Chapter. 24. The Greatest Creditor (11)
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[Actually, this is not a deal or anything. It’s just like a gift I’m giving you.]
In the silence of outer space. The words of a mad scientist’s electric brain squeezing the lungs of an already dead corpse were something even more bizarre than that.
[Be God.]
Crazy words spoken by a crazy person. However, it was already too close to our eyes to simply dismiss it as nonsense.
[The satellite I made will peel off the Earth’s surface piece by piece. It’s like shedding your skin and heading into a new life. All life on Earth, except for a very small number of microorganisms, as well as humanity, which has already gone astray, will disappear and our hometown will return to its original state! I want you to flourish a new human civilization right on top of that.]
“You’re crazy…”
[That’s right. The state of insanity you are talking about. The state that modern human civilization has universally defined as correct is itself wrong, so isn’t it natural to try to escape from it? Humanity has already chosen to evolve in the wrong direction at some point in ancient times! Cultural common sense Something fundamental before that was wrong! So you have to get away…! Don’t you think so!]
“…Huh.”
[I wanted to do it myself as much as possible! I dreamed of it at first! But I soon had no choice but to give up. Because I was a failure who had already experienced countless failures. The human race that will be cultivated through the genes stored in the server room and take root on the new Earth will literally be close to a blank slate, so I thought it was an unpleasant greed to paint them, who are humanity’s last hope, the color of failure.]
[So, you. The most perfect personality. He is the owner of a crazy and distorted mind that has deviated from the perspective of the old humanity, and surprisingly, the distorted form has been distorted into a perfect form like the last piece of a puzzle!]
“Hehehehe….”
[You are a psychopath. As a human being, you naturally don’t have self-love! The sense of responsibility you felt for surviving the sacrifice of your parents and the death of a colleague ripped out your own existence from within me, and thanks to that, the current Professor Park has become a madman obsessed with psychopathological altruism who finds happiness only in his own reflection in others. !]
What Gedreutz said was nonsense. It was nonsense, but it was something that made me feel ashamed and angry.
A story about the essence of the character ‘Professor Park’ that I knew well but could not reveal to others.
[You are not good! Your altruism, which you call a saint or a hero, is in fact nothing more than an expression of selfishness to fill the empty space inside you! I have become empty inside because I have been twisted into a person who cannot feel happiness in my own development and improvement. The more you want to be happy, the wider the hole inside you becomes like an abyss. It’s a miracle that you survived without committing suicide!]
My old shelter came to mind. A revolver that was always loaded. Several suicide attempts that unfortunately failed. That’s why my insides looked like that.
[So you started caring for others. It’s like a survival instinct. Since I couldn’t find my own existence in the emptiness, I began to attract the existence of others into it. He created his own outline with the shadows of others and began to regain his lost existence within it.]
[How amazing is this. What a perfect distortion of form! Since you cannot be happy on your own, you always try to fill those around you with happiness! Instead of losing ‘self-love’, which is the source of individual happiness, one struggles to become happy by gathering one’s own outline reflected in the happiness of others.] [That is the true nature of a ‘saint’. A person who performs altruistic actions with a selfish heart. A person who can only feel happiness within himself in the happiness of others. Despite having such a severely unstable soul, you have overcome all the trials you have faced! When everyone else was broken and broken, I became stronger through that ordeal! Like a diamond! I succeeded in establishing that distorted form of self! What could that hard, distorted form be if not the ‘key’ the world has prepared for us! Project key-finder was a success! A perfect leader for the next generation, a new shepherd who will lead mankind correctly, almost like a blank slate! That’s your completer, Professor Park.]
“Hey….”
[Do you want to deny it? So, explain to me why you don’t just shatter this tempered glass and crush my little brain right now. That body is Andrej Gedroits’ greatest masterpiece. It is the only result of a mutant virus that has grown close to its original target. It was the seed of evolution to create a human race that could adapt and survive in any environment. I just needed some time to adapt to the cryogenic temperature. By now, I should have regained the strength to break this tempered glass and hold my head in my hands.] [
You can’t do it. okay. As for me right now, I’m at the level of stimulating a dead body with electrical signals. If something were to happen, there’s a high probability that you would be fast, but you still can’t move. Your mind will never be able to accept something that will happen ‘just in case’. Just in case Gedreutz is faster than me. What if that switch is pressed? What if everyone on the Earth below disappears? If only I were left alone like that!!- Same thing. The people around you in that empty inner world that you brought in to survive. If they disappear, it means your existence disappears too. It’s literally all you have down there. That is why you are obsessed with me.]
