Surviving Among the Entities

“Whew, we processed a lot. Alright, that’s it for today’s broadcast! Brothers and sisters! I’ll see you all again tomorrow evening!”

The broadcast ended. Staring at the black screen, I realized a fact I had forgotten.

‘What exactly is the Munchkin Mary Sue Constellation’s bad ending?’

While I have never encountered the Munchkin Mary Sue Constellation appearing, I knew what the ending was through screenshots uploaded by users in communities.

[The super strong Munchkin Mary Sue Constellation creates an avatar! Wah! No way! The Munchkin Mary Sue Constellation’s avatar appears! The super strong Munchkin Mary Sue Constellation gets upset! Wah! And then the earth is annihilated!]

Just those few lines of text on the black screen.
Why it was annihilated, or how it was annihilated, was unknown.

‘Back then it wasn’t an issue at all.’

The Munchkin Mary Sue Constellation was just a silly entity created to mock the previous community incident, and many had even praised how phrases an elementary schooler might think up suited the Munchkin Mary Sue concept better.

[Transparent dragon lol]
[Wah! Crying wah means the earth goes ow! lol]

But now, I don’t know. I sorted the information I currently knew in chronological order.

[1. The constellation arrives on earth, then after 5 turns, 5 days, creates an avatar.]
[2. The constellation’s avatar starts at superhuman level but over time can perfectly use the constellation’s full power.]
[3. From the ending text, it seems the constellation creates an avatar and does various things, but ultimately the earth is annihilated. The date of annihilation is unknown.]

‘My predictions until now were wrong.’

My original prediction was that the avatar would adapt to the constellation’s power, then the constellation would act unruly using the avatar’s body to play with the earth like a toy before eventually destroying it out of boredom – essentially exhibiting a preschooler’s behavior.

‘But after today’s broadcast, it seems a bit different.’

The constellation wanted to protect the earth. Like a hero from American comics, it used its avatar to erase a hypernova that could potentially annihilate the earth in the future.

‘The avatar’s power has already reached the level of destroying the earth. If the intention was to turn the earth into a plaything by controlling the avatar, it could do so at any time.’

Didn’t it also say it had already destroyed the earth’s sole defensive force, the Foundation? And come to think of it, during the first broadcast the avatar had said:

[I wanted to follow the constellation’s will and bring peace to the world, but this strange secret society called the Foundation? Or whatever, tried to kill me?]

I looked up at the night sky. The yellow full moon brightly illuminated the darkness.

“Bring peace to the world? Does the constellation not intend to annihilate the earth?”

After going outside for another smoke, there was a business card on my desk when I returned.

“Omnipotent Gold Corporation / Suit Guy / Directions: Gyeonggi-do Osan-si ○○○ Gold & Silver Exchange / Summon Phrase: Oh gold, pure beauty, pinnacle of all things.”

“Well-timed, how fortunate.”

A path to obtain information had opened.

“Welcome……”

I entered the Omnipotent Gold Corporation. Unlike before, the interior was in shambles.

“Was there some kind of war?”
“Yes……. Something similar happened.”

The shattered lobby everywhere, suit guys walking around with bandages or on crutches having seemingly suffered many injuries, and shattered walls with office supplies strewn about.

“Shall I guide you to the trading room……”
“Please do.”

Carrying bags filled with thirty gold bars, I entered the trading room.

“Hngh, long time no see, Mr. Seung-hoon Lee.”

Inside, a suit guy with his head bandaged was waiting for me. Excluding gender, all the suit guys looked alike so I couldn’t distinguish them, but from his greeting I could tell this was the same one I had traded with previously.

“It seems I’ve come at an inopportune time, my heart is ill at ease.”
“No, it’s alright. We’ve handled all the dangerous issues.”
“May I ask what happened?”
“I need 5kg of gold.”

I took out gold bars from my bag and handed them over.

“An excess. Would you trade me 15kg worth of information related to this incident?”
“By all means.”
“First, the reason the company is in this state is because of that bastard called the Munchkin Mary Sue Constellation.”

The information I had been hoping for came rolling in.

“That being is an existence from the highest dimension, creating an avatar as a conduit for its power to enjoy amusement in lower dimensions – you could say it’s a depraved pervert.”
“So it seems the avatar attacked this place. Weren’t you already on bad terms?”
“Yes. Every time it attacks us calling us ‘wicked villains who buy even human lives with money!’ has been such a headache. We had been free of issues for the past few trillion years and were starting to forget about it, but our dimensions overlapped again by chance.”

The suit guy spoke as he buried his nose in the gold bars I had given him.

“Hngh! Whoo, sex……. Golden sex……”
“I had only thought you all had left.”
“It’s not to that extent. The Munchkin Mary Sue Constellation is powerful, but not against our chairman. This time too, it was just causing a ruckus before our chairman arrived, startling it into fleeing.”

My knowledge increased.
The Omnipotent Gold Corporation’s chairman is stronger than the constellation.

“May I know the chairman’s name?”
“Bring me 593 trillion tons of gold and I’ll tell you.”
“Let’s return to the main topic.”
“Yes, well, that’s what happened. That’s why we couldn’t contact you, occupied with recovering from the damages it caused.”

I extended another gold bar.

“I have questions about the constellation.”
“Ooh! Yes! I understand!”

The suit guy received the gold bar and tapped it with his finger, causing the bar to turn into powder spilling onto the desk.

“Pardon me.”

He then rolled up a dollar bill and snorted the gold powder through his nose.

“Yes, yes! Golden cocaine! Golden sex! Golden fantastic!”
“If the constellation descends to a dimension or the planet where it creates its avatar, is that place annihilated?”
“Sometimes it is, sometimes not. That being is fickle and lacks perseverance, so if issues arise with the avatar it just gives up and leaves. We’ve even prematurely driven it away using that before. This time we simply let our guard down too much and failed to respond properly……”
“You mentioned issues with the avatar?”

