Translator: Wan ED/PR: Personal Ghost
39. Tossed coin (6)
In this world with a vague border between fiction and reality, the boundary between supernatural and science was unclear.
There were natural laws that couldn’t be transcended even with superpowers, and there existed superpowers that ignored logic and science.
On this vague boundary were Players, Jin people and Player Satellite, which use superpowers.
The Player’s Association’s Satellite, which detected the otherworlds and recorded the Enemies’ subjugation and Players’ performances, was the fruit of labor made by pouring into it the mankind’s scientific techniques and superpowers of a certain Jin tribe.
Even at the general headquarters of the Player’s Association of each country, the fundamental principle of Player Satellite’s inner-workings was treated as a top secret, and the information revealed to the general public was limited, and what’s more, people who understood that information were extremely rare.
“… A guest researcher?”
“I saw the satellite information interpretator web application developed by student Song Daeseok. The engineers and programmers from the research institute under the team saw the algorithm developed by student Song Daeseok and begged for You to immediately join the research institute.”
Are we talking about the web application, which access to was blocked by the Player’s Association, that Min Geurin spoke about before?
I thought that Song Daeseok was an amazing Player, who just liked satellites, but my judgment might have been wrong.
The Association’s Satellite’s Management Team didn’t have a day of rest to deal with the incidents caused by the Dark Mastermind.
In addition, the settlement of the training camp’s incident didn’t end yet, but at this busy time, the team leader Im Jihwa moved, so it meant it was big.
‘No way, can Song Daeseok read Dark Mastermind’s moves through the satellite…!?’
While I fell into shock, Im Jihwa continued her explanation.
“Student Song Daeseok applied for the Association’s intern position. But the intern’s security level has a lot of restrictions on the information access, so it would be insufficient to utilize student Song Daeseok’s abilities. It’s an unprecedented situation, but the Satellite Management’s team authorities on the manager level unanimously agreed to hire student Song Daeseok as a guest researcher.”
The more I listened to Im Jihwa’s explanation, the more surprising the story became.
After processing the surprising statement I heard, I cheered.
As expected, my Playable Character possesses an extraordinary talent!
“Hey, can a highschool student become a researcher?”
“It’s rare but not impossible! Because Player community focuses on the results and abilities. I heard that senior Cheon Dongha from our school is a guest researcher at the affiliated research facility!” [1]
It was true even for the world without superpowers, but in the world, where children with special talents in special fields were born, people easily recognized the achievements with no regard to age or academic background.
Even this world was exactly the same.
Cheon Dongha, who boasted monster-like intelligence, was a good example.
“Daeseok, do you want to do this? If you don’t feel like it, it’s okay not to.”
When Im Jihwa’s words ended, Song Manseok, who had been waiting, opened his mouth for the first time.
At Song Manseok’s words, I noticed Im Jihwa’s eyes turning very resolute.
If Song Manseok wasn’t at her side, she would hold onto Song Daeseok with all her might.
Song Daeseok, who gaped and blinked as if he wasn’t able to process what was happening from the moment he opened his eyes, spoke for the first time.
“You’re saying that You saw the web application I made?”
“Yes, that’s correct.”
Song Daeseok, who was lying down, stood up with the help of Min Geurin.
Because of the height difference, rather than help, it seemed that Min Geurin was tightly hugging Song Daeseok’s arm.
“… Which web application are we talking about?”
“Uh?”
Song Daeseok said something unexpected.
“Satellite’s indexes[2] interpreter app? If not, about otherworlds outbreak pattern analyzer app? Ah, perhaps about the otherworlds’ variable changes predictor app?”
The face of Im Jihwa, who heard the names of the programs she had never heard or saw before, gradually beamed.
“It’s not one? There are more, much more of them?” [3]
“They’re still in the development stage. Because I could obtain nothing but the observation values published on the Association’s homepage. I made an algorithm to extract hidden information values from the published values as a basis…”
“Let’s start with signing the work contract! Daeseok!”
“Huh, Daeseok should be checked in with the doctor first!”
“Senior Iron Arm-nim! Try to leave for a moment, please! Daeseok is a talent we are in extreme need for!”
Im Jihwa threw herself forward to hand over the table, while her polite speech tone was ruined, and Song Manseok blocked her way.
Chaos continued for a while.
***
After we left the four, Song Daeseok, Song Manseok, Hong Gyeongbok and Im Jihwa alone, and left the hospital room.
In the corridor, there was a celebratory atmosphere for Song Daeseok, even while all children were bewildered.
“I guess that fucker doesn’t just like satellites. Somehow, every time he spoke about satellites, I couldn’t understand the sound he was making.”
“Geurin, was Daeseok researching satellites before?”
“On Daeseok’s first birthday party, he got a model of Player Satellite as a toy!”
Min Geurin, who was happy, probably about what happened to Song Daeseok, revealed a variety of behind-the-scenes stories.