“….”
Gedreutz’s continuous explanation was gentle, careful, and affectionate, as if he was teaching a good student.
[Button being pressed. Satellite rain falling. The Earth faces a new Genesis. These things have already been decided. [What happens happens happens.]
[My suggestion is just an option to a certain outcome. The only difference is whether my precious, great, and praiseworthy completer carries out the plan happily or in sorrow.]
The chest of the dead body swelled greatly, as if taking a breath, and a more lean voice turned towards me.
[I will spare exactly 49 of your loved ones. Instead of pressing this button right now, I’ll give you some time. You will return to that spaceship, take the treatment I gave you in a space where humans can survive, and revert back to a human, then collect yourself and return to Area 47 with the spaceship. And from there, you will pick up the 49 people you selected and return here. Escape from Earth, where satellite rain falls, and head to ‘Next Space’, a space long-term survival base for 50 people. That’s how we survive.]
[It is estimated that it will take about 55 to 70 years for the Earth to recover its environment after going through a reset process. In the meantime, you should keep busy. There remains a mountain of things to learn, from physics, chemistry, biology, geology, to human culture and history. Everything, including the knowledge I left behind, is ready in the server room. You shouldn’t waste even a small detail. Because it is a study that goes beyond simple knowledge and lays the foundation for a new generation. You can also say it is preparation to become a god.]
[Time passes like that. When everyone you love enjoys a long life and the Earth’s purification process ends. You, who have already become a different creature at the genetic level due to mutation, will survive alone and return to the ground together with the server room. Cultivating the numerous genetic samples prepared in the server room, restoring Earth’s biota, and rebuilding humanity.]
“That is too far into the future-”
[It is possible. It is absolutely possible. Because the one who implements it is none other than you. This is the person who has personally proven that he can achieve an impossible goal that transcends time and conditions!]
Even though he lost his body, perhaps even his soul, and became mixed with another person’s personality, becoming nothing more than a lump of data contained in the brain, there is something in Gedreutz’s voice. It contained strong emotions.
It was something that went beyond trust and was close to religious blind faith. Everything about yourself. The belief that the only result that was cultivated by sacrificing life, family, life, and even the land where one was born will not be a single inch off.
[The Artists’ Union’s nuclear bomb shelter will be able to withstand the impact of satellite rain to some extent. Type 3 variants can survive even in environments where most of the oxygen in the atmosphere has disappeared. I’m sure you remember the life goals that your collector and W had.]
“…Did you have that in reserve?”
[okay. Collector The child hoped that his wasted life would not be in vain. The Collector is someone who hopes that Andrey Gedroits’ plan will succeed. That way, your death won’t be worthless. She wanted humanity to survive in some way, and she took my hand the moment you rejected her offer. There is no need to mention W. He hoped that only a small human community would remain in the world so that his consciousness could remain at the Collector’s side. A small human community starting from genetic samples would be a perfect fit for his aspirations. They are also beings that follow the Collector’s will in the first place.]
[They will become excellent apostles for the shepherd called you. Of course, there will be many hardships. There will be countless problems that I cannot foresee, but I have no worries. Because you are the one who will face that problem. Because you are the only success conceived by the old human race.]
[Your body has already become a completely different genetic entity due to the mutated virus. Even after 70 years, there will still be quite a long life left. And when that life comes to an end, there will be enough memories of you caring for and leading young humans. A true god who will be born after death. A truly perfected life form that should not be called by trivial names such as Type 3 Mutant, who will be born based on the powerful memories of living in deep sorrow and regret, performing duties, and rebirthing humanity! A new standard for humanity will be born that will determine the boundaries between good and evil, morality and immorality!!]
Gedroitz was panting. If he hadn’t been a war brain in a dead body, he would have been crying by now.
[In this way, the fate of the old humanity, which was only heading towards destruction, will enter a new chapter. Only then will I be able to say, ‘I succeeded.’]
Gedreutz’s voice was full of pride, as if he had witnessed that moment.
An evil act without malice. The scientist who was so brilliant that he could foresee a future that no one else could see ended up fulfilling his only duty, his only sense of mission, by killing nearly 10 billion people.
And, disgustingly, there was me who understood it to some extent.
“I understand… but I can’t sympathize with you…”
[Your superiority has already been proven when you understand.]
“Hehehehehehehe… If I refuse… .?”
Of course, understanding doesn’t mean I’m broken enough to participate in a crazy plan like resetting all of humanity.
