Chapter 43 : Reverse World
Chapter 43: Reverse World
Lee Yujin let out a deep sigh before continuing.
“Anyway, that Reverse World that had been left alone for a while was recently reported to have a possibility of going berserk. The actual probability of it going berserk is low, but it still became a situation where it absolutely had to be cleared.”
“So that’s why we’re going to clear it.”
“That’s right. It’s like we have to clean up after those corporate bastards. The way I see it, those bastards probably touched something they shouldn’t have and caused this. There must have been some problem during the process of confirming it was insect-type and pulling out. Ugh.”
“Is it okay for you to say things like that?”
“What does it matter? It’s the truth. Besides, these days even rookies who just joined somehow hear information from somewhere and know at least this much. And actually, even though the situation itself is unpleasant, it’s not a bad thing for us.”
“Because Reverse Worlds with insect-type invasion entities are perfect for practical training purposes. That’s why I specifically took this mission.” Lee Yujin added with a beaming smile.
Well, just as she said, while the situation itself was unpleasant, the fact that Baek Woohyun was assigned this clearing mission wasn’t necessarily a bad thing when you thought about it.
The Otherworld Management Bureau could get rid of an annoying Reverse World, the rookie agent could get solid practical training, and the corporation—well, someone cleaned up the shit they abandoned, so good for them.
Wasn’t it a win-win result for everyone?
“I see. In the end, it’s not bad.”
“Of course, that doesn’t change the fact that those corporate bastards are damned sons of bitches.”
-Complaining Yujin noona so cute
-Corporate bastards really are fucking assholes;
-No, corporations just pursue rational profits
-One corporate hunting dog detected above
“Looking at this quietly, I’m noticing something. Doesn’t it feel like the information provided is much more substantial, maybe because of the Fully Responsive AI?”
“I was actually thinking that a bit too. Since it’s content I’ve done before, my memory is vague, so I wasn’t mentioning it…”
-Really?
-What Yujin noona says is a bit longerㅇㅇ
-Her corporate insults got spicier tooㅋㅋㅋㅋ
-Huh? Now that I think about it, if it’s a Fully Responsive AI, you could directly ask things you were curious about, right?
“This might still be premature speculation, but if this is really true—”
“If it’s true?”
“It would mean an opportunity to learn more deeply about ‘Reverse Planet.’ Whether it’s the story or the worldview.”
Baek Woohyun, who had been nodding his head, looked at his smartphone again. As he was conversing with Lee Yujin, something suddenly came to mind.
Narrowing his brow in thought, he soon realized that the location of the Reverse World was somehow familiar.
‘Ah, right. If it’s here—’
Baek Woohyun remembered a Reverse World he had cleared on a contract job in the past. It was a Reverse World in exactly the location they were heading to now, and the invasion entity type was also insect-type.
Since two factors matched, you could practically consider it the same Reverse World, but the problem was that the scale was different.
Unlike what appeared in the documents, the Reverse World he had cleared was medium-sized.
‘Why is it different?’
Same location, same entity type, but different scale.
Baek Woohyun carefully organized the mission documents and what he heard from Lee Yujin to speculate on the reason.
‘Lee Yujin said she took this mission for first practical training. That means this was originally a mission that someone else would have been dispatched to.’
And their strength wouldn’t be as certain as Lee Yujin’s, who would later inherit the Team 1 leader position.
Probably not very strong—that was Baek Woohyun’s judgment.
There was no reason to send strong people to an ‘easy’ Reverse World that had weak insect-type invasion entities trapped in a small-scale space.
After all, wasn’t this a Reverse World being sent to a rookie for practical training? It would be stranger to dispatch strong people.
‘They went to clear it but got swept away and died because it was medium-sized, not small, and because of that, the Reverse World that had been neglected ended up coming all the way to me.’
“……”
Having roughly grasped the situation, Baek Woohyun continued his silence instead of speaking up.
For him, it was a natural decision.
