several pieces of iron to an iron plate.
“Hangers (hangman). In the end, the professor had to do something like that because we down here were incompetent, so isn’t this a fitting name for the people who hung Professor Park up on such a high place? “The idea is to feel the burden properly for once because it was already burdensome.”
「…I am living so well, Professor Park, that he can’t even imagine, and that’s how I repay my debt. You may not have known it, but the people you saved were people who could go this far.”
“…That would be enough to pay interest.”
Chijiik –
That was the end of the friends’ story, but Vex took it after that. I could understand the story I was trying to tell without having to listen.
“Lajerde. This…”
“Yes, that’s right. This is a story about ‘Jocas, the first religious leader’ and ‘Professor Park’s Seven Apostles,’ who valued their own values of faithful living and sharing.”
Volunteer group ‘Hangers’. These guys are the owners of the ‘Professor Park Museum’, where my data soul is kept until now, and were the starting point of the ‘Hanger Church’, which was reborn as a global religious organization.
My nephew is the Pope. Jokas, a pure-blooded online human who always chatted and posted messages like ‘Ah, I want to do this~’ when he was bored in the District 47 chat room, became the head of the largest religious organization on earth that spreads the value of goodness and a practical life to people!
“This is the end times….”
“It is the creation era. “You made it.”
Rajerde was looking at me with respect as I denied reality.
“We are very different from the religious group you think of. It certainly touches the realm of faith, but it is a faith based on real events and real things that pass over our heads every day. “The Hanger Church is a religious order that worships life in this world, not the afterlife.”
“….okay?”
“yes. The teachings shown in Bex’s video are still continued today. Our faith is based on becoming a more valuable person through a sincere life. “It is no exaggeration to say that hard work, sincerity, and sharing are everything we teach.”
hmm.
I was momentarily taken aback by the term ‘religious group’, but after listening carefully, it seemed more like an ideological group than a religion. The goal is to become a more valuable person. Not bad.
“Of course, it includes value creation through intellectual development and culture and arts, not just simple labor. Among the unified government friendly organizations, this denomination has established the largest number of schools, invested in the largest number of research institutes, and has the largest number of orphanages and volunteer organizations. “Everything is operated transparently without any shame to you.”
hmm!
A sincere believer is a productive believer, and fat pockets will lead to fat donations. My church was comprised of guys who knew how to use the endless amounts of money like water, and how to use it very well.
The story goes that the wasteland was stabilized at a record speed thanks to the highly productive and peaceful ideology spreading like an epidemic, allowing it to recover and grow just as quickly.
7 years after Professor Park’s death.
Dom’s first manned spacecraft, created after research through Gedreuz’s space launch base and existing data, was launched.
Gedreutz didn’t lie. In the server room, various technologies and various theories at a level that modern humans could not even imagine were perfectly preserved, and this was a sure means to revive life on Earth, which had been in sub-zero winter for almost half of the year in the past seven years.
Dome’s first manned spacecraft, ‘Follower’, safely delivered humanity’s new hope to the ground.
Chijik Pazzu i.e.
“He. The world. Seeking. By being. born. “Or with my own hands. ”
made up Is it?」
.
.
.
.
“I am. at last. Again. I. Was I wrong?」
「….I was. Intolerance. “I did….I….”
We recovered the frozen remains of Raptor-Gedreuts from the space habitat ‘Next Space’ right next to the server room and secured brainwave data for possible security procedures. At the same time, we also extracted the memories that remained in his brain at the last moment.
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Chiik-
「Headquarters. headquarters. This is Follower Ho. The debtor star is visible in front of me. “It is truly a moment when I feel the reward of overcoming the insane competition to become an astronaut.”
“The video I am sending now is a gift to the Hanger Church, which has provided me with scholarships and educational opportunities for the past seven years. The problem is that the route cannot be changed because the Latura server room data is being moved. I wanted to reach the Holy Land and show Him in person that we came this far.”
Chii Ik –
“Focus on the mission, follower. He will be very happy because he will know that his followers are performing his final duty…. Stop for a moment! Followers! Follower!」
Chiik –
「What’s going on, headquarters?」
「Camera! Zoom in on the part you just filmed! I saw it! I saw it!」
「The form matches the data! A heterogeneous luster unique to metallic variant skin! It was definitely there!」
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…and I also captured something unexpected on my camera as I passed by.
『The black box was left behind.』
『Professor, you are. In the Orpheus incident, the chest was torn open and couldn’t be repaired, so a different type of metallic skin was transplanted onto it! It is not your body, but a transplanted part of another mutated entity that has already mutated! Since there was space in my chest, I put communication equipment, a rescued data soul storage device, and other things there. It remained like a black box and was stuck in the debtor’s star.』
“Ah. that.”
In the video, after the debate about whether to deviate from the course and land immediately or to continue the mission has passed.
The screen showed thousands of church members gathered at the spacecraft launch site.
As ‘Follower No. 2’ lands, the heat and dust generated cover all directions.
The door opened and an astronaut, taking off his helmet, came down the stairs holding a large security box in his arms like a shrine.
“I am…. “I brought it to you…”
The moment the astronaut put it down and unlocked it with a trembling voice, the church members who had gathered so closely that the civilian limit was bent bowed their heads in unison.
Chiiik-
“Not only you were recovered, but also the nearly one billion data souls contained within it.”
“So that’s why I’m here…”
So this was quite a coincidence.
