LIGHTNOVELONLINE Chapter 79
Chapter 79
After a while, I was drinking a sweet-smelling tea with 14227.
Annoyingly, it tasted good.
“I understand that you have been contemplating how to deal with me, but let me first explain. It’s the manual. Until then, please understand that any violent behavior is not permitted.”
I thought that it wouldn’t be necessary to use violence if he didn’t annoy me that much, but I agreed for now.
For some reason, his tone suggested that if I waited a bit, he might let me hit him at least once.
“Let me start with the basics.”
A tedious explanation followed.
To summarize (and there’s a concise conclusion at the end of this summary): the universe is infinite, allowing for all conceivable possibilities to exist. On Raon and On Hae-jae were the same person living in different parallel universes. As mentioned in the letter, our souls were swapped, and the entire universe rejected us as foreign souls. The root cause was the system, no, that damn Dimension Management Bureau to which the manager bastard belonged.
Conclusion: The Dimension Management Bureau is incredibly incompetent.
“Your summarizing skills are excellent.”
“Flattery won’t save you from a beating.”
14227 looked disheartened.
Judging by his reaction, it seemed certain that he was prepared to take a hit from me, which made me feel better.
“Both you and On Raon keep calling us incompetent, but to uphold the reputation of our Dimension Management Bureau, let me add that such cases are extremely rare.”
“Are there others like me?”
“The reason I’m called Manager 14227 is that you are the 14,227th victim….”
“How are you not out of business yet?”
When I expressed my disbelief, 14227 had the audacity to feel wronged.
“Imagine this: there are billions of people on Earth. Do only those people live on Earth forever? No. People die and are born again. Considering that such an infinite universe exists, the fact that only 14,227 mistakes have occurred since the birth of humanity proves that the Dimension Management Bureau is exceptionally competent. Even at a high school level of understanding, with an infinite denominator, having a numerator in the ten thousand range results in an error rate of 0%.”
Now I could understand exactly how my opponents felt when I rambled on (out of necessity).
“Enough about that. You seemed to have convinced On Raon that swapping souls would lead him to a life of roses, but why am I being treated like this?”
“I’m sorry. But the boss ■■, who is responsible for mishandling the souls of On Raon and On Hae-jae, dumped the work on me and fled to another branch, making me feel like ■■. To put it in terms of workload, it’s like working 24 hours a day, seven days a week without any breaks. Ah…■■ would be an understatement. I sincerely apologize to you, the customer, who suffered because of my ■■ feelings. I am sorry.”
I had heard from a gaming acquaintance, who had quit nursing, that even two- or three-shift work could grind people down and ruin their personalities. This guy didn’t even have the concept of shifts.
For a moment, I could understand the misdeeds of this guy working for a black company.
Just for a moment.
“But why are you taking your frustration out on me, you lunatic!”
“Because you’re the only intelligent being I can contact until my term ends….”
“Shut up if you have any decency!”
I wanted to punch him, but since the manual wasn’t over yet, a translucent barrier formed between 14227 and me.
“Calm down. I even provided you with a healing time to relax before the major event, didn’t it work?”
“If you really want me to be calm, then make your words short, seriously.”
I could understand why he started with massages and even fed me shaved ice.
He probably wanted to quickly win my favor before the one-on-one meeting, but it backfired.
Thanks to the rest, my energy was now at its peak!
14227 tilted his head in confusion and then opened his mouth again.
“To be precise, it was you who pressed the launch switch.”
“What?”
“On Raon had not yet agreed. He was preparing himself mentally and even wrote you a long letter but had not given us his definite consent. You could say it was almost at the last moment.”
This crazy, no way….
I could predict his next words.
“That’s correct. Do you remember the previous terms we showed you? Article 11 ■■ Service…. Ah, my mistake. It’s filtered. I’m referring to the terms related to the Multidimensional Soul Exchange and Compensation Service. By agreeing to those terms, On Hae-jae, we were able to proceed without On Raon’s consent.”
14227 added that he contacted my world shortly before the optimal time to exchange our souls and had to rush the job using such a trick to not miss the crucial moment.
“So, you’re basically saying that you’re a bunch of scammers.”
“The customer is also at fault for not properly reading the terms made for reading, so if we assign responsibility, it would be 9 for us and 1 for you.”
“You’re talking nonsense. It’s your mistake, so it’s 10 for you and 0 for me, you crazy bastard!”
“I accept that. It was just something I said.”