To warn Lee Yujin about the danger of the Reverse World they were heading to, he would have to talk about the entire flow starting from ‘that side.’
He couldn’t reveal his deepest secret just to avoid one dangerous situation.
Especially not while broadcasting.
‘Anyway, this is just a virtual reality game.’
Only shitty games would throw you into impossible situations out of nowhere.
‘Reverse Planet’ was a game called a cosmic god game—it was originally just called a god game, but after the Fully Responsive AI was revealed, the cosmic title was added too.
This meant it would never do such a thing, so even if he stayed still, the story would surely progress well on its own.
Even if it didn’t, there wouldn’t be a problem.
After all, as he thought, this was just inside a virtual reality game, right? Even if he faced death, he could just revive and start again.
Unlike ‘that side’ where everything ended if you died even once, there were many opportunities here.
You could even say they were infinite.
‘Right, it’s different from ‘that side’…’
“Don’t be too nervous about it being your first real combat, just focus on the enemies in front of you. If it looks dangerous, I’ll step in, so don’t worry too much.”
Lee Yujin, who had no way of knowing what Baek Woohyun was thinking, said with a bright smile.
“Yes, understood.”
“If by any chance a problem breaks out and it seems dangerous, make escaping the Reverse World your top priority. If you push yourself too hard trying to clear it, it’ll be more dangerous.”
After exchanging such small talk while traveling for a while.
Soon Baek Woohyun and Lee Yujin arrived near their destination.
“We’ll have to walk from here. Let’s get out.”
Baek Woohyun nodded at Lee Yujin’s words and got out of the vehicle. Even to him, it seemed they couldn’t advance any further while riding in the vehicle.
Not only was there a barrier line blocking the road with ‘Authorized Personnel Only’ written on it, but beyond the barrier line, fully armed military units were standing by.
They had even brought tanks and surrounded the Reverse World side without a single gap, so it would be unreasonable to drive a civilian vehicle in.
“……”
While Lee Yujin was parking the vehicle appropriately, Baek Woohyun looked toward the military units.
The faces of the soldiers seen from a distance were filled with thick tension. As if they couldn’t feel reassured at all despite having finished all preparations.
Well, no matter how heavily armed these people were and even if they brought tanks, if the Reverse World went berserk, it was obvious that tremendous damage would occur, so it was understandable.
‘After all, the firepower the military has is halved in effectiveness against Dimensional Invaders.’
Dimensional Invaders had particle barriers like the ones awakeners had, or rather, ones much stronger, and that was like a disaster for the military whose main force was firearms.
When even ordinary awakeners’ particle barriers blocked personal firearms, what about particle barriers much stronger than that?
You had to consider that personal firearms practically couldn’t inflict any damage. You’d need at least a machine gun to barely peel away the particle barrier, and to properly inflict damage, you’d have to hit them with shells fired from tanks.
Therefore, the military units here weren’t stationed to clear the enemies that would pour out during a berserk situation.
They were closer to sacrificial lambs just buying time until awakeners rushed over. Even those here knew that, which was why their faces were dark.
They said the probability of the Reverse World actually going berserk was low, but that couldn’t be any comfort to them. Even if it was a 1 percent probability, the moment it happened, a terrible disaster would unfold.
“Good. Let’s go now!”
Lee Yujin, who finished parking, came back and took the lead, and Baek Woohyun followed behind her like a probationary agent should.
The military units, who had been watching them as soon as they appeared, reacted swiftly. Immediately, the troops beyond the barrier line blocked their path.
However, there was no hostile intent visible on their faces. Rather, a light of hope could be glimpsed, because they too had eyes and confirmed Baek Woohyun and Lee Yujin’s attire.
The two were wearing combat uniforms for Otherworld Management Bureau agents that even the soldiers knew well.
“Halt! This is an authorized personnel only area! What brings you here?”