I threw myself in front of Orpheus. In order to repair my chest, which had been completely disintegrated by the high-density wavelength, Old Man Woojin and Dome’s medical staff asked Ian to obtain mutant skin that was compatible with my body, which had both human and mutant characteristics, and in doing so, I was left with a gaping hole in my chest like a pseudo-cyborg. This means that the part that remained as a storage space had already mutated due to the mutation of another entity, so it was not caught in my final self-destruction and remained in its original form, stuck among the metal pieces of that guiding star. Likewise, with its contents stored in good condition.
『This is the end of the big incident. After this… I just recorded something that I wanted you to see in my daily life…』
What followed was a record of a truly trivial, sparkling moment in my daily life.
The money-corrupting hanger-on cult bastards say, ‘He wanted it!’ A scene where a 30-meter-tall metal statue of ‘True Metal Joe’ is erected while shouting such slogans.
As if to make up for Cynthia’s small entrance ceremony to middle school, all of the church’s financial and political power was mobilized to prepare a welcoming crowd at the level of a city festival, and an honor guard sent by President Young himself inspected from my old shelter to the main gate of the high school. A record of the moment when a 200-person choir was made to sing a hymn and Cynthia, with a red face, ran to school at record speed.
There were records of outlying areas where mutants were still rampant, and surprisingly, there were scenes where Cheonryuje was filmed.
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「I was alive….」
「I’ve never died, so I guess I’m alive.」
「Ha, but I’m sure you’re on the list of dead people….」
「An acquaintance who deserves to let the world know that I’m alive. How many people do you think there are? Since I was alive, I was just living the way I lived.」
「….Vex. It’s hard to say you’re alive.」
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Cheonryuje, who seemed to have about 30 more large scars since the last time I saw him, was using a portable electrician as if he were the only person in the world who had not changed. He said as he put the miscellaneous iron into the brazier.
=========
「Don’t be impatient.」
「….huh?」
「The past will come back to you on its own even if you don’t chase it. “As long as you stay alive until then.”
“And those who have a lot of regrets will usually survive. Just like the owner of the debtor star in the sky ended his life only after shaking off all his lingering regrets.”
“You will probably live the longest among us.”
“….”
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Kaang – Kaang –
The record of the Cheonryuje disappeared with the sound of metal striking.
The last video started at the entrance of a small hospital room.
『Vex. You came to visit me?』
『…Miss Dana.』
『What the hell. How old are we and do we still call ourselves that?』
Cough, cluck! Whoa.
Dana looks clearly sick.
Bex and Dana, who are holding cameras, talk about Seo-ah entering high school. In the end, Cynthia took President Young out of office before he got older and took the throne. In order to expand further into the world, she changed the name of the district, ‘Dome’, to ‘unified government.’ We talked about things that changed, such as what happened at Old Man Woojin’s funeral.
『I heard you haven’t been to the museum even once since Professor Data Soul came back?』
『….Anyway.』
『Oh my god. How did such a pure person meet someone like Rabbit? 』
『Dana… you don’t regret it? At that time, you took on the responsibility of making the professor leave Area 47 on your own and couldn’t stop him even though you knew it would be unreasonable?”
As the teacup was cooling down, what Bex had difficulty bringing out was a story about me.
“forever. Since that day, so many people have asked me that question and I always get the same answer. I don’t regret it. I loved him because he was that kind of person. I said that to Cynthia and Seo-ah.』
『….This is about you, Bex, but I really regretted it.』
Even though she was middle-aged and sick, Dana, who retained her sad beauty, shed tears silently.
“i know. If that person hadn’t gone, he, me and you would all have disappeared into a pile of ashes. However, Vex women sometimes think irrationally, right?”
『Just… if I was greedy at that time. Although we may have all met the end together, wouldn’t it have added a few more days to the memories we two have pondered over our whole lives? Or, if we had all met the end together like that, I would have been left alone and accumulated these memories that I would miss for the rest of my life. I regretted it so much.』
Her words conveyed an atmosphere I knew well. The atmosphere of a person who, at the last moment, lets go of the burden he has carried throughout his life.
『But that regret is only a very small part of my life. Cynthia did not respect the professor as a father, but she greatly respected him as an idol. Wieseongwoo said that it was nothing more than blocking a falling fireball, and that the real miracle was that one person’s words and actions had such a big impact on people all over the world, and that he wanted to become a person who could have that much of an impact on the world. That’s how Cynthia began to walk the path of a leader.』
『Seo-ah… Ah, I should have told you about it already. What if you showed Cheon Ryu-je’s video to Vex Seo-ah?』
『Uh uh, I just happened to find out…』
Haaa.
『I barely managed to stop that child from receiving military training. This time, I escaped by setting off the chemical, biological and radiological detector using a pet heating controller. I guess you can’t fool blood after all.』
『Uh uh…ha, but Miss Dana now…』
『Leave it alone. When the time comes when you really need it, Cynthia will take care of it.』
The time when she really needs it is probably when her health is in critical condition.
『Cynthia and Seo-ah too. I think I have repaid my debt to him by raising him well enough to be healthy and pursue what he wants to do. It may seem condescending, but I went through a really hard time raising two children like those colts by myself.』
『When I meet you later, I think I will be able to say that I am grateful that you saved my life. If we had been a little less clumsy, if we had been a little more proactive, a lot could have been different…” “
What can I do? That’s the way people like us love.”
And then the screen blurred.
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