Though majority of them were from when they were really young, because their social life was cut short after the elementary school, it was very clear that Song Daeseok liked satellites and that Min Geurin liked Song Daeseok a lot.
‘It seems there will be new developments in the information warfare.’
Song Daeseok knew nothing about satellites besides the information that could be obtained by an ordinary highschooler.
If that Song Daeseok enters the research institute directly working with the satellite, what will happen?
‘The moves I can play in the Association’s satellite related scenarios increased!’
And as Song Manseok and Hong Gyeongbok acted as mediators, Song Daeseok wouldn’t be given too much work beyond the necessary.
When Song Daeseok lost the intern position, my heart sunk, but it turned out really well.
“Hey, speaking about Daeseok’s grandfather. Wasn’t that the Person who we met at the picnic?” [4]
“Uh, thinking about it, yeah.”
“I thought that He looked like the Person wearing goggles that teacher Ham Geunhyeong-nim greeted! So it was Daeseok’s grandfather, huh?”
“You met grandpa Song at the outing?”
“When we just arrived at the Han River, teacher Ham Geunhyeong-nim greeted some kind of Person riding a bicycle…”
Min Geurin, who didn’t realize that she wasn’t wearing AR glasses like before, opened her eyes wide when she heard the story about the outing.
Kwon Lena, who talked about the outing for a while, looked down at the cake box in her arms as she said:
“Hey, it seems that Daeseok’s conversation with adults got prolonged, so why don’t we go meet Yuri first?”
“Yes, let’s go!”
“Let’s go. In any case, that fucker looked healthy.”
“Grandpa Song and master-nim are there, so Daeseok will be fine. I want to go see Yuri too!”
After deciding the destination, Hwang Jiho took the lead.
Unlike Song Daeseok’s room, which was straight up at the elevator’s doorstep, Kim Yuri’s room was far away.
“Dog-shit far.”
“I saw Jiho swept a security card a few times, but, that, is this floor so wide? It can’t be that the highest floor is connected to a different building, right?!” [5]
“I heard that the Player specialized ward is particular, but…”
The uneasiness of children, who passed through several doors and long corridors, gradually grew.
As we headed to the place where the human traces became sparse, the children’s anxiety became bigger.
“This time, there were many slightly injured people, who took part in the otherworld conquest. However, they were immediately discharged from the hospital to go home. The only ones who were hospitalized were people who suffered from special poison and Kim Yuri.”
“… Was Yuri also poisoned by that poison?”
“Kim Yuri wasn’t poisoned and wasn’t injured. People who saw it in person would know, right?”
Hwang Jiho, who replied to Min Geurin’s question, glanced at Maeng Hyodon and Kwon Lena.
The two people, who witnessed Kim Yuri’s Gwangrim on spot, just stared at the other side of the corridor with dark faces without a word.
“Kim Yuri possesses a Gwangrim connected to numerous higher beings’ powers. She kept suppressing it, and then it ran wild at that time. The aftermath of that still remains. She is probably having a hard time suppressing the superpower wave’s pressure and the superpower pressure after that. It’s not something that can be helped with a treatment.”
Hwang Jiho stopped in front of golden doors.
The doors, that completely didn’t match with the hospital, were extremely densely engraved with magic circles in an ancient language.
‘Is it a Barrier Art made personally by Hwang Jiho?’
I couldn’t read the ancient language, but thanks to seeing Hwang Jiho’s Barrier Art, I could recognize it.
They may not know that Hwang Jiho made a barrier, but the children, who sensed the high density of superpower force, looked at the door with worried faces.
“Don’t fall behind, follow me.”
The moment he said those words, Hwang Jiho used a card chip to open the door.
Swish—.
The moment the door opened, the superpower wave’s pressure hit us.
Paaat! Paat!
In front of us, the shining gold and shinning aquamarine[6] superpower waves exploded.
After the clash of light with light ended, Hwang Jiho clicked his tongue.
“I guess the higher beings surrounding Kim Yuri are as bothersome as before, eh? No one here is to harm her in any way.”
When the barrier made by Hwang Jiho made all of the blue superpower waves scatter.
We heard a quiet rustling sound.
And felt a presence at the other side of the dark hospital room.
“…. Who?”
It was Kim Yuri’s voice.
“Class president!”
Maeng Hyodon was about to run in the direction he heard the voice from, but was stopped by Sawol Seeum.
“Jiho said not to step out!”
“Isn’t class president inside the barrier that fucker made?!”
“Calm down, those are guys who are just bothering Kim Yuri, Kim Yuri isn’t harmed.”
Soon the automatic lights, which detected our movements, turned on.
Kim Yuri, who was wrapped in a blanket and looking in our direction, wasn’t injured as Hwang Jiho said.
“You guys, you came to visit?”