The suit guy took out a syringe from his suit pocket.

“If the avatar’s mentality becomes problematic, or the avatar makes a mistake severely damaging its reputation, it flees.”
“So the constellation cares about its reputation?”
“Yes, that foolish, simple-minded being just wants to play hero, you see.”

He stabbed the syringe into the gold bar and pulled, causing the gold to liquefy and get sucked into the syringe.

“Quite childish for an existence from the highest dimension.”
“Humans sometimes make the mistake of thinking higher dimensional beings must be superior and noble. But that is not the case at all. Just as a comic book hero is nobler than reality’s criminals, dimension has no bearing on intelligence or nobility.”

The suit guy rolled up his right sleeve, tied a rubber hose around his arm, and injected the syringe.

“Oww, gol, golden! Golden fuckyea! Golden super dubidubap!”
“Then how does it annihilate when it does?”
“I do not know that. We evacuate from the corresponding dimension or planet before then. And an avatar of an annihilated dimension or planet would already possess strength beyond our perception level, making observation impossible.”
“I understand. The current avatar seems quite powerful, so it must be in a state capable of using the constellation’s full power, correct?”
“No, it cannot use even 1% of that power yet.”

Erasing a hypernova with just a clap, and that was only 1%? Shocking.

“How much time is needed for it to be able to use all its power?”
“Half a year. Over time, the avatar’s physical body reconstructs to become more like the constellation’s. The more it reconstructs, the faster the progression accelerates. Of course, as a lower dimensional being it can never become exactly the same.”

This was something I had experienced myself.

‘The Girl with Closed Eyes.’

I had only made contact and conversed with the girl, yet gained my current power.

‘……Then what about the avatar, constantly harboring the constellation within?’

I feel like I know something now. Why the earth will be annihilated, what kind of annihilation will come regardless of the constellation’s disposition.

“Lastly, inform me of any entities that could influence the current avatar.”

I emptied out the remaining gold bars.

“There are currently five.”
“Of those, how many can I safely use and control?”
“If the criteria for safety is premised on faithfully upholding the contract, then there is one.”
“What is its name?”
“The Most Convenient, Simple, and Fantastic Truly Fair Contract Allowing You to Use Divine Power to Your Heart’s Content.”

It was the entity I had been thinking of.

“Can the location of that be known with the gold bars I have provided?”

The suit guy spoke:

“Of course it’s possible.”

[The next station is Dongducheon, Dongducheon Station.]

As autumn ended and winter gradually approached, I got off the subway and opened my smartphone.

“Brothers and sisters! Today we’ll go with some light content! Where is this place? It’s Jongno 3-ga! According to what I’ve heard, there’s a terrifying urban legend in Jongno 3-ga!”

I moved for about 10-15 minutes watching the avatar’s broadcast, entering an antique shop near the US military base in this area to find what I wanted.

“What legend, you ask? The legend of the psycho driver who roams the Jongno 3-ga expressway! He who goes by ‘The Magician Crossing Lanes’! ‘The Snake Coiling Tail After Tail After Tail’! ‘The Master of Counterflow Driving Techniques’! Today we’ll stake out this area and see if that bastard appears!”

As the information stated, it was here. After purchasing a scroll made of pristine sheepskin parchment, I got back on the subway.

“Hm? What if he doesn’t show up, you ask? Ay, I’ve already thought that through too.”

“No celebrities present, it seems.”

The avatar lived off people’s attention. Perhaps the constellation had instructed him to do so.

‘But the attention is not much compared to his actions.’

There was unfavorable attention. After the previous hypernova deletion space stroll, people started treating the avatar as some kind of attention troll.

[Obviously CGI. The magic from last time was CGI too.]
[lololololol hypernova lololololololol deleted lmaooooo]
[This is real brainlet levels……]

The sheer scale of his actions made them impossible to accept as truth.

[The magic he used before must have been CGI too, right?]
[Obviously lol, but damn the CGI is really natural.]
[Credit where it’s due, his acting matches the CGI perfectly.]

Whether conscious of internet opinions or not, the avatar seemed indignant but did not try to explain himself.

“Alright then, what if that guy doesn’t show up!? This is what we’ll do……”

With a snap of the avatar’s fingers, chairs, desks, and a placard appeared in the premium parking lot.

“It’s my very first fan meeting!”

The placard read: “BJ SungJwa’s First Fan Meeting! The Only Chance to Get His First Autograph!”

“Ah, seriously brothers and sisters! If you don’t get it now you’ll regret it later! My autograph! It’ll be super expensive later! Worth way more than a 100th signed major league ball!”

‘A good opportunity.’

While his autograph held no appeal, I did need to meet him in person.

‘The future-viewing right eye.’

As of yesterday, I instinctively knew I could reactivate it.

‘If I don’t know how the future will be annihilated, I can see it directly with my own eyes.’

I took the subway to the location the avatar had ranted about in his broadcast. It took a long time, but fortunately the avatar had not left and was still there.

“Ah, you brothers and sisters are too much! Didn’t I tell you you’d regret it? Passing up such a money-making opportunity!”

In the distance, I could see the avatar.

“In terms of the value of my autograph…… Oh-ho! Our first viewer has arrived!”

And I could see something else too.

“The first fan of my very first fan meeting! Oh-ho! May I have an interview?”
“Yes, of course.”
“First, please introduce yourself while facing the camera here.”

I see now.

“Hello there?”

This is how absurdly the world will be annihilated.

“My name is Seung-hoon Lee.”