Surviving Among the Entities

“There are a total of 99 routes to the Foundation.”

Sinking deep into the backseat of the classic sedan, I listened intently to Sung Yoo-ra’s words.

“Of those, 80 were permanently destroyed in the recent accidental incident at the Foundation.”
“You’re referring to Munchkin Mary Sue Constellation?”
“……I didn’t expect you to know even that. As a result, only 19 routes remain, and we’re currently taking one of those to enter the Foundation.”

However, my eyes never left Kim Dong-ook gripping the steering wheel.

“This route requires possessing a special item, so I must forewarn you against attempting to replicate it later, lest misfortune befalls you.”
“What happens if an unequipped vehicle tries this route?”
“If you’re lucky, it ends with just suspicion from bystanders, but if unlucky you’ll wander dimensional cracks eternally.”

Smooth driving without swaying even on curves.
Fearlessly accelerating despite surrounding traffic flow, with perfect gaps.
Controlling the vehicle as if they were one, without any delay in his hand motions.

“Ah! I forgot the dimensional anchor!”
“Dong-ook, didn’t I tell you not to joke like that?”
“Haha, the atmosphere felt too tense so I couldn’t help it.”

And ultimately, enough composure to joke while driving.

‘Beautiful.’

His driving skills, his hand motions manipulating the steering wheel, his mastery over the vehicle as if they were one – I was overwhelmingly envious.

“……Excuse me, you really aren’t gay, are you?”
“I swear I’m not.”
“But you clearly said you don’t desire the body earlier……”
“I meant I don’t discriminate female appearances.”
“Then why have you been staring at me this whole time……”
“I envy your driving skills.”

Trying to console my regret, I made a proposal to Sung Yoo-ra.

“Sung Yoo-ra, may we review our contract again?”

I had readily agreed to hand over the Remaining Monkey’s Paw to the Foundation. Only, since we had decided to draft the contract at the Foundation using a special entity, and the contract was still just a verbal agreement with the Monkey’s Paw still in my possession, I tried to add one more condition first.

“Yes, Seung-hoon Lee will transfer the Remaining Monkey’s Paw to us. In exchange, Seung-hoon Lee can take one of the Foundation’s secured safety entities.”

From a certain perspective it was a decision detrimental to me, but reviving the Foundation would benefit me and the world, so I did not mind at all.

“May I add one more condition?”
“What is it?”

When I sent a burning gaze to Kim Dong-ook, he shuddered.

“I want to receive driving lessons from Dong-ook.”
“Are you sure that’s acceptable?”
“Yes, since I’m already receiving an entity too.”

Finally understanding my intent, Kim Dong-ook chuckled.

“Now that you mention it, you did have a lot of demerit points, Seung-hoon Lee.”
“Yes, it somehow ended up that way.”
“Haha, at first I thought we had investigated improperly, but meeting you directly like this I see the reason.”

He sniffed loudly.

“An incident involving an entity? An entity manipulating computers? Or vehicles? Or maybe you were just unluckily entangled with an entity causing accidents, racking up tons of demerits?”
“No, I’m simply bad at driving.”
“Haha, good joke! How could a person get over a thousand demerit points in a day? Rather, making such a condition makes it seem like you were an incompetent driver from the start, but don’t worry! You have great discernment! I have some friends who received lessons from me, and those guys now drive accident-free even in Busan!”
“I’m already looking forward to it.”
“Let’s schedule it after this matter is resolved. I’ll take leave time to match.”
“Dong-ook, since it will be stipulated in the contract you can count it as work hours. Or should I convert it to paid leave for you?”
“Ooh, paid leave! Thank you, Ma’am!”

His passion was moving enough to bring tears to my eyes.

“Thank you.”

So this is affection.

“We will be entering the Foundation now.”

The moment we entered the roundabout interchange near Sungui Rotary in Incheon’s Michuhol District, Kim Dong-ook braced himself in his seat.

“Hold tight to your seatbelts!”

We continued circling along the roundabout. The speedometer needle rose to 200km/h.

‘We’re not colliding with any vehicles?’

From inside the rotating vehicle, we passed through other vehicles like ghosts. The speedometer needle kept climbing faster, not stopping even after spinning the gauge cluster a full revolution.

Everything in the world transformed into streaks of light. In the infinitely increasing speed where I as a mortal could do nothing, I merely entrusted my body to the seat and awaited this moment’s end.

‘Dark.’

At that moment, the world beyond my right eye unfolded.

In the darkness as if cast adrift in the depths of space, I saw a brilliant light.
Hundreds, billions, trillions of stars streaked past becoming shooting stars, and beyond that an infinite Milky Way unseen from Earth decorated the darkness with its majestic presence.

Within that, I was but a speck of dust unable to be remembered.
A mere grain of sand in the flow unable to move as I willed.

“We have arrived.”

And without any forewarning, the world returned to normal.

“Are you alright? Research shows 99.9% of those experiencing spatial leaping for the first time suffer severe malaise.”
“Is that so?”
“While not definitively identified yet, it is speculated that spatial leaping places immense strain on the body.”

It wasn’t a physical issue.
But whether I realized it or not, I was completely unaffected.

“I’m fine.”
“That’s fortunate.”

The lightness of being human was something I had long accepted.

“We’ll arrive shortly.”

The vehicle carrying us drove across an arid desert. The desert transitioned to a vast plain, and the plain to towering mountains.