Kim Yuri, who confirmed our appearances, smiled brightly.
It seemed she became a bit thinner in that short time, but she was overflowing with energy.
***
A teenage boy wandered around.
He squandered all assets left to him by his master as travel expanses, while roaming and wandering around, visiting all cities famous for gods of music and art, who resided in them and left their mark[7] on them.
Paris, cities of Greece[8], Barcelona, Sydney, Florence, São Paulo, Vienna….
The teen, who visited every city and facility which old and modern famous musicians passed through at least once, fell into despair.
‘Nowhere.’
The teen, who found the greatness and joy of art even in the mere sound of falling water droplets, was in the middle of the pit of despair, no different from abyss.
‘I can’t find the being I’m searching for anywhere.’
He, who followed the traces of all existing musicians, came to such a conclusion.
The teen, who sunk down under the eaves of the shabby and collapsing slum, recalled the words of his teacher.
[I’m well aware that you aren’t obsessed with life.]
The master, who transcended human lifespan through the power of higher beings, unknown if it was meant as a curse or a blessing[9], put the wrinkled hand on the teenage boy’s head and stroked it a lot.
[But you will also one day find a meaning to your life. The moment I heard her performance, I felt endless gratitude for this long life.]
However, that ‘gratitude’ didn’t come to the boy at this moment.
Even her performance, which gave his master a meaning to live, didn’t give the teen such great inspiration.
‘Is there a reason why I have to live?’
When the teen had such thoughts.
A notification arrived at the teenager’s device.
It was a notification which came out when a video uploaded in the past week, and with tags related to performances, reached a certain number of views.
‘… After I watch it, I’ll be disappointed again.’
Even while he thought so, the teen checked the notification and opened the video.
The video had a hashtag with the name of the school, which though he was admitted to, he never attended.
‘Eungwang School? Did one of the clubs come out with quite a good performance for the class bell again?’
The teen pressed the play button without any expectations.
After he pressed the play button, the scene unlike that of the Eungwang School’s club room, which he saw before a few times, came out.
Someone was giving a violin performance with the sea in the background.
The perfectly tuned sound of the violin rang out midst the roar of the tsunami.
‘Blue Violinist…’
His master’s muse.
The teenager sighed.
It was a performance worthy of the Blue Violinist Kwon Jane, but it was just that.
The teen never felt that deep sense of admiration his master felt for Kwon Jane’s performance.
When the disappointed teenager was about to pause the video without listening to the performance anymore.
‘Uh?’
He heard an unknown sound mixed in Kwon Jane’s performance.
It was a clumsy and stiff sound of violin.
That careful, awkward and dry tune mixed with the perfect technique of Kwon Jane.
‘Beautiful.’
It was an immature tune that was nowhere close to the Blue Violinist, Kwon Jane’s, but with each moment that poor sound continued, tears dripped from the teen’s eyes.
‘Beautiful!’
The moment he heard that half-boiled performance, he was able to find the meaning of his life for the first time.
On the screen, a teenage girl, which appeared to be a highschooler, gave an awkward violin performance.
The teen girl’s violin’s melody, which harmonized with the performance of the world’s best violinist, took over the teen boy’s mind.
‘At last, I found you, my muse…!’
Eungwang School’s 1st year class 0’s student, Mok Uram.
This was the instant he decided to come back home.
*~*~*
[1] “It’s rare, but not impossible! Because Player community focuses on the results and abilities….” — Sawol Seeum’s sentence
[2] satellite’s indexes — it could also mean ‘Earth’s surface’. From programming (or at least my programming perspective) indexes makes more sense, but surface also wouldn’t be a wrong call here…
[3] “It’s not one? There are more, much more of them?” — from this point on, Im Jihwa, who used a polite tone towards everyone, including Song Daeseok, switched to a casual tone when speaking to Song Daeseok. She still spoke with a polite tone to Song Manseok, but it had a much more casual feeling.
[4] “Hey, speaking about Daeseok’s grandfather. Wasn’t that the Person, who we met at the picnic?”— Sawol Seeum’s sentence
[5] “I saw Jiho swept a security card a few times, but, that, is this floor so wide? It can’t be that the highest floor is connected to a different building, right?!” — Sawol Seeum’s sentence
[6] aquamarine — not the same word as used in Jegal Jageol’s Player alias. This word here literally means the color of water.
[7] mark — in raws, ‘breath’ literally.
[8] cities of Greece — Uh… so, the raws appear to say just ‘Greece’, but the last time I checked, Greece wasn’t a city… I’m not sure if it’s a typo or my brain was eaten by maggots, even if it was a typo, I can’t be sure what city it’s supposed to be.
[9] blessing — blessing of happiness, the blessing you can receive in temples, not the ‘Blessing’ in the status window.
Translator’s note: Six is for lovers, soulmates and dying for one another…
Did you see a mistake? 🐞
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