A hand clinging to the glass window. I couldn’t feel it, but somehow, the hand that was clinging to the tempered glass went towards my neck.
“If that’s what your grand plan is, what will happen if I die here?”
If the land far below was everything to me, then my existence in this outer space was everything to Gedreuz.
Well, if you hold everything to me, then I hold everything to you. Gedroits Can you participate in a race where everything we have, including the world, is at stake?
The dead eyes of Gedreutz’s body stared at me for a long time.
[….That can’t be done. No way. ]
After a rather long silence, what was heard was a despondent answer. A sad, complex voice.
[This is so… so sad.]
Click!
“?!”
And he pressed the button without any hesitation.
The light created by the huge explosion cast a long shadow over the base.
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—!
Although there is no sound, some sounds can be felt even without being heard.
It could be the sound of ending an era for a planet, the sound of someone’s world collapsing, or a celebration announcing the end of someone’s task.
The moment when the countless metals that mankind shot into space and the electromagnetic pillars that captured them and formed the size of a small celestial body began to move toward the Earth with the explosion of the propellant.
What Gedreutz felt was heartfelt sadness. It’s purely a feeling of pity for the emotional pain that the great person in front of us must go through.
[I told you. My suggestion is nothing more than an option attached to an already decided outcome.]
Why didn’t you understand? Why couldn’t a person who was so intelligent, so wise, and who could even be said to have the ‘intelligence to understand him’, be able to read the meaning behind his words? Wasn’t speaking his specialty?
[The 49 survivors were just a gift from me in the hope that it would ease your suffering. It was a small act of kindness that I offered because I felt sorry for the pain of having to wait alone in outer space for decades! Because you are not the kind of person who deserves to be treated like that! Because he’s the kind of person who deserves to reach a happy ending! That’s why I proposed it!]
[Threatening me with my life? There’s no way something like that could have happened from the beginning! Because it’s you and no one else! If he were to lose all his relatives and be left alone, he would be sad enough to die, but in the end, he would not choose death! why! Because I already told you that in the server room you see right over there, the last hope for a new generation of mankind is left, and that it is all in your hands!! That sense of responsibility! Your nature is solidified and will never change! I will keep you alive so that you can fulfill your duty!]
Gedreutz could not stop shouting even though the remaining battery in his brain was rapidly depleting. The world will eventually move towards an ending, but I did not want this kind of sad ending. He wanted his completer to be happy.
[Why did I make you suffer! I had to make you carry the cross with none other than my own hands!]
But the moment he pulled out the most dangerous card, suicide, Gedreutz had no choice. A sense of responsibility that will definitely keep him alive. The obligation to be the ‘only survivor’ arises the moment all life on Earth disappears. Before he made an unexpected move, Gedreutz had no choice but to choose his survival.
[It’s too late now…]
The result has been decided.
Explosive power equivalent to a small nucleus. The electromagnet propelling it towards the Earth and the metal rings captured by its magnetic force were approaching the Earth.
It won’t be long before we break through the atmosphere. Everything we have built, all history and civilization will disappear. His completer will be left alone to watch and must make a dull effort not to kill himself in indescribable sorrow. Because he has a duty as the last survivor and the one who has been given the hope of reconstruction.
[I didn’t want it to end like this. I didn’t want to break down like this. I wanted to express my gratitude to you for making my wish and my only goal come true. I wanted to say that I was thankful that I survived and existed in this world. I wanted to break up with him so much that I respected him and asked him to take care of me…]
In the end, Gedreutz couldn’t hold back his overflowing emotions. The dead eye received a signal from the forebrain, and the lacrimal gland squeezed a sticky tear drop into the corner of his eye. I have committed many sins, but I have never considered them as sinful as I do now. He left behind incomparable sorrow for the one true being who would sacrifice everything for humanity.
[I’m sorry. I’m really sorry….]
Huh huh.
His heavy breathing could be heard through the communicator. As an act of atonement, Gedroitz listened to the voice, vowing to accept his emotions until the few batteries left in his brain ran out.
Whoosh whoosh whoosh….
Irregular breathing sounds like sobbing. The sound of holding one’s breath as if swallowing it.
Hehe hehe hehe –
Amid the irregular sounds that seemed to be swallowing his breath, the pioneer who finally realized the determined outcome and his duty expressed his feelings.
“…You idiot.”
His sentiments were expressed in the most concise way possible because he could only convey his words through the limited air provided by the drone attached to his airless mouth.