“Hey, you… just get hit already. I’m not that fond of violence, but since you’re not even human, not a good guy, and definitely lacking in manners, I don’t think it’s a crime to hit you once.”
“Sure, go ahead.”
14227, who removed the barrier, replied with a humble attitude.
“I deserve it.”
Good to know.
I closed my eyes and punched what I assumed to be his solar plexus.
However, he seemed to be in more pain than I expected, which was surprising.
14227 flew far away, crashing into an invisible wall multiple times like a scene from an action movie.
‘My strength is only 38. I can’t even beat a fox yet. I didn’t expect him to hurt this much?’
While I was confused, 14227 staggered back and sat down again.
“Ugh…. In this place, it’s the soul’s strength that matters, not the physical strength….”
14227 mumbled something and coughed up blood. Crazy….
“You should have told me you were so damn strong. I wouldn’t have hit you that hard if I knew!”
“If it relieved your anger, I’m satisfied, cough, cough….”
“It’s not about you, it’s about me! Do you want to make me a murderer?!”
14227 looked noticeably disappointed.
Anyway, the crazy guy soon recovered, and the desk stained with his blood became spotless.
‘Is this a show?’
Still, his agony seemed real, so my stress from the system was somewhat relieved.
‘People shouldn’t relieve stress through violent acts….’
After a while, a calm atmosphere returned between us.
“Why didn’t you use the same method on On Raon as you did on me? Do you discriminate against people?”
I was genuinely calm.
### New Characters and Elements:
– **14227호 (Manager 14227)** – He/Him
“You misunderstand. First of all, I didn’t expect it to be so difficult to persuade On Raon. It’s rare for an alien to refuse such an offer. As you know, he has a somewhat delicate impression.”
Hearing myself being called an alien to my face made me feel incredibly dirty.
“When I realized that it was a rash decision made in haste, On Raon was already extremely wary of us. To the extent that half-baked tricks wouldn’t work.”
14227 added, “It’s surprising, really. Normally, it doesn’t take more than an hour to persuade someone. The previous longest record was a week, but he held out for a whopping three months. Whether he’s indecisive or cautious and strong-willed!”
Since I had just learned that On Raon and I were the same person, I cast my vote for the latter.
“This time, I have a question for you.”
As 14227 gestured, a holographic image appeared in front of me.
It was my appearance in reality.
I wouldn’t go into detail, but seeing myself from a third-person perspective wasn’t a pleasant sight.
“No matter how attractive your appearance is, to them, On Hae-jae would have been nothing more than an alien. You know better than anyone how you were treated in that world.”
“Well….”
“Due to the instinctive exclusionary response, you couldn’t have even dreamed of having favorable face-to-face interactions. The only relatively smooth interactions you had were non-face-to-face ones, so it’s natural you became engrossed in games.”
“…….”
“Game addiction is a typical trait of 21st-century aliens. That’s why we revamped the compensation service for 21st-century aliens into a game system.”
The bastard continued speaking while I was at a loss for words due to his unfiltered remarks.
“And this is what On Hae-jae looked like after regaining his body.”
A new video started playing.
As 14227 mentioned, it showed what happened after I possessed On Raon’s body.
“…Was that really me?”
“Yes, that was you. Normally, returning aliens initially display extreme lethargy, showing little action unless provoked by a life-threatening stimulus. But you were literally like a fish in water, darting around everywhere. You adapted so well that even we were surprised.”
I was surprised too.
I thought I genuinely disliked people and preferred sitting still and playing games above all else.
But seeing the video, I wasn’t so sure anymore.
“Therefore, as someone who has the duty to help you adapt to this world, I find it even more incomprehensible.”
“…….”
“Why on earth would you want to return to a world that would view you as nothing more than a foreign object?”
As upset as I was, my mind grew coldly calm.
“I can’t understand it either. How could you not feel homesick? Even though there wasn’t much I liked there, even though the only person I’d seen and spoken more than three words to recently was the housekeeper, I still miss my home. How can you not?”
I probably won’t find dimension travel stories in novels or movies enjoyable anymore.
How could anyone not miss the things they left behind, the things they might never see again?
“And you seem to think I was just unhappy there, but that’s not true. I lived my own way, trying my best. I started YouTube because I wanted to try something, and I achieved pretty decent results. Also….”
I took a breath.
“Do you really think that’s all I did until I turned 23? To erase all those years in an instant? Why? I was planning to live on anyway. Even if the whole world hated me, I wouldn’t hate myself. I was trying to love myself! Is that so weird and wrong?”