“It may take some time, but time here flows 100 times slower than the outside, so you need not worry.”
“This isn’t Earth.”

Sung Yoo-ra spoke with a proud voice.

“This is a multi-dimensional space. Specifically, the Foundation has fixed the intersection of infinitely connected multi-dimensions and is using it as our headquarters.”
“Multi-dimensional……”
“Originally there were 27 dimensional intersection branches, but all were destroyed by Munchkin Mary Sue Constellation.”
“We’re almost there.”

As Kim Dong-ook spoke, I asked something I had been curious about.

“To what extent did the Foundation suffer damage from Munchkin Mary Sue Constellation? If it’s a difficult question to answer, you don’t have to.”
“No, it’s fine. Trust arises from sharing secrets with each other. Especially if the other party is someone who trusts us.”

As expected, she definitely possessed an entity or ability to discern truth from lies.

“The damage suffered from the Constellation was unprecedented in Foundation history. Of the extinction-grade entities the Foundation isolated and utilized, 246 were annihilated, destroyed, irreversibly damaged, permanently sealed, expelled to outer space, or went missing to other dimensions.”

As she spoke, our destination seemed to draw near as a new landscape came into view.

“1,024 safety entities became unusable for the same reasons, and 100 special non-graded entities also became unusable.”

And I saw them.
Three suns floating in the sky.

“Exchange was cut off with 274,689 dimensions, and 89% of the technologies we received from them suffered irreversible erasure.”

All three suns were encircled by enormous constructions like belts, as if conveying the energy of devoured stars to someone with the towering transmission arrays dotting the belts – colossal enough to be clearly visible even from the ground.

‘Dyson spheres.’

Increasingly surreal things continued appearing.

“All of the Foundation’s final administrators and executives suffered permanent annihilation, and currently 9 Overseers including myself lead the Foundation, while 90% of previous Foundation personnel perished.”

This time, three moons crossed the sky. Their metallic surfaces revealed them to be artificially modified planet-ships.

“88 symbiotic-grade entities were annihilated. Of the remaining entities, 127 who felt insecurity severed their cooperative relationships with the Foundation and fled to other dimensions.”

A gigantic dragon befitting a fantasy world soared through the sky with wings spread, chased by women in wizards’ robes.

“10 higher dimensional entities owned by the Foundation were annihilated, 200 spaces were deleted, and all stellar and dimensional weapons were lost or suffered irreparable destruction.”

Soon after they disappeared, a saucer-shaped city-sized spacecraft blinked into and out of existence along their trajectory without even a sonic boom, while the futuristic city visible in the distance evoked cyberpunk sensibilities.

“Ultimately, the damage suffered by the Foundation from Munchkin Mary Sue Constellation is approximately 99.8%. Three months later, we have recovered 10% but the remaining 88.8% is irreversible so the Foundation’s current policy is transitioning to recruiting new talents and securing new technologies.”

Finally, at the center of such a city, I saw an immense burning tree reaching skyward as if piercing the heavens.

“Nevertheless, we will not give up. For the sake of humanity.”

At last, we arrived at the city.

“Seung-hoon Lee, welcome to the Humanity Preservation Foundation.”

This was 10% of their original capabilities.

“The honor is mine.”

Amidst decrepit ruins, I found myself standing alone.

“Hmm.”

I tried to recall what had happened.

‘I clearly shook hands with Sung Yoo-ra and entered the city.’

Then in the blink of an eye, I was standing in this space.

“The work of an entity?”

But for an entity to cause trouble at Foundation headquarters? Though their power had waned, it didn’t seem so careless as to allow an entity’s mischief.

“Then it must be the Foundation’s doing.”

Not knowing if it was an intentional act by the Foundation or an accident, I did not blame them.

‘So using the Remaining Monkey’s Paw to escape is also on hold.’

My current location was ruins. It seemed like what a once prosperous city would become after falling into decline and being completely abandoned for around 10 years.

‘At least there’s electricity.’

Relying on the streetlights, I strolled down the street. While searching this area, I recalled the information about the Foundation I had experienced through the game.

‘Upon joining the Foundation, the goal shifts from surviving entities to protecting humanity from entities.’

The shop signs were in Korean, but looking at the road signs they showed meaningless place names like “British High Street” or “London Marketplace.”

‘Once entering the Foundation route, the genre transitioned into a sort of tycoon game of character enhancement, utilizing possessed entities, recruiting talents, and so on.’

In the distance, I spotted a lit building and headed there.
Passing through the entrance labeled “Moscow University Hospital”, I entered the building’s interior.

‘Of the relevant systems in this situation, there was the Foundation’s defensive system. After its final upgrade, it could instantly identify and apprehend even undercover spies who had infiltrated without any additional investigation, simply by concealing their identities and joining.’

I passed the examination rooms and entered the only corridor with lights on.

“But it didn’t show how they handled the apprehended spies – could they have thrown them into a space like this?”

And I opened the door to the only room with noises coming from inside – the operating room.

[“Who?”]
[“Who are you?”]
[“Who is it?”]

The doctors and nurses dissecting some unknown creature all turned their heads toward me in unison.

[“A new patient?”]
[“Surgery?”]
[“The patient?”]

I greeted those glaring at me with pitch-black eyes.

“Hello there?”

There were scalpels flying through the air.

“I’m Seung-hoon Lee.”

Is that a surgical power saw?

“Could I ask for directions?”