“Hello. I’m Lee Yujin, an agent from Otherworld Management Bureau Team 1. This is Agent Baek Woohyun. We were dispatched to clear the Reverse World located here.”
“…Please wait a moment! I’ll call a superior!”
The soldier, who now had an ‘as expected!’ expression, gestured behind him, and another soldier hurried off.
Probably to report to higher-ups about the welcome visitors who would solve the current situation.
And not long after, following the soldier who had left earlier, a man wearing a helmet with three diamonds drawn on his rank insignia appeared.
“Loyalty. I’m Captain Kim Jiwung. I heard you’re awakeners from the Otherworld Management Bureau. Do you have verifiable documents?”
“Yes, here they are.”
Lee Yujin handed Captain Kim Jiwung the documents she was holding.
“……Confirmed.”
Captain Kim Jiwung, who scanned the documents once, nodded and handed them back to Lee Yujin.
He didn’t seem to suspect that the documents were manipulated or fake, which wasn’t particularly strange.
Because there was absolutely no benefit to gain from impersonating an Otherworld Management Bureau awakener. Unless you intended to enter the Reverse World to commit suicide.
‘Getting through here is simple too.’
“Follow me. I’ll guide you.”
“Yes.”
Watching Lee Yujin answer briefly and follow behind Captain Kim Jiwung, Baek Woohyun recalled what she would be like on ‘that side.’
Unlike her cheerfully smiling appearance when she was alone with him, her current stiffly hardened expression was certainly closer to ‘that side.’
However, that thought didn’t continue long. Because she glanced back at him and grinned.
“Let’s go quickly and finish this!”
Finally reaching the center of the military units, the Reverse World entrance he saw was exactly as in his memory.
The way it was naturally fixed in mid-air, the way it was a rippling gray oval shape, and even the way it made you feel somehow distant just looking at it—all of it was the same.
Suddenly remembering his memories of being involved with Reverse Worlds on ‘that side,’ Baek Woohyun looked at the Reverse World entrance with gloomily sunken eyes.
“……”
“Should we go in right away?”
Lee Yujin, who had taken out and put on a pair of gloves, asked.
After a moment of silence, Baek Woohyun answered, “Let’s do that,” and drew the military dagger from his waist.
However, the two couldn’t enter the Reverse World right away, because just as they were about to step forward, a young man’s voice was suddenly heard.
“Well, well— who do we have here! Isn’t that Senior Lee Yujin? What brings you to a small-scale clearing?”
At the content specifically calling out Lee Yujin, three people wearing attire similar to Otherworld Management Bureau agent combat uniforms appeared, taking advantage of the gap when they paused.
Baek Woohyun quickly identified who they were based on his memories from ‘that side.’
‘Corporate awakeners.’
Unlike Otherworld Management Bureau agents who had the Korean flag attached to the right arm of their combat uniforms, these had the logo of their affiliated corporation ‘Geumsin Electronics,’ so it wasn’t difficult to recognize them.
……Also, recognizing that this corporation was one of the places sponsoring the research facility wasn’t very difficult either.
“Choi Hyeongcheol…”
“Nice to see you here! But just ‘Choi Hyeongcheol.’ You won’t call me junior anymore. How disappointing.”
The man Lee Yujin called ‘Choi Hyeongcheol’ with a stiffened face grinned openly. It was an expression that showed quite unpleasant intentions.
In fact, since his tone was sarcastic from the start and his attitude was provocative, it would be strange not to notice that he was trying to pick a fight.
“That’s because you’re not a junior anymore. So, what do you want?”
“What do I want? It’s not like we’re in a relationship where we can only talk if there’s something going on, right? We can just greet each other in passing.”
“I don’t even want to exchange greetings with you. If you have no business, please fuck off.”
“Huh— That’s too much!”
Choi Hyeongcheol’s gaze, who shrugged his shoulders at Lee Yujin’s hostile reaction, turned toward Baek Woohyun.
“Is that person the new ‘junior’?”