It was not sadness, criticism, or swearing, but ridicule. A sneer filled with relief, as if something had been let go.
“Oh damn. I was wondering if there was a way to coax him back out alive, but he just pushed me away. “Resolute bastard.”
[Professor Park. Have you not understood my story until now? Sae Wi-woo is already heading towards Earth-]
“We have set off. “We’re even showing the moment it starts, including our conversation, live to the people down there.”
[Then did you accept it? That all of this had to happen already?]
“That’s not it.”
He took a deep breath and removed the drone from his mouth. As if he had completely adapted to outer space, he had a smile on his face with his sharp fangs clearly exposed as he spoke by shaking the air in his chest cavity.
“That assumption. “The assumption that Professor Park, a mentally ill person, is so obsessed with duty that he lives a life of indifference only holds true when it is confirmed that all the people down there are going to die, right?”
[What…?]
“Like you said, what’s down there is everything to me.”
He waved a shot filled with blue-green liquid through the tempered glass, as if teasing the embarrassed Gedreutz.
“That means that this unknown body in front of you right now is nothing to me.”
Gedreutz wanted to understand what he was talking about. No, I already understood it, but I couldn’t accept it. His drying eyes followed the injection through the glass window. remedy. An object given to a person who is not far from Type 3 transformation to return him or her to a human and extend his or her lifespan.
“How on earth is my body still alive and moving in space, but will I still be alive if I return to being a human?”
[No….]
“If I just leave it alone, I’ll die within a few minutes anyway, but it’s urgent right now. Also, I am not very satisfied with its current status as it has already been mutated 99% of the time into a combat/survival monster.”
Tick-tick-
“Fortunately, I was given the right to reroll once. I went back to being human and suddenly! “I think I might take on a different form when I die.”
[No, no, no, no, no!!!]
Gedreutz screamed.
[What are you thinking! You are the hope of humanity! It’s our only hope! You shouldn’t risk everything on a gamble like that!]
The completer was so shocked that he became delirious. If it weren’t for that, there’s no way you would throw yourself into a gamble that only has flimsy odds! That Professor Park is no one else! To gamble with so many lives at stake!
“It’s gambling. No way.”
The completionist smiled fiercely at the scream as he fell to the floor and opened his mouth.
“As you say, things happen.”
[What…..]
“A similar thing happened in District 38. Happy Blinds. Your friend Lisue said that humankind’s technological civilization should be extinguished, and he took out a deadly weapon like Orpheus and tried to destroy the survivors of the entire wasteland. “What did I do then?”
“It turned into a bloody monster, chewed up everything, and collapsed.”
“March World? Likewise. There was a mute, and this body, which had become a bloody monster that wanted to destroy humanity, smashed it and died. April World? It’s the same too. The people devoured by Warlord, a Frankenstein-like monster created by the system, are still stored as compressed data in a storage device in my heart. I also realized something. “Really, some things become irreversible.”
.
.
.
.
“But it’s up to each person how they deal with what happens. Even if the outcome is fixed and you have no choice but to face that fixed outcome. Life still goes on, right? If life does not stop at that moment, the ‘determined result’ ultimately remains only a process. “It depends on the person who faces it.”
[No, what you think is impossible! Please, please!!]
“Yes, it’s close to impossible.”
The professor opened his arms as if greeting the scientist.
“And wizards are forever dreaming of the impossible.”
Push!
Strong nails cut open his chest, and the liquid in the ampoule flowed toward his heart.
“What happens happens happens. As you said. Destruction has begun and I am their only hope and will one day be reborn as a divine being. If there is a difference with your plan-”
Kwajak!
“…Isn’t it just that those things are all happening at the same time at this moment?”
While the dark blue-green liquid spread through his veins and throughout his body. The nail that broke through the tempered glass was not aimed at the enemy’s head, but rather towards the camcorder he had installed.
Gedreutz had to ask.
The scientist, whose dead body was in the rapidly changing air pressure and cold, squeezed out the last of his body and asked.
[What….]
What on earth.
What are you going to do now that everything has already been decided?
“That’s a great thing. If, as you say, I become that great in the distant future. “It’s something you can do if you have that potential.”
The answer to the question came through the screen instead of his mouth, which was already moving away. Even in the soundless universe, the camcorder connected to the internal communication device clearly transmitted his voice.
“I will become immortal.”
To Earth. Like the day he first faced the world again, through a small broadcast screen on the bulletin board.
It was passed down to those who survived.
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